Pity the poor state commissioners

July 12, 2021

Minnesota Senate Republicans returned this week to a practice they began last summer to punish Gov. Tim Walz for not ceding his emergency powers. When Walz would call a special session to extend the emergency declaration, Republicans, unable to overcome the DFL-controlled House’s votes, would select one of Walz’s state commissioners and vote to reject the appointment. It’s a tactic made possible by the practice of governors and senators for decades. A governor appoints a commissioner, with the advice and consent of the Senate, but there is no time limit for senators to approve or ...

Et Cetera

July 10, 2021

Brayden Geerdes Kudos to 11-year-old Brayden Geerdes. Brayden has found a unique way to make money by creating and selling decorative gnomes. But far from simply providing himself an extra source of income, he has instead decided that helping others in need brings a far greater reward. We couldn’t agree more. It’s a lesson that takes some people a lifetime to learn, but he has picked it up early while also overcoming his own challenges with autism. Displaying both an entrepreneurial spirit as well as compassion for others, Brayden exemplifies the very best of what we all ought to ...

From rescue to recovery in Florida

July 9, 2021

The hardest thing to lose is hope, especially in a situation like that in Surfside, Florida, where a 12-story condominium collapsed on June 24. The families of those missing have been hoping against hope that their loved ones somehow have managed to find some space and survive. But recovery officials have come to the conclusion that there’s little chance of finding more survivors, and the operation has turned from search and rescue to recovery. The searchers continue to find bodies of people, most of whom were asleep in bed when the collapse occured. Fifty-four bodies have been ...

Rules of justice can be strict

July 8, 2021

One of the hardest things to imagine about our system of justice is how stringently the rules must be applied. In the U.S. criminal justice system, the defendants are considered innocent until the state can prove them guilty, and the burden of proof can be burdensome. There are rules for gathering evidence, rules for handling evidence, rules for how the accused has to be handled or questioned or even if he can be questioned. If those rules are violated, a defendant, even one who is most certainly guilty, has to be set free. So it it with Bill Cosby, accused of drugging and raping ...

Cyber criminals grow more brazen

July 7, 2021

Over the 4th of July weekend, a cybercriminal gang of thieves struck again, delivering the largest global ransomware attack on record, one affecting thousands of organizations in 17 countries. The attacks are tying up their computers, and the criminals are demanding millions in ransom. This attack is sophisticated, and designed to reach the maximum number of victims. Instead of targeting single companies, it targeted firms that manage the IT security of other companies. By hacking them, the attackers could access the systems of companies those IT management firms service. What makes ...

Unchain young defendants in court

July 6, 2021

Minnesota is behind most states in ending routine shackling of youth in court. Just the image of a human being led around in shackles conjures an immediate impression: the person has been captured; they've lost freedom of movement because they've done something wrong. It suggests that a person must have behaved like an animal to need to be chained like one. Watching a defendant shuffle into court in chains can evoke a subconscious, reflexive presumption of guilt even in a judge hearing a case in juvenile court. That's among the solid reasons a proposal to end the indiscriminate ...