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Calling in medical reinforcements

Governor Tim Walz is calling in reinforcements from the Department of Defense. Because the surge in COVID cases is overwhelming the staff at some hospitals, the department of Defense is sending in emergency medical workers for the Hennepin County Medical Center and Centra Care, which runs the St. Cloud Hospital. We are sure there are doctors and nurses in hospitals throughout the state who are feeling overwhelmed as well, who could use some reinforcement. Perhaps the DOD can’t provide enough emergency medical workers to give all of them a break. But we can all do something for ...

Rittenhouse case complicated by gun

If you have been following the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, the 18-year-old charged with killing two people and wounding a third in the Kenosha, Wis., demonstrations last year, you have to feel for the jury given the task of deciding his guilt or innocence. There’s no doubt that Rittenhouse, 17 at the time, came to Kenosha from his home in Antioch, Ill., with an AR-style semiautomatic rifle, with the intent to stand up to protesters who might be trying to destroy property. It is also evident that he became the focus of some protesters’ aggression. He got caught in a scuffle that ...

Weigh your rights against your health

Minnesota is undergoing what health officials call a “blizzard” of COVID cases. Minnesota’s new rate of coronavirus infections has been the worst in the nation over the past seven days, and according to federal data quoted in a Star Tribune report. The surge has hospitals in the state near capacity. On Monday, the state had 5,266 more infections to report, and a 9.7 positivity rate on tests. Breakthrough infections are a part of the increase, of course, but more people who are becoming infected are those who remain unvaccinated. Some are resisting out of fear of possible side ...

Environmental pact just a plan

The Glasgow Climate Summit ended this weekend with a compromise agreement on what to do about global warming. The world leaders and negotiators who drew up the plan are hailing it as a chance to keep the earth’s climate from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, but scientists working with the global data see the earth on a path to a hotter future. That’s the trouble with plans. Scottish poet Robert Burns, who may have been to Glasgow once or twice in his lifetime, wrote that “The best laid schemes o’mice and men / Gang aft agley (often go awry), / And lea’e us nought but ...

Infrastructure bill will address many problems

The infrastructure bill passed last week by Congress will send $1 trillion surging to the 50 states for public works, roads, bridges, water improvement and broadband expansion. This money has been needed for years. Minnesota provided a prime example of what happens when infrastructure needs are not met when the I-35 bridge in Minneapolis collapsed in 2007. The 13 deaths and injuries to 145 jumpstarted a rush to fund more road and bridge projects, but need has been far greater than the assistance provided. There are still dangerous roads and highways and substandard bridges throughout ...

We can all agree on honoring veterans

How fortuitous it is that this week, while the attention of millions of Americans seems focused on controversy, we take time out to honor those about whom we are in complete agreement: veterans of military service. No matter how we view politics, we are united in revering the men and women who have served and do serve us in uniform. The Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard are the solid wall behind which our freedoms rest. They serve us not as Democrats, Republicans, Independents or adherents to any particular political philosophy. They serve us simply as Americans. It is ...