In today’s stories, the state could end up paying to relocate a Minnesota sports landmark. Some Northern Minnesota towns are missing visits from their neighbors. And, are state pharmacies becoming an endangered species?
Transcript
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HOST: You're listening to North Star Stories: Voices from Where We Live, a daily newscast about what it means to live in Minnesota.
ANCHOR: In today's stories, the state could end up paying to relocate a Minnesota sports landmark. Some Northern Minnesota towns are missing visits from their neighbors. And, are state pharmacies becoming an endangered species? I'm Gracie J.
The US Hockey Hall of Fame may receive state funds to facilitate a move to a new location. Last week, the Minnesota Senate struck down an amendment that would have prohibited the use of public funds to move it from Eveleth to St. Paul. Though the vote doesn't guarantee a move or that state money would be used, it clears a significant hurdle for those supporting the move. Annually, the hall brings eight thousand visitors to Eveleth, the Iron Range town known as the birthplace of Minnesota hockey. Some believe relocating to the metro area would significantly boost attendance.
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Recent economic policies are starting to show their effects on people's wallets and travel behaviors. Reporter Victor Palomino talks to the News Director at WTIP, the AMPERS station in Grand Marais (Muh-ray), about how the border town is navigating the new challenges.
Victor Palomino: Trade wars have been in the headlines for most of 2025 and in this month, conversation with wtip News Director Kelly Hawkins, we talk about how the White House rollout of tariffs on imports from Canada is hurting their local economy.
Kalli Hawkins: So this past week, one of our big focuses within the news department is exploring and deep dive into how are the tariffs impacting us on the local level, here in our small, rural tourist town of Grand Marais, Minnesota, given that we are just about an hour away from the border, not even Kelly
Victor Palomino: caught up with business owners to hear firsthand how the federal decisions are, checking up their daily operations, and
Kalli Hawkins: a chance to connect with some owners of writings, gas station, rains border store up there, near the border, but had a chance to speak with Debbie there, and she said they definitely are being impacted by the tariffs. They're noticing that, and they are noticing quite a bit of a reduction of Canadian visitors.
Victor Palomino: And the numbers back it up. According to the US Customs and Border Protection, the number of Canadians who cross the border into the US dropped by half a million in the past year,
Kalli Hawkins: pretty much. She said, 90% of their business is reliant on the Canadian visitors and tourism there that come across the border to for packages. Canadians will ship packages to the Ryan's border store. They can come across the border pick those packages up or purchase duty free goods, in addition a lot of other things there as well, or swing down to Grand Marais and then stop it ridings on the way back.
Victor Palomino: Now, business are adjusting, cutting employee hours, trimming expenses, not allowing overtime, and even thinking about raising prices right when they're normally. Be gearing up for the busy tourist season.
Kalli Hawkins: Here we are in April. Should be ramping up into our busy summer season, but it's not quite there yet, so definitely feel an impact there.
Victor Palomino: Community members and local leaders are working on finding solutions.
Kalli Hawkins: We've had quite a few town halls in Grand Marais recently, and kind of along the North Shore, where there's a lot of people that are engaged and active and a lot of the tariffs and discussions and issues have been brought up about this, and how are we going to adapt?
Victor Palomino: But so far, the help from local government hasn't quite matched the size of the problem.
Kalli Hawkins: On the kind of the local government side of it, there's nothing related that they can do at this moment in time except welcome the you know, input and feedback from their constituents, and then pass that along to our upper representatives or state representatives, so hopefully that makes it up to the national level.
Victor Palomino: Another factor adding to the tariffs is misinformation. Kelly mentioned rumors about Canadian visitors not being welcome,
Kalli Hawkins: and that is just simply not true. We rely we love our Canadian visitors, and we really appreciate them, and we want them here and as often and as more as much as possible, and hopefully have them here this summer.
Victor Palomino: You can read Kelly's full report and stay on top of all the latest news at WTIP dot org. For North Star Stories, I'm Victor Palomino.
ANCHOR: You are listening to North Star Stories.
Pharmacists throughout Minnesota are urging legislators to help stop an epidemic of pharmacy closures. The Minnesota Pharmacists Association says that 61 percent of independent pharmacies closed in the state between 2013 and 2023. The closures are creating what some are calling pharmacy deserts in Greater Minnesota. MN Indys, a trade organization representing independent Minnesota pharmacies, says pharmacy benefits managers, PMBs, are to blame for the closures. It says PBMs frequently reimburse pharmacies for medications at rates that are lower than what the pharmacy paid to get the drug. A bipartisan House bill would use state and federal funds to ensure pharmacies in rural and underserved communities are adequately reimbursed so they can survive.
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HOST: North Star Stories is produced by AMPERS, diverse radio for Minnesota's communities, with support from the McKnight Foundation and the State of Minnesota. Online at ampers dot org.