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By J. Patrick Coolican | Editor-in-chief

Good morning, Reformers. 

In this depressing piece about the end of reading (gift link), the writer notes that 57% of Americans placed a bet last year.

There’s no reason to think it’s any less here, even though we’ve not formally legalized sports betting. Plenty of other indicators point to lots of gambling. 

Having worked in Las Vegas for roughly seven years, here’s some basics: 

Gambling addiction is very real. You can read about it in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. You can see it in the rewards center of brain scans. Unlike alcohol or drugs, it’s much easier to hide in daily life, but the financial losses are much, much greater and often impossible to reverse. (A good drunken bender may be several hundred dollars. A problem gambler can lose a college fund.) Suicide rates of gambling addicts are higher than any other addiction. Gambling addiction is associated with embezzlement and other financial crimes. Given the shame and secrecy surrounding gambling addiction, we don’t really know how much is out there, but it’s a lot, as the state Department of Human Services informed us via a study a few years ago. (I wrote about it here.) 

It’s good that we banned the prediction markets, subject to litigation, but my safe prediction is that we’re not ready for the wave of problems emerging from gamble-on-demand in your pocket, 24/7. We’re especially lacking treatment resources.

I offer this up as example of the pressing problems getting scant attention this election season. 

Here’s another: A college enrollment collapse is coming with lower birth and immigration rates. Manhy Americans — and, presumably, many Minnesotans — have also broadly lost confidence in the utility of the higher education system. And, as the aforementioned piece on the end of reading notes, colleges are having to become more remedial as students arrive unable to parse college-level texts. How will we adapt?

What issues concern you that aren’t getting any discussion? Reply to this email. 

To the Reformer: 

Wind turbines in southwest Minnesota in 2024. (Photo by Max Nesterak/Minnesota Reformer)

Report: Trump administration stopping 4 Minnesota wind power developments

By Brian Martucci

The U.S. Department of Defense has stopped completing the mandated — and once-routine — national security review process for proposed wind farms. As a result, Minnesota could lose four wind energy projects that could generate enough power for several hundred thousand homes, North Star Policy Action says. 

The apparent Pentagon work stoppage is stalling more than 250 wind projects nationwide. If the Minnesota projects don’t move forward, the state stands to lose around $1.6 billion in direct investment.

READ MORE

Commentary: Minnesota is on the verge of expanding access to psychedelics therapy

By Jessica Nielson

A University of Minnesota scientist who led the psychedelic medicine task force says we’ve done important work getting Minnesota ready for a treatment model here. 

“Psychedelics are able to make the brain more capable of changing, a term called neuroplasticity, which has a lot of researchers and clinicians excited about their therapeutic applications for neurological and mental health disorders…. 

The question of whether to create a psilocybin therapeutic access program is not about if, but how it will be implemented. We demonstrated this session that there is broad bipartisan support at the local, state and federal levels. Many states are considering legislation to determine how their state will address integrating psychedelic medicines into their systems of care, and Minnesota has an opportunity to be a leader and pioneer in this effort.“

READ MORE
IN OTHER NEWS
OH BY THE WAY

Thanks to my friend E for tickets last night to Craig Finn, a Minnesotan known for his band The Hold Steady, and Patterson Hood of The Drive-By Truckers. They are both distinguished by their storytelling. 

Finn refashioned a Hold Steady song with lyrics about the ICE occupation this winter. As far as I know it’s the first time he’s played it live. We’ll have to wait on video and lyrics, but I’ll just say it’s a better song than Springsteen’s “Streets of Minneapolis” as much as I love the latter. If anyone there last night can fill me in, reply to this email.  

Finn’s characters remind me of the types you’d meet in a Denis Johnson novel. Here’s a bit from “Magic Marker,” which is about a soldier who has come home from the war a broken man.

“Later on we'd end up

At the after hours house

With the guy who took the money

With a fish hook in his mouth

Pretty girls all burning holes

In the cushions of the couch

Times we saw dawn kicking the windows”

Listen to Finn play it on The Current. 

Have a great weekend all! JPC

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