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On MLK Day let’s hope and pray

This week, many Americans celebrate the life of Martin Luther King Jr., who preached both an unceasing struggle against prejudice and discrimination and use of non-violent methods to win the battle. King’s high-profile leadership cost him his life. Others perished, too, during the struggle for civil rights. We have more civil rights today. Institutionalized racism in the for of Jim Crow laws, “red-lined) zoning for residential districts and other forms of bigotry have virtually disappeared from our nation. Sadly, many hearts and minds remain tainted by biases. It is worth ...

Et. Cetera

Pitching Clinic attracts many Last weekend the Rick Pauly Pitching Clinic came to Fairmont. This professional fastpitch clinic has been coming to Fairmont for six years and is such a valuable event for young women interested in softball. Every year it sees a large draw from the region. Great work done by Cardinal Power to ensure it keeps coming back. FEDA expands loan program This week the FEDA Board heard that there’s still $200,000 left to give out to businesses affected by the pandemic. It took almost two years to give out $400,000 and with a deadline of July 2022 to give out ...

Critical need for nursing staff

Hospital capacity is often referred to a “beds,” but the surge in COVID cases has proven that to be misleading. What really affects capacity, hospital administrators will tell you, is people on staff to treat those in the beds. More than beds these days, hospitals need trained people, nurses especially, to treat those who are sick. Gov. Tim Walz announced Wednesday he intends to use $40 million in federal pandemic relief funds to bring in health care staff from out of state to take some of the burden from the overtaxed hospital staff in the state. The funding will pay a staffing ...

More than COVID to worry about

Over the weekend the Associated Press reported on an AP-NORC poll indicating that people are finding more things to worry about these days than COVID-19. Pushing the pandemic off the front burner is the economy. While concern about how the COVID pandemic is handled waned from 53% a year ago to 37% today, inflation and personal finance are considered a top concern to 68%. Pandemic fatigue is setting in. If we’re not tired of hearing about COVID-19, we’re at least getting used to it. At some point, people want to live their lives, and risking a COVID infection may be taking on the ...

A new year is here — Let’s make it better

We are about to enter a brand new year. It can be a fresh start for all of us ... but there is a lot on the horizon. Choices to be made in 2022 will be monumental — not just for individuals who might be hoping to lose a few pounds or save a little money, but for our nation as a whole. Resolve to think carefully — be honest with yourselves — about those decisions, folks, and pray our lawmakers do the same. If we want to walk into this new year as better people, let’s also make sure we make the new year better for those around us. We as a nation seem to have developed the ...

Lawmakers need to address carjacking

For some reason, carjacking has become far more prevalent in Minnesota over the past year. The number of cases in Minneapolis rose 57 percent in 2021 over the previous year —619 in 2021 compared to 388 the year before. This is not just a Minneapolis problem. All Minnesotans should be concerned. Many of us travel to the Twin Cities for business, or recreation, or to visit family. We could be just as likely a target of carjackers as a Minneapolis native. Many of us have family in the Twin Cities, and we don’t need to worry about whether our loved ones are safe. Carjacking is a ...