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Coal Creek’s closure creates need to look ahead now

Great River Energy’s announcement that the cooperative will close its Coal Creek coal-fired generation station near Washburn in 2022 is a blow to the local communities where many employees live and that also count on the coal taxes. It’s a blow that the state’s leaders need to work to deflect through any options that can be uncovered over the next two years. As reported by The Minot Daily News on Friday, Coal Creek employs 260 workers but, in addition, the closure will impact the future of the nearby Falkirk Mine, owned by North American Coal, which supplies the plant with coal ...

Be certain to take in candidate forums next week

Don’t like the city’s decisions regarding Blu on Broadway? Not a fan of a new city hall in a downtown Minot bank? Got a beef with Minot Public Schools or the Minot Park District? Perhaps none of the above. Still, anybody qualified to vote in the city should pay special attention to the candidate forums being held online and on a local cable television channel next week. The Minot Area Chamber of Commerce Governmental Affairs Committee will sponsor three candidate forums this month with help from the City of Minot, which will host the forums in City Hall council chambers. ...

Improvements needed in nation’s disaster preparedness

"Mission not really of much use” probably is not the slogan those in the military would choose for their genuinely superhuman efforts to help areas such as New York City that have been slammed hard by COVID-19. And in truth, the armed forces have done an excellent, life-saving job. But some of what they did ­— or, rather, did not do — points up a need for improvement in the nation’s disaster preparedness planning. On March 30, the Navy hospital ship USS Comfort steamed into New York harbor, bringing what virtually everyone thought were badly needed beds needed to care for ...

Rocket launch a welcome distraction

We all need a bit of a psychological pick-me-up. The tough fight against COVID-19 is taking its toll on us emotionally. Coronavirus blues, meet the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Just in time to give our spirts a boost, NASA is planning to send a new group of astronauts into space. The last time our country did that was in 2011, when the last space shuttle flight took place. Since then, American astronauts have had to ride Russian rockets to reach the International Space Station. We, the people who put human beings on the moon, have not been able to send anyone into ...

Emergency use of remdesivir warranted

Give federal regulators credit for recognizing that the coronavirus pandemic is no time for business as usual. The Food and Drug Administration, in particular, seems to have surgically removed some of the red tape from its process. On Friday, the FDA announced it will be permitting emergency use of a new drug, remdesivir, which has shown promise in shortening the time COVID-19 patients need to recover from the potentially deadly disease. Remdesivir, developed by Gilead Sciences, was tested in a study involving 1,063 patients. It shortened the time needed to recover from the ...

CARES Act rules need flexibility

The $150 billion in federal aid intended to help states with expenses related to COVID-19 should not be a case of water, water everywhere — but not a drop to drink. Unfortunately, some governors worry that may be the case. One might have assumed that in the 880 or so pages of text comprising the federal CARES Act, specific guidance would have been given to states receiving shares of the $150 billion. But no, Washington can be quite vague in such matters. Wording in the CARES Act stipulates that states may spend money they receive through it to cover “necessary expenditures ...