Hosted by: IgniteMNRed Wing, MN
Happening Thursday, August 6  •  2 PM – 4 PM

From problem to prototype in 120 minutes

Join us for a fast-paced, hands-on innovation sprint where you’ll learn how to combine AI, design thinking, visual communication, and rapid prototyping to transform ideas into actionable solutions—in just two hours.

Whether you’re a business owner, entrepreneur, nonprofit leader, educator, professional, or simply someone who loves solving problems, this workshop will help you move from inspiration to implementation faster than you thought possible.

During this interactive session, you’ll:

Identify meaningful problems worth solving
Use AI to accelerate brainstorming and idea generation
Apply design thinking techniques to refine solutions
Create visual concepts and prototypes without coding
Test and improve your ideas through rapid feedback
Leave with a tangible concept you can continue developing

This isn’t a lecture. It’s a workshop designed to get you building.

No technical background is required. No coding experience is needed. Just bring your curiosity, creativity, and willingness to experiment.

By the end of the session, you’ll have a better understanding of how AI can serve as a creative partner in innovation—and you’ll walk away with a prototype, action plan, or concept ready for the next step.

Who Should Attend?

• Entrepreneurs and startup founders
• Small business owners
• Nonprofit leaders and staff
• Community builders
• Educators and students
• Innovators and problem-solvers
• Anyone curious about practical uses of AI

What to Bring

• A challenge, problem, or idea you’d like to explore
• A laptop (recommended)
• An open mind

The future belongs to people who can identify problems, leverage technology, and turn ideas into action. Come build something!

Two New Grant Opportunities

State Library Services is pleased to announce two Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) competitive grant opportunities for Federal Year 2026.

LSTA Professional Development Travel Grants

• $100,000 is available to fund 30 to 75 staff in attending professional development between Fall 2026 and Summer 2027. Visit the LSTA Professional Development Grants page to find instructions and application materials, and a timeline for this grant opportunity. Applications for LSTA Professional Development Travel Grants are due July 24, 2026.

LSTA Literacy Grants

• $300,000 is available to fund projects and activities that improve access to services and information in areas of literacy. Visit the LSTA Literacy Grant page to find instructions and application materials, and a timeline for this grant opportunity. Applications for LSTA Literacy Grants are due July 15, 2026.

To learn more about the current LSTA grant opportunities, please attend an upcoming grant guidance webinar on Monday, June 22, 2026, from 2 to 3 p.m. There is no need to pre-register; just click on the link to attend.

If there are questions or additional information is needed, please contact Maddie Rudawski (maddie.rudawski@state.mn.us), State Library Services, 651-582-8400.

Hyperscaler capex is poised to set records in 2026, as cloud giants scramble to build enough compute capacity to meet growing demand. Energy remains a key constraint – and point of public contention – but an upcoming regulatory decision is poised to offer either grief or relief.

There are two key energy issues: power generation and years-long interconnection queues, and how large-load customers like data centers impact other users on the grid. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is poised to act on both sometime this month.

It’s not yet clear what changes FERC will make to existing regulations. But in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking issued in October, FERC said it was seeking input on rule changes that would speed interconnection study timelines to 60 days for customers that agree to flexibly curtail usage and whether large load customers should pay the full cost of any grid upgrades needed for their interconnection.

Across the United States, communities are evaluating whether to host a new generation of infrastructure: hyperscale data centers. These projects are often framed as low-impact, high-value opportunities: quiet neighbors that promise reliable tax revenue, infrastructure upgrades, and a foothold in the digital future. They are being sold as clean, quiet, and high-tech.

But a critical blind spot remains in how potential host communities evaluate these facilities: what happens at the end of their lives?

The experience of communities that host nuclear power plants—documented in Socioeconomic Impacts from Nuclear Power Plant Closure and Decommissioning—offers a valuable framework for those who may consider hosting new digital infrastructure.

Here’s a view at the nuclear power plant experience…

The experience of nuclear plant host communities points to a clear conclusion: the consequences of closure are not hypothetical—they are predictable, repeatable, and, if unaddressed, can be deeply disruptive.

For potential data center host communities, the lesson is not to avoid development, but to plan deliberately for its full lifecycle—before the first shovel hits the ground. In that context, here are some practical considerations for potential host communities.

And fleshes out the following specific aspects…

• Appreciate the Speed of Closure Decisions
• Respond to Eliminated Tax Payments
• Define and Complete Facility Decommissioning
• Design for the Full Lifecycle

Updates from MNIT

• Released AI Guidance
• Modern electronic licensing for hunting and fishing now available
• Launching MN IT service center – for general IT operations
  https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/2026/0/Session+Law/Chapter/120/
• Appreciating recognition of debt and fraud – needing ongoing investment and coordination
• Login MN Team is being used in more agencies/apps
• Working rates to share in September

Updates on 2026 Legislature

Ten Lessons about Service Delivery (by looking at process of paid leave)

Final Draft Work Plan

By this Public Notice, the Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau), in consultation with the Office of the Managing Director (OMD), announces the amount of unused funds for the Rural Health Care (RHC) Program that have been carried forward for funding year 2026.1 The Commission’s rules for the RHC Program establish a process to carry forward unused funds from past funding years for use in future funding years.2 In consultation with OMD, the Bureau must announce a specific amount of unused funds from prior funding years to be carried forward to increase available funding for future funding years.

The Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) projects that, as of April 30, 2026, $226.42 million in unused funds is available for use in future funding years beginning in funding year 2026.4 Pursuant to the Commission’s direction and section 54.619(a)(4)-(5) of the Commission’s rules, the Bureau, in consultation with OMD, directs USAC to carry forward up to $226.42 million in unused funds from prior funding years to the extent necessary to satisfy funding year 2026 RHC Program demand.

With the carry-forward funding announced in this Notice, eligible RHC Program funding requests filed during the funding year 2026 application filing window or filed after the close of the filing window but received a waiver of the application filing deadline can be fully funded without prioritization. The RHC Program funding cap for funding year 2026 is $744,161,841.7 The internal cap on multi-year commitments and upfront payments under the Healthcare Connect Fund Program is $187,898,742.8 These funding year 2026 caps represent a 2.8% inflation-adjusted increase to the RHC Program funding cap and the internal cap on multi-year commitments and upfront payments from funding year 2025.9 The estimated total RHC Program demand for funding year 2026 is $911.25 million,10 of which approximately $166.75 million represents demand for multi-year commitments and upfront payments in the Healthcare Connect Fund.

Over the past year, National Skills Coalition has spoken with nearly 100 small and mid-sized businesses on topics related to skills and credentials. (Some of our findings are detailed in Big Insights from Small and Mid-Sized Businesses.)

Many of those businesses are manufacturing companies that are on the frontlines of digital adoption. They shared examples of how they are adopting new technologies ranging from robotics to precision machining to AI and more. These businesses offer an important ground-level perspective on a broader national challenge: how to ensure workers and local businesses have the skills, support, and flexibility needed to adapt to technological change and share in its gains.

Insights from these businesses can help policymakers and advocates design flexible policies that equip workers and their employers to respond to the ongoing technological shifts in the US economy. Below, we describe key insights and policy implications associated with them.

I’m abbreviating the list to include only the insights, not the ways in which policy can help…

Leading businesses know how digital skill-building relates to capital expenditures

General digital resilience is just as important as particular skills

Interpersonal skills can amplify (or undercut) digital skills

Hands-on, experiential learning matters for digital skills too

AI can help to expand existing internal talent development resources

Jobseekers and educators can do more to communicate the relevance of tech credentials

— The Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State (OSS) is providing notice that various state boards, councils, committees, and task forces are accepting applications for open seats.

New vacancies are listed below. See the complete list of 498 seats on the OSS Open Positions webpage. Use the search fields on that webpage to find a specific board or position. Or click on the hyperlinks below to learn more about boards and their respective positions.

If position descriptions aren’t listed for the seats you’d like to apply to, contact the board staff for more information on member duties, qualifications, required application material, and more. See the Request Information section below for tips on contacting board staff.

Apply for a Position

Detailed instructions on finding a position, submitting an application, and related information are provided on the Boards & Commissions Help & How To webpage.

And the positions that I thought might be of interest to readers…

Minnesota e-Health Advisory Committee
Vacancies: 3 Seats — Academics and Research
Vacancies: 1 Seat — Community Clinics/Fed Qual. Health Centers
Vacancies: 2 Seats — Consumer Member
Vacancies: 1 Seat — Health Care Administrator
Vacancies: 1 Seat — Health Care Purchasers and Employers
Vacancies: 2 Seats — Health IT Vendors
Vacancies: 1 Seat — Health System Chief Information Officer
Vacancies: 1 Seat — Hospital Representatives
Vacancies: 4 Seats — Licensed Health Professionals (Physician/Nurse)
Vacancies: 1 Seat — Long Term and Post-Acute Care
Vacancies: 2 Seats — Professional with Expert Knowledge in Health IT
Vacancies: 2 Seats — Rotating Professionals – Additional Health Settings (Dentists, Pharmacists, Behavior Health Laboratory, Home Health, Social Services, etc)

Get more info

Telehealth is going mobile in the 18 counties of southwest Minnesota.

Federal funding is making it possible to install telehealth communication systems in 109 ambulances operated by 54 Emergency Medical Service systems serving 27 hospitals.

Each ambulance will be connected to an “hub” in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. There, a team of board-certified emergency physicians, experienced paramedics, and nurses will be in virtual contact with the ambulance crews during emergency calls.

Simultaneously, the local hospital’s health care team and emergency room are connected as well.

“A major milestone,” is how Ann Jenson, executive director of the described the arrival of mobile telehealth to the region. Jenson was joined by representatives of state transportation and public safety services, the, Avel eCare, and health care staff with the in Dawson for a ceremonial ribbon cutting on May 27.

Some details…

A $9.9 million grant that was part of the $1 billion Biden-Harris Administration’s bipartisan infrastructure law is making the telehealth system possible. U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar helped secure the release of the funding, and sent a letter to participants at the ribbon cutting applauding what she described as an innovative project.

The University of Minnesota will be assessing the new system during the upcoming years to determine its life-saving value and long-term sustainability.

The grant will provide funding for five years. The long-term hope is to find on-going funding to sustain it, according to Becky Vande Kieft, vice president and general manager of emergency services at Avel eCare.

MinnPost reports…

“Do you know you can go on your phone and there’s this game where you can see the old Rondo and the new Rondo?”

It’s called the “Rondo-verse” – a video game aiming to give a sense not only of historic Rondo, but also its present-day vibrancy.

As co-creator Benny Roberts said, “It’s important for me that the community that I come from and was raised in isn’t defined by the thing that happened to it.”

The project is a collaboration between Jolie Davis, a sophomore biology major at Macalester College and Roberts, the executive director of Rondo’s Hallie Q. Brown Community Center.

Using funding from the center’s historical archive program, Roberts was able to hire Davis for 10 weeks and figure out how to showcase Rondo in a unique way.

Davis suggested using Roblox – a platform where users can create their own video games and experiences. Roberts initially pitched The Sims, but acknowledged that Roblox was the right call given its wild popularity with kids and teenagers.

“The Sims feels like my generation,” he said, laughing.

To help create a vision of Rondo’s history, they worked with a group of about 15 community elders – people who knew what it was like to live, work and grow up in Rondo first hand.