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Law provides tools to help prevent opioid deaths

Local Editorials

Opioid addiction has devastated huge swaths of the United States in the last two decades. Overdose deaths have quadrupled since 1999, with about 70% of those overdoses attributed to opioids. Put more directly, almost 500,000 Americans died because of opioid drugs — street drugs and prescribed alike — from 1999 to 2019. That’s almost as many victims as the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. Half a million people. Researchers link the roots of the epidemic to the increased prescribing of pharmaceutical opioids in the 1990s. Billed as safe, new formulations for ...

Putin’s plans for Ukraine are failing

Local Editorials

We’re not sure how Vladimir Putin intended his invasion of Ukraine to go, or what plans he had for the country are, if the invasion is successful. But we doubt the current situation is what he had in mind. Putin no doubt expected the Russian military might would steamroll over the Ukrainian military opposition. So far, that’s not happening. Perhaps he expected the separatist attitudes in eastern Ukraine were widespread throughout the country, and the Ukrainian people would welcome, or at least accept the Russian occupation. But the Ukrainian people are united in opposition, and ...

Surplus still growing, but still chancy

Local Editorials

Minnesota’s latest state economic forecast shows the state’s whopper of a surplus is getting even more whopping — instead of $7.7 billion, it could be as much as $9.25 billion. But at this point the state budget forecast is, as the old saying goes, counting chickens before the eggs hatch. The forecast that came out Monday is based on a lot of projections and assumptions that could change drastically in the months ahead as the effect of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine spreads throughout the world. Economic sanctions designed to punish Russia could raise inflation rates and fuel ...

Fighting for freedom

Local Editorials

Right now, the Ukrainian people are paying the high price for their freedom. Fathers and husbands are sending their loved ones to other European countries with an uncertain future. Men and women remain to fight the invading Russians. And fighting is what they are doing with much success so far. They are keeping the Russians at bay outside major Ukrainian cities. While no official numbers have been released, an independent Ukrainian news site is reporting more than 3,000 Russian troops have been killed and 200 Russian soldiers captured. On Saturday, Ukraine’s health minister, Viktor ...

Et. Cetera

Local Editorials

ADS expansion moves forward Advanced Drainage Systems has announced a significant expansion in the city of Fairmont. The $15 million project will include 14 acres of land and add 30,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing space— not to mention 20 jobs over the next five years. We’d like to say thank you to ADS for making this move and investing in our community. Big thank you to Preuss Fairmont’s Economic Development Coordinator, Linsey Preuss, has announced that she’s moving on from her job with the city as she’s accepted another position. We’d like to thank Linsey for her last ...

The world vs. Putin

Local Editorials

Russian President Vladimir Putin has invaded Ukraine, taking his country back toward the halcyon days of the old Soviet Union when Moscow controlled wide swaths of territory, from the Baltic Sea to the Chinese border, and countries like Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and East Germany looked to the Soviets for leadership. Under the guise of a “peacekeeping” excursion into eastern Ukraine, Putin sent Russian troops with bombs, missiles and artillery Thursday to start taking back the territory he thinks the Soviet Union should never have lost. Putin said he sent the troops to protect ...