Happy New Year from the APM Research Lab!

As the year comes to an end, we would like to thank you for supporting our mission to bring facts into focus.

Once again in 2023, we provided data-driven reporting on a wide variety of topics, from education and the environment to health and public policy.  

We continued our partnerships with Penn State’s McCourtney Institute for Democracy, and Arizona State University’s Ten Across Initiative. We provided research support for two Marketplace-produced podcasts (Uncertain Hour and How We Survive), and our work was cited in stories published everywhere from the BBC and CNN to Vox and The Texas Tribune.  

In total we published 70 articles in 2023. Our ten most read and listened-to stories in 2023 include some that were published on the websites of American Public Media Group’s two regional newsrooms, MPR News and LAist (Southern California Public Radio):  

  1. California Nursing Homes Are Becoming ‘De Facto Mental Health Centers’ (LAist), by Ely Yu (LAist) and Elisabeth Gawthrop 

  2. Minnesota counties stand to lose millions after Supreme Court ruling (MPR News), by Kirsti Marohn (MPR News) and Alyson Clary 

  3. Reading the numbers: 130 million American adults have low literacy skills, but funding differs drastically by state, by the Lab’s former Ten Across data journalism fellow, Emily Schmidt

  4. Who will control the U.S. House and Senate in 2023? by APM Research Lab staff 

  5. Color of coronavirus, by Elisabeth Gawthrop 

  6. Roots beyond race, a 2019 article with a surprising resurgence in interest by former Lab staffer Andi Egbert

  7. COVID-19 in Minnesota: Key data, by APM Research Lab staff 

  8. Minnesota State Fair by the numbers (MPR News), by Craig Helmstetter 

  9. The COVID kraken has not (yet) been released in Minnesota (MPR News), by Alyson Clary and Craig Helmstetter 

  10. Minnesota's population bounces back: 5 takeaways from latest census estimates (MPR News), by Craig Helmstetter 

We have big plans for 2024, including a new partnership with Marketplace that will strengthen local newsrooms across the country in their reporting on local economic trends, collaborating with MPR News’ recently-launched Native News project, and, of course, covering the election. 

Thanks again for your continued support! Please do not hesitate to send us a note, we love to hear from you. 

Craig Helmstetter, PhD 
Managing Partner, APM Research Lab 

Craig Helmstetter