This is bad news. Monson trucking, a longstanding trucking company in northern Minnesota and throughout the region, is closing. 200 jobs lost.

The loss of these kinds of jobs will deeply affect people living on the margins between middle and low income levels. Anyone who’s driven up Highway 53 or from West 169 into Virginia has seen these M(O)nson (the big red “O”) trucks parked at their hub along the intersection. Now they’ll be gone.

UPDATE: A story from MPR