Readers Write: Passenger rail in Minnesota, post-incarceration, teacher licensure, the Trump presidency

It was encouraging to learn (May 15) that more and more travelers in Minnesota — including the millennials who shun driving — are riding Amtrak's Empire Builder to both in-state and out-of-state destinations. It was even more encouraging to learn that the Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Commission has documented that ridership would grow even faster if additional frequencies and routes were added to Minnesota's sole daily passenger-train service. But it was discouraging to learn that some members of the Legislature not only are opposed to the state's funding of passenger trains but are seeking to close the Minnesota Department of Transportation's three-person Office of Passenger Rail.

Such a move would put Minnesota out of touch with not only the latest trend in American mobility but with the 15 states that fund passenger trains. These states range literally from Maine — with five daily frequencies from Boston to Portland (plus two continuing to Brunswick) — to California, where 30 daily round-trips operate over three different routes. Oregon and Washington jointly support the Cascades Corridor, where five daily round-trips connect Seattle and Portland, with three extending south to Eugene and two north to Vancouver, B.C. North Carolina funds two daily round-trips between Charlotte and Raleigh and is investing more than $300 million in a major track-and-signal upgrade that will bring faster speeds and smoother rides. The state is also investing in new locomotives and coaches so it can double the frequencies on this route to four a day.

Michigan, Oklahoma, Texas, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, Virginia, New York and Pennsylvania all support at least one daily train and several support multi-route networks. Ridership on all trains is up, and experience in Illinois and North Carolina has demonstrated that when a single daily round-trip is doubled, the ridership doubles almost immediately, suggesting that Minnesota riders will strongly support a second daily frequency connecting St. Paul and Chicago.

Minnesota needs to align itself with the nationwide passenger-train trend and get in step with the leaders quickly.

The writer is chairman and CEO of Corridor Capital LLC.

The reality of being released from jail without transportation ("Free from jail — but stranded in Hastings," May 17) is compounded in rural areas, where there are often no transportation options for leaving town: no buses, no taxis, and often problems of distance if someone still cares. People are incarcerated 30 to 100 miles from home. I will never forget the man who came to the church I served in Thief River Falls one bitter January day. He was from the Twin Cities. Arrived in Thief River in June with a light jacket. It was below zero, and all he still had was that light jacket and a need for a ride home 250 miles away. The church I serve in Milaca is across the street from the Mille Lacs County jail. Local law enforcement has been helpful, but the problem continues.

Regarding "GOP rewrites teaching rules" (May 17), I would offer up several questions. Why do Minnesota Republicans believe that it is appropriate to write a bill that says that some teaching positions would not be unionized? Is it constitutional for a political party to promote who can and/or who can't join a union? Is this ethical? Why does Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius state that she would not recommend the bill to Gov. Mark Dayton (who vetoed it on Thursday) unless it ensured that there is money in the budget to deliver the bill's policy changes? Does this mean that she would then actually support the bill with specific monetary funds attached? In other words, she basically supports this bill. I would also like to be enlightened by the GOP as to what constitutes "lower-tier teaching positions." I did not choose to send my two children to public schools for 26 years to be taught by "lower-tier" teachers. Their public schools teachers were fully accredited and off-the-charts amazing! Both were fully prepared for postsecondary education. Contact your legislators and address concerns about this bill.

As a retired board member of a successful charter school, I have seen from both inside and out that our education system is floundering. We need the best and the brightest teaching our children and instead; we have the least-qualified college graduates going into education.

At my charter school, we had to turn away highly capable professionals because they didn't have the proper credentials. In contrast, I witnessed the dearth of skills in many of the supposedly "qualified" teachers. And it is no surprise why. Like both my own teacher parents, I wanted to be a teacher once. But I chose to pursue a professional degree instead, because I was unwilling to be treated like a unionized assembly line worker stamping out widgets.

The union contention that if only schools had more money, more college students would become teachers, is merely a protected cartel trying to restrict the labor supply. Had their contention been true, we wouldn't be facing teacher shortages every few years.

Instead of maintaining bureaucratic restrictions on public education, what we need is a complete do-over. Our economy has changed radically in the last 40 years, yet my children's public school education was virtually indistinguishable from the public-school system I graduated from many years ago.

First and foremost of these changes is to allow the most capable professionals to teach our children.

When he was campaigning for president, Trump continually pushed the idea that a Hillary Clinton presidency would be rife with legal complications. It appears, now, that he was describing himself. One of the outcomes of sociopathic behavior, is that chaos surrounds the person in question. Does that look or sound familiar? Does that now make sense?

In dealing with life, the first principle is that one must not fool oneself. It helps to realize that one is also the person who has the easiest time doing this.

If you want to consider this letter as just more "liberal bias," remember that, to most Republicans, what's considered "liberal bias" is a failure to validate or sufficiently flatter the conservative and their narrative on any given subject. What it comes down to is not whether we support or oppose Trump; it's whether or not we support or oppose getting to the whole truth.