We see far too many news reports about young children dying after being left unattended in cars. You wonder how any parent or caretaker could be so negligent. Sometimes parents rushing to get to work on too little sleep, or dealing with unusual distractions or personal situations, forget to ...
Law enforcement authorities agree that one key to curbing certain types of crime is to sever the supply-and-demand link. Fewer drug addicts means less demand for pushers and thus, fewer of them, for example. Federal officials don’t seem to be doing a very good job of that in regard to ...
Not funny, Sonny THUMBS DOWN: The beating farmers are taking from the tariff war with China is not a laughing matter. Just ask farmers here in southern Minnesota. Perhaps Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue didn’t get that memo before making a bad joke about farmers during a Farmfest ...
Police officers and sheriff’s deputies are accused regularly — and as a class — of being too eager to use violence, especially against African-Americans. Those who have that attitude ought to consider what happened Wednesday night in Philadelphia. During the day there, police went to a ...
An Oregon man is lucky his idea of testing the Second Amendment did not result in his death. Another man, in Ohio, may be about to learn that amassing an arsenal, then talking about mass shootings, isn’t funny at all. What on Earth is wrong with these people and, sad to say, what appears ...
Governor Tim Walz took steps to bring the state’s Department of Human Services under better control Monday by naming Jodi Harpestead as the new commissioner of DHS. There has been turmoil in the massive state agency since last month, when the commissioner Walz first appointed, former state ...
The State of Minnesota signed a $33.9 million deal with Fast Enterprises to replace the state’s chronically troubled MNLARS (Minnesota License and Registration System). Despite the expense, and despite kissing goodbye the more than $100 million the state spent trying to develop MNLARS, it ...
Late last month, it was reported that Gov. Tim Walz and Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka (R-Nisswa) were talking about the idea of subjecting the Minnesota Legislature to the Data Practices Act, which designates most public records as public information, with limited exceptions spelled out ...
You hear the argument every time a mass shooting massacre triggers calls for more gun control. “Gun control won’t stop mass murder. Maniacs will find a way to get guns illegally.” Or, “If they want to kill someone, they’ll find a way, even without guns.” This “futility” ...
Welcoming banners THUMBS UP: Those traveling up and down Broadway have probably noticed New Ulm Street Department crews putting up some new, colorful banners on the median light poles. The banners depict one of New Ulm’s many attractions, from the Schell’s Brewery, to the Brown County ...
A comment about hate crime that is both disturbing and in a way encouraging was made a few days ago by a woman who apparently was a victim of it. Police in Sterling, Ohio, are investigating an explosion that reduced a home to rubble. Fortunately, no one was injured — because no one was home ...
Last year, after announcing steep tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum, President Donald Trump tweeted that “trade wars are good, and easy to win.” A year later, China is showing Trump that trade wars are not so easy to win, and American farmers should be telling Trump that it’s NOT ...
Really thinking about what we read so often in the wake of mass killings is the only way we Americans can find a way to curb them. What comes out within hours or days of most killings such as those in Dayton and El Paso is that the murderers showed signs of homicidal tendencies long before ...
As inured as Americans have become to the occasional mass shooting, this past week has been especially horrendous. Three mass shooting events in a week’s time, including two within 24 hours over the weekend. The toll keeps growing — three killed at the Gilroy Garlic Festival on July 28; ...
More than 10 years ago, a representative for a drug distributor wrote of the opioid products his company was receiving, “Keep ’em comin’! Flyin’ out of here. It’s like people are addicted to these things or something. Oh, wait, people are…” In reply, a sales representative for ...
Diabetics who need insulin to survive suddenly represent a cash cow to those drug-makers who produce insulin. Minnesota lawmakers would like to address the problem of skyrocketing insulin prices. Gov. Tim Walz and lawmakers are working on a plan that would help people who can’t afford the ...
Hands Free law obviously needed Thumbs Down: The “Hands Free” driving law took effect on Thursday, and came not a moment too soon. The need for this law was made obvious in one of the first traffic stops to enforce it. In Eagan, an officer saw a woman using her phone while driving. When ...
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is getting serious about the water quality in the Minnesota River and its tributaries. The MPCA is finalising plans to address a number of problems along the river. It held a session in Mankato Wednesday to go over its report and plans. The problems ...
Sometimes good things can happen in Washington. One did this week when the Senate approved a common-sense bill to help veterans of military service. The measure is the Veteran STEM Scholarship Improvement Act, S 2011. It was introduced by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. Co-sponsors were Sent. Ted ...
CNN’s second round of Democratic presidential candidate debates began last night with 10 of the 20 invited candidates. The other 10 will debate tonight, similar to the last debate. This is a cumbersome, unwieldy debate format, giving such a large number of debaters a mere 60 seconds to ...