Hennepin County Judge Laurie J. Miller ruled that Minneapolis restaurant owners can't be sure that they are losing business because of the vaccine mandate ("Judge upholds vaccine-or-test mandate for dining," Jan. 30).

It's probably impossible to gather specific data about lost business less than two weeks into the mandate policy. All we have so far are anecdotes, but let me offer this event I witnessed the first week of the mandate.

Two of my colleagues offered to take a newer coworker out to lunch. "Where are we going?" he asked, and they named a locally owned restaurant near our Minneapolis office. "Wait, I don't have my vaccine card with me," he said. So they decided on a restaurant in the nearest suburb.

So I know for sure that one Minneapolis restaurant lost business because of the mandate. How many times has that happened these last couple weeks? The city and the judge don't want to speculate on that. By the time we have hard numbers, how many restaurants will have gone out of business?

Catherine Walker, Minneapolis

Let's face it: Large design-bid-build construction projects like Southwest light-rail transit are juggernauts ("Light-rail tunnel thrown off-track," Jan. 23). During the design phase, public agencies cooperate and, working in good faith and with due diligence, attempt to identify and mitigate every possible impact. For really complicated projects like the Southwest LRT, the construction phase often brings unanticipated impacts. This is why public agencies, like the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, issue construction permits with time limits or periodic renewals built in. These intervals provide an opportunity for a public agency to address new impacts and negotiate on behalf of the citizens. Sometimes all that's needed is a rubber stamp, but other times the agency partners need to reconvene in good faith.

Cathy Abene, Minneapolis

The writer is a member of the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board.

•••

As much as many of us want an entire network of decent public transportation options, the Southwest LRT project is already a train wreck, a disaster before completion ("Southwest LRT delayed to 2027," Jan. 27, and "SWLRT 'disaster' prompts audit call," Jan. 28). Its cost and incompetent management will preclude other more reasonable projects. Some of the issues now delaying the completion timetable and expanding the cost were argued about extensively with no compromise. Particularly the Cedar Lake and Kenilworth corridor issues.

One hopes there will be a full, transparent review by an independent agency. Internal reviews by those agencies that are themselves contributors to the problem are not sufficient. Sadly, even our "clean" Minnesota political culture may be murky enough to preclude responsibility being assigned.

Is it too late to take over the management of the remaining years of this project, assigning it to a more competent agency? Who trusts the current management to get the job done? How many more years of delay until the first scheduled train with passengers really runs?

James W. Folk, Hopkins

Jay Ambrose ("Court's too important for diversity hires," Opinion Exchange, Jan. 31) declares that appointing a black woman to the Supreme Court is an exercise by Democrats and President Joe Biden in "identity politics." Furthermore, by prioritizing the appointment, the administration would be "smashing the principle of fair play."

Here's how he does it: Ambrose attributes specious motives to others, then attacks those motives, as though such paper tigers exist outside of his own weak constructs. I can see him sneaking up on rubber duckies in his bathtub, too, and sinking them with a mighty stab of his pen.

Rather than address the obvious truth about Supreme Court appointments — there is no test that qualifies people to serve on the court, except that a majority of U.S. senators are convinced a candidate is an exceptional jurist who would serve our country and Constitution well — Ambrose chooses to cover his flawed reasoning with lipstick from Clarence Thomas's makeup kit.

There are thousands of highly qualified people who could take a seat on the Supreme Court and do good work. Of those thousands, many candidates happen to be Black women. Since we have so many qualified people, we can make a selection that strengthens talent and diversity of opinion on the court while we also address past injustice at the highest level of jurisprudence.

Let's strip away this veneer of "identity politics" and take a hard look at the substantive historical context of an appointment process that is 100% legit and long overdue.

Dave Alderson, Minneapolis

•••

Just the title of this Ambrose's commentary is a sucker punch to the gut. No matter how you slice and dice the article, it still only says, in essence, that a black female judge is not qualified nor good enough and the same sad excuse of "this is not the right time."

Sandra Boes O'Brien, Minneapolis

The current conflict between Russia and Ukraine reaffirms why American foreign aid (USAID) is crucial to our national security. Currently the U.S. spends around 1% of its foreign budget on USAID. Under President Biden's budget for the fiscal year of 2022, we will spend around $58.5 billion on USAID. To put this into perspective, that equates to around $175 dollars per American. That's a small price to pay for increasing the living conditions and increasing the survival rate for newborns worldwide.

In addition, USAID is crucial in fighting global poverty. We see that fighting against extreme poverty through USAID creates better national security. In nations that struggle the most with extreme poverty, we see the most risk of instability and conflict. Countries like Afghanistan, Yemen and Iraq are amongst the poorest and most dangerous regions. USAID is crucial in creating stability, and military leaders agree. In 2019, more than 200 retired military leaders wrote congress in support of a strong and effective international affairs budget.

Now to exemplify this. Recently, the U.S. has sent $245 million in military assistance and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. This has helped create a stable country that can effectively resist Russian aggression. Furthermore, foreign aid has created better diplomatic relations with Ukraine. This has pulled Ukraine into closer relations with Western nations, and is far from what Russian President Vladimir Putin wants. Although the current Ukrainian crisis is an extreme example, USAID helps secure the safety of democracies worldwide.

Griffin Kowalski, Minneapolis

According to a recent commentary in the Wall Street Journal, the Federal Highway Administration is prioritizing new federal highways and the construction of additional general purpose traffic lanes at the lowest level. This is extraordinarily shortsighted. In 50 years nearly all vehicles will be non-emitting and most likely self-driving. Traffic management systems will likely control traffic flow, with the use of the "autopilot" capability mandatory in densely populated areas. This technology will be a godsend to disabled persons, like my daughter with cerebral palsy who cannot drive.

Cars may be owned through a co-op or Uber-like arrangement, greatly reducing the cost of having access to a car. What we will need more of is roads. Over the next 50 years the population of this country could approach 500 million. Most of our widely dispersed housing stock will still be in use, with more added. Then there is trucking. Light-rail systems are extraordinarily costly and only practical in densely traveled corridors.

Over 43 years as a military (F-14) and commercial pilot, I saw an analogous transition from simple autopilots to advanced flight management systems capable of controlling the aircraft through nearly the entire flight profile. Use of these systems is mandatory in much of our airspace. The Biden administration needs to be able to "see" the future and plan accordingly. Roads are an essential part.

Corey Glab, Prior Lake

We want to hear from you. Send us your thoughts here.