Chris Britt's editorial cartoon on U.S. Rep. Charlie Rangel's ethics problems.

When $4.6 billion was cut from the state’s biennium budget last year, we hoped that would be sufficient to last into 2011. But worsening economic conditions have further hurt the state’s financial situation, and now the Legislature and gover­nor will be forced to make another $1.2 billion in cuts during the 2010 session.

The members of the Montevideo School Board put in some long hours last week, first with an hour-and-a-half work session Monday night followed by a two-hour-plus public input session Thursday night, and then an hour-long work session that began at 7 a.m. Friday morning as they labored to balance next year’s budget.

Dave Granlund cartoon on President Obama's renewed effort to push through health care.

Chris Britt's editorial cartoon on President Obama and Republicans.

Dave Granlund cartoon on the U.S. Postal Service's plan to win back customers.

Chris Britt's editorial cartoon on Democrats getting Republicans to swallow the health care bill.

Dave Granlund cartoon on trying to improve underperforming public schools.

Dave Granlund cartoon on what happens to a neighborhood when a snowstorm knocks out heat and electricity.

Dave Granlund cartoon on Republicans offering a second opinion about President Obama's checkup.

Dave Granlund cartoon on humans instead of whales being confined in a fishbowl.

Dave Granlund cartoon on federal regulations on fishermen.

During the past half-century, atrazine has become one of the most widely used herbicides in Minnesota and the Midwest. Unfortunately, it is also at the top of the list in another category: most commonly detected pesticide in our state’s surface and groundwater. Atrazine contamination has been found in agricultural communities from southeast Minnesota to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. That’s a concern when one considers there is an increasing body of science showing that exposure to the herbicide, at even extremely low levels, pose significant health risks to humans and animals. That’s why it is so key that the Environmental Protection Agency’s current review of atrazine’s safety be based on science and what’s good for the public.

This month the president holds his meetings with Democratic and Republican leaders on health care. While bipartisan movement on health care reform is a laudable goal, the summit also presents a unique opportunity to resurrect a reform proposal that the White House left on the cutting room floor during last year’s health care debate.