Help paying for health care. Repairing crumbling roads and bridges. Gun safety laws. Action on climate change. A realistic immigration policy. Citizens want action on all these issues and most people agree on the solutions. Yet nothing happens. Presidential candidate Tom Steyer thinks he has the answer and the answer is not who gets elected but the need for basic
Volunteers, old friends link up for Santa Paws fundraiser
The text message popped up on my screen. “Hey Mike, do you have any plans from 1:30-4:30 on Nov. 23?” It was from my friend and former colleague at the St. Cloud Times, Kate Kompas. No plans, I replied, although my spouse had raised the prospect of traveling to Evanston, Illinois, to watch the Gophers-Wildcats football game that weekend. “Want
Is it the Vikings’ year?
It’s that time of the year again, when the state of Minnesota places our hopes in the Minnesota Vikings, and we try to decide “could it actually be our year this time?” It’s the question that has always bemused sports fans in our state. After almost every big run of the past has ended in disappointment, we’re almost wary to
Voters lose with only Trump on the ballot
Republicans who vote in Minnesota’s new presidential primary next year will have only one choice on the ballot. Even though he’s not the only announced candidate, only Donald Trump’s name will appear. Last month, the state Republican Party notified the Secretary of State that the “list” of candidates for the March 3, 2020, primary will be a short one –
Has Golden Gopher football returned to glory days of old?
The last time it happened was 1960. No internet, no streaming, no ESPN. No instant replays on the black-and-white TV. No Vikings. The sports news landed on the porch on Sunday mornings in the Minneapolis Tribune. The Sports “Peach” section featured page after page of photo sequences showing the previous day’s big plays. In case you had trouble discerning the
Hats off to Franklin/Electrolux
The recent closing of the Electrolux Co. in St. Cloud was as sad as the closure of Fingerhut and the Sartell paper mill after an explosion there killed a worker and doomed the mill. Those three companies employed so many people from the greater St. Cloud area and beyond who earned good wages to support themselves and their families. Growing
‘No’ means no chickens
Denise Rinne, Sartell Chickens Again! I have read several articles concerning the “pet chickens” and Sartell’s ordinance. I applaud the City Council for being patient with the Siemens family and hearing their concerns at the Open Forum. I have to question the reasoning of the continued time and effort to change the ordinance when clearly the City Council has said
Social networks are publishers, not platforms
When online message boards, chat rooms and discussion lists first appeared in the digital world, they were much different than today’s social media environment. In the 1990s, they were viewed as digital “bulletin boards,” much like physical bulletin boards, where contributors could post words and photos for public display. At the time, lawmakers, under pressure from free speech advocates, wrote