Readers Write: Food insecurity, artificial intelligence, women’s history, fraud

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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Thank you to Karen Tolkkinen for her column “Here’s what it’s like to need help paying for food” (Oct. 30). In 1969, the company I worked for moved out of Minneapolis. With a wife and two young children, I decided to return to school with one year remaining to get my BA degree. I began school full time and found a job working from 4 p.m. to midnight. After completing my BA, I decided to concentrate to continue my education and obtain an MA and teaching license.

All went well until I had one summer of classes left before graduation. The company I was working for eliminated the night shift. My wife was working, and temporary jobs at night weren’t available. We were forced to apply for food stamps. It was a real help over that summer, and I was able to begin a 34-year teaching career that fall. No, we weren’t sitting at home eating chips, drinking beer and watching TV.

Ronnie Finger, Apple Valley

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Thank you, Karen Tolkkinen, for writing a real-life scenario on food needs for our neighbors experiencing poverty even as a working family. My only disagreement is that the blame for suspending SNAP and WIC programs belongs not to the president but to our Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith. This is the legislative bodies’ job, not the president’s.

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The Republicans’ “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” has increased work requirements for many SNAP recipients. About 42 million Americans receive SNAP benefits (about 1 in 8 Americans). About 16 million children rely on food from this program. (Another 8 million SNAP recipients are over the age of 60.)

Interesting that Speaker Mike Johnson did not feel that a work requirement for the past month was necessary for House members while they collect their $174,000 per year salary ($223,000 per year for Johnson).

James Halvorson, Farmington

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It is no fun to need SNAP or WIC. Yet, those benefits are essential and lifesaving for an enormous number of people. There is no shame — many people availing themselves of SNAP and WIC are working as hard (or harder) than those of us who don’t need that assistance. Think about it — nourishing a pregnant woman or a child? Does anyone in the world object to that?

I am grateful for the governors and leaders who are dedicating funds to help bridge the gap that will be felt on Saturday morning.

However, I beseech everyone to understand a few things:

Don’t get me wrong — I operated a neighborhood center with a food shelf, community kitchen and produce distribution system for years. Those are incredibly valuable and valued resources. Yet, even then, we knew some people could not reach us.

In the coming weeks, think of your elderly and disabled neighbors or the parent with two babies and no car. Please, watch out for each other.

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Jenna Ray, executive director and CEO of GiveMN, is correct when she encourages donors to give cash, not cans, to food shelves (“SNAP payments stop soon. Here’s one way Minnesotans can help”). Nonprofit food shelves have connections that stretch every dollar given. However, it is misleading for her to imply that giving through Give to the Max, run by GiveMN, is the way to go. It can take weeks for these funds to actually reach nonprofits. If you truly want to make a difference for those not receiving their SNAP benefits, give directly to food shelves through their own websites. Your gift is received as soon as you make it and can be put to work immediately.

Judy Romanowich Smith, Inver Grove Heights

Minnesota Star Tribune columnist Rochelle Olson gave “cheers” last week to a Democrat for his humor in posting an AI-generated depiction of his bulging biceps (“Klobuchar calls out Trump’s money grab,” Strib Voices, Oct. 24). I like humor, but I see a problem. Our political discourse has lost its boundaries between reality and fiction.

When President Donald Trump posts artificially made content, his supporters seem to enjoy “triggering the libs.” But it should be apparent by now that Trump has no boundaries. He will say virtually anything and belittle and threaten anyone who points out his falsehoods.

Such content erodes the boundaries between entertainment and political work.

They also allow Trump to claim that real videos are fake, as he did with the clips of former President Ronald Reagan speaking against tariffs.

I would hope that the opposition to this abusive president would define a policy: Never use AI. Don’t be like him.

Jim Haefemeyer, Minneapolis

Myron Medcalf’s “A fight for freedom in our backyard” (Oct. 26), about the Hennepin History Museum’s current exhibit on a courageous enslaved woman, Eliza Winston, freed through a controversial trial in 1860, was both humbling and inspiring, and the exhibit is certainly one I will go to see. Thanks to Medcalf and the Hennepin History Museum for bringing Winston’s story to our attention.

This is the second article from the state and region section of the Star Tribune that I have forwarded to the National Women’s History Museum. Thanks, Star Tribune, for honoring women’s history.

Lisa Wersal, Vadnais Heights

Thursday’s article titled “State halts payments over fraud concerns” indicates that Minnesota will be halting various Medicaid program payments and has hired Optum to perform an analysis. Does Gov. Tim Walz not realize that Optum is a subsidiary of none other than UnitedHealth Group? This is the same UnitedHealth Group that the Star Tribune reported in July lost a legal bid to rejoin Minnesota’s Medicaid program after the DFL legislature barred for-profit insurers such as UnitedHealth from winning state contracts to manage care for Medicaid beneficiaries beginning in 2025.

So on the one hand, the DFL Legislature is banning UnitedHealth from participating in the Medicaid market, and on the other hand, the DFL executive branch is writing a fat check to UnitedHealth to audit Medicaid programs. Now I’m no fan of the GOP, but I’m starting to suspect things like this might be why MAGA exists.