In many towns and cities, some members of minority communities do not trust police officers. Many in law enforcement work to build trust among those they serve. Clearly, however, enforcing the law is the department’s overriding priority. We pay police officers and sheriff’s deputies to ...

The decision by the New Ulm City Council to end its subsidy to the New Ulm Economic Development Corporation (NUEDC) goes this week to the New Ulm Public Utilities Commission (PUC). The PUC, like the city, has provided $50,000 in an annual subsidy to NUEDC to help pay for its operations. The ...

Mediation a bust THUMBS DOWN: The mediation session between Gov. Mark Dayton and the Republican legislators who sued him for stripping their funding from the state budget bill has gone nowhere. After two days of behind closed doors talks to try to work out their difference, the two sides ...

The New Ulm City Council set the preliminary tax levy for 2018 on Tuesday, with a 5.5 percent maximum increase that will likely be lowered a point or two before the city’s final budget is set in December. A 5.5 percent increase is a reasonable upper limit. It is a marked contrast to last ...

Some world leaders have made their disdain for U.S. President Donald Trump very clear, very publicly. On Tuesday, he heard another round of lectures, after delivering one himself, at the United Nations. Trump reiterated the philosophy that helped get him elected president. While embracing ...

Attorneys for the Minnesota Legislature filed a report Monday with the Minnesota Supreme Court, saying the Legislature will have to start laying off employees and shutting down by December if no agreement is reached between Gov. Mark Dayton and the Legislature over the legislative funding ...

During much of Iran’s drive to build nuclear weapons, the watchdog that was supposed to be preventing that — the International Atomic Energy Agency — often appeared to be wearing blinders. On multiple occasions, the IAEA reported it could find no evidence Iran was doing anything more than ...

The digital economy has changed the face of crime. No longer is it necessary for a thief to approach you with a gun to take your money, or to break into your house to steal your goods. Nowadays, a computer hacker who isn’t even on the same continent as you can steal your personal information, ...

Butterflies rebound THUMBS UP: This year we have seen more Monarch butterflies flittering around the city than we have seen in the past several years. We don’t know all the factors responsible for that, but we would guess a lot has to do with the emphasis on planting gardens and fields with ...

Wayzata Police Officer William Mathews was laid to his final rest Thursday, escorted, as are all police heroes who lose their life in the line of duty, by a convoy of fellow police officers from around the state and across the nation. His death is especially sad, because it was so needless. ...

Texans and Floridians hurt by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma are on the minds of millions of their neighbors throughout the United States. But what about our other fellow Americans in the U.S. Virgin Islands? If anything, devastation wrought by Hurricane Irma in the USVI is worse that what is ...

It’s hard to fathom that the state of Minnesota is having such a tough time rolling out its new computerized system for the state’s licensing system. The new Minnesota Licensing and Registraton System (MNLARS), which replaces the one licensing bureaus have been using the past 30 years, has ...

Financial services companies assure us they will handle the confidential information they often demand from us responsibly and securely. As many Americans have learned from data breaches in the past, those are promises not always kept. Now Equifax, the giant credit reporting agency, has made ...

“Some people think sex sting operations can’t happen in small towns, but this is proof that they can. I believe these eight arrests show that this problem is far more prevalent than anyone thought. No one is policing the Internet. These arrests are the reality of the situation.” — ...

The Minnesota Supreme Court recognized the right of Gov. Mark Dayton to use the line item veto, even to totally defund the Minnesota Legislature. The court, however, ordered the two sides in the lawsuit over Dayton’s unprecedented veto to find a mediator by Tuesday and work out their ...

Festive Weekend THUMBS UP: It promises to be one of those sparkling fall weekends in New Ulm, perfect weather for the abundance of fun and festive things to do. Today we have the Drew’s Crew Colorfest 5K race, an annual event to support Drew Aufderheide in his continuing battle with an ...

President Donald Trump basically did what he had to do this week in announcing he was ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals rule that was put in place by his predecessor. President Barack Obama had put the rule in place, contrary to current immigration law, to prevent the ...

Well, that was sudden. The New Ulm City Council, after 20 years of subsidizing the work of the New Ulm Economic Development Corportation’s, voted 3-2 Tuesday to end that subsidy, putting the effectiveness and activity of that organization in serious question. And they did it despite pleas ...

Diplomats sometimes engage in hyperbole to make their points. But what Nikki Haley, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Monday may be the literal truth. Haley spoke during an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council. It was called after it was confirmed that North Korea has ...

During our national Labor Day holiday we celebrated our many hard-working Americans, took a day off and, perhaps, reflect on what we contribute to the economy. Trouble is, the percentage of us supporting it is dropping, despite what the government’s unemployment rate reports may have you ...