Sunday was Constitution Day, a day to reflect on the greatest document ever written to shape and protect citizen rights in a representative democracy. However, the Constitution’s authors could not guarantee future generations would engage in their responsibility as citizens to study and live by the words they worked so hard to craft. They were …
As I read Jennifer Rothchild’s critique of my recent letter to the editor, several things stood out to me. Her opening assertion was so vague as to be useless. In the Christian creeds, “taking care of ourselves” means to repent of our sins, trust in Jesus for forgiveness, and walk with God by faith: “Taking …
It’s a worrisome trend that gained traction during the COVID-19 pandemic – a lack of trust in vaccines. Today, fewer children are getting needed vaccines that will protect their health today and in the future. “Vaccines for illnesses such as diphtheria, rotavirus, polio, tetanus, whooping cough, also called pertussis, and others are given in the first …
Minnesota’s effort to keep graduating high school seniors who are college bound from leaving the state received a significant boost from the Legislature this year with the passage of the North Star Promise program. Starting in the fall of 2024, tuition at public post-secondary schools for students whose family income is less than $80,000 annually …
Play deprivation is responsible for the increasing mental health crisis among America’s youth, Peter Gray, a leading expert on the psychology of play and a professor of psychology at Boston College, says. “Allowing more unsupervised free play is among the most powerful and least expensive ways to bring down rates of mental illness,” he says. …
As the Canadian smoke rolled into western Minnesota Friday, it was so thick it appeared to be a wall of rain showers. Clear skies gave way to opaque haze, and temperatures seemed to cool with the sun’s warmth was muted. From a thousand miles away, the haze of a changing climate sat over Minnesota for …
“Minnesota’s small towns are in decline. It’s hard, but we must talk about it.” Headlines like this always make us curious to find out what metropolitan dailies are saying about us. Minneapolis Star Tribune business columnist Evan Ramstad wrote the piece about how, outside the area surrounding Minneapolis and St. Paul, the state’s small towns …
No law is so ignored and treated with such disdain as Minnesota’s hands-free cell phone law. People openly talk, text, and check social media on their phones while driving with little fear of being cited for violating the law. In some rural counties, the number of citations given out in a year for distracted driving …
A recent study by Wall Street Journal-NORC shows disturbing trends evolving in the United States, trends that demand a new focus on civic education and valuing trusted sources of local news. “Patriotism, religious faith, having children and other priorities that helped define the national character for generations are receding in importance to Americans, a new …
Last week I took a drive north to Her- man twice, once in late afternoon and then again in early morning. On both occasions I had to dodge animals on the road and it was very unsettling. The late afternoon drive was basically nice as there were lots of pheasants out on the sides of …
