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Vaccinations for kids

Pfizer, the company that produces one of the major COVID-19 vaccines, announced this week that its vaccine will work on children aged 5 to 12, and that it will seek approval from the government to begin offering vaccinations to children. The Pfizer vaccine is administered at smaller doses for children, but its immunization is as strong as those received by older children receiving full doses. If this Pfizer vaccine is approved, it will be good news for parents who worry about sending their children to school, where they may come into contact with the virus. That is a risk that is ...

Et. Cetera

Rotary Brews and BBQ Fairmont Rotary Club is putting on its Brews and BBQ event today in downtown Fairmont. What a great fundraising idea. The event will help raise money for Rotary to continue with its important projects that help the community. Fairmont Safety Council It’s nice to see that the Fairmont Safety Council is meeting again after taking a five year hiatus. One thing discussed at its meeting this week was the speed limit along Albion Avenue. We agree that lowering it to 30 mph along a portion is probably needed for safety reasons. Charter Commission The Charter ...

We’re caught between high stakes negotiations

Some mighty high-stakes poker is being played in our nation’s capital these days, with the nation’s fiscal future hanging in the balance. On Tuesday, the House of Representatives voted to approve a federal debt limit and funding continuation plan that would allow the government to remain open when the U.S. fiscal year ends on Sept. 30. It passed on a 220-211 party line vote. It now has to go through the evenly-divided Senate, where Republicans are firmly against, and the Democrats can’t afford to lose one vote, and where Republicans can block with a filibuster that can’t be ...

Without the UN, what?

Over the years we have been critical of the United Nations for a variety of reasons. It has often been hamstrung in times of crisis; it has often catered to dictatorships and tyrants; it has made a mockery of human rights issues by putting some of the worst offending nations on commissions intended to deal with those issues. But as the UN begins its annual General Assembly this week, we have to remark that without the UN, where would we be? Where else can leaders of the world’s nations stand up and declare their agendas, state their grievances, call for changes and demand action on ...

Haiti no place to send refugees

The U.S. is in the process of deporting thousands of Haitian refugees who have gathered at the Texas border, sending them back to a country that has little to offer them. Haiti is the western hemisphere’s poorest nation. It has been ravaged by major earthquakes not once, but twice in the past 11 years, once in 2010 and again this year. The earthquakes have been followed by hurricanes and tropical storms. The country is in the midst of political upheaval, its president recently assassinated, its military trying to set up a government. Its streets are run by violent gangs. Most of ...

Concerns for Minneapolis

Early voting began Friday in Minneapolis for the city’s charter amendments. Among them is the question of whether to replace the Minneapolis Police Department with a Department of Public Safety. Whether this question passes or not, Minneapolis needs to do something about its crime problem. Minnesota’s largest city is suffering through a year where violent crime is on the rise, where each weekend brings news of more shootings. Many of the victims are children caught in the crossfires of randoms shootings. This weekend, for example, 11 people were injured in seven separate ...