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The Mayo Clinic in Rochester is the world's premiere medical center. My husband, who has an incurable form of blood cancer, has been treated there for the past three years.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Mayo's COVID protocols have been very strict. Everyone entering the clinic and its hospitals goes through rigorous questions about their health status and potential exposure to COVID.

Until recently, that is.

Now, people are screened for the other pandemic sweeping through the United States: gun violence.

There are no more COVID questions. Instead, there is an airport-like body scanner. All bags are inspected. Questions are about whether the person is carrying a gun or a knife, not a virus.

Ellen Kennedy, Edina

The inexperience of the Minneapolis mayor and City Council could not be more apparent than with their haste to create another city bureaucracy, which I will call the Police/Public Safety Department of Chaos, or PPSDC ("Public safety nominee brings wide experience," front page, July 8). It is an organizational farce! Good luck to Cedric Alexander if he is approved as community safety commissioner, leading the formally named new Office of Community Safety.

From my work in organizational development, let's see if we can identify the mayor's, the commissioner's and future police chief's (1) span of authority, (2) span of accountability, (3) span of control, (4) span of responsibility and (5) time span of discretion in decisionmaking.

The citizens of Minneapolis should be proud of the work done by the governing bodies in creating more six-figure jobs as the voters of Minneapolis and visitors to our city are "bleeding" from the violence in the city. This is what George Floyd's death, the riots and destruction to personal property got the citizens of Minneapolis. Nice job, folks. We should all sleep better!

W.W. Bednarczyk, Edina

Here is an excerpt from an explanation of benefits from a Medicare Advantage insurer in regard to a prescription filled at a chain pharmacy: Total cost of three-month supply of atorvastatin is $363.20. Plan cost is $11.73. Your cost (since Medicare deductible not met) is $11.73. This price is close to the cost example used for Cuban's plan ($3.60 per month) and turns out to be less without the shipping and handling.

To me, these explanations of benefit read like, "Jimmy, it's so good we're such friends. It's good you pay us money every month, because otherwise something really bad could happen, and we would hate to see that. We worked over — I mean, worked with — your provider, and offered him a deal he couldn't refuse."

Any analysis of drug costs should start with actual manufacturing and distribution costs, not inflated nominal charges.

James Haefemeyer, Minneapolis

The writer is a retired physician.

The editorial noted that Cuban is working to save consumers money by "excluding 'middlemen' like pharmacy benefit management (PBMs) firms" that drive up costs for patients.

As a patient who depends on medications to manage lupus and hypermobility and as a mother whose son has the same medical issues, I am speaking from firsthand experience when I say that PBMs are a plague to patients and it's time for regulators to rein them in.

One immediate change I would like to see is rebate reform. For those unaware, PBMs work with drug manufacturers to secure discounts that are intended to be passed down to patients, but in practice, these rebates are gobbled up by PBMs to pad already exorbitant bottom lines.

As the editorial said, "more action is still urgent, particularly from Congress to further assist consumers," and I hope that starts with PBM rebate reform so that medications can be accessible to all who need them.

Holly Foley, Inver Grove Heights

Shown are two examples for drugs currently costing $55 and $21 at retailers. Just Sunday night I wrote down the name of four drugs advertised on TV. I looked up pricing on a discount drug coupon — 30-day supply. On three, the prices ranged from $587 to $5,800. The fourth drug is in a vial. The price is $48,100!

In addition to better pricing on generics, I would hope that Cuban is also looking at why brand drugs are so expensive, with emphasis on implementation of having generics earlier instead of years later. Politicians don't seem to get the job done in reducing drug costs.

Al Kolberg, Burnsville

I wonder just what they are thinking. Actually, I am not really interested and probably wouldn't listen to their reasons.

I'm talking about those people who use the beautiful lake bike paths to ride their electric scooters. I realize it is an amazing view. I also understand we have little time to enjoy these warm days and take advance of these generous city resources. But it is so annoying as they ring their little out-of-tune bell and smugly pass me with with a look that says, "Oh, you poor thing. Can't afford one of these, huh?" Don't get me started on those obnoxious bells. They are within inches of me but cannot exert the physical strength to politely say, "On your left."

"Where would you suggest I ride my fun little lime green electric scooter?" I hear them ask. My response would be something like, "When the city decides to build an electric scooter path (heaven forbid), I suggest you put it in your attached double garage and let it gather dust along with your bikes, roller blades and skateboards that you used to use when you were interested in physical activity."

Dean Kephart, Minneapolis

It was nice to read about the civil encounter and ensuing discussion Helen Warren had with "DeShawn" regarding the unseen damage she caused to another car while parallel parking and how it opened her eyes to how easy it is to cause unknown damage to others through words and actions without malice, i.e., by accident ("Earnestness and honesty during an encounter on the street," Opinion Exchange, July 12).

Like DeShawn, I wanted the writer to learn from her mistake. So what I want to know is: Did Helen Warren follow through by leaving a note on the car she scraped with her name, phone number, an apology and an offer to pay for the cost of having the damage buffed out?

That act would have brought her encounter, insights and observations full-circle. We all need to take responsibility for damage done, whether someone is looking or not.

So, Wimbledon bans Russian players from entering this year's tournament.

Elena Rybakina was born in Moscow in 1999. The Russian Federation detected athletic talent in her at an early age and trained her on gymnastics and ice-skating first. Then, they found out she grew up to be 6 feet tall. So, the Russian Federation decided that she was too tall for gymnastics and ice-skating and changed her sport to tennis.

Her entire junior tennis career was as a Russian.

Her first professional tournament was the Kremlin Cup, Russia.

She turned pro as a Russian.

On Saturday, Rybakina won the Wimbledon women's championship.

Poetic justice?

Well done, Wimbledon!