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New hope to protect BWCA from mining damage

Those who embrace environmental protection have been cheered by President Joe Biden’s restoration of practices and reviews that don’t place profits above protection of natural resources. That renewed embrace of the environment should aid in preventing approval of a copper mine in the Superior National Forest near Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The Twin Metals project, being sought by a Chilean mining giant, would mine 20,000 tons of copper daily. In 2016 the Obama administration rejected lease renewals for Twin Metals. The decision triggered an in-depth ...

Let’s take a moment to stand with Buffalo

The shock of last week’s shooting at the Allina Clinic in Buffalo is still there, especially for the people of Buffalo and the health care workers in the clinic who were the target of the rampage. Today, we can all do something to show solidarity with Buffalo and the clinic. Allina Health, parent company of the clinic (and of the New Ulm Medical Center clinic and hospital) is inviting communities across the state to participate in activities today, one week after the shooting. Among the activities, we can all observe a moment of silence at 11 a.m. We can wear purple, the color of the ...

New hope to protect BWCA from mining damage

Those who embrace environmental protection have been cheered by President Joe Biden’s restoration of practices and reviews that don’t place profits above protection of natural resources. That renewed embrace of the environment should aid in preventing approval of a copper mine in the Superior National Forest near Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The Twin Metals project, being sought by a Chilean mining giant, would mine 20,000 tons of copper daily. In 2016 the Obama administration rejected lease renewals for Twin Metals. The decision triggered an in-depth ...

Stunning images at Trump trial

The U.S. Senate’s impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump may not result in a conviction. There are enough Republican senators hewing to their party line to prevent the conviction. Their minds were made up before the trial began that they would not vote to convict Trump. But this trial is far from a waste of time. If nothing else, it has given the people of the United States and the world a much more comprehensive look into the violence and madness of the crowd that overwhelmed Capitol security on Jan. 6 and rampaged through the building. On that day, we mostly watched the ...

How did he get a gun?

We don’t know what set off Gregory Paul Ulrich, sending him on a rampage to shoot up the Allina Clinic in Buffalo on Tuesday. But the fact that something was bound to set him off sooner or late was pretty well known by the staff at the clinic and by local law enforcement. The 67-year-old Ulrich has long history with Wright County law enforcement, dating back to 2003, and a history of complaints about the medical care he was receiving. In 2018, Ulrich made frequent calls to a doctor at the clinic, in which he talked about shooting up the clinic, blowing it up or other revenge ...

Getting better at vaccinating

Minnesota made a big jump in the rate of vaccinations recently. On Monday the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Minnesota jumped from 45th place to 14th in the nation in the rate of doses administered per 100,000 population. That’s good news. At least 569,164 Minnesotans have received one vaccination, and 162,132 have completed the two-shot series. That still leaves a lot of people waiting for the vaccine, but the state announced it was diverting some 8,000 doses to pharmacies to get more people vaccinated. There are still problems, most caused by the short ...