We can’t escape numbers. Usually, this time of year, we keep an eye on baseball batting averages, win/loss records and how many days the temperature reaches 90 degrees. But since spring, watching a new set of numbers took over our attention – the Department of Health’s daily posting of how many Minnesotans tested positive for Covid-19, how many have died
Schools face tough fall
Despite best efforts, sometimes there’s no good answer to a problem. That certainly seems the to be the case with how to start the school year during a public health crisis. Everyone agrees students need to go back to school, but the health and safety of students and teachers has to come first. State health and education leaders told school
Monumental decisions
Removing statues of slave traders or traitorous generals who took up arms against the United States is an easy call. These men can be remembered in museums, not honored in town squares. Likewise, forts Bragg, Hood, Benning and other military installations named for Confederate generals should be renamed. Government facilities should not honor those who betrayed it. Taking down statues,
For the census, only 100 percent will do
People couldn’t be blamed too much if they’ve forgotten about the 2020 Census. First the coronavirus shut down social and business life. Then the police killing of a black man in Minneapolis focused attention that there really are two Americas – one white and one black – for law enforcement, but also health, work, education and housing. But the census
What to do about Two Minnesotas?
The video of a white Minneapolis police officer kneeling on the neck of a black man while he slowly died shocked people around the world. The incident outraged millions, who took to the streets in protest. But by looking deeper than that chilling incident, we find an even larger blight on Minnesota’s reputation. The Twin Cities’ shiny image as a
Don’t tie Postal Service fees, funding to politics
In 1775, when the Continental Congress appointed Benjamin Franklin the first postmaster general, the challenges facing today’s post office could hardly be imagined. The U.S. Postal Service is one of few federal agencies explicitly authorized by the Constitution. It is legally obligated to serve all Americans, regardless of geography, at uniform price and quality. “Price and quality” are at the
Masks are here to stay; get used to it
Get used to it…the coronavirus and the disruption to our daily lives it causes will be with us for months, maybe years…not weeks.The number of people who do not wear masks in public when grocery shopping or performing other essential tasks indicates many people have not accepted this reality. People who don’t wear masks offer a number of reasons –
Climate change, poor flood management threaten upper Mississippi
Sometimes we don’t notice even the largest problem – even when it’s right before our eyes. The advocacy group, American Rivers, named the upper Mississippi River running through Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa, as the most endangered river in the country. Climate change is driving more intense rain storms, leading to more frequent and prolonged flooding in the Upper Midwest,