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A return to concern about COVID-19

After watching COVID-19 infection numbers dwindle in June, the U.S. is seeing the rate of infection rising again in August. On Saturday, the daily count of new COVID cases exceeded 100,000 for the first time since last winter. U.S. health officials are worried that the numbers will continue to soar in the months ahead without an increase in the vaccination rate. About 50 percent of Americans have been fully vaccinated, while about 70 percent have at least one shot. There are some people who think vaccinations are unnecessary, at least for themselves. Vikings quarterback Kirk ...

Thumbs Up/Down

Stay off closed roads THUMBS DOWN: What is it about rules that make some people think they apply to everyone else, but not them? Apparently there are a lot of people with that mindset traveling between New Ulm and Hanska on County Road 13. Rather than obey the “Road Closed” sign and the yellow vested workers hard at work replacing shoulders on the freshly repaved road, they are just driving right on the fresh pavement, which hasn’t had a chance to cure completely. It got to the point where the Brown County had to issue a public reminder this week to stay off the road. Motorists ...

We can deal with COVID resurgence without declarations

Thanks to the delta variant, the number of COVID-19 cases is creeping back up in Minnesota, as it is across the country. This comes at a time after the Minnesota emergency regulations were lifted and the governor’s emergency powers have expired. But we shouldn’t need a return to the emergency powers, mask mandates and shutdown orders that we went through last year. The situation has changed. With the rate of vaccinations we have in Minnesota, there is a level of protection we didn’t have last year. We hope the rate of vaccinations will pick up as the number of COVID cases rise. ...

Report on Cuomo should lead to his resignation

The New York State Attorney General’s office released the findings of its five-month investigation into sexual harassment allegations against Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The report asserts that the governor harassed at least 11 women, many of them members of his staff or connected with New York state government. The harassment included suggestive or sexual comments, groping, unwanted hugs and kisses, and so on. Cuomo denies it all, or minimizes it as misunderstandings, or cultural differences (he’s a demonstrative Italian), or politically motivated bias. There should be no room in the ...

Vaccination debate now affects football

People can be pretty unconcerned when talking about COVID-19 vaccinations. Do you worry about unvaccinated health care or nursing home workers? Perhaps. Do you worry about unvaccinated people next to you in restaurants or movie theaters? We have our shots, so we’re not worried. But now the vaccination question is affecting something really important — pro football. Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins has spent the past few days being quarantined and miss ingtraining camp, under the NFL’s COVID RULES, because he’s not vaccinated Suddenly, we’re paying attention. People care ...

Gov’t needs to address evictions

This past weekend the federal government’s moratorium on evictions during the COVD-19 pandemic came to an end. For a year the moratorium had helped families who couldn’t keep up with their rent because of pandemic-related job cutbacks, shorter hours or illness from being evicted. As a result, eviction notices and actions are starting up, causing a run on the aid programs and courts that handle eviction hearings. This is a problem that the government knew was coming. The Biden Administration knew it could not extend the moratorium through the CDC, where it originated, because ...