Our view: Thanks: Thakar goes out warmly

Symphony Hall at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center was “one of the warmest places in Duluth” on Saturday, according to a News Tribune reviewer. And that was saying something given the day’s icy rains and bone-chilling lake gales.

Our view: Good luck: Restaurant ‘whistling’ back to life

After 44 months of locked doors and no reason to think they’d reopen, the Iron Range’s splash of culture and Caribbean cool is poised for a comeback. The Whistling Bird restaurant is set to reopen on July 3, new owner Jessica Antonovich said in a News Tribune report this past weekend.

Reader’s view: Political correctness takes place of truth in America

What is more important: someone’s feelings or the truth? I would hope you agree with me it’s the latter. Then again, this is a changed America where the priority has shifted from being honest to telling cozy, feel-good lies and padded euphemisms.

Reader’s view: Why doesn’t welfare require drug tests?

The article on the front page of the May 7 News Tribune about the accused heroin dealer now facing charges caught my attention (“Man faces drug charges after police chase in West Duluth”).

In response: Sulfide mining deserves reasoned debate, not the labeling of others

I’ve spent about two months every summer for 81 years at my family cabin on the South Kawishiwi River near Ely, not far from a cabin owned by John Chelesnik, the writer of one of two recent commentaries for the News Tribune Opinion page about the changing economy in the Ely area. (Chelesnik’s April 5 commentary was headlined, “Northeastern Minnesota needs a diversified economy to thrive;” it was written in response to a Local View commentary

Monday with Mitch: Detroit mayor not a dream job

You get to be in charge, except for the guy who is really in charge. You get to spend the money, but only if the other guy says OK. You get to state your platform, but you may never be able to implement one bit of it.

Reader's view: Story mischaracterized community of Barnes

I was disturbed by the description, in the fire story of May 16, of my community, Barnes, as being “a scattered collection of homes, cabins, small resorts, taverns and deer shacks along Wisconsin Highway 27.” (The story was headlined, “Wildfire’s wrath was swift, severe.”)

Our view: Hard to knock ND for targeting Minn.

That didn’t take long. Gov. Mark Dayton and legislative leaders hadn’t even finished hammering out the details of their taxing and spending plans late last week when Minnesota’s neighbors to the northwest, North Dakota, made a bold play to steal away business and jobs.

Reader's view: Minnesota legislators got it right on marriage law

Minnesota legislators were brave to vote for same-sex marriage.

Reader's view: Conservatives block solutions to climate change

Other view: Stop seeking industry donations for Affordable Care Act

The recent furor over the Internal Revenue Service and Associated Press obscured what may prove in the long run to be a more troubling ethical breach.

Native view: NFL team’s racist name must change

The results of a recent poll indicated a majority of people want the National Football League team in Washington, D.C., to retain its name, as the News Tribune reported.

National view: Ask for that raise; it’s a patriotic duty

The downturn we call the Great Recession officially started in 2007. But after spending the past two years talking to people who lost jobs, homes or savings during the official recession, I’d argue that the trouble actually started decades earlier.

Local view: Open your mind by exploring our planet

Do you like to travel? I do and so do countless others, especially with warm-weather season approaching. So why is travel so popular? Just as reading is humankind’s window to the world (a point I made in a previous column), travel is our experiential reality.

• Thomas B. Wheeler

Our view: Costs of health-care reform will be borne by counties and states

If federal health reform doesn’t work fiscally, federal, state and local leaders need to be ready to adjust quickly.

• Other view: Stop seeking industry donations for Affordable Care Act
• Abnormal growth