Viewpoints

At the Children’s Water Festival in St. Paul in September, I used a groundwater model to talk with fourth grade students about how surface and groundwater resources connect and how we can keep them both clean. In one demonstration, I used food coloring to illustrate how fertilizer from a farm field could pollute nearby wells and streams. Afterwards, a parent asked me an interesting question, “If fertilizer is potentially harmful, do local government agencies support using GMO [genetically modified] crops to reduce fertilizer use?”

Going to court can be a stressful, time-consuming and expensive way to resolve a dispute. Many attorneys charge over $250 per hour and civil cases can take over a year to be resolved in court. Even after a court decision, people often spend as much time and money on an appeal as on the original case.

Much has been written and discussed in the media about frivolous lawsuits.  Everyone seems to think of the hot McDonald’s coffee lawsuit as being “frivolous,” when, in fact, the injured customer sustained serious burns to her body as a result. It seems a frivolity is the lawsuit of someone other than yourself.
The Minnesota Rules of Court were recently amended to include the following requirement as to “proportionality:”

Thanksgiving is a time for family, friends, giving thanks and helping those in need. With Thanksgiving here, families across the nation will be celebrating their own traditions in their own way. Between the food and the festivities, no one family does it quite the same, but I encourage everyone to add one thing to their day – take time to say thanks.

While the Internet offers convenience, it can also enable scam operators to defraud buyers and sellers. Fraudsters can use the Internet to dupe individuals looking to buy or sell items such as cars, boats, rental housing or other products and services.
Take, for example, the following scenarios:

As one of the members of Minnesota’s Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources, I have the opportunity to make funding recommendations to the legislature for special environment and natural resource projects that benefit our entire state.

“If I had only known; I would have done something.” How many times has that thought entered your mind as you read or heard about some tragic story of a family being torn apart? Many times it is clear, after the fact, that a relatively simple act of kindness might have averted the entire tragedy. Some wonder why the government’s social services agencies were not involved. However, their ability to act is largely limited to cases where they have been notified that a child is about to fall into immediate peril.

Fall is here and winter is right around the corner.  As we clean out the gutters one last time, rake up our leaves and put our lawn mowers away, we should also be thinking about weatherizing our houses for the winter. There are a number of projects we can do around the house that can save hundreds of dollars.
Thankfully, the Minnesota Department of Commerce has some useful tips to get us started. The following is its “10 Ways to Save Energy, and other stuff too”: