In more ways than one, the incident was very annoying. I was walking into a local store and you could hear it approaching from over a block away from where we were all standing. Obviously, the cyclist had a message for us and it was in the extreme loudness of his cycle. People were ...

Textiles have become cheaper which means Americans purchase more textiles now than we have ever done in the past. Textiles include clothing, shoes, blankets, towels and so forth. However, the true cost of textiles is much higher than what we pay in the store. There are environmental and human ...

Social Security is likely to play an integral role in your retirement income plan. Yet too many people aren’t as familiar with the complexities of the program as they should be. There are a number of false perceptions about what to expect when the time comes to start collecting benefits. Here ...

The Hard Winter, also known as the Long Winter, started with a snow storm in October of 1880, and kept on snowing until March of 1881. It was one of the Midwest’s worst snow seasons, with multiple blizzards and snow accumulation of more than 11 feet in some areas. This winter season is ...

Last week we met Minneota’s Frank Josephson and learned how he enlisted in the Army Air Corps’ Aviation Cadet program in Minneapolis and traveled by train to San Antonio in March 1943 to begin his training at the nearby Aviation Cadet Center. The initial Aviation Cadet training lasted 9 ...

If you really want to have a voice in what is happening in governing, be it the national government, local government or even down to small social or specialized clubs, you really need to plan ahead and work toward a goal. Lately, I thought of some of the criteria that I might use in ...

We read with interest the Marshall Independent’s story (“MPCA moves ahead with electric car incentives,” Sept. 14, 2020) and had to question whether the Independent was covering the same MPCA action that our customers and fellow auto dealers are working to stop. At a minimum, the ...

Dear members of the Minnesota Legislature, Another special legislative session is on the horizon, and with it comes renewed talk of passing a large-scale capital investment package, commonly referred to as the “bonding bill.” Many of you keep repeating that bonding is a top priority, but ...

The social news or gossip columns in the old newspapers are always fascinating to read. A special section in the newspaper was devoted to the social media of the day. The whereabouts of local people and events were often featured in these columns. Here are a few from the News Messenger of Lyon ...

This year the world commemorates the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. We are participating by remembering the contributions of persons from our region, most of whom are no longer with us. I interviewed rural Minneota’s Frank Josephson in July 2006. Frank was born in Minneota ...

We are the seniors of the Lakeview volleyball team. Lakeview is a part of the Cottonwood school district. Cottonwood among many other towns, including Woodlake, Clarkfield, and Echo, all make up Lakeview. Being each town is fairly small, everyone is involved in what goes on at the school. ...

Parents are frustrated - parents are wanting to get back to at least a little bit of normalcy - and the disconnect we have from the Minnesota State High School League by setting arbitrary numbers negatively affects children’s opportunities this fall. “I would encourage parents and local ...

Early retirement is a concept that, at one point in your working life, may have seemed like a dream. Yet many Americans who have retired early have done so not by choice, but because of circumstances out of their control. For some people, it may be an injury or an accident that has ...

The photograph featured this week from the museum’s collection was taken prior to 1902 in Marshall. On Sept. 24-25, 1902, a fire completely destroyed the three-story Baldwin building on Main Street. The Baldwin building stood on the location of where the building housing Noble Woman and ...

We’ve been following Green Valley’s Fred Braakman and his journey from the family farm in northern Iowa to deploying to England in the spring of 1944 as a gun mechanic with Battery D of the 546th Automatic Weapons Battalion (AWB). The battalion crossed to France in July where commanders ...

You can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” probably applies to me on some occasions, but I would like to report that I have now become pretty good at a new trick that I just began working on some time around the beginning of 2020. The new trick is that I no longer, or at least seldom, rush to ...

The social news or gossip columns in the old newspapers are always fascinating to read. A special section in the newspaper was devoted to the social media of the day. The whereabouts of local people and events were often featured in these columns. Here are a few from The News Messenger of Lyon ...

We’ve been learning about Green Valley’s Fred Braakman and his transition from the family farm in northern Iowa to Army Basic Training at Camp Haan, California and deploying to Europe as a gun mechanic with Battery D of the 546th Automatic Weapons Battalion (AWB). After the 546th AWB ...

This year features an historic election, one that’s produced a sharp division among parties, sections of the country and even in some cases neighbors. It seems as though the two sides can be sorted out by anything from occupation to hobbies, type of vehicle and preferred news sources. ...

As we approach Election Day, investors are understandably wondering – and maybe even anxious – about how the U.S. presidential election will affect the stock market. Election years often come with increased market uncertainty. And this year, COVID-19 and a fragile economy have added new ...