The Center Square offers one of the most Minnesotan of all compliments…

Minnesota will award $27 million in state funding and $42.6 million in federal funding to broadband expansion projects across the state.

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development on Monday launched a request for proposals for the funding. The funding supports the state’s goal that all homes and businesses have access `to broadband with download speeds of at least 100 megabits per second and upload speeds of at least 20 megabits per second by 2026, the news release said.

“I’d say that this is not one of the worst ways for the government to spend money,” Center of the American Experiment Economist John Phelan told The Center Square in an emailed statement Dec. 20. “Unlike most spending that gets called ‘investment,’ this actually is investment in the sense that it ought to increase the economy’s productive capacity and generate a return.”