Economy

The cost of holiday baking was higher in 2022, as prices for eggs were up 49.1% over 2021, according to the Consumer Price Index. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Slower growth, sluggish borrowing expected to impact South Dakota economy

BY: - May 31, 2023

Higher interest rates, inflation, a cooling housing sector and a dip in consumer spending are expected to slow economic growth in South Dakota, according to the state Bureau of Finance and Management. The agency’s projections for two years of lower growth in the state came during Wednesday’s meeting of the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisers. […]

Northwest Airlines passengers wait to get their luggage at the baggage claim area at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on July 9, 2008, in Romulus, Michigan. (Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

Advocacy groups ask FTC to expand Biden administration efforts to rein in junk fees

BY: - February 11, 2023

President Joe Biden devoted 19 sentences of his State of the Union speech to “junk fees,” which includes credit card late fees, service fees for concert tickets and airplane seating preferences that he said strain families’ budgets. Biden did not mention the numerous and opaque fees faced by prisoners and their families every day. But […]

A farmer harvests corn near Slater, Iowa. on Oct. 17, 2020.

Farmers brace for rising interest rates after years of steady lows 

BY: - January 5, 2023

Rising interest rates have farmers and lenders putting extra thought toward operational costs. Taylor Sumption is a crop farmer just north of Aberdeen. He said the higher interest rates will make his annual loans cost more for things like putting his crops in the ground.  “For example, looking at putting in a corn crop, just […]

Laura Pierre joins with others to protest in support of a $15 an hour minimum wage in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 2015. The state's minimum wage will increase to $12 an hour in September 2023, and then increase by $1 per year until reaching $15 an hour in 2026. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Child poverty rates highest in states that haven’t raised minimum wage

BY: - December 23, 2022

Of the 20 states that have failed to raise the minimum wage above the federal $7.25 an hour standard, 16 have more than 12% of their children living in poverty, according to a States Newsroom analysis of wage and poverty data. Anti-poverty advocates say that’s a sign that there’s an urgent need for lawmakers to […]

In November, Colorado voters passed Prop 123, which will allow 0.1% of the state income tax rate to be used to increase the affordable housing stock among other provisions to help the unhoused. This man, who was living in an encampment in Boulder last year, said he had been on a housing wait list for a long time. (Derek Miles for Colorado Newsline)

Voters embraced affordable housing initiatives. Advocates say Congress should do the same.

BY: - December 14, 2022

Voters in Colorado approved a statewide affordable housing initiative in November; while voters in nine cities across the country OK’d measures to finance the construction of affordable housing, preserve existing rental properties and support renters. But as housing costs soar, analysts and advocates say more needs to be done and argue that federal action is […]

CEO of FTX Sam Bankman-Fried testifies during a hearing before the House Financial Services Committee at Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill Dec. 8, 2021, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

FTX failure divides lawmakers on how tough to get with crypto regulation

BY: - December 13, 2022

Members of a U.S. House committee disagreed at a Tuesday hearing about whether more aggressive federal regulation would have protected customers from the collapse of cryptocurrency firm FTX and the alleged fraud of its founder, Samuel Bankman-Fried. Lawmakers at the four-hour House Financial Services Committee hearing appeared to view the unfolding scandal around Bankman-Fried, arrested […]

The cost of holiday baking was higher in 2022, as prices for eggs were up 49.1% over 2021, according to the Consumer Price Index. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Here’s why food prices remain stubbornly high even as inflation cools

BY: - December 13, 2022

Shoppers hoping for a little relief at the grocery store for their holiday meals will be disappointed by the Consumer Price Index released Tuesday. The CPI shows inflation cooling but food prices — particularly for some holiday staples — remain high. The CPI increased 0.1% in November, which was lower than some economists expected. Over […]

Photo of the Daktronics building in Brookings

Daktronics reports $13 million loss in second quarter

BY: - December 12, 2022

Brookings-based manufacturer Daktronics lost $13 million in the second quarter of its fiscal year, the company revealed Monday in a delayed earnings report. The company blamed supply chain problems and higher costs for materials, labor and freight. The company said it aggressively secured inventory to address supply chain volatility, and that approach consumed cash. “These […]

Photo of the Daktronics building in Brookings

Shareholder-rights firms circling as Daktronics postpones earnings report

BY: and - December 8, 2022

Multiple law firms specializing in shareholder rights are inviting affected investors to contact them after a regulatory filing raised concerns about the finances of Brookings-based Daktronics. Shares of the company tumbled after it announced Tuesday that it was postponing its earnings report and also rescheduling a conference call about the report to 10 a.m. Central […]

David Burr demonstrates removing leaves on marijuana plants to allow more light for growth at Essence Vegas' 54,000-square-foot marijuana cultivation facility on July 6, 2017, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Attempt to help states ease banking for marijuana businesses stumbles in Congress

BY: - December 7, 2022

The annual Defense Department policy bill members of Congress released late Tuesday did not include measures to loosen federal marijuana restrictions, to the disappointment of advocates. That leaves few avenues to pass marijuana measures seen as boons to states where the drug is legal before Congress adjourns for the year. As one of the last […]

The U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. (Jane Norman/States Newsroom)

U.S. House votes to avert calamitous rail strike, but Senate prospects murky

BY: - November 30, 2022

The U.S. House moved Wednesday to avoid an economically disastrous nationwide rail strike, voting to codify an agreement that members of some unions had already rejected and separately add paid sick leave that workers had demanded. The two-track approach allows Democrats to avert a strike that could cost the U.S. economy up to $2 billion […]

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, at a U.S. Senate hearing on the proposed merger of grocery chains Kroger and Albertsons. Nov. 29, 2022. (Ariana Figueroa/States Newsroom)

Albertsons-Kroger mega-deal raises questions from lawmakers about higher food prices

BY: - November 30, 2022

WASHINGTON —  Members of a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee panel raised concerns during a Tuesday hearing that a proposed merger between two of the largest U.S. supermarket chains could mean a monopoly on groceries and lead to higher food prices for Americans. U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat who chairs the Subcommittee on Competition […]