Commentary
Minnesota must prepare for its role in a post-Roe world — Opinion
Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to enforce Roe v. Wade and allowed a Texas abortion ban to go into effect. SB 8 is a Texas law that deputizes individuals and anti-abortion extremists to enforce the state’s six-week abortion ban. Right now, any individual in the state of Texas can sue anyone who helps another person obtain an abortion — even […]
Standing up to special interests — Opinion
Today, we are at the crossroads. On the one hand, we have the growing threats of climate change, which threatens us with fires, droughts and violent weather. On the other hand, we have a government that is increasingly being captured by special interests, which — as a result of the 2010 Supreme Court decision known […]
What was it all for? — Essay
I can still taste the sand, feel the heat on my skin. We were told to smell our water before we drank it, just in case something had been added to it. I remember the faces, including my own, when brothers or sisters in arms lost their lives. I remember the look of shock from […]
Book excerpt: Addressing congestion with efficiency
The following is an excerpt from Chapter Six of “Confessions of a Recovering Engineer: Transportation for a Strong Town,” the latest book in the Strong Towns series. It has been slightly modified for this space. Ramp meters are those mini traffic signals that queue vehicles as they enter the highway. Wikipedia explains their rationale succinctly: […]
The myth of the “14 bosses”: Police ballot initiative would restore balance — Opinion
Let’s address a common misrepresentation floating around about the Minneapolis police ballot initiative voters will decide on in November: That its passage would lead to the City Council running the new public safety agency — the myth of the 14 bosses. The myth appears to be a public relations strategy to create a vision of […]
Vaccines for kids are coming but they can’t be rushed
For weeks, questions from concerned parents have poured in: Why isn’t the COVID-19 vaccine approved for children under age 12 yet? When will a vaccine for children be available? Can the vaccine be given off-label? These are all good questions, and the answers aren’t easy. After the SARS-CoV-2 virus was identified in late 2019, clinical […]
Measuring greenhouse gases: No time for delays — Opinion
The world’s climate scientists just rang the alarm bell again, louder than ever. The latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change confirms that today’s unfolding climate crisis is unquestionably caused by humanity, especially our use of fossil fuels. We need to make big changes to avoid an irreversible global catastrophe, and we need […]
Poverty-shrinking policies changing the lives of millions should be made permanent — Opinion
Full tummies and fridges; safe housing; warm clothing for the coming winter. These are the types of basics — along with medicine, school supplies, and car repairs — that the expanded federal Child Tax Credits (CTC) paid for when Minnesota families started receiving part of their tax credits in July. Minnesota CTC payments in July […]
When the water is gone, oil cannot replace it — Opinion
In the same week of August that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a dire report on our climate future, the U.S. Senate passed a $1 trillion infrastructure bill. The IPCC report screams for governments to take action to prevent climate change, while the infrastructure bill allots a small amount of money to […]
Desegregation can help fix racial suspension gap — Opinion
In the 2017-18 school year, Minnesota students missed more than 85,000 school days due to a suspension. More than 60% of those days were missed by children of color, who make up less than a third of the state’s students. Minnesota, like most of the US, has enormous racial disparities in school discipline. Students of […]
Pressure is building on President Biden to step in and stop Line 3 — Opinion
After walking more than 250 miles over 16 days, from the headwaters of the Mississippi River down to the Twin Cities, water protectors fighting to stop the Line 3 tar sands pipeline were met by more than 2,000 people gathered outside the Minnesota State Capitol. The group came together across race, occupation and generation, in […]
Iron Range labor’s maturity, and decline — Column
Twenty years ago I attended one of countless public forums regarding the economic future of northern Minnesota. A local business owner lamented that there would be no new business on the Iron Range so long as unions were so strong. Unions, she said, got in the way of everything. Some things have changed since then. […]