Maybe Trump was right about COVID origins

May 28, 2021

Former president Donald Trump always took great pains when talking about COVID-19 to call it the “Chinese flu.” He claimed he had intelligence reports that said the virus had been developed in a Wuhan, China clinic, that it escaped, and that the Chinese government ignored its existence until it was too late. Many saw that as an attempt by Trump to draw attention away from his own adminstration’s flawed response to the virus, or just another falsehood from the Dissembler-in-Chief. But this week it looks like he may have been right. President Joe Biden is ordering U.S. intelligence ...

Good news on COVID-19 front

May 26, 2021

Minnesota had a good weekend with the COVID-19 news. Active cases are down to 5,720, our lowest point since mid-September. The number of hospitalized patients is down, and the number of new hospitalizations is falling. No new deaths due to COVID-19 were reported in the state on Monday. Brown County has been doing well, too. Brown County Public Health reported two new cases on Monday since its last report on Friday. The number of active cases is down to 13. It has been quite a while since a new death was recorded. Part of the reason for all of this is the number of vaccinations, which ...

Need for police force becoming apparent

May 25, 2021

Attitudes in America toward police forces and police tactics have been mixed and confusing in the past year. So it has been in Minneapolis this past year. Since the killing of George Floyd a year ago, there has been a push to defund the police, to dissolve the police force and replace it with some kind of community safety force. We understand why people, especially minorities, feel this way after they’ve seemingly been profiled and targeted. But the recent spate of shootings and violence in Minneapolis, including the shooting of three innocent children who were bystanders, including ...

End of a truly unusual school year

May 24, 2021

Graduation season is upon us, and the 2020-21 school year is coming to a close. This has been a school year like few others, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There was some wonder at the beginning of the year how it would work to bring hundreds of students together in classrooms at a time when face masks and six-foot social distancing was required. Would students have to learn from home, as they did for the last few months of the previous school year? If they did come to school, how would they be kept safe? Somehow, local school districts managed. Fairmont Area Schools went all-in on ...

Et Cetera

May 22, 2021

New Marijuana Bill Medical marijuana has been an issue in Minnesota, largely due to the fact that the cannabis law has been so restrictive. Recently Minnesota lawmakers voted to expand the law to allow patients to smoke the plant. Normally it has only been allowed in the form of liquid, oils, and pills. This could be a help to some, bringing relief to some patients. We know full marijuana legalization is coming, but really, what are the actual needs beyond medical help? County Jail Food Service The Martin County Sheriff’s Office has found a new party to provide food for the ...

Let independent panel investigate insurrection

May 21, 2021

When a mob of Trump supporters broke into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, trying to stop the the members of Congress as they tried to validate the results of the November presidential election, it was an act of insurrection unlike anything since the Civil War. Now, as some members of Congress try to set up a non-partisan, independent panel to investigate the events of that day and try to determine ways to prevent such an attack on our government from happening again, other Congress members are standing in the way. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Tuesday he is opposed to such an ...