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‘Travesty’ or ‘forward thinking’? Hundreds weigh in on one-click citizenship oath

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 09:11:36 GMT

OTTAWA — Allowing new Canadians to take the oath of citizenship by clicking a box online is a disgusting idea that will cheapen the process and open the door to fraud — or a forward-thinking notion that will help decrease a backlog of citizenship applications, depending on who you ask. That’s according to the hundreds of comments the government received about the idea over the last few months. In February, the Liberals asked the public to weigh in on their plan to let people opt out of a formal in-person or online ceremony and instead take the Oath of Citizenship with the click of a mouse.Immigration Minister Sean Fraser pitched the concept as a way to quickly work through a backlog of people waiting to swear their oath and officially become Canadians. It’s expected to save people roughly three months of waiting between taking their citizenship test and officially becoming a Canadian.The 691 comments sent in reveal deeply divided opinions on what would be a fundamental c...

Readers and writers: Celebrating a poet whose work speaks for itself

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 09:11:36 GMT

Back in 1988, Roseann Lloyd gave advice to youngsters who wanted to be poets: “When you are writing, it’s important to start out as though you’re talking, to help your writing sound really natural. Just let your Self come out.”For the next 35 years Lloyd took her own advice about revealing her Self in her poetry collections “Tap Dancing for Big Mom,” “War Baby Express’ (Minnesota Book Award), “Because of the Light” and “The Boy Who Slept Under the Stars.”Poems from these collections, as well as new ones, make up Lloyd’s new book, “Migration of the Spirits: New and Selected Poems” (Cup and Spiral Books, $20).Lloyd and five other poets will read at a publication celebration at 4 p.m. Saturday, June 10, at Mindekirken: Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church, 924 E. 21st St., Mpls. The program is free and open to the public.A native of Springfield, Mo., Lloyd lives with her husband, Jim Smith, in Minne...

North Dakota police break down drug laws as Minnesota readies for legal marijuana

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 09:11:36 GMT

FARGO, N.D. — Law enforcement in North Dakota are concerned they could see more marijuana come into the state after recreational use becomes legal in Minnesota.But officers in the Peace Garden State won’t act differently if they catch people bringing the drug in from the east, authorities said.“The Minnesota law does not affect North Dakota,” North Dakota Highway Patrol Capt. Bryan Niewind said. “North Dakota troopers enforce North Dakota law. Marijuana is still illegal in North Dakota.”Minnesota took a historic step last month when lawmakers legalized cannabis. On Aug. 1, the Land of 10,000 Lakes will become the 23rd state in the U.S. allowed to light up for recreational use.It also became the first state to repeal its paraphernalia laws, meaning syringes and small amounts of drug residue found in them will not warrant criminal charges as of August.Groups have tried to convince North Dakotans and state lawmakers to legalize marijuana, but the efforts have gone up in smoke. In the l...

Sunday Bulletin Board: Who could feel poor, with opera glasses and a pencil sharpener?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 09:11:36 GMT

The Permanent Family RecordTHE GRAM WITH A THOUSAND RULES writes: “Have you ever owned something that made you feel rich? We did. In fact, we had two somethings!“We were children of the Great Depression, but so were all our friends. They also wore cardboard in their shoes and lived in run-down rental houses, but we had two treasures that they didn’t have: Mother’s Opera Glasses and Dad’s Pencil Sharpener.“Now, I know neither of these items would qualify under GREGORY J.’s Dept. of Neat Stuff rules, but to us they were the neatest stuff ever! They made us feel rich.“No matter how many times we performed the chaotic exodus from a big house to a little house and back to a big house and down again to a little house (nine times by the time I was 14), those two items were never mislaid. At the last minute, Mother always made sure that those opera glasses were tucked safely in her purse while Dad unscrewed the pencil sharpener from the kitchen cupboard — and screwed it back in again ...

Literary pick for June 4: “Project Chrysalis” by Willard Joyce

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 09:11:36 GMT

There’s a new author in town — sort of. Willard Joyce, author of “Project Chrysalis,” is the pen name of Quinton Skinner making his first foray into science fiction with a fast-paced and scary novel about the generation who were born during or after a worldwide pandemic.Jenn is the elite of the elite in the Provisional Authority, an all-powerful organization that sprang up to quell chaos and violence during The Grip, a  malady that was killing thousands of people. Using technology, including eye and brain implants, Jenn has been trained since she was a child to move objects with her mind. She thought she was working for the good of humanity while living in luxury, but now she’s questioning her life:“What has been called God, she was taught, can also be visualized as a field of information, or a sentient program. There was truth to the idea that God shared the image of humans — that was a central mystery that was never explained to her satisf...

Literary calendar for week of June 4

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 09:11:36 GMT

ZAYNAB ABDI: Presents “Our Stories Carried Us Here: Voice for Refuge,” in conversation with Dana Mortenson, partnered with Green Card Voices. 7 p.m. Monday, June 5, Magers & Quinn, 3038 Hennepin Ave. S., Mpls.DUROSE/TANGEDAL: Lisa DuRose and Ross Tangedal discuss “Michigan Salvage: The Fiction of Bonnie Jo Campbell,” with Michigan-based award-winning author Campbell. 7 p.m. Thursday, June 8, Magers & Quinn, 3038 Hennepin Ave. S., Mpls.MARY LOGUE: Discusses “The Big Sugar,” her latest 19th-century mystery featuring Irish immigrant Brigid Reardon. 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 6, Next Chapter Booksellers, 38 S. Snelling Ave., St. Paul.NATALIE WARREN: Presents “Hudson Bay Bound: Two Women, One Dog, Two Thousand Miles to the Arctic,” about Warren and Ann Raiho’s journey by paddle from Minneapolis to Hudson Bay, from the practicalities of planning a canoe expedition to the accomplishment of their adventure. 2 p.m. Sunday, June 11, Crea...

Minnesota’s new ‘right to repair’ law is the broadest one yet in U.S.

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 09:11:36 GMT

Do-it-yourselfers and repair shops are celebrating a victory in Minnesota with the enactment of a new law that requires many manufacturers to share parts and information with tinkerers and small businesses.The so-called “right to repair” law will allow equipment owners and independent shops to more easily fix devices like phones, laptops, appliances and other equipment.Minnesota is the latest state to approve such a law, following Colorado earlier this year and New York last year. Massachusetts’ law covering vehicles was enacted in 2020. Do-it-yourselfers, farmers, handyman companies and small repair shops argue that without such laws, big tech companies make it almost impossible to get manufacturers’ parts and instructions.Manufacturers, however, argue that broadening access could pose dangers to would-be repairers and the equipment as well as compromise the safety and security of devices.As the bills make their way through the states, tech firms have succes...

21 Roots Farm grows jobs — and hope — for people with developmental disabilities

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 09:11:36 GMT

Amanda Athman helped pick up the mobile chicken coop at 21 Roots Farm in Grant last week and move it to a fresh patch of grass just south of the farm’s apple orchard.Athman knew just how fast to push the coop so that the squawking chickens could keep up. She then found a spot for the chickens’ “dust bath” — a blue plastic tub full of dirt. A regular dust bath, she explained, helps keep their feathers clean by controlling parasites and preventing oil buildup.Athman, 22, of Lino Lakes, is part of a pilot program this summer at 21 Roots, a nonprofit hobby farm that serves people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. She and five other interns — all of whom have been regular attendees of programs at the farm — have been tapped to be part of a 20-week work-experience program where they are being “trained to be trainers,” said Brittany Wiitala, one of the co-founders of the farm.Next year, they’ll help train others to work on the farm’s produce-su...

Skywatch: The ‘Z’ stars are a mouthful

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 09:11:36 GMT

On early evenings in June, just after twilight, look for a moderately bright star in the low southeast sky a little above the horizon. It has a decidedly ruddy hue to it. That’s Antares, the brightest star of the summer constellation Scorpius the Scorpion. It’s one of the few constellations that really looks like what it’s supposed to be. In the early evening, you can only see the three near vertically orientated, moderately bright stars in a nearly straight line just above Antares that outlines the scorpion’s head. Antares marks the heart of the beast. To see the tail and stinger of the celestial scorpion, you have to wait until well after 11 p.m. By then, all of Scorpius will be high enough above the southern horizon.(Mike Lynch)Just to the upper right of the three stars that make up Scorpius’s head is the faint constellation Libra the Scales. Unlike Scorpius, it looks nothing like what it’s supposed to be. It allegedly outlines the classic Roman scales of justice. Libra is ...

Ask Amy: The trouble with Mother’s (and Father’s) Day

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 09:11:36 GMT

Dear Amy: I’ve come to increasingly view Mother’s Day with sadness.Another of these days has come and gone, and my husband staunchly believes that he need not even do so much as say, “Happy Mother’s Day” to me.He also doesn’t remind our kids to acknowledge me, so for many years they have said nothing to me.It’s not that he forgets. We typically devote the day to visiting our own mothers. But when it comes to me, when I have asked him about his lack of acknowledgment, he shrugs and says, “You’re not my mother.”Our friends have pointed out, “She’s the mother of your children!” but he just brushes that off.I’m not after candy or flowers, but just hearing some words from him like, “Thanks for being such a great mom to our kids” would send my heart soaring. But it never happens.Even his mother usually sends me a card and gift, so she doesn’t subscribe to his philosophy.Am I being self-ce...