Be ready for carbon monoxide dangers

December 27, 2021

Last week seven members of a family in the Moorhead area were found dead in their home. While police wouldn’t immediately say what had killed the Hernandez family, they did say there was no sign of obvious trauma. Wednesday, with blood toxicity results in, the authorities announced the family had died from carbon monoxide toxicity. While they don’t know how the CO got into the family’s home, the blood tests left no doubt. What they do know is that the carbon monoxide detector in the family’s home was disconnected, and its battery was missing. Most of the family members were ...

Et. Cetera

December 24, 2021

Orchestra program sees growth The Fairmont Area School District continues to see its orchestra numbers grow. Instructor Katie Hoaglund said this is in part due to a grant the district received several years ago from the Schmeeckle Foundation. The program has grown so much at the elementary school that it moved into a new, bigger classroom this year. Music is such an important thing for our youth to learn and we’re happy to see both the district and the community support the program. County prepares for possible mandate This week the Martin County Commissioners had to take action ...

COVID’s rebound

December 23, 2021

A year ago COVID-19 was hammering health care workers, closing schools, stopping sporting events and other large group gatherings. Six months ago, thanks largely to the vaccines that were becoming increasingly available, COVID numbers were dropping and people were looking at leaving masks at home and getting out and around other people. But now, thanks to the delta variant and the more recent omicron variant, COVID has staged a big comeback. Hospitals are full of infected patients, the NFL, NBA and NHL are postponing games as players and coaches test positive, and it is expected that ...

Tailpipe standards

December 22, 2021

President Joe Biden announced a stricter set of mileage and emission standards for U.S. automakers on Monday, perhaps in response to Sen. Joe Manchin sticking a potato in the tailpipe of the Build Back Better Act on Sunday. The bill that Manchin said he couldn’t support contains $555 billion for renewable energy and clean transportation over the next ten years, including tax credits for installing solar panels and buying electric cars. It was meant to be the backbone of Biden’s plans to lower the U.S.’s production of greenhouse gases. By setting new mileage standards for ...

Manchin holds the power in Senate

December 21, 2021

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, (W-Va) holds the power in the U.S. Senate in regard to the $2 trillion Build Back Better bill that President Joe Biden is hoping to get passed. To get it through the Senate, which is equally divided between Republicans and Democrats, Biden needs all 50 Democrats to vote “yea”. On Sunday Manchin said that he won’t be doing that for a bill he feels is too expensive and too sweeping. The White House shot back, with Press Secretary Jen Psaki called Manchin’s statement a “sudden and inexplicable reversal of his position,” and said Manchin had given ...

The Minnesota difference

December 20, 2021

There is one thing that makes Minnesota different from every other state in the union. We are the only state with a divided Legislature — Democrats hold the majority in the House of Representatives, and the Republicans control the Senate. This may create some problems, like the inability to pass a two-year budget without going to special sessions, but it also produces one advantage. Since the House and Senate will never agree on a redistricting map every ten yeas, it falls to a panel of impartial judges. So instead of one party drawing up districts designed to add to their majority, ...