Readers Write: Strib coverage, immigration, customer service, data centers

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

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The Sunday, Jan. 19 issue of the Minnesota Star Tribune showcased two distinct journalistic styles.

In a piece on Bemidji crime, readers received facts paired with context, helping those unfamiliar with the city understand its unique challenges (“Bemidji fights crime perception”). The reporters’ thoughtful approach explored why Bemidji’s crime numbers differ from other cities, emphasizing, “There are nuances not captured in a single number.”

In contrast, the front-page article on charter schools felt like yet another hit job (“More charters face threats of closure”). Highlighting struggles within charters, the article appeared more focused on building a case than fostering understanding. It omitted crucial context: Charter schools can be shut down for poor academic performance or poor governance, while traditional public schools with similar results are almost never held accountable. The piece ignored the backgrounds of students in struggling charters and failed to highlight any positive outcomes, revealing a clear intent to argue rather than inform.

Our public schools — traditional and charter — face many challenges and governance structure is far from the most important. If the Star Tribune aims to educate its audience on the complexities of serving Minnesota’s diverse student population, a more nuanced, solutions-oriented perspective would better serve readers.

Eric Molho, Minneapolis

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I just finished reading the A and B sections of the Sunday Minnesota Star Tribune and feel compelled to relay my thanks to the paper’s ownership and management for broadening its’ appeal by reporting more outstate and varied local news stories. Many of the articles touched parts of my life — ranging from the articles about the Duluth sober home and culturally specific substance use program in St. Paul (my husband and I lost our son to due to an overdose), exposing the bad rap that the City of Bemidji has received over the years for not explaining crime statistics (I used to work for local government before retirement), and allowing the full-page obituary for Beej (I grew up in Deephaven) (“Dreams of future ended in a nightmare,” front page, and “Remembering ‘Beej’ “). However, my favorite article was about the mayor of New York Mills written by Karen Tolkkinen (“New York Mills mayor’s dream comes true”). The reporter truly captured the characteristics of what we want in a politician — a dedicated, compassionate and farsighted public servant!

Ann Perry, Plymouth

Throughout the Bible we are called to be kind to the stranger, the alien. We are reminded we could be “entertaining angels unaware” (Hebrews 13:2). My heart is heavy because I know the fear and anxiety Trump’s deportation threat is having on so many immigrant families. As an urban pastor in several American cities, I saw how Latino families were a big part of the life of our parish. The irony is that their family values would make them organic Republicans if the white nationalists had not hijacked the party of Lincoln.

People forget how their ancestors were treated when they were the new immigrant group that did not fit into the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant profile. The Japanese in the internment camps, the Chinese, the Italians, the Irish and the Jewish have gone through this before. President Trump is merely repeating the same playbook Presidents Hoover and Eisenhower used before. In the 1950s, immigration enforcement named their mass deportation operation after a slur used for Mexican immigrants.

Why do we keep repeating the same racist mistakes? Populist politicians know how to play many Americans like a fiddle. Lets demonize the immigrant so we don’t focus on where the real source of the problem is. We don’t properly tax our billionaires and oil companies while we demonize “welfare queens” and economic migrants who are merely seeking their daily bread. We defy our Lord’s Prayer while our transnational corporations continue to extract their profits and resources from these migrants’ home countries. Amid bone-crushing poverty, many of these migrant workers still send their remittances home to family members who are in even more dire poverty.

Many Americans who voted for Trump because of their economic concerns will live to regret it. What too many people don’t realize is that our cheap food policy hinges on cheap migrant labor. When immigrants leave our fields and meatpacking plants, many Trump supporters will be confronted with some serious sticker shock and buyers’ remorse. When they look at their receipts at the register they will realize they have been played by the haves who made more have-nots.

Howard Dotson, Minneapolis

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“Illegals,” “migrants,” “illegal aliens,” “illegal immigrants,” and “undocumented immigrants” are all perfect names applied to future deportees. These labels help dehumanize real people with real names. These people are mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and children who were hoping for better lives. In a September interview with the National Pulse, a conservative publication, Trump said about migrants crossing the southern border, “It is a very sad thing for our country.” I believe our lack of compassion for people is the real sad thing for our country.

Bruce Lemke, Orono

I tried an experiment recently. When a customer service representative would take my call, I would thank them for taking my call. I would imagine that their morning, or day, or the day before they spoke to me was filled with things that were not completely positive. The same kinds of things that could fill my day. And when they had answered my inquiry, and (this is the hard part) even when they didn’t, I would thank them and add that every time they may think they are only doing their job by answering my questions they were actually making a positive difference in my life.

I encourage you to give it a try. Go ahead. Be brave.

Karen Schott, Excelsior

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After reading all of the comments and frustrations expressed regarding poor customer service in today’s world (“Your call is so very important to us,” Readers Write, Jan. 19), I would like to offer one idea that may help some people. I am bilingual in Spanish and English, so one strategy I have used that seems to get me connected quicker to a live human on a phone call is to choose the option for Spanish. I discovered this one time when I was on hold forever with my bank. After 40 minutes I hung up, called back and selected the Spanish option. My call was answered in about two minutes and my issue was solved! I have used this strategy a number of times in different customer service scenarios and it seems to help.

Suzanne Bullock, Rogers

Data centers demand huge quantities of electricity to keep them operating (“Efforts to cut emissions stalled in 2024 as power demand surged,” Jan. 10). A letter writer on Jan. 12 is correct that the electricity needs to come from clean, no-carbon sources. However, installing solar panels on the roof of the data center won’t do the job. In fact, a typical data center will annually consume 500 times the amount of electricity that a rooftop solar array could provide.

The U.S. has adequate solar and wind resources to provide far more electricity than the country is expected to require, even including new data centers, electric vehicle charging and electrifying everything else. However, we need access to that electricity when it is being produced from anywhere in the nation. We need a new, robust network of high voltage, direct current power lines to move electricity instantaneously from where it is being generated by renewable resources to where we need it.

John Dunlop, St. Paul

The writer is a renewable energy engineer.