Breaking News

Editorials

COVID seeped into everything in 2021

As the end of the year approaches, news articles have been taking stock of what happened in the past year. Unfortunately, permeating through most of the major events of 2021 is one common theme — COVID-19. In the economic news, COVID has impacted workplaces, employees and business operations alike. In the world of sports, COVID shortened seasons, forced players out of games for a couple of weeks at a time and has even kept the NHL from allowing its players to compete in the Winter Olympics. In the Summer Olympics, it forced a year’s postponement and forced athletes to compete in ...

An example of love and acceptance on a global scale

South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who died Sunday at the age of 90, was a remarkable man who lived in remarkable times. The first Black Bishop of Johannesburg and later Anglican Archbishop of Capetown, he used his influence to rally public opinion — in South Africa and around the world — against the evils of the South African Apartheid form of government. He had a remarkable ability to advocate for human rights, not only in his own country but around the world. Along with Nelson Mandela, the political leader who emerged from decades of being a political prisoner of the ...

Thumbs Up/Down

Justice is done THUMBS UP: Kim Potter, the former Brooklyn Center police officer who shot Daunte Wright with her 9mm Glock instead of her Taser, was found guilty on Friday of two counts of manslaughter. It is not wrong to feel sorry for Potter. Evidence and body camera video show she did had intended to use her Taser and she is most remorseful for the mistake. But a man is dead as a result of her mistake, and it is not enough to say, “I’m sorry.” Her remorse won’t undo her mistake. Nothing will give Daunte Wright. back to his family. Justice demands that Potter be ...

Be ready for carbon monoxide dangers

Last week seven members of a family in the Moorhead area were found dead in their home. While police wouldn’t immediately say what had killed the Hernandez family, they did say there was no sign of obvious trauma. Wednesday, with blood toxicity results in, the authorities announced the family had died from carbon monoxide toxicity. While they don’t know how the CO got into the family’s home, the blood tests left no doubt. What they do know is that the carbon monoxide detector in the family’s home was disconnected, and its battery was missing. Most of the family members were ...

COVID’s rebound

A year ago COVID-19 was hammering health care workers, closing schools, stopping sporting events and other large group gatherings. Six months ago, thanks largely to the vaccines that were becoming increasingly available, COVID numbers were dropping and people were looking at leaving masks at home and getting out and around other people. But now, thanks to the delta variant and the more recent omicron variant, COVID has staged a big comeback. Hospitals are full of infected patients, the NFL, NBA and NHL are postponing games as players and coaches test positive, and it is expected ...

Tailpipe standards

President Joe Biden announced a stricter set of mileage and emission standards for U.S. automakers on Monday, perhaps in response to Sen. Joe Manchin sticking a potato in the tailpipe of the Build Back Better Act on Sunday. The bill that Manchin said he couldn’t support contains $555 billion for renewable energy and clean transportation over the next ten years, including tax credits for installing solar panels and buying electric cars. It was meant to be the backbone of Biden’s plans to lower the U.S.’s production of greenhouse gases. By setting new mileage standards for ...