It may be a small step, dependent wholly on the limited availability of COVID-19 vaccines, but the state of Minnesota is expanding the list of people eligible to receive the vaccine. A pilot program, being held in nine sites throughout the state, will begin taking appointments this week to ...
To the editor: (Donald) Trump created in the minds of those who believe, and the minds of those who want to believe. Though, mostly, it’s created in the mindset of those who don’t believe at all, and will do what it takes to please violence, to please Trump’s wishes. Kill and destroy at ...
Martin Luther King Jr. would be 92 this week. He was 39 when he was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee for his leadership in the Civil Rights movement. In the 53 years since his death, one would hope we have taken steps, made some progress, toward achieving his goal expressed in his famous ...
To the editor: Talk about screaming headlines. Does your paper have the discretion to print some facts? Here are a couple of points about the President “standing alone.” How about printing the tremendous support he has and the suspicion of millions of voters — GOP and Democrat alike ...
To the editor: After years of bemoaning the disrespect of President Trump, it seems like many Republicans are now happily dumping him. For example, on Dec. 1, Arizona’s Republican governor, Doug Ducey, got a call from President Trump while he was certifying his state’s election results. ...
The violent takeover of the U.S. Capitol left many lessons for public officials and the public to wrestle with. One issue that should get intense scrutiny is the actions and makeup of the Capitol Police and in a larger sense, the radical, often white supremacist-centered views of some in law ...
The Minnesota Department of Health has announced an expansion of the COVID-19 vaccination eligibility rules. The state is going to allow hospitals and health care systems to vaccinate a broader category of Minnesotans. This would include people who are not frontline health care workers, but who ...
To the editor: In an article headlined, “2020 proves that nature still has a say in our survival”, syndicated columnist George Will stated, “The human story is not entirely about human choices.” (Independent, 1/5/2021) Will listed other diseases and plagues besides covid-19 that ...
The U.S. House of Representatives made Donald J. Trump the first U.S. president ever to be impeached twice on Wednesday. There’s little chance that Trump, as a result, will be removed from office one second earlier than his allotted time. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced he ...
State governments across the country have been warned by the FBI that militant groups are planning a series of armed protests at their state capitols as inauguration day approaches on Jan. 20. In light of the armed insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, capitol buildings across the ...
The state’s restaurants and bars are reopening this week, with some restrictions yet on how many people can be allowed inside, how many can sit at one table and how far apart they need to be. This relaxation of the COVID-19 closure order does not mean that the disease is no longer a danger. ...
To the editor: The attitude and anger of Ms. Gitten’s letter (Jan. 11) in my opinion, is part and parcel of why America is so deeply divided. Tell me, Ms. Gitten, what led you to believe that I am “a person of the opposing side?” Perhaps it was that I pointed that out that the goals ...
Hours after the U.S. Capitol was cleared of the Donald Trump-supporting insurrectionists last Wednesday, Congress took up the job the mob had tried to thwart, the verification of the electoral college vote and the declaration of Joe Biden as the president-elect. Sadly, even after the ...
To the editor: The images from Washington DC on Wednesday, Jan. 6 are deeply disturbing and continue to send shock waves not just throughout the country, but around the world. It is widely believed by many, including Republican leadership, that a key tenant of this insurrection was the ...
To the editor: In the Jan. 7 Short Takes section of the Independent the editor called questionable Rep.Fischbach’s decision objecting to the election certification conducted by Congress. Her objection to the certification was far beyond questionable. Had she studied facts, like the work ...
To the Editor: I was both bemused and offended by John Coulter’s article (Jan. 2) attacking Professor Anita Gaul’s work on the KKK in Southwest Minnesota. Mr. Coulter is apparently charging Professor Gaul with revisionism, but there is nothing revisionist about her discussion of the ...
The Confederate Flag, for the first time in its existence, was displayed at the United States Capitol Wednesday. Understand the historical significance of that. In a four-year Civil War, one million confederate soldiers, led by arguably the most capable American-born general in the history ...
Taking the oath of office THUMBS UP: Congratulations go out to Michelle Fischbach, Chris Swedzinski and Gary Dahms, and our other government representatives recently taking the oath of office. Fischbach is now our new congressional representative in the 7th district. She took her oath ...
Following the most harrowing day in our government’s history since the British burned the White House during the War of 1812, Congress returned immediately to work Wednesday night once the U.S. Capitol’s corridors were cleared of insurrectionists. Debating throughout the night, they did ...
President Donald Trump’s frustrated and frantic efforts to nullify the results of the 2020 election resulted in a mob scene at the U.S. Capitol Wednesday. Hordes of protesters waving Trump banners along with American flags pushed up to, and into, the Capitol, disrupting Congress as it was ...