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Biden makes right decision on railroad strike

A looming national rail strike was narrowly averted, after the Senate voted 80-15 to impose a bargaining agreement on intransigent unions. Brokered by the Biden administration, the deal includes an extra paid day off, along with a 24% pay raise through 2024. Eight of the 12 rail unions ratified it, but four voted it down. After President Biden called on Congress to impose the agreement, the House voted to do so. But progressives also insisted on passing a second measure to rewrite the deal and add seven paid sick days. That failed in the Senate, 52-43. Six Republicans voted yes, ...

Thumbs Up/Down

Springfield Pageant THUMBS UP: The Springfield Nativity Pageant is being presented this weekend, a Christmastime tradition that has been carried on for 37 years. It is Springfield’s Christmas gift to people throughout the county and beyond, presented free of charge. The outdoor pageant is special for its attention to detail, with real donkeys and camels to carry the Holy Family and the Wise Men. It is held outdoors, so it takes a real commitment and lots of warm clothing to put it on. An undertaking like this doesn’t last 37 years without true commitment from the community. ...

Musk is out of his depth at Twitter

It is said that a fool and his money are soon parted. Well, Elon Musk didn’t get where he is today by being a fool, but he parted with $44 billion of his money to buy Twitter, and now he seems to be running it into the ground. Musk said he purchased Twitter over concerns that the massive social media platform was stifling freedom of expression. Musk described himself as a free speech “absolutist.” His intent, he said, was to turn Twitter into a “global digital town square,” where anyone can have their say, and the good ideas, hopefully, will rise to the surface. Since ...

Microchips, the U.S. and the future

When President Biden visits a microchip factory under construction in Arizona, it might look like a political victory lap: The factory will bring $12 billion and thousands of jobs to an important swing state that just elected a Democratic governor and senator. But the chips the factory will manufacture carry far more significance than being a partisan maneuver. They are essential to U.S. security. Silicon chips, or semiconductors, the tiny integrated circuits that power electronic devices, are the reason we can send texts or turn on the television. They are the means by which pilots ...

AG opinion on lunch shaming protects students

Of all the stresses schoolchildren endure, lunch shaming should never have been on the list. A recent Minnesota attorney general’s opinion stating that all students are entitled to the same full school meal is a welcome move to protect against future lunch shaming in all our schools. Children’s lunch trays shouldn’t act as the overdue bill to parents who have a cafeteria debt to pay. Although no recent incidents of lunch shaming have received widespread attention, a few years ago a couple of Minnesota districts were in the spotlight for throwing children’s meals into the ...

A failed try to stoke abortion controversy

The tiny western Minnesota city of Prinsburg did not let itself become a pawn in this game. If anyone doubted that abortion was on the ballot this November, they need look no further than the small western Minnesota city of Prinsburg. State Republican Rep. Tim Miller, who represents the area, announced at the start of this year that he would not seek re-election. Instead, Miller, who now works for a group that opposes abortion, said he would dedicate himself to turning this tiny city of fewer than 500 residents into the hub of a new abortion battle with a proposed ordinance allowing ...