Internet access and capacity are vital in today's world for the information and commerce they provide. No area or school should be without superior service. Only government can provide this infrastructure in low populated areas of the state. All residents of a state should be able to have quality Internet service.
R.C. "Punky" Beauchamp
East Grand Forks
โ Our area exports coal, oil, and agricultural products, with a lot of the exporting accomplished through the highway and rail systems. Highway infrastructure has a public funding process, whereas rail infrastructure has a private process.
Considering recent train derailments, perhaps the process for monitoring and maintaining railroad tracks ought to be revisited.
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Mark Huglen and Sharon Neet
Crookston
โ The theme should be affordability. Our governor wants 10 percent solar in the future. Last year, he put this idea in a jobs bill. But higher rates cost jobs, bankrupt some small cities and seriously harm our working poor.
Continue to fund Local Government Aid to ensure long-term tax relief to rural cities. St. Paul needs to reverse these attacks on our utility rates.
Henry Noel
Hallock, Minn.
โ I live in a rural setting in the Red River Valley, where farm field ditches, road ditches and watershed ditches all direct water west to the Red River as fast as possible. This is all fine and done with good intent, for the most part; but coordination between counties and watershed districts is needed.
In some cases, decisions made by one watershed district can be detrimental to neighbors living in the next district. There needs to be more oversight with legal authority to make sure these drainage efforts do the most good with the least harm to all. This has not been a "hot topic" for the past two winters, but reforms need to be in place when we do get a moisture-laden winter.
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John Johnson
Warren, Minn.
โ I would love to see senior apartments or condos built with heated underground parking within walking distance of downtown East Grand Forks and Grand Forks. Throw in a grocery store nearby with a pharmacy plus a place to sit down and have coffee, and it would be nirvana.
Treasure Omdahl
East Grand Forks
