The Minneapolis Star Tribune has featured Department of Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation (IRRR) Commissioner Ida Rukavina about her new role and what IRRR is doing for northeastern Minnesota. They specifically asked about population decline…

We know that St. Louis County remains stagnant. When we look at workers, there’s still a huge need for working-age people. Housing is one of those ways that we can address populations. Broadband is another way. (The agency has invested nearly $6 million in broadband projects since 2015.) During the pandemic, it kind of opened our eyes in some ways of things that we could do. People wanted to move here and did if they had broadband or the high speed internet needed for their remote job. But there’s still a huge lack of opportunities and a lot of communities that don’t have anything or minimal internet speeds. That hinders growth.