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Competing against COVID-19 THUMBS SIDEWAYS: While we are all excited about prep football games starting in a few weeks, don’t get too optimistic that teams will be able to complete all their games. We are finding out that not much as changed since the Minnesota High School League board originally put football and volleyball on hold back on Aug. 4, as far as the Minnesota Department of Health is concerned. COVID-19 still poses a health risk among the general public and students. Fairmont public schools is one example. The school district switched form hybrid learning to distance ...

Vaccine distribution plan is needed

Though there is some dispute over how soon a COVID-19 vaccine will be available to the general public, it appears a few million doses may be ready before the end of this year. There is general agreement they should go to the most vulnerable among us. That is older people with pre-existing medical conditions. We know that. But if there is any agreement on vaccine rationing — and what will happen will be just that — it ends there. Clearly, specific guidelines for distribution will have to be developed. They ought to be in the form of guidelines at the federal level, with concrete ...

What a difference four years makes

The death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has created a controversy about who will nominate her successor, and when. Four years ago, when Justice Antonin Scalia died suddenly on Feb. 13, 2016, then President Barack Obama, who had nearly 10 months left in his term before the next election, proposed Judge Merrick Garland to replace him. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to even hold a hearing on the nomination, insisting the next president should pick the next justice. And so President Donald Trump was elected, and his nomination, and he nominated Neil Gorsuch, ...

Ginsburg’s legacy

The Notorious RBG, as some admirers referred to her, is gone. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died Friday, at 87, of cancer. She was an icon to Americans with certain political positions — a scourge to others. Already, the battle over a successor has become heated, with ideology at the heart of the controversy. It says something about Ginsburg, however, that during the hours after her death, leaders from throughout the political spectrum poured forth praise freely and with no reservations. Her written opinions as a justice “have inspired all Americans and generations ...

Wildfires show that action needed on climate change

The coronavirus pandemic overshadows many other issues, including climate change. The catastrophic wildfires raging across the west provide a sobering clarity about the price the country and globe will pay because climate change hasn’t been taken seriously enough. Oregon, California and Washington have seen historic wildfires that burn faster and farther than ever before and already have claimed dozens of lives. Many recent studies have linked bigger wildfires in the country to global climate change caused by burning coal, oil and gas. Western states, in particular, have seen ...

Short Takes

Stealing signs not cool THUMBS DOWN: Day by day we see one example after another of ugly politics as General Election day approaches. Right here in southwest Minnesota, theft and vandalism of signs continues. Lyon County Democrats and Republicans held a round table discussion last month to hopefully discourage political signage abuse. But it continued into this month. Further complicating the situation is the continual lack of acknowledgment by some that signs from both sides of the political spectrum are being targeted. However, to be fair, most residents of southwest Minnesota are ...