TO THE EDITOR:
The Northstar Extension Study is Out! Yea, the first part of a two part study for which $4 million was budgeted for by the 2023 MN Legislature has been released, and so far has accomplished its goal of delaying the closure of this boondoggle known as Northstar Rail. I mean, how can you shutdown the colossal waste of taxpayer dollars when there is still a “study” going on? (The second part of the study isn’t due until February next year!) This study can be viewed at https://www.lrl.mn.gov/docs/2024/mandated/240329.pdf. The stated “purpose”, of this study does not address whether extending the Northstar from Big Lake to St. Cloud is a good/practical thing to do or not. The purpose is to provide a summary of the steps necessary to complete a rail extension, which is nothing more than a “shopping list”, for vendors/contractors/consultants to show them how much $$$ they can potentially make if they support this project. Let me state it another say, we the government would like to spend up to $690.7 million in Capital Cost to get this done. . . do any of you people out there want to get a portion of this money? Join with us!! You provide your support and we’ll hire you to do some of the work!! The only thing good this report provides is a ridership comparison of the Northstar to (five) other peer commuter rail systems showing ridership is down across the board. Post pandemic, people are not taking the train anymore. No more studies and no more games. Shut this unnecessarily wasteful project down now.
Bret R. Collier
Big Lake, MN
TO THE EDITOR:
Our Nation’s founding principles are that all persons are created equal, endowed by God with unalienable rights, and the sole purpose of government is to secure those rights. Thus, the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibited discrimination on the basis of the immutable attributes of race, color, sex or national origin. The 1972 Education Act provided in Title IX that “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” Now, 52 years later, the definition of “sex” has become a cultural and legal issue. The Biden administration, not Congress, revised Title IX on April 19, 2024. One significant change reinterprets the historical binary definition of male and female in K-12 and post-secondary institutions that receive federal funds, to include a self-selected gender. Thus, biological males who “identify” as female have the legal right to invade womens’ personal spaces, whether on the playing field, gym, bathrooms, field trip housing, etc. Female students’ hard-fought equal rights are being erased and their parents have few options to protect them. Demand that your elected officials take action to prevent this outrage.
Betsy Armstrong
Becker, MN
