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Time to get tougher on catalytic converter theft

The theft of catalytic converters from cars has been growing over the past few years. The converters, part of the emissions control system, are coated with a variety of rare and precious metals to convert unburned hydrocarbons in exhaust into carbon dioxide and water. Thieves found that with a little practice and an electric saw they can slide under a car, take out the converter and be gone in a couple of minutes. They can sell the converters to salvage shops and recyclers for a few hundred dollars. They also leave the car owner with a very expensive repair bill. It can cost around ...

Russian brutality should count as war crimes

Russian troops that have beseiged the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol have waged a kind of war that should be considered crimes against humanity. They bombed a maternity hospital. They have shelled schools and hospitals where civilians have gathered to seek shelter, including a theater where 1,300 people are believed to be inside the destroyed building. Refugees fleeing the city have run a gantlet, dodging Russian artillery and guns to escape. The city behind them is being destroyed. The siege will “be remembered for centuries to come,” because of the terror tactics of the ...

Thumbs Up/Down

Rebate or reduction? THUMBS DOWN: At this point, with inflation really starting to take a bite out of people’s wallets and gas pump prices making people seriously take up walking more, it’s time for the state Legislature to start sending some of that $9 billion in surplus funds back our way. Gov. Tim Walz this week proposed sending out rebate checks of $1,000 per couple, but Republicans in the Legislature want to spend the surplus on permanent tax cuts for all. Democrats in the House, of course, want to spend more on services. There is enough money in the surplus that this ...

Legislature failing businesses in state

With its inability to pass even the most basic and common sense legislation in a timely fashion, the Minnesota Legislature has hit Minnesota’s employers with a huge tax increase. This increase could have been avoided if the state had just agreed to repay the debt in the Minnesota Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, a $2.7 billion deficit that arose due to the unexpected unemployment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The federal government stepped in with enhanced federal unemployment payments, but the bill has come due and Minnesota has to refill its trust fund. The state is sitting ...

Is this what Texas lawmakers wanted?

The State of Texas, like a lot of Republican dominated states, passed voting restriction legislation that they claimed would “make it easier to vote and harder to cheat.” So how is it working? In the March 1 Texas primary this year, the state threw out 23,000 mail-in ballots, roughly 13% of the mail ballots cast in the counties surveyed by the Associated Press. The rejected ballots indicate that voters were having a hard time complying with the new rules Texas installed, including providing a personal ID number, such as a driver’s license number or Social Security number as well ...

Does problem go deeper?

It is easy to view the accusations of anti-gay harassment during the New Ulm/St. Peter basketball games this winter as an isolated incident. When a New Ulm player or players harassed and physically harmed a St. Peter player who is gay, it was an ugly thing, and those responsible should be held accountable. But doesthe problem begin and end there? Is this incident a symptom of a deeper problem? If this kind of incident happened in as public a place as a high school basketball game, does it happen elsewhere in the school, or in town? Are other LGBTQ students subjected to harassment ...