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Police should not be the front line of Minnesota’s mental health crisis
A mental health crisis can take many forms. Often, it’s hard for witnesses to understand. Perhaps it manifests as an outburst, strange comments, non-communication, or frantic behavior. It can be frightening. That’s why law enforcement often ends up the first point of contact for people experiencing mental illness. As I write in today’s column, it…
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Nippon-US Steel deal will be transformative for Range, though risk remains
Last Friday, as Memorial Day weekend was just about to hit, President Donald Trump announced in his haphazard way that he supported a relabeled version of Nippon Steel’s proposal to buy U.S. Steel. U.S. Steel owns and operates the country’s largest iron ore mine at Minntac in Mountain Iron. It also runs Keewatin Taconite, where…
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A.I. already dominates the classroom, so now what?
It’s hard to say that artificial intelligence snuck up on us. People have been yammering about it for years. Most people I know have either generated A.I. content or mindlessly shared it on social media. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know what it is, it’s already in your house. And it’s the topic of…
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Northern Minnesota fires highlights growing threat
I’ve written about wildfire before, but only in the context of fires somewhere else or fires in history. Now the fires are at our door. And that’s what I was worried about all along. Now I’m writing about wildfires in northern Minnesota. The Brimson fire complex, which includes the Jenkins Creek and Camp House fires,…
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Stress, isolation erode mental health in rural areas; human connection seeds new growth
Today, the second in my series of columns about mental health issues appears in the Minnesota Star Tribune. I began this series after contemplating the loss of a family member to suicide many years ago. My goals: build hope for recovery from mental illness while sharing valuable resources and elevating worthy public policy ideas. This…
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Economy, company commitments to determine real fate of NorthMet project
Today, I’ve got a new column on some of the latest twists in Minnesota’s copper-nickel mining debate. I’m well aware that my position on copper-nickel mining in northern Minnesota is like some rare single-cell organism that only survives within a narrow temperature band found near active volcanos at the bottom of the ocean. I know…
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A new podcast worth your time
Starting Friday, May 2, you can listen to “Worth It,” a new podcast from the Minnesota Star Tribune and Lemonada Media. Night editor Nicole Norfleet and I will co-host this lifestyle talk show highlighting all the cool and important stuff happening around Minnesota. You can listen at Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere you download podcasts.…
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A strategy of pragmatic hope to improve mental health
Mental health is often in the news these days. It’s an epidemic putting enormous pressure on our health care system. It’s a burden weighing down our kids as they navigate a more complex and cruel world. We hear about ending the stigma of mental illness through open dialogue. I’ll start. Mental illness in my immediate…
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Bringing back the shanty craze, for safety
Today begins with a question. Will the Minnesota Star Tribune let their newest columnist write a goofball satire in the form of old time workers’ shanties? The answer, to my own surprise, is yes. Please enjoy, “Why have regulations when you can have safety shanties?“ About nine years ago I became more serious about historical…
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Logging off from myths in forest products
Even today, logging shapes life in the North Woods. Sure, most people here aren’t loggers. Even in rural areas, most people don’t even own their own chain saws, though many do. But logging is all around us. It’s even the subject of my latest column. As I drive from Balsam to Grand Rapids these days,…
