Readers Write: Texas flooding, Planned Parenthood, Walz re-election

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 front page of the Star Tribune on Sunday had the headline “Climate activists say work will go on” (July 6). Just to the lower right was the sub-heading “Flash floods in Texas kill dozens.” Was this a deliberate message? I am sure many other Star Tribune subscribers noted the subtle connection, whether intended, or not, by the editors.

Further into the sad article from Texas, it was pointed out that some of the more senior and experienced professionals from the Texas-area National Weather Service may not have been on duty to help warn the young campers, and their adult leaders, of the impending risk of flash floods. Maybe too many climate scientists and NWS scientists have been fired to save the costs of having qualified technical staff in our federal government. When will the Trump administration learn that denying science results in laws and policies that don’t work?

I wonder how many of those parents who lost their daughters in the flood had voted for President Donald Trump and his incompetent staff?

Kirk Cobb, White Bear Lake

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I am so tired of people blaming their imaginary friend God when things go bad instead of analyzing why the tragic flood in Texas killed over 100 people happened. These types of events are predicted to happen as the climate warms. On top of that, the Trump administration fired over 600 weather scientists from the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who would have been on staff to alert the authorities to the coming event and evacuated the area. Their imaginary God had nothing to do with this event since it was predictable. The Department of Government Efficiency and Trump are responsible for this tragedy by gutting an agency that protected us all. But the buck never stops on Trump’s desk because he accepts no responsibility for how his decisions affect any of us.

We are being led by a 3-year-old who breaks stuff and will not admit to doing it.

Ronald Hegner, Independence, Minn.

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According to news sources, the Trump budget bill will provide $165 billion for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement in coming years. Meanwhile, Kerr County in Texas lost out on a $1 million grant for a flood warning system, and the county commissioner stated that the residents would not be willing to pay for such a system. The ICE budget — used to round up human beings and house them in gulags and/or deport them — would cover 165,000 grants for a flood warning system. Penny-wise, pound-foolish indeed.

Scott McGlasson, Minneapolis

One might be under the impression that the most consequential of the components of Trump’s Big Beautiful Budget Act (which is neither beautiful, nor a budget, but is definitely big) will not be felt until after the 2026 midterms. One would be wrong.

I am a patient support volunteer at Planned Parenthood in St. Paul. One provision of the law just passed requires Planned Parenthood to forfeit all Medicaid funding at any network that provides abortions, even at any clinics within that network that do not provide abortions.

Most clinics do not provide abortions, but do provide essential health care, including STD testing and treatment, HIV/AIDS testing, cancer screening, birth control and other reproductive health care. And yet, these clinics, when part of a Planned Parenthood network like Planned Parenthood North Central States (with clinics in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska), are no longer allowed to serve patients whose health care coverage is paid through Medicaid for any of these nonabortion services.

Women who find themselves with a nonviable or dangerous pregnancy, or a pregnancy that is the result of rape or incest, or who face the prospect of adding another child to their household whom they cannot afford or care for just lost one of their only options — oftentimes their only option — to end their pregnancy safely.

As of last Friday, this law has effectively, for millions of women in the U.S., eliminated essential health care services as provided by Planned Parenthood. We do not have to wait for the midterms to feel the effects of this draconian section of the law; we see it right now at our clinics, where canceled appointments for health care are far outnumbering the patients who can afford to pay out of pocket or through private insurance.

This component of the law was included for the purpose of putting the final knife into the back of Planned Parenthood and into the autonomy of women seeking legal health care in America.

[Opinion editor’s note: Planned Parenthood has sued the Trump administration over the Medicaid funding restrictions and won a temporary injunction in the case on Monday.]

Brooke Magid Hart, Minneapolis

Gov. Tim Walz should step aside at the end of his eight years in office and allow another quality candidate to assume the role of governor with new ideas, eager for an opportunity to meet the challenges into the future (“Walz: ‘If we run again, we will win,’” July 7). I must admit that I have not been a fan of Walz since he broke his pledge for a “One Minnesota,” and his fumbles through the last seven years. He has been abrasive, divisive, combative and offensive with only rare humility in my humble conservative opinion. However, I respect some of his accomplishments and his dedicated service to our state and nation.

Unfortunately, Walz would continue to blame Trump for all the problems through another term, stuck in the past, rather than meeting all the challenges of the new federal budget bill. Minnesota and all states will need to recognize that the feds will continue to downsize and shift programs and their funding to states’ responsibility. Governors will need to accept and embrace this reality, roll up their sleeves and lead the efforts to success. Higher state taxes and less service will be a tough sell. Thank you for your service, Walz, but it’s time to move on.

Michael Tillemans, Minneapolis

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Having been connected to public school education for nearly 50 years, I cheered when Walz was first elected as Minnesota’s governor in 2018. I thought, great, one of us is headed to the State Capitol. However, during the course of his two terms, Walz has changed a bit since that 2018 victory. He is no longer the humble schoolteacher who left his Mankato classroom and headed to St. Paul. After campaigning as the Democratic vice presidential nominee and after trading un-governor-like “cheap shots” with those in power in the White House and in Congress, it appears that Tuesday’s Star Tribune headline “If we run again, we will win” tells us that his governorship has become about him and not what’s best for Minnesota. Gov. Walz, two terms is enough. Unless of course you want the Capitol lawn filled with people carrying signs that tell you, “No Kings.”

George Larson, Brooklyn Park