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Hope for the best, prepare for the worst

The Twin Cities are waiting for the verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial. In the meantime, Brooklyn Center has been the focus of nightly protests outside of police headquarters after the shooting of Daunte Wright last week on Sunday. The state is on edge. The nation is on edge as it awaits the jury’s decision. We hope and pray for calm. What we do not need is U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-California) dropping in to Brooklyn Center as she did over the weekend to inflame the crowd. “I hope we get a verdict that says guilty, guilty, guilty,” she said in response to reporters’ ...

Accountability is only for the big city? We disagree

When is a town just too small for its citizens to expect accountability from its taxpayer-paid leaders? Never? That would be our answer, too. But under current Minnesota law, residents of small cities — those with fewer than 7,500 people — have less access to information about the personnel records of city leaders than people who live in larger towns. If you need a definition of “defies logic,” that’s a good place to start. A change to the state law championed by Sen. Jeff Howe, R-Rockville, would tighten that exemption. But first, lawmakers will have to bypass resistance ...

Keep hands off the Court

President Joe Biden signed an executive order last week setting up a commission to study changes to the U.S. Supreme Court, specifically to study expanding the court or creating limited terms for Supreme Court justices. We think the administrative and legislative branches should keep their hands off the Supreme Court. It is about the only part of the federal government that works the way it is supposed to. The Supreme Court is supposed to be free from political influence. Justices are appointed, not elected, and they are lifelong appointees. No need for re-election campaigns and ...

A senseless shooting

As Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon said at a press conference, the shooting on Sunday of Daunte Wright, a Black man, by one of his police officers could not have come at a worse time. With the Derek Chauvin trial in full swing, tension between the police and the black community is high. This shooting, based on the information available, seems senseless. Wright was pulled over for a traffic stop. A routine check revealed he had an outstanding warrant for a gross misdemeanor. As he got back into his car to apparently pull away, an officer yelled she was going to use her Taser. ...

A senseless shooting

As Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon said at a press conference, the shooting on Sunday of Daunte Wright, a Black man, by one of his police officers could not have come at a worse time. With the Derek Chauvin trial in full swing, tension between the police and the black community is high. This shooting, based on the information available, seems senseless. Wright was pulled over for a traffic stop. A routine check revealed he had an outstanding warrant for a gross misdemeanor. As he got back into his car to apparently pull away, an officer yelled she was going to use her Taser. ...

State needs immigrants to succeed

A new report from the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce confirms what our state demographers have been telling us for a long time: Minnesota’s economy needs the immigrant population to succeed. Here are some of the key findings of the Chamber’s report as outlined in its executive summary: • Absent immigrants’ arrival, our overall population would have declined beginning in 2001, with Minnesota residents moving to other states. • Immigrants link Minnesota to the world economy and make valuable and meaningful contributions to our state as employees, entrepreneurs, consumers and ...