“THE MATTER WITH THINGS: Our Brains, Our Delusions and the Unmaking of the World,” is a two-volume book authored by Iain McGilchrist. Combining science, philosophy, and spirituality; his writing …

Thank you, Marshall Helmberger, for publishing the article “Here Comes the Sun” in the June 12, 2026, edition of the Timberjay. You describe the nitty gritty “how to’s” of adding solar …

I spend a lot of my life looking down. In fact, I look down so much that every now and then I end up at the chiropractor because my neck has decided it has had enough. Part of that is simply who I …

When will American presidents learn, for good, the limits of military power? For the better part of a century, the United States has operated on a simple, comforting (yet clearly erroneous) …

To hear certain people talk, one might think of Minnesota as a state in crisis. Too many taxes. Too much government. A business climate hostile to growth. A welfare state run amok. If you’ve spent …

For anyone who thinks AI regulation is some distant issue that government officials will eventually get around to, last week offered a reality check. Last week, the federal government abruptly pulled …

My ongoing interest in how community works triggered some research into the Ubuntu philosophy, which embodies interconnectedness, compassion, and communal harmony. It is based on the idea that people …

There are moments in the life of a small town that deserve more than a passing notice. The start of construction on a mixed-use development at Tower’s harbor is one of them. After roughly 25 years …

Here in Minnesota, we like to tell ourselves that we do a great job of protecting the environment. We pass strong laws and have good folks working at our regulatory agencies. It all seems reassuring. …

Every year, the Minnesota Lottery generates tens of millions of dollars that flow into the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund. Voters created it that way in 1988, by constitutional …

I was born and raised in Ely and now live in Meadowlands, Minnesota, but the woods still feel like home in a way I don’t think I could ever fully explain to someone who didn’t grow up in …

There are moments in American public life when the corruption on display is so brazen, so self-serving, and so plainly contemptuous of American citizens that silence becomes its own form of …

Every spring the Minnesota DNR runs its annual public service campaign: if you find a fawn alone in the woods, leave it there. It is not abandoned. Its mother will return. The agency spends real …

Elbridge Gerry has the namesake of gerrymandering, but he was very much more involved in the formation of our earlier colonial history. He became the governor of Massachusetts and was a signatory on …

Symbolism has always been an important tool for authoritarian regimes as a way to reinforce who’s running the show. Republicans are busy plastering the Trump name and brand (always gold) everywhere …

As we report this week, the U.S. Postal Service has implemented yet another new “reform” that’s supposed to save money. More likely, it will further erode public confidence in an entity that is …

I’ve written before about the dangers of artificial intelligence and the large language models powering systems like ChatGPT. These systems can produce writing that sounds polished, persuasive, and …

In the final days of the legislative session, we secured and passed a bipartisan budget agreement in St. Paul that proves something important. That government works best …

The U.S. Supreme Court, once again, has shown that it is a court in name only. As it demonstrated in its recent ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, the conservative majority that makes up the Roberts …

Do you feel elevated by sad music? Do you find comfort or inspiration on a rainy day? Do you tear up easily at touching TV commercials? In conversations with close friends, are you drawn to talking …

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has modernized warfare by developing the effectiveness of military drones. The drones are pilotless and operate electronically over great distances, as much as …

SPIRITUALITY (breath-of-life) in the month of May, harbinger of springtime, signals rebirth and renewal. Beyond the material and mundane, we venture into the mystery of being, becoming and belonging. …

Right now, in Minnesota, families are hitting a breaking point trying to find care for their parents and grandparents- and honestly, the worst is yet to come.   As our seniors live …

Minnesota’s wolf management is headed toward a predetermined destination — zero wolf harvest — and the DNR is using two flawed scientific pillars to get there. The first is the Adams et al. …

Recently, some of our more prominent federal politicians have demanded that certain late-night comedians get fired for telling jokes about those very politicians. Apparently, this “cancel …