MnSCU

Hundreds of layoff notices are being sent out this week to employees at St. Cloud's two MnSCU schools. The layoff notices are in preparation of a possible state government shutdown at the end of this month.

The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system will send layoff notices to 6,000 employees Friday if it can't work out a deal to get access to its money in a state government shutdown.

The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system has reached a deal with the system's next president that will pay a base salary of $360,000 plus up $50,000 a year in performance bonuses.

Minnesota farmers made more money last year, compared to the year before. The median net farm income was nearly $120,000 among about 2,500 Minnesota farms in 2010 -- that's up from just over $33,000 the year before when net incomes were depressed by low profits in the livestock industry.

The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities board meets Tuesday to hear a report on the finances of the 43 charitable foundations related to the system. The report says expenses among the foundations during the last fiscal year were up from the year before while the money sent to the system was down.

Trustees of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system didn't have to look far to find their next chancellor, selecting University of Minnesota vice president Steven Rosenstone. By a 14-1 vote, the trustees chose the 59-year-old vice president for scholarly and cultural affairs on Wednesday after two days of public interviews.