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Powell and the Fed’s plan to stay the course on anti-inflation

Investors these days parse Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s every remark for any sign the pain of higher interest rates will end soon. He disappointed them again Friday in his annual speech at a central banking conference in Jackson Hole, Wyo., which is much to the good. “Although inflation has moved down from its peak—a welcome development—it remains too high,” Mr. Powell said. He added that the central bank will keep monetary policy at its current “restrictive level” until there is more evidence that inflation is truly whipped. Many on Wall Street were hoping ...

Festival season begins in the city of festivals

Bavarian Blast starts Thursday, but it is also the kickoff for a season worth of festivals and events. For the next few months, New Ulm will either be celebrating a festival or be a few days away from the next city event. Most towns and cities have a local festival to celebrate the community, but New Ulm has several to the point it is sometimes called “The City of Festivals” by visitors. It is a well earned nickname. Look to the schedule of city events. Bavarian Blast starts the festival season, brining thousands of people the fairgrounds each day. Last year, roughly 3,500 ...

Saudi Arabia’s rehabilitation

The journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered and dismembered in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul in October 2018. The CIA subsequently concluded that this was ordered by the kingdom’s crown prince and de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, though he denies it. The murder was so high-profile, and the details so horrifying, that concern about optics prevailed even where moral qualms were not a priority. Prominent business figures dropped out of a glitzy investment conference dubbed “Davos in the desert”. Joe Biden, then running to be the Democrats’ presidential candidate, said ...

Thumbs up / down

MLC graduation The season of graduation is upon us, with Martin Luther College honoring its graduates seniors today, and sending them on to follow their futures. When Martin Luther College students come to New Ulm as freshmen, many of them are far from home and away from home for the first time. Over four years they become a part of the New Ulm community, and when they graduate they will be heading off to schools and church careers throughout the WELS system. We hope they will carry fond memories of their time in New Ulm with them. We wish them well. Fishing opener It looks like ...

Mental Health: Enforce state insurance parity laws

The good news on the mental health front is that the state of Minnesota appears to have for the first time in recent memory actually enforced the state’s mental health parity law against an insurance company that appeared to be violating it. The bad news seems to be such enforcement, increasingly needed, is rare. The Minnesota Department of Commerce fined HealthPartners $150,000 for what it alleges is a violation of the state mental health parity law, which has been in place for decades. It requires companies to pay for mental health services that same way they would pay for ...