Minnesota
Readers Write: Making Minnesota a sanctuary, recycling lumber, friends, D.J. Tice, words
Opinion editor’s note: Star Tribune Opinion publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.
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Enough is enough!
I almost choked on my coffee when I saw the headline in the Sunday paper about a bill that would make Minnesota a “sanctuary state” (“Bill would make Minn. a sanctuary,” Feb. 4).
Personally, I’m all for immigration as long as it is done according to the laws we have. When the rules for immigration are followed, there is no need for “sanctuary” of any type. Sneaking across the border is bad enough, and offering sanctuary to anyone who thumbs their nose at our laws is infuriating. Why should there be immigration laws in place to protect our sovereignty and safety if some misguided fools offer to protect those who chose to flout our laws? To make such an asinine decision to make Minnesota a sanctuary state is a kick to the crotch to the majority of Minnesota residents and opens this state to busloads of lawbreakers like we’ve seen happen to New York — and the problems come with it. Making Minnesota a sanctuary state does nothing to help this nation’s immigration problem and will only encourage more lawbreakers.
The vast majority of these illegal immigrants are not running from a hostile government in their own country but are economic refugees seeking a better paycheck. That is not a reason to offer them “sanctuary,” especially if they have entered this country illegally.
Democrats, you are on notice. (I was once a registered Democrat, but now am an independent.) Put an end to this stupidity, do the work you were voted in to do for the citizens of Minnesota to make this state a better place for those of us who actually pay taxes — which are high enough already. Are you going to reach in my pockets for a few more dollars to pay for this wrongheaded idea? You were not elected to solve the world’s problems or offer sanctuary to illegal immigrants.
Wes Hickman, Stacy, Minn.
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I had to do a double take when I read that the Minnesota DFL was proposing to pass a law called the North Star Act to make Minnesota a sanctuary state, essentially permitting illegal immigrants free rein in the state. With the crisis at our southern border already out of control, how in good conscience could the DFL propose such a law? What is it that the party doesn’t understand that people crossing our border illegally are breaking the rule of law to begin with? Indeed, the Biden administration has been incredibly irresponsible and derelict in enforcing our immigration laws. For the DFL to pass this law would essentially be encouraging more illegal immigrants to enter our country and endorse the failed Biden policies.
In a recent CBS poll done Jan. 3-5, 63% of Americans said our border policies should be tougher. In the same poll, 93% of Americans classified the border problems as somewhat serious, very serious or a crisis, with the vast majority (75%) citing the latter two. Sanctuary cities by definition should be illegal to begin with. It’s one arm of the government essentially defying federal law and encouraging people to break it. Although the DFL has a slim majority, its entire agenda has been heavily left-leaning. So much for Gov. Tim Walz’s campaign promise of “One Minnesota”! A good reason to have divided government!
In addition to the proposed North Star Act being in complete defiance of federal immigration laws, it would put undue pressure on Minnesota’s educational, health care and social services systems. Just look at the problems in Chicago and New York, where some students have been forced out of their schools to house illegal immigrants. I suggest if this law passes, every DFL politician should house an illegal immigrant family and pay for their shelter, food, education, health care services, etc., rather than putting the burden on the rest of Minnesotans.
Steve Hayden, Eden Prairie
REUSING LUMBER
Exactly what we should all be doing
I write in support of the “guerrilla” recycling business highlighted Sunday in the Star Tribune (“Lumber gets second life, splintering rules,” Feb. 4). LumberStash is picking up and selling left over lumber from the owner’s driveway to keep it from ending up in the landfill. My garage stores a history of lumber left from various repair projects. Most recently, hail damage gave me a new and bountiful supply of lumber I knew would end up in the landfill if I didn’t ask for it. I’m already using some of it.
My dad built affordable homes before that was known terminology. The house I grew up in was built in Bloomington in 1948 when I was 2, so my siblings and I could grow up in the country. Dad borrowed $500 from my grandfather and built the house largely with lumber and other materials he offered to haul away when a Minneapolis school building was torn down.
I understand the need for residential codes, but there is also need for businesses like LumberStash to be given larger driveways somewhere to succeed. It’s not just the lower costs for the many consumers who need that. It’s the decrease in environmental pollutants needed by all of us, whether we recognize it or not.
Larry Johnson, Golden Valley
FRIENDSHIPS
Long live new friends
It was interesting reading about Anna Bonavita’s efforts to gather a group of new friends here in Minneapolis (“Are you lonely?”). It reminded me of my experience moving here in 1981. I also found it very hard to break into existing social circles. It wasn’t that people were unfriendly. They just didn’t really think about including us. They had had their own group of friends for years, and sort of assumed everybody else did as well, I guess. At one point someone put an ad in the Twin Cities Reader and started a “Non-Twin Cities Native Group” that got together regularly at local haunts. I remember going to those. What’s old is new again!
Sheryl O’Connor, Minneapolis
D.J. TICE
Cheers to a fulfilling retirement
Regarding “No room for debate: It’s been a great career” (Feb. 4): Back in 2015, D.J. Tice wrote an eloquent and moving commentary regarding the sorrow he felt over losing his pet, Lucky. The piece, titled, “Of life and death and love and dogs,” described his journey with Lucky, a stray dog, who was also his buddy, soul mate and loyal companion. As Lucky aged and became blind, Tice reflected in his commentary, “life was sadly diminished after that, but Lucky soldiered on.” Tice continued, “He suffered many stumbles, was bruised by many obstacles, but he found his way to the joys that could still be reached, rather as he found his way up and down stairs — lifting a paw into the air and sticking it out into the darkness, feeling for the next step.”
Mr. Tice, your thoughts and ideas, whether we agreed with you or not, have certainly kept us informed and on our toes! Your insights were something we could dissect and chew on.
Eight years ago your story ended with the hope that one day you too would use Lucky’s example and stick a foot out into the darkness in hopes of finding the next step. We wish you well and so much luck in your retirement. Congratulations to you on a fruitful and dynamic career in journalism!
Sharon E. Carlson, Andover
WORDS
No dictionaries here
I could relate to Gary Gilson’s frustration voiced in his column regarding writers using “big” words nobody knows the meaning of (“No need to drive readers to dictionary,” Feb. 4). I, too, hate it when people are sesquipedalian.
Doug Williams, Robbinsdale
Pittsburgh voted best Fourth of July celebration in America
In 2026, Pittsburgh gets the bragging rights for the nation’s Best Fourth of July Celebration, as determined by voters in USA Today 10BEST Readers’ Choice Awards.
Voting in Minnesota’s 2026 primary elections began Friday morning, 46 days before the official Aug. 11 Primary Election Day.
Minnesotans confront a hugely important midterm election in the fall, when all constitutional offices, an open U.S. Senate seat, a highly competitive congressional district and the Legislature will be on the ballot. Control of both state government and Congress are at stake.
Before then, however, the parties will choose their nominees in a bevy of competitive races that will shape the fall election.
We don’t have party registration in Minnesota, which means anyone can vote in the primary.
Following the sweep of a progressive slate in several New York primaries this week, political analysts will be closely watching voters’ preferences, which will set the stage for the second half of President Donald Trump’s second term.
Here’s what you need to know.
Which races are on the ballot in Minnesota?
Every Minnesota citizen will have the opportunity to vote for statewide offices including governor and lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, auditor and U.S. Senator.
For this primary election, you can only vote for candidates from one political party. Your ballot will have Democrats on one column, and Republicans on the other. Choose one! If you vote for candidates from more than one political party, your votes will not count. You decide when you vote which one of the parties you will vote for.
The governor’s race is wide open for the first time since 2018, when Gov. Tim Walz won his first term. Walz initially announced he would run for a third term before ending his campaign in early January following Republican attacks on his record on stopping fraud in Minnesota’s social safety net programs.
The Senate seat is open following Sen. Tina Smith’s retirement announcement last year. Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who is running for governor, still occupies the other Senate seat. (If Klobuchar were to win the governor’s race and resign her Senate seat, she would appoint a successor to hold the position until a special election.)
The entire state Legislature is up for reelection in 2026, but not every race has a competitive primary.
Voters may see other local races on their ballots, including county commissioners, county attorneys and school board members.
You can use this tool from the Secretary of State’s Office to preview your ballot.
How do I vote in Minnesota?
Friday, June 26, is the first day of absentee voting. You can request an absentee ballot be mailed to you, which you can return in-person or through the mail.
Alternatively, you can vote “in person absentee” by going to your local early voting location, where you can request your absentee ballot, receive it, fill it out and submit it on the spot.
Starting July 24, you can vote in-person at the early voting locations in a process similar to that of voting on Election Day.
Who’s running in Minnesota?
There are several competitive primaries in statewide races that will determine the matchups in the general election later this year.
For governor, Sen. Amy Klobuchar is expected to win the Democratic-Farmer-Labor nomination after winning the party’s endorsement on the first ballot, over a challenge from Kobey Lane, a 26-year old trans activist and former Republican legislative assistant.
The Republican primary is competitive; after Army veteran and former health care executive Kendall Qualls won the party’s endorsement in May, the other front-runners refused to drop out of the race, citing voting irregularities at the convention. House Speaker Lisa Demuth and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell round out the three-way race.
In the race to replace Smith in the Senate, two Democratic powerhouses are facing off: U.S. Rep. Angie Craig and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan. Flanagan won the endorsement after Craig dropped out of the endorsement process; Craig is gunning for votes outside of the party’s activist base.
On the Republican side, GOP-endorsed former Navy Seal Adam Schwarze will face off against former sports broadcaster Michele Tafoya, whose name recognition and well-financed campaign could boost her performance in a primary.
With Craig’s highly competitive south metro seat in the U.S. House coming open, three top-tier Democrats are vying to replace her: former state Sen. Matt Little, state Rep. Kaela Berg and state Sen. Matt Klein. State Sen. Eric Pratt is running unopposed for the Republican nomination.
Minnesota Reformer is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
A dangerous social media trend is circulating online, and Minnesota health experts are warning parents it involves allergy medication.
Doctors say the so-called Benadryl challenge involves teens taking large amounts of the medication and record themselves as the effects kick in.
“Our goal here at Children’s Minnesota is if a trend causes any sort of physical harm or mental harm to make sure that we’re taking care of our patients,” said Dr. Nita Gupta, a pediatric emergency medicine physician at Children’s Minnesota.
According to the Minnesota Department of Health, the trend first gained attention in 2020 when there were 184 reported cases tied to intentional misuse of the allergy medication. Cases continued to rise the years but dipped in 2024 and then more than doubled in 2025, reaching nearly 400 cases. Most of the cases involved teens ages 15 to 19.
Dr. Gupta believes the main draw is the hallucinogen aspect of it, but says there are so many other negative consequences that can happen.
Health experts say the allergy medication can become dangerous when taken in large doses. Symptoms can escalate quickly and may include agitation, blurred vision, seizures and in severe cases, death.
“The second the parent knows that their child consumed this is a reason to come in or at least call poison control, don’t even wait for the symptoms to start,” Dr. Gupta said.
Experts say the resurgence of this dangerous challenge shows how quickly trends can return, and they urge parents to talk to their children about what they are seeing online.
Dr. Gupta believes early conversations at home may help prevent serious injury.
The Minnesota Regional Poison Center is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week for anyone with questions. The organization’s phone number is 1-800-222-1222.
Trading LaMelo Ball to the Minnesota Timberwolves will make the Charlotte Hornets worse in 2026-27. There is no denying that.
Ball was the lone driver of Charlotte’s top-five offense, speeding the Hornets’ fast-paced attack up and down and all around the floor to create open looks for himself and his talented teammates. LaMelo’s Gastonia shooting range, unorthodox handles, eagle-eyed passing, and his ability to heat up in a moment’s notice just simply cannot be aggregated in the interim.
With Ball on the floor, Charlotte’s offensive rating jumped by 11.6 points per 100 possessions, good for the 99th percentile among guards in the NBA. Kon Knueppel’s three-point percentage increased by 10.3 points when he shared the floor with Ball, and Brandon Miller shot 20.5% better at the rim (an area where he struggles) with LaMelo helping create looks for him.
Everyone who plays alongside LaMelo Ball gets better — the proof is in any publicly available number you can find.
Charlotte’s historically efficient offense cratered when LaMelo hit the bench, and trading him now, no matter what they got in return, will immediately set back the Hornets’ push to become the premier NBA franchise they aspire to be.
But what if I told you this move does make some sense in the Hornet’s long-term team build? And that Charlotte is justified to sell-high on their All-NBA caliber point guard? I’m not sure I believe it, so I’m going to try and convince myself as I attempt to convince you.
Justifying Charlotte’s Decision to Trade LaMelo Ball
I can understand some trepidation about building the whole plane out of LaMelo Ball. He only played a total of 105 games in the three seasons prior to 2025-26, and until that becomes the exception, not the norm, it will always be dangerous to have him as the centerpiece of a franchise.
LaMelo Ball played 72 games in 2025-26, the second-highest number of his young NBA career. The Hornets were cautious about over-taxing their star creator, only playing him 28 minutes per game, a career-low, and crafting a roster that was built to ease LaMelo’s burden.
Last summer, Charlotte targeted Tre Mann (which looks bad in hindsight), Collin Sexton, and Spencer Dinwidde to provide supplementary ball handling and lower the league-high 37.1% usage rate Ball racked up in 2024-25. Championships are won on the margins, and if you have to allocate extra resources to your point guard room as a parachute for a player like LaMelo, there’s a chance you’re missing out on some impact on the fringes of your roster.
Also, the skill sets of Ball, Knueppel, and Miller are quite redundant. They are all perimeter-focused offensive options who struggle to score in the paint. Charlotte could believe that it was necessary to move one of them in an attempt to diversify their offensive attack, and due to Kon and Brandon’s contract situation and LaMelo’s long-term health outlook (which the Hornets would know better than anybody, by the way), they decided that the time to sell-high on Ball was now.
How high would the ceiling of a fully-formed, maxed-out contractually Ball, Knueppel, and Miller trio even be? A second round exit assuming everything goes right? By trading Ball now, adding a talented front court piece in Naz Reid, creating the largest trade exception in league history, and setting yourself up to be a real player in trade talks about any disgruntled superstar, Jeff Peterson just created a number of avenues to rebuild this team around its burgeoning stars.
Could the package have been more robust? Sure. But there’s no guarantee another team with more assets to spare than Minnesota would have even registered more than nominal interst in LaMelo Ball. The market is the market. Peterson said last summer that he’ll push the chips in when the time is right, and if nothing else, he just added a few more to his stash.
There is also a chance that the Timberwolves look radically different when these swaps and picks are ready to convey. Minnesota’s asset reserves are bone dry, starting center Rudy Gobert is on the back-nine of his NBA career, and the Western Conference has a couple of well-positioned juggernauts that the Wolves will have to navigate every year that they employ Anthony Edwards and Ball.
And what if Edwards becomes disillusioned with his standing in Minnesota and forces his way out before his five-year, $244M contract expires in 2028-29? Or what if he leaves that summer in free agency? The Hornets will have the opportunity to pick up the pieces and feast off of the wreckage in Minnesota in that nightmare scenario for the Timberwolves.
There has to be more bubbling underneath the surface for Charlotte to be willing to take the massive PR hit of trading LaMelo Ball just weeks after the franchise played some of the best basketball in the league for an extended period. There is an argument to be made that this deal says more about Charlotte’s lack of belief in the ceiling of a LaMelo-led team than anything else.
And there is merit to that.
Ball has played in four Play-In Tournament games and struggled mighitly in three of them. When the game slows down and becomes increasingly more physical, Ball has failed to hold up. The Hornets must be projecting that Ball’s postseason struggles will continue in Minnesota, capping the long-term ceiling of the Timberwolves.
This is a bet against a couple of things: LaMelo Ball’s long-term health, the viability of a back court duo of Ball and Edwards, and Minnestoa’s asset-poor state. I’m not sure if it’s a bet I would have been willing to make, but it is the one Jeff Peterson and the Hornets decided to.
And whether you like it or not, the dice have been thrown.
There is now more pressure than ever on the shoulders of Jeff Peterson. He somehow pulled off the rare feat of making his team worse in the short term while sending the expectations of his fanbase through the roof. There has to be more moves coming from Charlotte. There has to.
Which is why I’m calling on you to holster your torches and pitchforks for now. In a vacuum, this deal is a tough one to swallow. LaMelo Ball brought unquantifiable joy to the city of Charlotte and spearheaded a run that awoke the long dormant basketball-crazed city. Not only did his impact on winning supersede the narratives around him, his impact on the franchise’s bottom line did as well. The city loved LaMelo, and it is a shame that he was sent packing just as things were starting to percolate for the first time in his Hornets career.
However, if it is a part of a larger plan that reshapes the Hornets’ roster into a group that can compete at a high level in the NBA playoffs, then I will tip my cap to Peterson and his team. Winning does cure all at the end of the day, right?
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