In 2025, as we have done for several years now, we feature our readers’ pets at the end of the Morning Report newsletter on weekdays.

This pet corner, typically called the Daily Doggo or the Daily Meow, is a favorite for many of our subscribers.

“I scroll to it every morning to start my day on a positive note!” writes Beth, a regular reader and contributor.

So, to wrap up the year with that positivity, we are sharing some of the more than 260 pet photos (and wildlife!) we received from readers in 2025.

To sign up for the Morning Report, a free newsletter that curates our headlines for you every morning by email, follow the prompts at twincities.com/newsletters. We also encourage readers to sign up for First Edition, an early version of our newsletter, as well as Scoreboard, our new sports newsletter.

A style note: Because we publish only first names of our readers in the pet corner, we continue that tradition here.

January: Staying warm

Doodles was featured in the Morning Report, a Pioneer Press newsletter, on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Courtesy of Kathy)

The pet photos in our newsletter document the passing of the seasons here in Minnesota, including this photo of Doodles, one of the 16 cats we featured in the Morning Report in January (along with seven dogs).

“Her favorite spot to stay warm is directly on this heat register,” wrote Kathy of White Bear Lake.

February: Waiting for spring

Sasha was featured in the Morning Report, a Pioneer Press newsletter, on Friday, Feb. 21, 2025. (Courtesy of Cindy)

By February, many of us are growing weary of winter. But houseplants can help brighten our spirits — such as orchids.

“It might be cold outside, but eight-year-old Sasha is thinking spring while enjoying the sun beside the orchids,” Cindy wrote.

The Morning Report pet corner helps chase away the winter doldrums, too, especially in February, when we featured 17 cats and eight dogs in the newsletter.

“I always enjoy the pet photos and stories,” Cindy told us. “They brighten the day.”

March: Waiting for baseball

Charlie, waiting for baseball season, was featured in the Morning Report, a Pioneer Press newsletter, on Thursday, March 6, 2025. (Courtesy of Susan)

In March, as we wrote about 15 cats and seven dogs, we were still waiting … not only for spring, but for baseball season!

Go, Twins!

“This is Charlie, my 3-year-old Springerdoodle, modeling his Christmas present,” wrote Susan. “He is not crazy about wearing clothes but he looks so darn cute wearing his Twins gear!”

April: Holiday photos

Mac, a Golden Retriever, was featured in the Morning Report, a Pioneer Press newsletter, on Monday, April 20, 2025. (Courtesy of Ellen)

As spring begins to bloom, our pets embrace the holidays, or at least willingly pose for spring photos.

“Once again here is our sweet Golden Retriever, Mac, sitting proudly for his Easter pictures!” wrote Ellen. “Hopefully he will find his basket … Happy Easter and happy spring!”

Mac, who makes regular appearances in the Morning Report, was one of 10 dogs, 12 cats and one rabbit we featured in the newsletter in April.

May: Long-distance pets

We featured Scott and Lowla in the Morning Report, a Pioneer Press newsletter, on Friday, May 30, 2025. (Courtesy of Scott)

Not all of our readers live in Minnesota anymore, or year-round. This is how we get to see photos of pets from places ranging from Switzerland to Arizona.

“We recently moved from the Twin Cities to the Tucson, Arizona area,” Scott wrote. “Wasn’t sure how our wire-haired Dachshund, Lowla, would do in the new climate. We just got our golf cart last week and she is absolutely loving riding around in it. Here’s a picture of Lowla living her best life, going for a golf cart ride in her new desert home!”

Of the 14 cats, 12 dogs and one skunk we featured in the Morning Report in May, Lowla was the only desert dog!

June: Memorial Mondays

We featured Ken’s memorial for Tobey in the Morning Report, a Pioneer Press newsletter, on Monday, June 16, 2025. (Courtesy of Ken)

On Memorial Mondays, we remember pets who have passed away. This includes Tobey, one of nine cats and 17 dogs we featured in June.

“With great sadness, my beloved Tobey passed away in my arms on Memorial Day 2025,” wrote Ken, a regular Morning Report contributor.

Ken rescued Tobey when he was in desperate need of a friend.

“Just before his 11th birthday in 2016, his original mom had to be admitted into an assisted living facility and could only take one cat,” Ken explains. “In one fell swoop, Tobey lost his mom, his brother, his house, and everything he knew and was surrendered to the Nevada Humane Society where he was traumatized being alone.”

Despite the hissing, Ken brought Tobey home. It worked out for both of them.

“Tobey was my constant shadow, always wanting to be where I was, and rewarding me with loud purrs and kisses several ties a day as he would climb onto my desk, then into my lap to let me know that he was happy,” Ken says. “He had chosen me as his last person to love and trust for which I will be eternally grateful and always love him.”

July: A beautiful view

Harley, adopted through Twin Cities Rescue at Petco in Highland Park, was featured in the Morning Report, a Pioneer Press newsletter, on Thursday, July 31, 2025. (Courtesy of Shawn)

Summer provides a great window view for the cats of Minnesota, including Harley, one of two cats and five dogs we featured in July’s pet corner.

“Harley, one of our new rescue cats, posed so nicely I thought I’d send it along,” Shawn wrote. “We adopted Harley and his brother Rocket when Kit-Kit, our beloved cat, passed away at age 20. Both Harley and Rocket love perching on high places. This window in the new breakfast nook is a favorite of theirs.”

Shawn told us that Harley and Rocket were adopted through Twin Cities Pet Rescue at Petco on Ford Parkway in Highland Park. See animals available now to adopt or foster and get info on volunteering and more at twincitiespetrescue.org.

August: Vintage pets

Jake was featured in the Morning Report, a Pioneer Press newsletter, on Monday, Aug. 4, 2025. (Courtesy of Wendy)

We started a new feature in the pet corner this year: vintage pets.

Jake was one of 14 dogs and 13 cats we featured in our weekday newsletter in August.

“Our Poodle, Jake, back in the early 1970s (could have been late 1960s),” Wendy wrote. “He loved the car and the camera (I am the youngest child, and I swear there are more pictures of the dog than me). In the car, he could sit on the door frame, with my Dad in the car, waiting for Mom who was shopping. He was a great traveler, asleep in the front seat, with his head on Mom’s lap, until the blinker was on, then he was up and alert.”

September: Puppies!

Louie was featured in the Morning Report, a Pioneer Press newsletter, on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (Courtesy of Jeannie)

It’s always fun to find readers’ photos of kittens and puppies waiting for us in our inbox. This is how we met Louie, one of the 10 dogs (and 19 cats and one doe) we featured in the newsletter in September.

“I’d like to introduce you to little Louie, the Cavapoo puppy,” Jeannie wrote in August. “Breeds: King Charles Cavalier and Poodle. Weighing in at a wee-but-mighty three pounds, nine ounces. Age: 3.5 months old. Family: Matt, Jeannie and Clay; Dozer (75-pound Black Lab). Foxy (52-pound Australian Cattle Dog mix). Instagram: @ourfriendlouie. Favorite places in town: The Dabbler Depot on West Seventh Street, the patio of Saint Paul Brewing and the patio of Dark Horse in Lowertown.”

October: Wildlife photos

We featured these deer in the Morning Report newsletter on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. (Courtesy of Lori)

In addition to pets, we also feature readers’ wildlife photos in the Morning Report.

“Since we can also share our wildlife pictures, here is my Daily Deer photo!” wrote Lori of Columbus, Minn. “Just hanging around enjoying the apples and salt block.”

In addition to the deer, we published photos of nine cats, 15 dogs and two rabbits in the Morning Report in October.

November: Gratitude

Dilly was featured in the Morning Report, a Pioneer Press newsletter, on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025 — Thanksgiving. (Courtesy of Jack and Suzie)

We are thankful for our pets all year long, but especially in November as Thanksgiving helps us focus on gratitude. In November’s Morning Report, we featured 16 dogs and eight cats, including Dilly.

“This is Dill Pickle aka Dilly,” Jack and Suzie wrote. “She was immediately cuddly at the Humane Society, but we quickly realized that was all a show when she made it to her forever home. She’s a fierce and successful hunter, has more energy than a wall socket (particularly between 3 a.m. to 5 a.m.) and a love to play fetch down a flight of stairs. She has become more cuddly, as the temperatures drop, with a heated blanket. We’re incredibly lucky to have such a smart and playful little one in our lives, she’s given us many laughs and some eyebrow raises already in her short time home.”

December: Waiting for a home

Jazzie and Ringo are waiting for their furr-ever homes through No Kitten Left Behind-MN. (Courtesy of No Kitten Left Behind-MN)

Throughout the year, we feature pets who have been adopted through rescues as well as rescued pets who are still waiting for families. In December, we let readers know that Jazzie and Ringo were still waiting for their furr-ever home.

“Jazzie and Ringo arrived at my home as tiny babies from a cat colony,” wrote Amy, a foster parent with No Kitten Left Behind-MN. “They’ve grown into gorgeous 1-year-old tabbies who add love and laughter to our lives. Ringo is a total snuggle-bug and Jazzie, more cautious, is a little scientist who studies the world around her. They are well-behaved but we also have a blast every evening when it’s time for the thundering zoomies. These sweet kitties are waiting for their own forever home.”

If you want to help bring this bonded pair home this holiday season, search for Jazzie and Ringo on the Petfinder page of No Kitten Left Behind-MN or visit the nonprofit’s Facebook page. at facebook.com/nokittenleftbehind.mn.

Holiday photos

Brian, a Morning Report reader, sent us this holiday photo of Hank, Mila and Bauer that was taken by their mom, Jamie, and featured in our newsletter on Friday, Dec. 19, 2025. (Courtesy of Jamie)

We love receiving holiday photos of readers’ pets, especially when they are all dressed up like Brian and Jamie’s dogs.

“These three are ready for Christmas!” Brian wrote. “Hank is the 2-year-old Labradoodle on the left, Bauer is the 11-month-old Bernadoodle on the right and Mila is the 11-year-old Lab front and center!! Our three boys are grown and out of the house so the puppies replaced them to keep the chaos in the house.”

So happy holidays, readers, and thank you for sharing your pets with us all year long — and for reading our newsletters!

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Welcome to the 21st edition of the Sidney Awards. Every year, I give out extremely nonlucrative prizes, in honor of philosopher Sidney Hook, celebrating some of the best nonfiction essays of the year, especially the ones published in medium-size and small magazines. I figure this is a good time to take a step back from the Trump circus and read some broader reflections on life. The Sidneys are here to help.

‘The River House Broke …”

The first Sidney goes to Aaron Parsley’s “The River House Broke. We Rushed in the River” in the Texas Monthly. It’s an account of the July 4 flood of the Guadalupe River that killed all those children at Camp Mystic. His extended family had gathered at their house on the Guadalupe, and he describes what happened minute by minute, as the waters rise, as they seek to escape and as they get dumped into the surging river as the house disintegrates. Here’s Parsley’s description of one moment:

“I latched onto a tree with branches large enough to support me and pulled myself out of the water. My breathing was frantic but my mind was focused. I considered the possibility of death. I thought, If I survive, I’ll be the only one. I contemplated life without my husband, my dad, my sister, her family. How could the kids survive what I’d just endured? I felt fear, of course, but it wasn’t as intense as the terror I’d felt inside the house. In the kitchen, I had feared the unknown, what might happen if we were swept away. Now I experienced a moment when acceptance somehow repressed the fear of dying, of losing the people I love the most, of whatever else this catastrophe had in store.”

‘The Brother I Lost’

In “The Brother I Lost” for The Dispatch, Megan McArdle notes that the abortion debate goes round and round, like a bad carnival ride. But McArdle’s perspective deepened when her mother confessed on her deathbed that she had had a child out of wedlock and had given the boy up for adoption. The unplanned pregnancy derailed her mother’s entire life and made her fervently in favor of abortion rights.

McArdle sought out the brother she never knew, finding only that he had died and learning nothing about his life. She wondered: If she had a button that would magically erase her brother’s life so her mother could have lived a more fulfilling one, would she push it? This essay won’t change your mind on abortion, but it will ground the philosophic issues in the context of real lives and real choices.

‘Steam Networks’

I used to play Little League next to the ConEd power plant off 14th Street in Manhattan. I knew nothing about the technological marvel I was making throwing errors in front of. Jamie Rumbelow’s essay “Steam Networks” in Works in Progress magazine is a fascinating tour through the steam heating system that keeps many New Yorkers warm. Before centralized steam, many New Yorkers burned wood. But 85% of the heat generated this way is wasted up the chimney. Wood produces so many pollutants that every hour that you sit in a room with wood burning in the fireplace shortens your life span by 18 minutes. Today New York’s system consumes nearly two Olympic swimming pools’ worth of water per hour to produce enough steam. Moscow’s system extends over 10,000 miles of pipes.

‘When I Lost My Intuition’

Ronald W. Dworkin is an anesthesiologist who went on a vacation, and when he got back in the operating room, he found he could no longer make snap decisions. In “When I Lost My Intuition” in Aeon he describes suddenly being plagued by self-doubt when forced to make judgments that he once could navigate with agility. The essay reveals how many of the decisions we like to think are based on expertise and pure reason really depend on going with our gut. He quotes violinist Yehudi Menuhin, who also once lost his intuition: “When we are faced with 10 different factors, all acting upon each other and among them creating some astronomical total of variables, reason is defeated and only intuition can cope.” Dworkin’s patients will be happy to know he eventually got his intuition back.

‘Why Aren’t Smart People Happier?’

In Experimental History, his Substack, Adam Mastroianni asks a basic question in an essay called “Why Aren’t Smart People Happier?” Intelligence helps people solve problems and understand situations, so smart people should be leading happier lives, but they are not. He says it’s because we too narrowly define intelligence. We give people multiple-choice tests in reading, math, history and language, and we think we are identifying people who have general intelligence that helps them think through a wide array of domains.

But in reality, all these different tests are measuring only one ability: the ability to think through defined problems. These are problems with stable relationships among the variables, there’s no disagreement about when the problems have been solved, and the correct answers are the same for all people. But life, he continues, is largely about undefined problems. How do I get my kid to stop crying? Should I be a dancer or a dentist? How should I live? In these problems there is no stable set of rules to find the right answer. One person’s right answer might be another person’s wrong answer. We need a word for people who are really good at solving undefined problems.

‘We Live Like Royalty and Don’t Know It’

Charles C. Mann’s essay “We Live Like Royalty and Don’t Know It” from The New Atlantis reminds us that Thomas Jefferson “was rich and sophisticated, but his life was closer to the lives of people in the Iron Age than it was to ours.” Jefferson lived in a world of horse-drawn carriages, yellow fever and high infant mortality, but the big difference, Mann argues, is that while Jefferson didn’t even have a reliable water source for his house, most Americans get to live within systems that provide us with abundant food, water, energy and health care. Mann wrote a series for The New Atlantis on how these systems work, which will make you feel grateful for the things you may take for granted.

‘The Tune of Things’

Yale University poet Christian Wiman is one of my favorite essayists. His essay “The Tune of Things” in Harper’s Magazine walks us through some spooky phenomena. “Trees can anticipate, cooperate and remember, in the ordinary sense of those terms,” he writes. He continues: “Some people revived from apparent death report confirmable details they could not possibly have observed, at times far from their bodies. Cut a flatworm’s head off and it will not only regrow a new one but remember things only the lopped-off head had learned.”

Across the essay he mentions some more: Ninety-five percent of the past century’s Nobel Prize-winning physicists believed in God. If no one is watching, a photon behaves as a wave, but if someone is watching, it behaves as a particle. When scientists in the Canary Islands shot one entangled photon, it behaved as a wave. Then they went to a different island and shot another entangled photon, and it behaved as a particle. When they returned to check on the first photon, they found it had gone back in time and acted as a particle.

Wiman is saying the world is a lot more mystical and more fluid than we think. When you acknowledge that fluidity, some of our inherited dualisms don’t make sense — between reason and imagination, mind and body, belief and unbelief, consciousness and unconsciousness, even past and future. The kind of thinking you need to understand the ineffable flow of spooky reality is not contained in the linear, logical, machinelike process we call rationalism. Perhaps the kind of thinking we need to understand a fluid world is radically different, a kind of thinking artificial intelligence will never master.

David Brooks writes a column for the New York Times.

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Minnesota laws and policy changes taking effect Jan. 1 will create new work break requirements, end a long-standing hunting restriction and end state-funded health insurance for adults without legal immigration status.

Perhaps the most impactful change will be the launch of the state’s paid family and medical leave program. Minnesota is the 13th state to create such a benefit, which will apply to almost all workers in the state.

Here’s a look at what will become law at the start of the new year:

Paid Family and Medical Leave

At long last, Minnesota’s Paid Family and Medical Leave program will be active starting Jan. 1.

Most Minnesota employers will be required to provide employees with 12 weeks of family leave and 12 weeks of medical leave. Annual time off will be capped at 20 weeks.

It’ll be funded by a new 0.88% payroll tax, split between employers and employees.

State officials estimate nearly 132,000 people will apply for the benefit in the first year, and that the state will collect around $1.6 billion to fund it.

The dollar amount workers will qualify for under paid leave will depend on their wages.

Someone who earns less than 50% of the state’s average weekly wage, according to the state Labor Department, would get 90% of their normal pay.

A worker earning more than 50% of the state’s average weekly wage would get 66%. Those earning double the weekly average pay would receive 55% of their regular wage.

A person earning Minnesota’s annual average salary of $71,300 would get $1,076 a week in leave program payments. DEED’s website has calculators that provide estimates of premiums and weekly payments.

Federal government and railroad employees are not covered.

Health coverage for undocumented immigrants

As part of a budget deal reached between Democratic-Farmer-Labor and Republican lawmakers in the narrowly divided Legislature this year, state-funded health insurance coverage for adult immigrants in the U.S. illegally will end next week after just one year.

As of May, more than 20,000 undocumented immigrants had enrolled in MinnesotaCare. New enrollments for adults stopped after the Legislature ended eligibility on June 15.

Around 17,000 people will lose state health insurance in 2026 under the budget passed earlier this year. Undocumented children still will be eligible.

Republicans, who have the same number of House members as the DFL, said they were concerned the expense of the expanded benefit could reach $600 million — three times what DFLers appropriated for it when they had control of state government in 2023.

DFLers said that figure was exaggerated and decried the move as cruel, but it ultimately passed with narrow margins as part of a deal to avert a government shutdown.

Minnesota’s Emergency Medical Assistance Program remains available to people who don’t qualify for state Medical Assistance due to their immigration status.

Break requirements and minimum wage

Minnesota already requires employers to provide hourly workers with lunch and rest breaks depending on their schedules, but those rules will become more specific in the new year.

Rest breaks after four hours of work had to be “adequate time” under the previous statute, but now they must be 15 minutes or “enough time to utilize the nearest convenient restroom, whichever is longer.”

The same goes for lunch breaks. An employee who works for six hours soon must receive a 30-minute meal break rather than “sufficient time to eat.”

Minnesota’s minimum wage also gets an annual inflation adjustment, to $11.41, an increase of 2.5%.

End of ‘shotgun-only’ hunting zone

Since 1942, hunters in the southern parts of Minnesota have been prohibited from shooting large game with rifles, and instead had to use slugs from shotguns, muzzle loaders and handguns.

A bill that passed during the June special session ends that restriction. Counties may pass ordinances to restrict the use of rifles — but only if they are in the previously existing shotgun zone.

Supporters of the change, including the National Rifle Association, argued it was an antiquated rule from a time when the state was attempting to increase its deer population. Backers also said there’s little evidence the shotgun-only rule had any positive safety effect.

Protecting vulnerable adults from exploitation

In 2026, a person concerned that a vulnerable adult is falling victim to a scam or financial exploitation can petition for a protective court order.

If there is evidence of exploitation, a judge will be able to prohibit a person from making contact with a vulnerable adult, or even freeze a vulnerable adult’s assets and credit line. A petitioner must demonstrate the risk of serious harm to the vulnerable adult.

Absentee ballots

In a recent briefing on upcoming changes to state laws, House Public Information Services noted a few changes to state election statutes taking effect next year.

Online applications for absentee ballots will require a Minnesota identification card number and the last four digits of the applicant’s Social Security number — unless applicants certify they do not have one.

Candidates filing to run for office will provide a phonetic spelling or pronunciation of their name to election officials. They’ll also have to report their own campaign contributions to the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board the next business day when they reach contribution limits.

Boat fees

Annual watercraft surcharges funding efforts to prevent the spread of invasive species are set to increase in 2026 from $10.60 to anywhere between $14 and $62, according to House Public Information Services.

The surcharge will now depend on the size, type and use of the boat. Nonprofits with boats for water-safety instruction would pay the minimum rate. Canoes, kayaks and sailboats have a $25 fee. Sailboats over 19 feet are classified as pleasurecraft and are subject to a higher surcharge. Pleasurecraft 40 feet or longer would pay the full rate of $62.

These changes come after a new safety-training requirement for boaters came into effect earlier in 2025. Boaters between the ages of 12 and 21 now have to take a $34.95 course offered by the Department of Natural Resources for a safety-training permit that does not need to be renewed. By 2028, everyone born after 1987 will have to take the class.

New in 2025

Many of the new laws enacted by the Legislature in 2025 took effect earlier this year. On July 1, the base recreational cannabis tax increased from 10% to 15%, on top of the regular sales tax rate of 6.875%.

The state also legalized lane splitting for motorcycles, required adults to pay minors for online content creation profits, and required ticketed entertainment events with 100 or more people in attendance to provide free water.

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As New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s inauguration looms, the wealthiest Americans are being targeted as a rallying cry. In recent weeks, Mamdani’s criticism of millionaires and billionaires has been echoed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, megamillionaire singer Billie Eilish, and even an entity called “Patriotic Millionaires,” which demands higher taxes on those wealthier than they.

Of course, philanthropy is patriotic. While the United States has the most billionaires and millionaires in the world, with 902 billionaires and almost 60 million millionaires, we are also the most philanthropic country across many financial and nonfinancial measures. And you certainly don’t have to be a high-net-worth individual to donate your money and time.

But calling billionaires policy failures is not about fairness. The rich pay much more than their “fair” share, with the top 5% paying 60% of all taxes collected in the U.S. It is a “luxury belief,” proclaiming an opinion to earn status.

Debating exactly how much money people should or shouldn’t earn pushes a cultural narrative that frowns on success, disdains merit and the pursuit of meaning, promotes zero-sum thinking, and completely misunderstands the system that led to that wealth and its vast benefits for society.

Critics forget the quintessential American Dream stories that have made the U.S. the land of opportunity. Politicians like Mamdani ignore the myriad of risk-takers and innovators who created job opportunities for millions and improved standards of living for everyone (including his own family ).

One of the best examples is Sam Walton, whose goal was to provide lower-cost items, so people had more disposable income. Walmart now employs 2.5 million people, and both the current and newly appointed Walmart CEOs started as store associates.

The world’s first self-made woman millionaire, Madame C. J. Walker, was a single mother, born to freed slaves. Was she too successful?

Other stories of people pursuing their purpose in life and becoming financially successful abound, such as FedEx founder Frederick W. Smith; Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts; and my own favorite, Walt Disney, who was born to a poor family with five kids and built an entertainment empire. All of these benefit society.

Financial success follows value creation. Less of it, either by disincentivizing or frowning upon that success, makes us all worse off. Creative entrepreneurial people leave countries that penalize success, such as the United Kingdom, France and more recently Norway. In countries that penalize success, inheritance matters more than effort. In the U.S., 73% of high-net-worth individuals are self-made, while in Norway and Sweden it’s only 47% and 42%, respectively.

Current discontent on affordability misleadingly attributed to billionaires has a clear root cause: lack of housing, “NIMBY” zoning, excessive fiscal spending, energy prices fueled by poor government policies, and even President Donald Trump’s tariffs. But two wrongs don’t make a right when it comes to affordability, and research has shown that there is an anti-profit bias narrative.

Let’s hope that New York’s experiment with democratic socialism is short-lived, and confined to the Big Apple alone. Let’s focus on upward mobility and less on the polarizing, zero-sum narrative of income inequality. Human flourishing comes from positive-sum narratives and from people pursuing their financial success.

Billionaires are the result of innovation, value creation and expanded opportunity that has enabled more paths to human flourishing for billions of people across the world. Dismissing the wealthy as policy failures might score political points, but it can destroy the foundation of a system that has done infinitely more good than harm.

As New York braces for Mamdani, all Americans should rally around the system that supports the American Dream for millionaires, billionaires and all of us who are empowered to flourish too.

Gonzalo Schwarz is president and CEO of the Archbridge Institute. He wrote this column for the Chicago Tribune.

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