I’ve hung out a lot with peace-loving people, so I’ve been aware for a long time of efforts to create a Department of Peace at the cabinet level. It makes total sense. We NEED one. … more

As if the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic haven’t been strain enough for many North Country businesses, the impact of last year’s fire-related closures in the Boundary Waters, as well as … more

I was cleaning the guest bedroom last weekend and came across the old gray, waterstained shoe box that I knew held treasures. Upon opening it, I saw a bunch of letters held in a bundle by a sticky … more

As we report this week, residents in Tower pay $234 a year more for water and sewer than their neighbors in Soudan, yet both are served by the Tower-Breitung Wastewater Board and pay exactly the same … more

When my phone rang one mid-December evening, I couldn’t have imagined the request I received. I’d assumed my son was calling from Minneapolis to announce that, because of the latest COVID … more

Exactly twelve years ago, the Democrats held 59 seats in the U.S. Senate. That included three of the four Senate seats from North and South Dakota, and both Senate seats from the states of Arkansas … more

When I graduated from high school in 1976, I did so without having taken a foreign language. German and Spanish were available but not required, and there were other electives, like economics, that … more

When political leaders put politics over process and the law, it leaves plenty of wreckage behind. The Biden administration’s decision last week, to cancel the Twin Metals leases in the … more

Abraham Lincoln is one of our most revered presidents, and I’m wondering what he would think of the state of our nation. If asked what they think they know about Lincoln, many people would say … more

The Walz administration issued an eye-popping bonding proposal last week, just ahead of the start of the 2022 legislative session. At a proposed $2.7 billion dollars, it would dwarf any previous … more