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If a bill introduced in the Legislature passes this session, a small solar array would be a mere plug in away for Minnesotans.

The legislation would establish regulations for installation and operation of plug-in solar devices. Also known as balcony solar, homeowners or renters could place units outside near an outlet as a way to harness solar energy and cut down on surging electricity bills. 

The idea is to “democratize” solar, making renewable energy more accessible, said Sen. Rob Kupec, DFL-Moorhead, the bill’s author in the Senate.

Link: Plug-in solar power bill would power up Minnesota homes – MinnPost

This is just such an obvious win. I’d love to hang a few more off my balcony.

You should be reading Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American¹ every day. Especially if you need help sorting through the daily onslaught of insanity from this administration.

From March 22, 2026:

Yesterday Julie K. Brown of The Epstein Files, whose work digging into the cover-up of the Epstein story for the Miami Herald has been instrumental in bringing the scandal to light, and her colleague Claire Healy reported that after sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his prison cell on August 10, 2019, a corrections officer called the FBI’s Threat Operations Center saying the officer “found it suspicious that an after-action team charged with investigation would be shredding huge amounts of paperwork” while FBI agents were in the building.

And

In a conversation with Anne McElvoy of Politico on Thursday, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres noted that attacks on civilian energy infrastructure are war crimes.

And

On Meet the Press today, Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) said: “We’re gonna give Iran $14 billion to fund this war with the United States? We’re gonna give Russia billions of dollars to fund their war with Ukraine? We’re literally putting money into the pockets of the very nations that we are fighting right now. We’ve never seen this level of incompetence in war-making in this country’s history.”

Many americans believe that vaccines are unsafe, but will jab themselves full of performance enhancers. They think seed oils cause chronic disease, but beef tallow is healthy. They’ll say you can’t trust federally insured banks, but you can trust the millionaires who want you to invest in their volatile vaporware crypto tokens. They think food additives are toxic but support an administration removing all restrictions on pumping pollutants into the air and water. They’ll insist that you can’t trust scientists, because they’re part of the conspiracy. The podcaster selling you his special creatine gummies, though? He seems trustworthy.

Link: The Cynical, Gullible American Man – The Atlantic

via: kottke.org

Just doing my research…

The sun started to set, and we still had 5 miles to go. A couple of us rallied ahead to the hut to start cooking dinner for the rest of the team. We finished Day 1 with headlamps, hungry, and wet with giant smiles. Our teamwork and positivity confirmed that I was on the trip of a lifetime with incredibly strong and resilient women. My cheeks hurt from smiling already.

From 215 Miles of Dirt, Grit, and Connection

I’ll just admit it, I’m a sucker for these marketing long form articles and videos.

They are the community gardeners, the backcountry hunters, the anarchist beekeepers, the rewilding advocates — plus, of course, the direct-action protesters putting their bodies in front of bulldozers. They are the still-proud greens who, in recent years, have crafted historic alliances between eco-romantics and Native peoples to halt oil pipelines, oppose industrial agriculture, and establish preserves that protect living landscapes from the Machine’s hunger. Not everyone has surrendered yet.

Link: Can a Left, Right, and Faith Group Coalition Save the Earth?

An interesting essay, and a new-to-me site to explore

Today I will be neighboring — going out to protect the good people next door or down the block. Not because I favor illegal immigration, but because I oppose the fundamental indecency of President Trump and Stephen Miller

Source: Opinion | How Minnesota Beat Trump – The New York Times

There are a lot of great stories here. Long article but worth it. Proud of all of my neighbors, known and unknown who stood up against this.

In the age of algorithmically driven feeds, when non-influencers post, perhaps their imagined audiences seem smaller than they used to. “If there’s no guarantee that our friends will even see what we post,” Chayka wrote, “then what is the incentive to keep doing it?”

Source: The Great Friendship Flattening – The Atlantic

This is a great article. I’m probably one of those non-influencers with an imagined audience at this point 😉