For most U.S. residents, the sun went down earlier on one of the past few days than at any other time of the year. Jarringly early December sunsets are the result of the annual “fall back” from daylight saving time to standard time. But what if we had never sprung forward in the first place? Incoming Trump administration “government efficiency” advisers Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy posted recently in favor of dumping daylight saving time for good. On the flip side, in 2022, the U.S. Senate advanced a plan to make daylight saving time permanent . Either plan would get rid of the twice-a-year clock changes, as almost two-thirds of Americans say they want . But the country may be too spread out for a one-size-pleases-all solution. Depending on your latitude and how close you are to the edge of your time zone, you could end up with some unexpected daylight extremes. For example, when we moved our clocks back an hour last month, we doomed the people of northern Maine to darkness at 3:45 p.m. on Dec. 10, the earliest nightfall in the Lower 48. If we stayed on standard time year-round, those folks also would have June daylight streaming through their windows as early as 3:39 a.m. On the other hand, if we went with daylight saving time year-round , some North Dakotans wouldn’t get sunrise until after 9:45 a.m. for part of the winter. And it’s not just a few remote places. All of Michigan and most of Indiana, including the Detroit and Indianapolis metro areas, would have at least some post-9 a.m. winter sunrises thanks to the states’ positions at the western edge of the Eastern time zone. The country attempted a two-year trial of permanent daylight saving time starting in 1974, but the experiment lasted just 10 months . Sunrise for most of the country came around 8:30 a.m. or later in the dreariest parts of winter, so most people commuted to work and school in the dark. Americans said the sunless mornings made them cranky, sad and less safe. Later research would back them up, indicating that permanent standard time works better with our biological rhythms , especially our sleep patterns. President Gerald Ford reversed the plan, and most of us have been on a clock-changing, hybrid system ever since. The United States is among a few dozen countries that fiddle with the clocks every year. Most are in the Americas and Europe, where daylight saving time is called European Summer Time. Even within a country’s borders, some jurisdictions opt out . Hawaii, most of Arizona and most U.S. territories are permanently on standard time. The Saskatchewan province of Canada is always on daylight saving time. Mexico adopted daylight saving time in 1996. Then all but a few parts of the country got rid of it again in 2022 . Local experts cited widespread sleep disorders among the reasons for chucking the time changes. Daylight saving time dates to the early 1900s and was first widely adopted during World War I by most European countries and, eventually, the United States. Longer daylight, the thinking went, would reduce the need for electric lighting in factories. Saving power was also the goal of the experiment in 1974, as the country slogged through an energy crisis so dire that only a single light adorned the National Christmas Tree in 1973. But the limited data on whether daylight saving time actually saves energy is contradictory and appears to depend on location. For example, Transportation Department researchers found a “probable” 1 percent reduction in electricity usage during the spring of 1974, but that was before air conditioning was ubiquitous. Indiana provided a more recent case study when it adopted daylight saving time statewide in 2006. The data on power consumption before and after , published in the Review of Economics and Statistics, showed that residential electricity use increased by 1 percent over the level during standard time because Hoosiers used more AC on longer summer evenings and more heat on darker, chillier mornings. After daylight saving time was expanded by four weeks in 2008, an Energy Department report found something different: a half-percent nationwide savings in electricity consumption per day during the extra three weeks in spring and week in fall. Perhaps before long, lawmakers will again muster the votes to stop making the country spring forward and fall back, at least for a trial period. In the meantime, a shout-out to the northernmost Alaskans, who don’t see a sunrise for two months in winter and don’t see nightfall for three months in the summer, yet gamely change their clocks twice a year anyway. About this story Sunrise and sunset times are for 2025. Times were calculated using the coordinates of each county’s geographic center. Some counties exist in multiple time zones; for these counties, the latest sunrise and earliest sunset times for each time change scenario (permanent DST, no DST, and our current system) reflect the sunrise/set times at the county’s geographic center. All sunrise/set times were retrieved with suntools , an open-source R package which uses algorithms provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Justin Grieser contributed to this story.President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday insisted at a meeting with US President-elect Donald Trump that any settlement with Russia after its invasion of Ukraine had to be "just", as fears grow in Kyiv on the position of the incoming administration. President Emmanuel Macron hosted three-way talks with Zelensky and Trump at the Elysee Palace, discussing what the incoming American president had termed a world that was a "little crazy". Hours after their meeting, the outgoing administration of President Joe Biden announced a new $988 million military assistance package for Ukraine. The package features drones, ammunition for precision HIMARS rocket launchers, and equipment and spare parts for artillery systems, tanks and armoured vehicles, the Pentagon said in a statement. Zelensky's meeting with Trump just before the three men headed to Notre Dame for the re-opening ceremony of the great Paris cathedral was his first face-to-face encounter with tycoon-turned-politician since his election victory. The meeting was of huge importance to Zelensky, given fears in Kyiv that Trump, who once boasted he could end Russia's war on Ukraine in 24 hours, may urge Ukraine to make concessions to Moscow. It also offered a unique chance for Macron to gain insights into how a second Trump presidency will look when he takes office in January. The trip to Paris is Trump's first international visit since his November 5 election win. "We all want peace. But it is very important for us... that the peace is just for all of us and that Russia, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin or any other aggressor has no possibility of ever returning," Zelensky said according to the presidential website. "And this is the most important thing -- a just peace and security guarantees, strong security guarantees for Ukraine," he added. Trump has scoffed at the billions of dollars in US military assistance to Ukraine and has spoken of forcing a quick settlement. But Zelensky also thanked Trump for his "unwavering resolve" describing the talks as "good and productive". Trump and Macron embraced and shook hands several times on the steps of the French presidential palace, with Trump given a full guard of honour despite not yet being in office. "It seems like the world is going a little crazy right now and we will be talking about that," Trump told reporters as he prepared to sit down for the talks with Macron. Despite tensions between the two men during his first term, Trump hailed his ties with the centrist French leader, saying: "We had a great relationship as everyone knows. We accomplished a lot." Macron told Trump it was "a great honour for French people to welcome you" for the re-opening ceremony at Notre Dame, which was devastated by a blaze in 2019 during Trump's first term. "You were president at that time and I remember the solidarity and the immediate reaction," Macron added, speaking in English. When he first took office in 2017, Trump's ties with Macron -- then also a fresh face on the world stage -- began warmly despite their obvious political differences. Their long and muscular handshakes -- which saw each man seek to assert his superiority -- became a light-hearted focus of attention before ties cooled, then soured, following disputes about climate change, trade and defence. Trump earlier wrote on his Truth Social platform that the United States should "not get involved" in the situation in Syria, where fast-moving rebel forces say they have begun to encircle the capital Damascus. The Republican's return to power has rung alarms in Paris and many European capitals after his promises on the campaign trail to force an end to fighting in Ukraine and levy tariffs on trading partners. In his own reaction to the discussions, Macron wrote on social media: "Let us continue our joint efforts for peace and security." European allies have largely enjoyed a close working relationship with Biden on the crisis in the Middle East, but Trump is likely to distance himself and ally the United States even more closely with Israel. In a sign of the importance of Trump's one-day trip to Paris, he was accompanied by his pick for White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles, as well as his Near East and Middle East advisors, Steve Witkoff and Massad Boulos, according to a guest list issued by the Elysee Palace. Tesla tycoon and Trump advisor Elon Musk, who was also on the line during a phone call between the incoming president and Zelensky last month, also flew into the French capital was present at the Notre Dame ceremony. sjw/adp/jjOpinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here . ••• I found a certain amount of irony and hypocrisy in the front-page article in the Christmas Eve edition of the Minnesota Star Tribune, “37 of 40 U.S. death row inmates spared.” I am not here to debate whether the death sentence is a justifiable consequence for criminals who commit horrific crimes. That is a subject of significant ethical, moral and legal debate. What I did find troubling was the statement, “Some pleas also invoked Biden’s Catholic faith.” It is well known that President Joe Biden’s stance on abortion has evolved over time. Early in his career following the 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, which established a constitutional right to abortion, Biden, a practicing Catholic, expressed reservations. He believed the court’s ruling was too expansive and he supported measures that allowed states to overturn Roe. Fast-forward to his 2020 presidential campaign, Biden fully embraced a pro-choice platform and ensured that there was federal funding for abortion services. In fact, in July 2022 he signed an executive order aimed at safeguarding access to reproductive health care services, including abortion and contraception. So, in essence, he has spared people guilty of serious crimes from the death penalty but continues to support abortion and terminating a pregnancy and an innocent baby before the fetus can survive outside the womb. I don’t believe these actions are congruent in the Catholic religion. Tim Rubash, Apple Valley The DOJ is also culpable I woke up early on Friday, and as one of those people who deliberately avoided cable and network news after the election and is not a user of social media, I decided to read about the House Ethics Committee report on former Rep. Matt Gaetz. And lo and behold, there were multiple letters in the Strib Voices section that day that commented on the report, with all three writers commenting on Rep. Michelle Fischbach’s cowardice in voting to keep the report private ( Readers Write , Dec. 27). After reading about Gaetz’s “exploits” — all seemingly well documented in the report — I came to the conclusion that this cowardice extended to the Department of Justice by refusing to indict this guy back in 2020. After reading the report and its conclusions, it seemed pretty clear to me that charges could have been brought, even notwithstanding the character of the potential witnesses. Aside from the appalling conduct of Gaetz and his “bros,” his behavior in blocking, ignoring and obfuscating the committee was all par for the course in the last eight years. If any readers decide to read the report, my advice is to prepare to take a shower and wash your hands after reading about the disgusting activities it describes. As for Fischbach, don’t think too badly of her. After all, it’s likely any of Minnesota’s other three Republican House members, had they been on the committee, would have also voted not to release the report. Mike Cassidy, Wayzata ••• Gaetz isn’t quite there yet. But if he can get convicted of some financial crimes, bankrupt a few companies and try to overturn a free and fair election, he could become presidential material. Karl Karst, Woodbury ‘Vindicated’ isn’t quite the word Thursday’s 2024 in review article states that Rep. Dean Phillips was vindicated by President Biden ultimately stepping aside from this year’s campaign, with Donald Trump subsequently ascending to the presidency ( “Year was defined by Walz’s VP bid, legislative chaos,” Dec. 26). Aside from the question of however much or little effect Phillips’ efforts actually had on the results of this year’s election, as compared to the achievements of the Trump fog machine and a complicit corporate media, “vindicated” is a narrow and limited word to apply to such substantial results. A more comprehensive and accurate adjective might be “culpable.” Peter Hill, Minnetonka It’s not that serious Editors: What is the purpose of “ ‘We hate them, they hate us’ ” — a really inflammatory headline in the Dec. 27 paper? Is it to encourage some nut case to do some mayhem on either the Vikings or Packers? Football is only a game. We have enough violence in our country and we surely don’t need more. Trash talk like that should never appear in a newspaper like the Star Tribune. Florian Lauer, St. Paul Help us out here We’re feeling more division than ever in our local politics, and I’m writing to suggest the Star Tribune play a bigger role in brokering true objectivity through some kind of weekly “Fact Check” column. It’s going to be especially important as we head toward what could be the most important local elections in the history of Minneapolis next fall. Case in point: the completely different “facts” shared by Mayor Jacob Frey and our Ward 7 representative Katie Cashman in their weekly newsletter updates. The newsletters are generally a great way to stay up-to-date on local happenings — but the versions they each shared about the recent 2025 budget details could not have been more confusing to unpack. The mayor made very convincing points about the unhealthy depletion of rainy day funds, cuts in police-recruiting budgets and other safety programs that have been proven for years. Cashman claimed no cuts were made to MPD policing and safety, and asserted the council’s budget increased that support. Who to believe — especially without time in the day to dig into the nuances of all those claims. But you, the Star Tribune, can do just that — and we need the help! The key to a functioning democracy (do we still have one?) is everyone debating from a core set of actual facts. Hope is all but lost nationally on this topic — but locally, the Strib could be a powerful force for clarity and objectivity as we deal with a radical left steering us closer to a Portland-esque dumpster fire and a real need to get our city back on track. It is likely both sides are cherry-picking, exaggerating or obfuscating important facts we need to understand, so please help shine a less-biased light! Starting with that budget that just passed despite the mayor’s veto — was recruiting for critically needed police recruiting actually cut or not? Did we dive into a critical budget reserve that may be needed should the new federal administration cut us deeply next year? It would help to see a side-by-side comparison by line item of the mayor’s budget and the one the City Council passed, with highlights of the biggest differences. Doug Moore, Minneapolis ••• I have friends and family who get all their information from FOX News. When they share tidbits with me, I wonder if any mainstream media bother to shed daylight on the outrageous commentary. The latest is that President Biden sold Trump’s wall materials — materials Trump would use during his second coming ... the analogy intentional on my part — for pennies on the dollar to spite the president-elect, wasting our tax dollars. The reality is that the sale of those leftover materials was included in the Department of Defense budget prepared by the DOD and approved by Congress in 2023. The sale was not ordered by President Biden. It seems silly that the mainstream media needs to counter this nonsense but somebody has to do it. JoAnn Wright, New Hope
88×6
。
Joe Burrow's home broken into during Monday Night Football in latest pro-athlete home invasionAjyal Talk highlights ability of art to nurture social change
The Department of the Air Force has moved to by aligning the Headquarters Cyberspace Capabilities Center at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois as a field operating agency to the Office of the DAF Chief Information Officer. “This is a significant step toward streamlining and consolidating Information Technology functions and ensuring unity of effort in IT service delivery across the Air Force and Space Force,” Secretary of the Air Force said in a statement published Monday. Enabling IT Enterprise to Accelerate Capability Development “By combining and aligning these functions to their authoritative owner, the IT enterprise will be able to produce capabilities in shorter, more rapid development cycles – ensuring requirements are expediently actioned and delivered to the Airmen and Guardians who need them,” the awardee added. The move took effect Friday, Dec. 20. Follow-on measures will include future administrative changes and realignment of functions from other organizations. “I have a responsibility to the secretary, but also his staff and both services, to ensure their IT requirements are captured and developed in a way that is not only responsive but cost effective and interoperable with one another,” said , chief information officer at DAF. “We can do this through effective governance, and alignment of the Cyberspace Capabilities Center as a Field Operating Agency to my office, will help reinforce adherence to the capability delivery process,” added Goodwine, a fellow recipient. Headquarters Cyberspace Capabilities Center is expected to achieve full operational capability by October 2025. According to the department, there will be no movement of personnel as a result of the changes, which seek to organize, equip and train the IT enterprise and cyberspace domain.Biden says he was ‘stupid’ not to put his name on pandemic relief checks like Trump did
