Readers Write: The reopened Stone Arch Bridge, mRNA research, air pollution, Science Museum cuts

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

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James J. Hill’s Stone Arch Bridge is open again and doing what it does so well: connecting the two sides of our city’s historic riverfront, providing a pedestrian and bike link like those of the park system’s Grand Rounds and offering exhilarating views of St. Anthony Falls, the only waterfall on the Mississippi River.

As we celebrate its reopening after a monthslong renovation, let’s thank those who saved the bridge for pedestrians and bikes instead of for light-rail trains.

Yes, that was a plan. When the Burlington Northern Railroad closed the bridge in 1989, it sold it to Hennepin County for $1,001 for future use as a light-rail line. No, there wasn’t a light-rail plan at that time — no route designated, no assessment of the potential damage to the 1883 bridge, but County Commissioner John Derus and others envisioned its role in a future system. And they held onto that idea, despite pleas from city leaders, the Minnesota Historical Society and historic preservationists who saw its crucial role as a pedestrian pathway on the historic riverfront.

“It’s the buckle on the belt,” said Betsy Doermann, who was secretary of the St. Anthony Falls Heritage Board, an interagency board formed to oversee redevelopment of the riverfront and make sure it respected the historic resources, which were located on both the downtown and St. Anthony sides of the river.

To shortcut the conflict, state Rep. John Sarna stepped into the fray and, late in the 1992 legislative session, sponsored a law directing Hennepin County to turn over the bridge to the state Department of Transportation.

As you walk or bike across the bridge and see others doing the same, thank John Sarna and city and Minnesota Historical Society leaders who saved the Stone Arch Bridge for your enjoyment. To say the bridge brought alive the Minneapolis riverfront is an understatement.

Linda Mack, Minneapolis

The writer is a retired Minnesota Star Tribune architecture writer.

Americans need to recognize the danger in defunding vaccine development (“RFK Jr. pulls $500M from vax funding,” Aug. 6). Over 1 million people died in this country from coronavirus. The death toll was only lessened by development of a vaccine. If this ongoing research ends now, we will lose years of development and make ourselves vulnerable for the next viral attack. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is wrong to demonize vaccinations that have saved lives and prevented lifelong disability from measles, smallpox, polio and hepatitis. He has no training in medicine or public health. We should listen to those who do and maintain funding for vaccine development. This is a matter of life and death.

Mary Kemen, Chanhassen

RFK announced Tuesday that the U.S. government is canceling contracts and pulling funding for mRNA vaccine research. This was the technology used for the groundbreaking vaccine that helped many of us survive COVID. There is important research now being conducted on other applications of this technology, not only for potential pandemics (think bird flu) but also to treat cancer and other diseases. Of course this technology isn’t perfect. Nothing in medicine is. But it has tremendous potential to save lives and to keep the U.S. as a leading force in new medical research. Instead, we are choosing to step backward. This is yet another example of the current administration’s inexplicable fear of scientific research and, for that matter, provable facts. America, are we “great” yet?

Sharon Decker, St. Louis Park

I was deeply saddened to hear that the Science Museum of Minnesota is undergoing another round of funding and staff cuts, shedding more than 40 jobs (“Cuts hit state right where it learns,” Aug. 3, 2025).

Back the early 2000s, I grew up visiting the Science Museum. I remember how excited I was to visit the Collector’s Corner with rocks for trading and my corresponding geology essay in hand, ready to score a shiny new rock or fossil. The museum inspired my love for nature and geology, as I’m sure it has for many Minnesotans.

If the Science Museum is forced to pare back children’s programs, it will reduce access to science education for many young Minnesotans. The consequences could be dire. We need dedicated and talented scientists desperately in the coming decades to help reduce fossil fuel consumption, restore our ecosystems and adapt our society to the climate crisis.

Shrinking our state’s largest science museum is an unforced error that will harm Minnesota’s economy and quality of life. Minnesota’s legislators took a step in the wrong direction by cutting the museum’s funding from $1.6 million to $700,000. State lawmakers should fix that mistake, boosting museum funding to ensure that this vital resource can continue providing science education and research that benefits all Minnesotans.

Brian Wagenaar, Eden Prairie

The Trump administration through Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin and the EPA recently announced plans to rescind the 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding. Sadly, this is once again a way to continue to pollute and poison our world. It is calculated that there are 8 million people per year who die in part from air pollution, not including the effects of climate change. The World Economic Forum predicts by 2050 an additional 14 million deaths and $12 trillion in economic losses may occur. So much for being fiscally responsible and pro-life. If you like breathing the air of last week here in Minnesota, then these changes should make you happy. For the rest of us, please remind our leaders we don’t want environmental destruction.

David Councilman, St. Louis Park

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Richard Crose, Bloomington

President Donald Trump’s latest casualty in his anti-truth purge was the respected commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Her crime was to dutifully report that job growth in America was not as hot as Trump has been claiming.

Rather than reconsider his failed economic policies, Trump shot the messenger (“Trump erodes trust by firing labor-data official,” Strib Voices, Aug. 5). He summarily fired the nonpartisan economist who dared report the truth to our wannabe king — that America’s economy is rapidly cooling.

A thousand years ago, England, Denmark and Norway were ruled by Viking King Canute. Like many leaders and men of power, he was surrounded by people who were always praising him. Every time he walked into a room, his flatterers would call out, “Your highness, there is nothing you cannot do. Nothing in this world dares to disobey you.”

Sound familiar? Trump’s Cabinet of sycophants shower him with praise over his miraculous powers at Cabinet meetings and public appearances so that his fragile ego can bask in their glorious worship.

Of course, the tide came in, just as it always did. The water rose higher and higher. It came up around the king’s chair, and soaked his royal robe. Some say Canute took off his crown soon afterward, and never wore it again.

Would that America’s wannabe king were as humble and wise.