Getting a read on Bemidji's economy depends on where you look these days. You can find both ongoing struggle and boom times. It's a tale of two economies.
A northern Minnesota police department that had been looking forward to getting more than $40,000 for a motorized recliner has had to repost the item on eBay with bidding starting at $500.
In Albert Lea, the pain of the manufacturing slump is acute. That sector has lost nearly 43,000 jobs in Minnesota since the start of the recession -- more than any other major industry. With a heavy reliance on factory jobs, Albert Lea's jobless rate topped 11 percent earlier this year.
Disk drive component maker Hutchinson Technology says the company broke even in the latest quarter primarily through layoffs and the closing of a plant in the past year.