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Maybe Trump was right about COVID origins

Former president Donald Trump always took great pains when talking about COVID-19 to call it the “Chinese flu.” He claimed he had intelligence reports that said the virus had been developed in a Wuhan, China clinic, that it escaped, and that the Chinese government ignored its existence until it was too late. Many saw that as an attempt by Trump to draw attention away from his own administration’s flawed response to the virus, or just another falsehood from the Dissembler-in-Chief. But this week it looks like he may have been right. President Joe Biden is ordering U.S. ...

Good news on COVID-19 front

Minnesota had a good weekend with the COVID-19 news. Active cases are down to 5,720, our lowest point since mid-September. The number of hospitalized patients is down, and the number of new hospitalizations is falling. No new deaths due to COVID-19 were reported in the state on Monday. Lyon County has been doing well, too. The Minnesota Department of Health reported one new case in Lyon County on Monday and zero on Tuesday. Part of the reason for all of this is the number of vaccinations, which is starting to climb again. About 2.8 million Minnesotans 16 and older have at least one ...

Have we grown in the past year?

Tuesday marked the one-year anniversary since George Floyd gasped out his life under the knee of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. It has been a year of violence sparked by Floyd’s killing starting Minneapolis and St. Paul and spread across the country. It has been a year in which Chauvin was tried and convicted for second degree murder in Floyd’s death, sending a message that there can and should be accountability for police-involved killings It has been a year in which we have all been forced to confront the reality of what dealing with police is like for people ...

Need for police force becoming apparent

Attitudes in America toward police forces and police tactics have been mixed and confusing in the past year. So it has been in Minneapolis this past year. Since the killing of George Floyd a year ago, there has been a push to defund the police, to dissolve the police force and replace it with some kind of community safety force. We understand why people, especially minorities, feel this way after they’ve seemingly been profiled and targeted. But the recent spate of shootings and violence in Minneapolis, including the shooting of three innocent children who were bystanders, ...

2021 graduates persevered through challenging year

Graduation season is upon us, and the 2020-21 school year is coming to a close. This has been a school year like few others, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There was some wonder at the beginning of the year how it would work to bring hundreds of students together in classrooms at a time when face masks and six-foot social distancing was required. Would students have to learn from home, as they did for the last few months of the previous school year? If they did come to school, how would they be kept safe? Somehow, local school districts managed. Student athletes suffered the most, ...

EMS Week puts spotlight on rendering aid

When the police scanner blares out in the newsroom, it usually means somebody needs help. That help comes from various agencies such as law enforcement and firefighters. The 46th annual National EMS Week (May 16-22) reminds us the important role North Memorial Ambulance fulfills in the Marshall area. When EMS personnel respond to a call it usually means somebody has been injured or became ill very suddenly. The patient needs help fast. According to Supervisor Dane Meyer, North Memorial Marshall provides emergency services in a large coverage area that reaches just west of Vesta to ...