Follow us on Twitter | Like us on Facebook | Sign up for our newsletter When the nonpartisan House Public Information Services (HPIS) conducted its 2012 opinion poll during the State Fair, more than 9,000 people participated. Among the issues considered was that of collecting sales tax on products purchased over the Internet. The State of Minnesota would traditionally collect millions of dollars in annual sales tax on items like books, movies and music, but on the Internet, these things are not subject to state sales tax. Is this fair? Forty-seven percent of Minnesotans polled said 'no.' In …

  The arguing is over. Admittedly, arguing over politics never really ends in the United States; that's part of the price we pay for living in a constitutional republic, in which the big decisions are made by a majority of the citizens. But at least, with the question of "who's going to be president the next four years?" settled, the arguing can settle back down to the ordinary background noise of bickering, as opposed to the daily shoutfests in which so many seemed to be engaged during the campaign. Or can it? We're hearing lots of reports about long-time relationships being cut off in …

  Let's just see how many of our fellow Minnesotans are workaholics. Tonight, the calendar gods award us with that annual opportunity to turn the clocks back, re-living one hour of our lives. What will you do with the opportunity? Local public safety officials recommend you spend part of that time checking your smoke alarms, but that takes five minutes or less. How about the rest? Some of us have so many tasks to do, whether personally or professionally, that we could use an extra hour every day. For others, an extra hour means an additional chance to enjoy the good things life has to offer. …

  So far, Minnesotans have been spared the barrage of political ads that are flooding the airwaves in Ohio and other so-called "swing states" where the close race between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney is likely to be decided. Now, according to a Huffington Post report Friday, that's about to change. The Romeny camp is increasingly convinced that it may be possible to win Wisconsin, and to increase their chances, they're making big ad buys in the major media markets, including the Twin Cities (where radio and television broadcast into western Wisconsin). Our question: Do you know anyone who's …

When the nonpartisan House Public Information Services (HPIS) conducted its 2012 opinion poll during the State Fair, more than 9,000 people participated. Among the issues considered was that of Minnesota school districts and layoffs. As the pollsters were informed in the HPIS survey, currently, when schools need to lay off teachers, seniority determines who loses their job. But, a big majority (71.9 percent) of those polled feel performance evaluations should be used. Just 20.4 percent of folks said no; and almost 8 percent of folks were undecided.  So, maybe your son or daughter is a young …