ANDY PETERSON: Lower taxes for out-of-state firms? You bet

We are proud of the work the Legislature accomplished to equitably lower tax rates for all individuals and businesses of our great state. We created the economic success together, and we share it together.

• Andy Peterson

TODD BURIANEK: Marriage reforms suggest society has lost its way

A common principle of a free society is that the government should stay out of a person’s bedroom. After all, what happens behind those doors is not a governmental interest, and true freedom requires that any person be free of governmental interference in that regard.

THE EATBEAT: My (Italian) Moon adventure

Tilapia was the last thing on my mind when I stopped for lunch at the Italian Moon on a sunny day in May. I was aiming for the salad bar that is laden with choices including soups, pasta and pizza.

• Marilyn Hagerty

RYAN BAKKEN: Merry band of losers

The sight of my handsome mug shot on this page today should tell you at least one thing: I and my co-workers playing Powerball didn’t win the big prize.

• Ryan Bakken

JACK RONEY: Big Candy’s lobbying leaves sour taste

Since the great recession, investors have been inundated with tips for turning losses into profit, ranging from gold to initial public offerings of social-media firms.

MARILYN HAGERTY: ‘Air Mail Week,’ state marble championship marked ’38

Marbles and knothole gangs caught the fancy of children around Grand Forks 75 years ago. The second annual state marble tournament was held here on a lot across from the YMCA on Fifth Street.

• Marilyn Hagerty

JOHN HOEVEN: A victory for the Missouri River basin

This week, we scored a major victory for the people who live and work throughout the Missouri River basin. The U.S. Senate passed the States’ Water Rights Act, legislation I introduced and attached to the Water Resources Development Act to bar the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from charging a storage fee for water drawn from the Missouri River reservoirs.

LLOYD OMDAHL: Big chunk of tax cut going out of state

The legislative leadership responsible for the big tax cuts is calling them “the largest tax-relief package this state has ever seen.”

• Lloyd Omdahl

ANN BAILEY: The humiliation of dogs

Though my children were energetic little people, they were pretty well-behaved when we went out to eat, take in a movie or to attend church, saving me the public humiliation.

• Ann Bailey

OUR OPINION: Keep Capitol renovation on track

“The Minnesota Capitol has reached a tipping point,” the Minnesota Capitol Preservation Commission reported. The building is deteriorating so rapidly that either major repairs get started within one to two years, or the historic structure will be impossible to preserve — and Minnesota may have to start thinking about replacing it.

• Our Opinion

ERIC JOHNSON: Legislative session hurt public health

Now that the North Dakota Legislature has closed its record-setting, 80-day 63rd Assembly, I’d like to review the apparent lack of concern shown by the super-majority Republicans for a number of public health issues.

BRAD DOKKEN: The tale of the reunited rack

I joined Mitch Haaby of Roseau, Minn., earlier this month for a story about collecting antler sheds. My goal wasn’t to write a “how-to” or “where-to” story about hunting for fallen antlers — enough people are scouring the woods already — but instead to tell a story about Haaby’s passion for deer hunting and how collecting antler sheds helps prepare him for hunting season.

• The antler from a whitetail buck found in October 2004

TALKIN WITH DOKKEN: Where are all the hummingbirds?

Brad Dokken answers the question: Are there hummingbirds in the Grand Forks area, and what can one do besides a hummingbird feeder to attract them?

DAVID BROOKS: Scandals show massive failure of self-restraint

Government, Clinton Rossiter once wrote, is something like fire: “Under control, it is the most useful of servants; out of control, it is a ravaging tyrant.”

• David Brooks

Hal Gershman and Kaus Thiessen: ‘Bakken boom’ powers exciting growth in Grand Forks

In 2012, our city welcomed the Grand Forks expansion of Steffes Corp., a long-time Dickinson, N.D.-based manufacturer of residential off-peak, oil field and renewable energy products.

• Hal Gershman