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The case for rental assistance in Minnesota

Increased funding in Minnesota would help low-income families, reduce other burdens. In many Minnesota counties, an average of 1 in 7 renters spends more than half of their monthly income on housing. And in some counties, that figure is as high as 56%. That means lower-income individuals, families and seniors often face tough budget choices that force them to spend less — or not at all — on necessities such as medications, food and transportation. That’s why a bill urged by a coalition of housing advocates who call their efforts “Bring it Home Minnesota” merits support. ...

Book bans show lack of faith in youth, adults

Book bans are making headlines and garnering lawmakers’ and school administrators’ attention. In a nation founded on freedoms of press and expression, the groundswell of bills and proposals to limit access to books is misguided and disheartening, and, perhaps, an implicit expression of a lack of confidence in ourselves as thinking people. Is our nation, is our community, so fragile that a book on a shelf is a threat? School libraries have always faced questions about which books and materials to offer to students and which they shouldn’t. Educated people made educated ...

Defense Budget not big enough

China’s Xi Jinping traveled to Moscow this week to commune with Vladimir Putin, cementing the new axis against the U.S. Compare that scene to President Biden’s proposed fiscal 2024 defense budget, which isn’t serious about matching American military power to growing threats. To the extent the press is covering Mr. Biden’s $842 billion Pentagon budget, it is to note the number is large. Yet defense spending at 3% of the economy is low by historical standards. The Pentagon says the proposal is a 0.8% real increase over fiscal 2023, but that is based on an inflation fantasy. This ...

Thumbs Up/Down

Spreading the word THUMBS UP: Here’s to the advocates for nursing homes and long-term care facilities who are raising their voices and letting legislators know that doing nothing about the lack of funding for nursing homes is not an option. A delegation from New Ulm held a Zoom meeting from the New Ulm City Hall with some influential legislators on Wednesday, pressing them on the needs of the nursing home industry, and decrying the lack of information, or even a response to their concerns. On Thursday they followed it up with a rally at the State Capitol. The group had reinforcements ...

Breaking up human organ monopolies

A proposed overhaul of the system that governs how human organs are procured, transported and transplanted in the United States could save many lives — if the Biden administration succeeds in breaking up the monopoly of the network that currently runs it. Some 106,000 Americans are on an organ waiting list, and 22 die each day in want of organs such as kidneys, livers and hearts, according to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. Many of these deaths are preventable. A 2018 Post analysis found that tens of thousands of potentially usable organs go uncollected ...

Public Safety: Gun bills moving in right direction

Public safety bills moving through the Minnesota Senate strike the right balance between restrictions that should lessen gun violence and accommodating hunters and gun-collecting enthusiasts. Three bills passed the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee last week, one a party-line vote and another two on a voice vote, in which votes of individual senators are not recorded but the chair makes a ruling on the final count. The bills would enhance Minnesota’s background check laws, with some exceptions for family transfers and hunting guns. Another bill adds a so-called red flag ...