A Plymouth, Minnesota Video Game Studio Built a War Game So Controversial Its Publisher Walked Away. It Still Shipped — 14 Years Later.
August 23, 2026 · 2 min read
Destineer, a video game studio founded in a Twin Cities suburb in 2001, grew into a Global Top 25 publisher -- and its military-simulation studio built actual training…
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A Company Most Americans Have Never Heard of Stores the Medical Records of 280 Million People. It's on a 1,100-Acre Wisconsin Campus.
August 23, 2026 · 2 min read
Epic Systems has never gone public and rarely talks to the press, but it holds the medical records of more than 280 million people -- over 80% of the US population -- as the…
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Kansas City Was One Congressional District for Nearly 60 Years. The New Map Splits It Into Three, Each Merged With Land 200 Miles Away.
August 23, 2026 · 2 min read
Missouri predicted the winning presidential candidate in 25 of 26 elections from 1904 to 2004 -- a streak that ended in 2008. The state's new congressional map splits Kansas…
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Tampa Is Home to the U.S. Military Command That Runs Operations Across the Middle East. It's Also the Third-Largest Financial Hub in the Country.
August 23, 2026 · 2 min read
MacDill Air Force Base, inside Tampa city limits, houses both CENTCOM and SOCOM -- the commands that run US military operations across the Middle East and special operations…
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Ken Griffin Moved a $67 Billion Hedge Fund From Chicago to Miami in 2022. He's Betting Miami Becomes the World's Financial Capital.
August 23, 2026 · 2 min read
Ken Griffin moved Citadel, his $67 billion hedge fund, from Chicago to Miami in 2022 -- then paid $363 million for a Brickell waterfront site to build a 54-story headquarters…
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For 56 Years, Disney Ran Its Own Government — Fire Department, Building Codes, Zoning, All of It. The State Took It Back in 2023.
August 23, 2026 · 2 min read
For 56 years, Disney World ran its own local government inside Florida -- its own zoning, building codes, fire department, roads, and utilities, largely exempt from the rules…
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The Federal Reserve Has Held Its Most Important Annual Meeting in Wyoming Every August Since 1981. It Still Won't Give Wyoming's Own Banks a Fed Account.
August 23, 2026 · 2 min read
The Federal Reserve has held its most closely watched annual meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyoming every August since 1981. Four hundred miles away in Cheyenne, real Wyoming-chartered…
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A Company Founded in Bozeman, Montana Sold to Oracle for $1.5 Billion in 2011. Montana's Tech Sector Now Pays 2.4 Times the State's Average Wage.
August 23, 2026 · 3 min read
RightNow Technologies, founded in Bozeman, Montana in 1997, sold to Oracle in 2011 for roughly $1.5 billion. That exit wasn't a one-off -- it opened a real, still-growing tech…
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New Orleans Is Known for Mardi Gras. It Also Ships 60% of the Country's Grain Exports and Produces a Quarter of the Nation's Seafood.
August 23, 2026 · 4 min read
The Mississippi River carries 92% of US agricultural exports, and most of it funnels out through New Orleans and South Louisiana -- roughly 60% of the nation's grain exports and…
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Houston Is Called the Energy Capital of the World. It's Also Home to the Largest Medical Complex on Earth — 106,000 People on One Campus.
August 23, 2026 · 2 min read
Houston is known for oil, but the Texas Medical Center on its doorstep is the largest medical complex in the world -- 54 institutions, 106,000 employees, one 2.1-square-mile…
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Techstars Moved Its Headquarters Out of Boulder in 2024. Boulder Raised $1.7 Billion in Venture Capital the Same Year Anyway.
August 23, 2026 · 3 min read
Techstars, the accelerator that put Boulder on the startup map, moved its headquarters to New York and shut down its Boulder programs in 2024. Boulder raised $1.7 billion in…
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The Colorado School of Mines Was Founded in 1874 for a Gold Rush That Ended Decades Ago. It Now Feeds the Country's Second-Largest Aerospace Cluster.
August 23, 2026 · 3 min read
Colorado School of Mines was chartered in 1874 to train engineers for a gold rush that was already fading. Its mining program is still ranked #1 in the world, but what actually…
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In 1994, 48 Companies Kept an Office Near Walmart's Headquarters. By 2001 It Was 445. Today It's Over 1,500.
August 23, 2026 · 3 min read
A large enough anchor employer pulls a second economy into its orbit. Bentonville tracked it year over year: 48 companies kept a Walmart-supplier office there in 1994, 445 by…
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Robert Bork Rewrote Antitrust Law in 1978. United Now Controls 70% of Dulles, and the Nearest Real Choice Is a Drive to Another Airport.
August 23, 2026 · 6 min read
Friedman's 1970 case for shareholder profit-maximization came with a condition everyone quotes half of: profit-seeking only serves the public inside real, open competition. Three…
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Two-Thirds of the Fortune 500 Are Legally Delaware Companies. Almost None of Them Are Actually There.
August 22, 2026 · 3 min read
Two-thirds of the Fortune 500 are legally incorporated in Delaware without being headquartered there -- a legal address worth nearly a third of the state's entire budget in…
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Women-Founded Companies Return 78 Cents Per Dollar Invested. Male-Founded Companies Return 31 Cents. Women Get 1-2% of the Money.
August 22, 2026 · 4 min read
Women-founded companies generate 78 cents of revenue per dollar invested, against 31 cents for male-founded companies -- yet receive just 1-2% of US VC funding. Black-founded…
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Boeing's Headquarters Left Seattle in 2001, Then Left Chicago in 2022. Its Factory Never Moved — It's Still the Largest Building on Earth.
August 22, 2026 · 3 min read
Boeing's headquarters left Seattle for Chicago in 2001, then left Chicago for Arlington, Virginia in 2022 -- moving each time to sit closer to a customer or regulator. Its…
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The US Makes 12% of the World's Semiconductors, Down From 37% in 1990. Micron — Born in a Boise Basement — Just Broke Ground on the Fab Meant to Help Fix That.
August 22, 2026 · 6 min read
US semiconductor manufacturing has fallen from 37% of world supply in 1990 to about 12% today. Micron, founded in 1978 in the basement of a Boise dental office, is now the only…
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Cleveland Lost More Than Half Its Population After 1950. Its Hospital System Is Now Ranked #2 in the World.
August 22, 2026 · 3 min read
Cleveland lost more than half its population after 1950, but two institutions kept growing through the collapse: Cleveland Clinic, founded in 1921, is now ranked the #2 hospital…
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Reston, Virginia Has About 65,000 Residents, Its Own Special Tax, and No Government at All.
August 22, 2026 · 4 min read
Reston, Virginia has about 65,000 residents, no mayor, no town council, and a real government-levied property tax with no elected body to answer to at all -- filled instead by a…
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