Editorial: Thumbs

To Mayo Clinic Health System.

Getting a new website is a big deal. Getting a new website and having it done right is an even bigger deal. The new website of the Mayo Clinic Health System is clean and easy to navigate. It integrates all of the health system’s locations, from Adams to Wells. Users can look up the doctors at their location or see specialists from all across the system. By the way, it’s nice to see all the medical professionals get updated photographs, especially you, Dr. Aly Hatem. Go to mayoclinichealthsystem.org and find your doctor.

 

To changes in rules for prep ice hockey.

A more severe penalty for illegal checking makes sense in the wake of the spinal cord injury that paralyzed a sophomore at Benilde-St. Margaret’s. Checking from behind isn’t necessary to the game’s strategy. It’s usually done as an act of intimidation, more than anything. In truth, it is poor sportsmanship. The Minnesota State High School League is wise to raise the penalty from a two-minute minor penalty to a five-minute major penalty.

 

To bills that limit the abilities of counties to enact moratoriums.

Why don’t state legislators just drive down to the county level and do the job of running the cities, townships and counties for us local folks? They could just get rid of the county commissioners, city councilors and township trustees altogether because, heck, the state lawmakers do nothing but curtail local control at every turn.

No wonder people don’t want to run for local government. The state makes local decisions less important and more hamstrung every year.

A bill that would limit the ability of Minnesota counties, cities and townships to impose moratoriums on land use decisions is alive again in the Legislature. The bill would have prevented three southeastern Minnesota counties — Goodhue, Wabasha and Winona — from adopting effective moratoriums against the mining of silica sand.

If you hear a state lawmaker talking about local control, don’t believe it, not for a second. It’s just rhetoric.