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 ...

Et Cetera…

July 3, 2021

Summer School The Fairmont Elementary School is once again offering summer classes for students going into 1st through 7th grade. According to co-principal Michelle Rosen, three different schedules will allow families to work around vacations, camping, and vacation bible schools. This is definitely the right way to go. The kids will benefit from keeping up with their studies, which should help them retain more of what they learned over the regular school year. In addition, those who may have struggled due to pandemic restrictions may be able to push ahead. Pheasants Forever It was ...

Right down to the wire

July 2, 2021

The Minnesota Legislature was cutting it close, as usual, on Wednesday. While most of the state’s budget bills have been passed and signed, legislators were still working on an education funding bill that will pump $1.2 billion more into the state’s classrooms over the next four years. This is money that will be going to school districts largely through the general fund formula, giving school districts the ability to spend it where they need it. We hope they passed it by midnight last night to prevent repercussions in school programs this year. One thing the Republicans managed to ...

Accurate information on CRT is needed

July 1, 2021

Critical Race Theory, or CRT, has become the latest point of contention in our particularly contentious society. Conservatives and liberals argue about what it is, and what it is going to do to our country. Conservatives feel it is a wild-eyed, marxist condemnation of White people as racists in control of a racist society, and is being used to sully our nation’s history, poison our school children’s minds and divide the people. Liberals see it as a recognition of the how racism has shaped policies in our social system, and that recognition is the first step to eliminating the ...

Police reforms won’t come all at once

June 30, 2021

The agreement Minnesota legislators reached on the public safety budget bill over the weekend contains some police reforms, but not enough for those pressing for changes in the way police interact with the public. The agreement contains regulation of no-knock warrants, creating a police misconduct database, and creation of an office dealing with the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women, plus a task force on missing and murdered black women. But proponents of police changes want more. They want to stop police using traffic stops for minor offenses as a pretext for further ...

Session looks to end on time

June 29, 2021

The Minnesota legislative special session seems on its way to finish work on the state budget bills before the July 1 government shutdown date. Legislative leaders announced an agreement on the last contentious issue, the police accountability measures included in the public safety bill. Democrats had been pushing to add a host of new restrictions on police procedures to the bill, while Republicans were loath to add measures that they considered anti-police. The agreed-upon measures include regulations on no-knock warrants, creation of a police misconduct database to prevent problem ...