Let’s see how a $11.5 billion Christmas surprise plays out in Minnesota.

This coming legislative session may be the last opportunity to protect our very limited supply of healthy water. Prudence screams for a comprehensive water study by a credible entity such as the University of Minnesota.

In Shakopee, a new trail is being developed as a collaborative effort among the city, Scott County, the Scott County Historical Society, Three Rivers Park District and the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community — a partnership known as the Shakopee Cultural Consortium.

It is time to put to rest the myth that democracy is infallible.

Hateful attacks on Ilhan Omar and other Muslims should be forcefully condemned, regardless of partisanship.

The governor has a healthy 60 percent job approval among suburban registered voters. That level of support from them on Election Day 2022 virtually ensures his second term.

While we love the support from the public, we expect and demand more from the people in charge of our hospitals who actually have the power to improve the lives of health care workers and our patients.

When people — and in many states, the laws — allow armed people to chase others they suspect might have committed theft, and if they get scared about their safety in the ensuing struggle, and kill the person they are chasing, we have normalized lynching.

While just 6.4% of Minnesotans are Black, they represent 15% of maternal deaths in our state. And while Indigenous people represent 2% of those who give birth in Minnesota, 12% of all Minnesotans who died during pregnancy, childbirth or the postpartum year are Indigenous.

Why was I so uncomfortable with Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s suggestion that adoption solves the problem of an unwanted pregnancy?

Most important is the instruction that judges customarily give to jurors before they begin deliberations: Rely upon your life experiences and, above all, use your common sense.