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Med City Beat is a Rochester-based news project rooted in fairness, transparency and civic responsibility.
Est. 2014
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From a skyline view, downtown looks like a booming place. Large cranes tower over the construction of new research facilities and parking ramps. But shift your lens to the street level and you will get a much different perspective. On buildings both old and new, “for lease” signs have become an all-too-common sight.
Forget burgers and fries, Rochester students are expanding their palettes this summer with new, culturally-inspired dishes in an effort to diversify the school lunch menu and better reflect district demographics.
On her mission to deliver medical supplies and training to soldiers and civilians in Ukraine, Ashlea McLeod, PhD, PA-C, encountered the gamut of the human spirit: pure-hearted NGO volunteers, military and medical heroes and imposters, extremists “playing war,” and refugees left in the lurch.
To reduce its carbon effort, Mayo said it will focus its efforts on energy, transportation and other emissions, such as from anesthetic gases and refrigerants.
In 2015, former Mayor Ardell Brede set forward an ambitious goal of making Rochester energy net-zero by 2031. The proclamation positioned the city as an early adopter in the movement to begin mitigating the effects of climate change. But turning political will into action isn’t always easy — and despite significant progress, including a pledge from Rochester Public Utilities to transition its electricity to 100 percent renewable resources — the city remains a long way from becoming carbon-free.
Mayo Clinic topped $1 billion in net operating income for the second time ever in 2021 as the hospital system saw a record 1.4 million patients, according to an annual financial report released Monday.
Minnesota’s redrawn legislative maps are out — and for Rochester area voters, that means some notable changes to the ballot this November.
The state is now at one of its worst points of the pandemic, with nearly 90 percent of hospital ICUs across the state completely full, according to data from the Minnesota Department of Health.
Rochester Parks and Rec has secured a $379,000 grant from the Greater Minnesota Regional Parks and Trails Commission to support an “inclusive expansion” of the nature playground at Cascade Lake Regional Park.
In the past week, the county has recorded 774 new cases — a nearly 20 percent uptick from the previous seven-day period. The last time the county saw numbers this high was just after Thanksgiving 2020.
Rochester Mayor Kim Norton issued a state of emergency on Tuesday that requires masks be worn in all indoor public settings where medically vulnerable individuals or children under 12 are expected to be present.
During an extended interview with Med City Beat, new interim Superintendent Kent Pekel discussed student equity, community outreach, his background, and what he took away from an unexpectedly rowdy welcome to Rochester.
After Covid-19 upended local commerce, a number of entrepreneurs and nonprofits stepped up to support the small business community. Now, as Rochester bounces back from the pandemic, some of those businesses are sticking around — and finding new ways to make it easier to shop local.
Rochester’s bars and restaurants will not have to pay their liquor license fees in 2021, the Rochester City Council confirmed Monday, extending a key portion of the city’s relief efforts for an industry that took a major economic hit due to Covid-19.
Despite reservations about the artist’s past behavior, the Olmsted County Fair Board has decided to keep the Minneapolis-based hip-hop artist Prof atop its music lineup for a ticketed concert this summer.
The Rochester City Council voted Monday to keep the Silver Lake pool around for at least one more summer — reversing course on Parks and Recreation’s original plans to shutter the pool for good, and also creating a serious possibility that the pool could be free for everyone this summer.
After delaying a decision for two weeks, the Rochester City Council gave the preliminary go-ahead for a 66-unit affordable housing project to move forward Monday night.
In a marathon discussion that lasted nearly four hours Monday night, the Rochester School Board approved a plan to slowly bring elementary schoolers back to the classroom. However, the plan that was approved does not go as far as what was originally recommended by the district, pushing a decision on in-person learning back by roughly a month.
The Rochester City Council voted Monday to temporarily overhaul its liquor license fees for nearly all of the city’s bars and restaurants, in an effort to give some relief to an industry hammered by Covid-19 restrictions. A late-added amendment to the measure, however, will keep two troubled downtown bars from cashing in.
In an effort to “help vaccinate the world,” Mayo Clinic announced the creation of a local Covid-19 vaccine registry Monday — intended to give Rochester-area residents a shot at being a small part of large-scale vaccine trial runs, before they are distributed worldwide.
