Newsroom Resources & Press Information

MNFlag for Journalists & Newsrooms

Empirical Minnesota state flag research designed for direct reporting, verification, charting, data journalism, and academic study.

Dataset updated September 2026. Every published record carries documented provenance, distinguishing verified primary packets, secondary news reporting, and pending public records requests.

At A Glance

Quick Facts for News Reporting

29
Verified Jurisdictions

Cities, counties, and townships with verified actions.

31
Documented Actions

Formal resolutions, roll-call motions, and letters.

71
Attributable Statements

Coded public remarks from hearings and meetings.

72
Tracked Officials

Public officials with documented votes or statements.

Interactive Graphics

Embeddable Newsroom Charts & Vector Graphics

All charts are responsive, self-contained, and accessible. Newsrooms and art departments can embed live interactive graphics or download publication-ready vector SVGs, high-resolution PNGs, and raw CSV files:

Actions by Substantive Type

Resolutions adopting former flag, opposing new flag, displaying both, letters to state.

Documented Actions Timeline

Monthly activity clusters leading to the May 11, 2024 effective date and 2026 sessions.

Recorded Action Outcomes

Final status of proposals: adopted, rejected, tabled, or died without formal vote.

Argument Taxonomy Frequency

Distribution of the 13 research argument categories across attributable statements.

Raw Empirical Data

Downloadable Curated Datasets

Clean CSV and JSON files updated continuously from the PostgreSQL canonical research schema:

Dataset Contents Unit of Analysis Format Direct Download
Government Actions Resolutions, motions, roll calls, outcomes, dates Action event CSV, JSON CSV ↓ · JSON ↓
Public Statements Attributable quotes, speakers, dates, argument coding Attributable remark CSV, JSON CSV ↓ · JSON ↓
Argument Summary Counts of statements, speakers, and jurisdictions per category Argument category CSV, JSON CSV ↓ · JSON ↓
Officials Records Recorded votes and statements matched to named public officials Public official CSV, JSON CSV ↓ · JSON ↓
Case Relationships Transmission edges, precedent citations, shared text clauses Jurisdiction edge CSV, JSON CSV ↓ · JSON ↓
Academic & Newsroom Standards

Citation Guidance & Data Dictionary

Preferred Citation Formats

AP Style: According to data compiled by MNFlag, an independent Minnesota flag research project…

Academic: MNFlag Research Database. (2026). Minnesota State Flag Local Governance & Public Records Dataset (Version 2026.09). Retrieved from https://mnflag.com/data.

Data Dictionary & Key Rules

  • Documented Provenance: Every record carries documented provenance metadata. We distinguish verified primary meeting packets and minutes from secondary news reporting and pending public records requests.
  • Government Actions: Measures taken by an elected municipal council or county board regarding state flag display or resolution. Must be documented in official minutes.
  • Attributable Statements: Remarks made during an official public hearing or meeting, or directly verified through contemporary journalistic reporting. Paraphrases are explicitly marked as such.
  • Non-Scoring Standard: MNFlag does not score officials, calculate ideological indices, or infer an overall position. Absences from records indicate that no public statement was located in verified research, not that the official lacks a position.
  • Flag Observations: Mapped physical displays record verified presence at a specific date and time. An observed display does not constitute a political endorsement by the property owner.
Editorial Integrity

Factual Corrections & Source Inquiries

MNFlag maintains a permanent provenance standard and publishes all factual corrections transparently in a public corrections log. If you are an official, journalist, or researcher with primary documentation or meeting minutes that update or clarify our records, please report them directly: