Editorial: Thumbs

To Clayton Miller of Wells.

The director of plays at United South Central School in Wells continues to lead great theater in a small town. He always gives credit to the students — and, to be sure, they deserve it — but someone had to stop and give credit to a talented director. So we did. “The Wizard of Oz,” shows this weekend at the school, with a 2 p.m. Sunday matinee. It is a magnificent, inventive and fun production. Go see it, if you can get in. Miller has a reputation for quality, and this show reflects his expectations.

 

To members of Congress unfairly trading stocks with non-public information.

Last Sunday, “60 Minutes” aired a segment that implicated some members of Congress — including the last two House speakers — for trading stocks based on information they have access to but the general public does not. And there is not a law that stops them from having this unfair advantage.

A bill proposed by our district’s congressman, Democrat Tim Walz of Mankato, that limits the stock-trading capacity had been pretty much dead. But by Thursday, thanks to the “60 Minutes” report, his measure gained much support. And in the Senate, Republican Scott Brown of Massachusetts introduced his own version, giving the idea bipartisan support.

Called the STOCK Act — for Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge — it would be a sound law. Trading with insider information already is illegal, and therefore trading with insider congressional knowledge ought to be illegal, just the same.

 

To the Albert Lea girls’ swim team.

Win or lose. Good day or bad. It doesn’t matter. Getting to state is a difficult accomplishment as it is. Way to go, Kemma Begland, Morgan Field, Galen Schulz, Lindsey Horejsi, Karli Kriewall and Anna Andersen.