RECOVERY FUND Officials with the Minot Area Recovery Foundation reported last week that the foundation had so far given out more than $3.3 million in reimbursements to area residents through the Minot Area Recovery Fund. But there is still a lot of money remaining to be distributed. An estimated 960 people did not show up for their appointment, and more than 300 individuals asked to have their appointment moved to a later date. The foundation will send another letter to those individuals, and the second phase of distributing money will begin at the end of the month. The Recovery Fund raised about $6.53 million. We'll be glad when all the money is distributed to eligible flood victims. We know the money won't solve all the problems related to the flood, but every little bit helps.
LUNCH DEBATE What constitutes a healthy school lunch? And perhaps the bigger question is should a school intervene when officials believe a student's lunch isn't healthy? That's the debate raging after an official at a pre-school in North Carolina deemed a four-year-old's home-packed lunch to be unhealthy, and supplemented it with a school lunch instead. The child's lunch included a turkey and cheese sandwich, banana, apple juice and potato chips. The school lunch included chicken nuggets. The school sent a note to the child's parents, along with a bill for the lunch, saying that the packed lunch did not meet the healthy lunch standards, and that under North Carolina statute, the center must provide additional food necessary to meet healthy requirements. We'd understand a little better if the child was eating Ding Dongs and drinking a Coke for lunch, but that's not the case here. And the bigger issue by far is whether school officials should be snooping around a child's lunch in the first place.