County board accepts assessor’s resignation
Cook County commissioners were caught off guard when County Administrator Jeff Cadwell announced that he had received the resignation of Cook County Assessor Betty Schultz. Cadwell said he received a letter from Schultz on May 18. “I expressed my regret and expressed my belief that a lot of [good] work had been done,” he added. The announcement came near the […]
Who should serve on city’s comprehensive plan committee?
Intending to put together a steering committee for the comprehensive city plan, the council has been gathering a list of people who might be interested in serving. During the meeting on Wednesday, May 11, plans for the committee began to move forward as the council discussed what the members could expect and who would be qualified to serve on the […]
Incumbent commissioners running for re-election
The filing period for a number of local government boards opened May 17 and will close on May 31, 2016. Although there will be a number of seats on the ballots, at press time only three candidates had filed—the two incumbent county commissioners Heidi Doo-Kirk and Garry Gamble and a challenger, Myron Bursheim. Gamble represents Commissioner District 2, east Grand […]
Changing divisiveness
Our political system has been deteriorating over the past decades into an adversarial quagmire. Our current election circus is the inevitable outcome of our “black and white” political reasoning, resulting in our inability to master the art of kind exception. Usually prejudice is easier to sustain when we don’t have a personal relationship, so to see it creeping into our […]
Minnesota should not agree to Great Lakes water diversion
Earlier today, the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Regional Body met and voted on the final Declaration of Findings on the City of Waukesha’s Lake Michigan water diversion proposal. The Declaration of Findings includes conditions added by the Great Lakes governors and premiers that will modify the diversion. After today’s vote, the Declaration of Findings will be forwarded to the Compact Council […]
Honoring our fallen heroes, respecting our veterans
Every year on Memorial Day, we remember those we have lost while they served in our military. It is a time to reflect on how we honor these fallen heroes and how we treat those who have followed, our brave veterans, with the dignity and respect they have earned. Throughout our nation’s history, Minnesotans have proudly served in our military. […]
Honoring all on Memorial Day
I try not to get into discussions on social media. I’ve learned, after a time or two of making what I felt was a benign comment, that the online reader often interprets comments in an entirely different way than intended. So when I see a heated conversation on Facebook or a dispute in blog posts, most of the time I […]
Appreciating Cook County from another angle
Jim Starr, a Hovland resident, had some company on May 7, 2016 as a group from The Institute on Lake Superior Geology made their way along the North Shore, stopping at various points along the way. The institute is a nonprofit organization that has been meeting annually since 1955 at various locations near Lake Superior in both the U.S. and […]