Public Insight Network

Inform Our Coverage

Will the Northstar line change your commute?
On Monday, November 16, the Northstar Commuter Rail will start shuttling passengers from Big Lake to downtown Minneapolis. How is your commute now? And what change will the new train service bring?

Does faster Internet mean stronger communities?
The Minnesota Ultra High-Speed Broadband Task Force will recommend how to spend federal stimulus money to improve broadband access in Minnesota. What does -- or would -- broadband access mean to you and your community?
What are your health care options for 2010?
It's the time of year when people who get health care through their employers choose plans for next year. What are you seeing offered when it comes to health insurance? How has that compared with years past?
How are your credit card terms changing?
Congress has enacted sweeping legislation to restrict credit card rates and fees. The credit card companies are changing in advance of the new regulations. What are you seeing with your credit card terms?
How is absenteeism where you work?
H1N1 is widespread in Minnesota and most other states and President Obama has declared a national emergency. We want to know how the spread of this virus has affected your workplace.

See Your Influence

What's your most pressing health care need?
We sent a query to people across the country asking them to tell us about their most pressing health care need. More than 500 Americans responded. Their stories, many of which are mapped below, provide a compelling picture of how people are coping with the failures of this country's patchwork health care system.
More about the responses >>
Add your story to our map.

Read some of the responses we've received below:

My First Recession

For young people, recessions can be formative experiences, marking them for the rest of their lives. As part of a special project, MPR News partnered with the Neighborhood House and local artists to help teens tell the stories of their first recession. more >>
Share your story

In the News - Recent Stories

In the Network - Featured Sources

Network pharmacist shares Tamiflu recipe
Gary Carlson of St. Paul said his pharmacy is making liquid Tamiflu for kids. That lead to a story documenting how he and other pharmacists are boosting the nation's short supply of flu antiviral -- an unexpectedly tedious process.
What Health Care Reform Means For The Uninsured
Affording needed medical visits becomes much harder for those without work. Anne Johnson of Corona, California, spoke to American Public Media and ProPublica about how she has put off needed visits to a cardiologist. "Right now I have no idea what type of condition I'm in."
Credit Card Rate Hikes, Fees Hit Hard
Credit card lenders have moved quickly to change the terms of their cards in advance of new federal regulations. People like Dale Petrie of St. Paul are being stung by the credit card changes.
Work centers still seeing high volume of jobseekers
Catina Davis spoke to the worries of many unemployed Minnesotans when she told her story of job loss and job search. She's one of thousands of Minnesotans exhausting their unemployment benefits.
Minnesota potter makes art at 2,400 degrees
Art Hound Joel Blackburn tipped us off to a local potter who fires his giant kiln for four days straight.
Art Hounds: Othello, The Bat, and Times New Viking
Each week Minnesota Public Radio News asks three people from the Minnesota arts scene to be "Art Hounds." Their job is to step outside their own work and hunt down something exciting that's going on in local arts.
Small business owners talk about dealing with the recession?
Fifteen small business owners came to MPR's studios to talk about coping with the recession. The forum wound up being a primer for surviving a recession - and how small business owners adapt to the changing economic times.
Eight years later, public support wanes for war in Afghanistan
Brent Olson and Margaret Reinhardt explain how and why their perspective on the war in Afghanistan has shifted.
When people just stop looking for work
Ross Anderson of Shoreview, Minn is one of nearly 700,000 Americans officially classified as "discouraged" workers.