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Combating rising catalytic converter thefts

Catalytic converter thefts are not just a Twin Cities problem. They also take place right here in southwest Minnesota. In June of 2021 seven felony counts and a dozen total counts were filed in Brown County District Court against a 26-year-old Granite Falls man accused of being involved with the theft of about a dozen catalytic converters in New Ulm and Nicollet last March. In July, the Marshall Police Department said it received three different reports of stolen catalytic converters in June, with two of the thefts happening within the past few days. According to police, all three of ...

A volleyball season for the ages

One Independent editorial writer referred to the Marshall Tigers as the New York Yankees of Minnesota high school volleyball. The New York Yankees recorded 27 World Series titles. Meanwhile, Marshall recorded its eighth title on Saturday night in St. Paul. A feat maybe more aligned with the New England Patriots’ six Super Bowl wins. No matter the comparison — Marshall’s eight titles that includes the recent back-to-back championships — is a remarkable feat. Remember, because earlier matches dragged out for hours on Saturday, the Tigers had to wait until 9 p.m. to play their ...

Go vote!

Today is Election Day. Hopefully by the time you picked up the morning paper and read this editorial you have either already voted or getting ready to head out the door and drive over to a polling station to cast your vote. If voting wasn’t on your original plans for the day, please reconsider. We realize everybody is sick and tired of the all the political ads flooding TV screens for the past couple months. While these ads put the spotlight on Minnesota’s gubernatorial and other statewide and federal races, don’t forget there are other races that have direct impact on our ...

Voters face important decisions

Marshall school district voters have a couple important decisions to make Tuesday, including the election of three board members, one of which is guaranteed to be a newcomer. But equally if not more importantly, voters will decide the fate of an additional tax levy that will provide the district about $1.8 million in funding each year for the next 10 years. This levy was previously in place but expired in 2018. At that time, school officials were trying to pass a previously-defeated but needed building-levy and decided to let the smaller per-pupil levy expire in hopes of making the ...

Informing our communities

Newspapers and reporters have had a rough few years, as they’ve been lumped in with those in newsertainment who led too many to become distrustful of the community-focused work our journalists practice each day. For the men and women working in our state’s weekly and daily newspaper newsrooms, the objective is to avoid that twisting, curating and injection of agenda that has been masquerading as “news.” We do so strenuously. Why? Because we know how hard we must work to earn your trust; and that it is our responsibility to accurately and thoroughly report the news of our ...

New Ulm schools teach a lesson on democracy

Democracy is under attack across this nation. But there are some places where democracy still flourishes and nourishes the daily lives of Americans. One of those places is the New Ulm Public Schools District, where, during a recent update of the student handbook for the next school year, district administrators encouraged and promoted input and consent from the people actually governed by the handbook — the students themselves. While the district had previously received input from a student leadership group, the process was expanded to other groups representing other perspectives ...