Don’t worry about outcome of vote THUMBS DOWN: Apparently Tuesday’s scheduled vote on a recycling contract with Southwest Sanitation to provide curbside recycling pickup in Lyon County is a foregone conclusion. Lyon County mailed informational flyers to residents this week providing the ...
Conventional wisdom — even its more intuitive cousin, common sense — sometimes needs to be tested scientifically. This year’s winners of the Nobel Prize in economics are living proof of that. Michael Kremer of Harvard University and Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo of the Massachusetts ...
Minnesota’s First District Rep. Jim Hagedorn borrowed a phrase from former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart when he said at his Madelia town hall meeting Wednesday his definition of an impeachable offense is, “you know it when you see it.” Stewart said of pornography in a Supreme ...
Later this morning, residents of Lyon County will find out whether or not County Commissioners will approve a new contract with Southwest Sanitation to pick up recyclables from the curb on a bi-weekly basis. Of course this will be a change from the weekly curbside pickup that county residents ...
Of course, it’s easy. Of course it’s fast. Of course, it’s going to attract lots of attention. But, oh dear, what a complicated mess. Schell’s Brewery in New Ulm learned that firsthand when a post on social media in September bemoaned the condition of the deer on the brewery ...
Preparing for the worst in Minneapolis THUMBS DOWN: The President Donald Trump rally in Minneapolis was a no-win situation for Minneapolis officials. Trump and the Republican party have every right to hold the rally at the Target Center. But with thousands of supporters and protesters ...
Last spring members of the Marshall City Council held a series of town hall meetings. Council members Russ Labat and Steven Meister held the first one at the Marshall-Lyon County Library. While Labat and Meister fielded questions involving a number of topics, economic development was the No. 1 ...
At has been suggested by some that the current scare over e-cigarettes is overblown. Though hundreds of Americans have been hospitalized with respiratory ailments linked to “vaping” and a few have died, calls to ban the products are not realistic, critics say. But there is a valid, ...
Are leaders in Congress unable to walk and chew gum at the same time? That is, are they capable of multitasking on major issues? Some are speculating they are not. Recall that just a few weeks ago, in the wake of more mass murders, lawmakers vowed to debate steps to reduce the likelihood of ...
Apparently, President Donald Trump believed he could score some political points by releasing the transcript of a July telephone call between himself and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Whether that is true remains to be seen. But one thing is obvious: Partisan politics has become ...
Enjoying a cup of coffee with a cop THUMBS UP: So often our conversations with law enforcement are during situations like being stopped for speeding. On Wednesday, members of the Lyon County and Marshall law enforcement held a Coffee With a Cop at Hy-Vee Market in Marshall Wednesday. What a ...
So-called “red flag” laws are being debated both in Congress and state legislatures in attempts to curb mass murders in the United States. Red flag laws would enable law enforcement authorities to take guns owned by people deemed by the courts to be clear threats to public safety. But the ...
California now has a law that allows college student-athletes to make money — legally –through endorsement deals, selling autographs and so on. It allows them to do a lot of things that would normally bring down NCAA punishment on themselves and their colleges. The law points to the ...
Attend a Tracy City Council meeting or public hearing these days, and there’s a good chance you will hear an insightful speech by one of its members. During the Aug. 28 public hearing to decide his fate on remaining on the Economic Development Authority board, City Council member Tony ...
The Free Press has, for several months, run on the weekends an Associated Press feature labeled “Not Real News,” an examination of false “information” that somehow finds traction on social media. It is alarming how often canards denigrating Minnesota’s Somali community in general, ...
Music you can march to THUMBS UP: Another outstanding performance by the Marshall High School at Saturday’s Pursuit of Excellence marching band competition at Southwest Minnesota State University. This year’s show was about Amelia Earhart. Actually, all the marching bands put on a great ...
Curious, is it not, that the major industrial power doing the most to battle climate change is the target of the bulk of criticism regarding that concern? With a new general session of the United Nations underway, multiple world leaders are citing worry about a range of issues. In fairness to ...
Officials in Saudi Arabia have said damage from a recent attack on oil production facilities is being repaired quickly. By last week Wednesday, about half the production capacity affected had been restored. Still, the interruption in exports from the oil-rich kingdom ought to serve as a ...
Recent news about abortions ought to be viewed as one of the great public health triumphs of the past few decades. Abortions have become less common in the United States than at any time since they became legal, through a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, in 1973, the Guttmacher Institute reports. ...
The biggest worry for farmers used to be the weather. Now it’s the government, specifically the Trump administration and its supporters in Congress. In June 2018, southern Minnesota soybean prices were $9.40 per bushel before the soybean tariffs were set to be imposed by China. The country ...