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Letters to the Editor

Addressing health care

ST. PAUL Health insurance gives people peace of mind that they can take care of themselves from preventative care to medical crisis. Providing coverage for quality care at an affordable price also is a priority for employers to attract and retain workers in our historically tight labor market, and to ensure their employees stay healthy and productive. Good public policy can make a difference. For example, the state’s reinsurance program that passed the Legislature in 2017 was a bipartisan measure that reduced premiums in the individual health insurance market by 20% in both 2018 ...

Readers’ Views

Come check it out To the Editor: The 2019-2020 hockey and ice skating season is in full swing at the Martin County Arena and the Fairmont Youth Hockey Association board of directors would like to take time to thank all the arena, sign and team sponsors. Without your support, the 2019-2020 skating season would not be possible. Also a huge thank you to all the volunteers, coaches, team managers and parents. Without your dedication and support, area youth would not have this amazing opportunity to play hockey and have fun at skating Rock on Ice, open skate and other skating events ...

Readers’ Views

Food pack helps many To the Editor: Plans are underway for the 12th Annual Martin County Kids Against Hunger food pack, to be held 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 15, at the Fairmont Armory. I invite you to put together of team of friends, family or co-workers and join in the excitement and fun of a KAH food pack. To look around the room and see the smiles and hear laughter coming from each table is truly an awesome experience. The day is sectioned off into two-hour shifts, and they are already starting to fill. Over the last 11 years, 1,241,260 meals have been packed and ...

Readers’ Views

Argument full of holes To the Editor: I am a retired farmer. My dad had a saying that I heard often. It was this: “Any idiot can tear down a barn, but it takes a dammed good carpenter to build one.” President Trump has pulled us out of many agreements, such as NAFTA, GATT, nuclear treaties, environmental pacts, the list goes on and on. To get these amended agreements back together and signed into law isn’t easy, much like building a new barn takes time and talent. Trump said he would reduce our debt and balance the budget in his first two years, with Republican majorities ...

Time for a 10-year plan

By Margaret Donahoe Minnesota legislators have been touring the state this fall, getting a first-hand look at important public assets and infrastructure that is wearing out as they prepare to put together a capital bonding bill. As they travel, I hope they will take notice of the worn-out and increasingly unsafe roads and bridges they are using to travel from point to point. Average commute times and traffic fatalities each increased in 2018. We’re spending more time in our cars, and the roads of greater Minnesota are becoming increasingly dangerous, with the majority of traffic ...

Readers’ Views

Where’s support for ag? To the Editor: As a lifelong farmer and former long-term officer on the local corn, soybean and Farm Bureau boards, I believe one of the actions most needed by Congress to turn around our farm economy is getting the United States/Canada/Mexico trade agreement ratified. This agreement would be a big boost to Martin County, allowing exports greater and more efficient market access. This trade deal was completed on Aug. 27, 2018; agreed to by all three countries on Nov. 30, 2018, subject to ratification by all three governments. On March 1, 2019, every major ...