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S. African travel ban is justified reaction

The World Health Organization was urging nations not to impose travel bans on south African nations after the outbreak of a new COVID variant, the omicron variant. Other countries, including the U.S., have banned travelers from that area, which WHO claims is not a science-based reaction. In the case of COVID, who cares what WHO wants? Keeping people traveling from an infected area out of the country is a pretty good way to prevent or at least slow the spread. Unfortunately, it may be too late to contain the spread. New cases are popping up in other parts of the world, including a ...

Give the state’s heroes hazard pay

One of the crying shames of the Minnesota legislative game playing is the impasse that has kept Gov. Tim Walz from calling a special session to approve passing out the hero pay for frontline workers, drought relief, and stabilization measures for nursing homes. The state has $250 million from the federal government to distribute to frontline workers in recognition of their heroic efforts during the COVID pandemic. But Republicans and Democrats can’t agree on who counts as a hero and how much they should get. Even if they could, Gov. Walz is leery of calling a special session unless ...

Boosters for all won’t help unvaccinated

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention agreed with the U.S. government in approving COVID vaccine boosters for all adults last week, and urged all adults over 50 to get them. This approval recognizes the data that has been developing, showing that the vaccines’ effectiveness begins to wane after time. It also recognizes that the vaccine remains the best protection against the COVID-19 virus. Boosters are a great idea for those who have been vaccinated. What is an even better idea is if people who have not been vaccinated would roll up their sleeves and get their initial ...

We need this day to give thanks

What a year in which to have an opportunity to purposefully gather our thoughts and be thankful. We need this day, which like so much else this year is different. We need this reminder to look toward what is good, and that for which we can, still, be grateful. Some have been blissfully untouched by the wrath of a deadly virus, economic setbacks, political turmoil and so much else that has made this a year to remember (or, for some, to forget). Those fortunate few can, indeed, be thankful. But for the vast majority of Americans, this Thanksgiving day will bring reminders — perhaps ...

We need this day to give thanks

What a year in which to have an opportunity to purposefully gather our thoughts and be thankful. We need this day, which like so much else this year is different. We need this reminder to look toward what is good, and that for which we can, still, be grateful. Some have been blissfully untouched by the wrath of a deadly virus, economic setbacks, political turmoil and so much else that has made this a year to remember (or, for some, to forget). Those fortunate few can, indeed, be thankful. But for the vast majority of Americans, this Thanksgiving day will bring reminders — perhaps ...

Juries decide verdicts, not public opinion

On Friday, the jury in the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse delivered a verdict of not guilty on all five counts in the killing of two men and the wounding of another during the protests following the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by a white Kenosha, Wis. police officer. This was a case fraught with the strong racial and emotional elements of the George Floyd murder. This case also included arguments over vigilantism and gun control. There are strong opinions on both sides, those who say Rittenhouse was a vigilante who went to Kenosha from out of state looking for trouble, and those ...