The State budget deal

May 20, 2021

If it wasn’t for deadlines, some things would never get done at all. It’s true in newspapers, and it’s true in government as well. State leaders agreed early Monday morning on a $52 billion budget plan, hours before the scheduled end of the legislative session. By having a May 17 deadline for the end of the session, the legislature and Gov. Tim Walz are at least guaranteed of getting a budget passed by June 14 — well past the deadline, but well ahead of the end of the fiscal year on June 30, after which the state government would have to shut down. The broad agreement settles ...

Israel, Hamas should heed calls for cease fire

May 19, 2021

Israelis and Palestinians are in open war with each other in the Gaza Strip. Hamas, the Palestinian leadership organization, has been firing rockets into Israel, and the Israeli forces are responding with air raids to destroy buildings and tunnels it says are housing Hamas military operations. This is the deadliest outbreak of violence in Gaza in years. It was sparked, apparently, by an intrusion into a mosque in April by Israeli forces who cut the wires to loudspeakers calling Muslims to prayer, to prevent them from drowning out a nearby Memorial Day speech. Tensions accelerated and ...

Pot vote in vain

May 17, 2021

As we come down to the bitter end of the legislative session, the House spent a long afternoon and evening debating and voting on a bill to legalize marijuana in the state. As much as the pot afficionados might be cheered by the House passage, the Senate is determined to let the bill die without a hearing. We suppose legislators already know they won’t finish their real work in time, and don’t mind wasting some now.

Et Cetera

May 15, 2021

Masks We were glad to see Governor Walz lift the statewide mask mandate following new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s about time. However, We agree with Walz that more people need to get vaccinated. It’s time for those who have not been vaccinated to finish the job and get it done. Pheasant Opener It was disappointing to see the Visit Fairmont Board of Directors decided that they couldn’t host the 2021 Minnesota Governor’s Pheasant Hunting Opener. Now the state has to find another host in just a few short months. It seems that a lot of ...

What will GOP unify behind?

May 14, 2021

Having dumped Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming, from her leadership post in the House, the Republican Caucus is now free to unite. That has been the goal, according to other Republican leaders. Cheney was ousted not because she keeps saying Donald Trump is lying when he claims he was robbed of the 2020 election, according to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, but because the party wants to present a united front to voters in the 2022 midterm elections, when they hope to take control of the House and Senate, and in 2024, when they hope to win back the White House. Unity is a good thing in ...

Getting to 70 percent

May 12, 2021

About 60% of Minnesotans 16 and older have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. State officials would like the figure to get to 70%. One would think getting to 70 from 60 would be relatively easy, especially given that the supply of vaccines is up and the state is even encouraging walk-in vaccinations. Gov. Tim Walz has promised to end the state’s mask mandate for public indoor places as soon as we get to 70 percent, or by July 1 at the latest. And yet the pace of Minnesotans lining up for a vaccination is slowing. It may be old story of the low-hanging fruit — those ...