Breaking News

Community Voices

Harvests, fall color and migration: three of nature’s greatest features

Fall is a great time of year, a time when nature is at its zenith, a time to enjoy things we know well and a few things we don’t completely know about. The harvest is very familiar to anyone who has ever farmed. We have the crop varieties that are equipped with everything from drought resistance to pest damage prevention. Plus we have the modern machinery that plants and harvests at a fast pace. What used to take several weeks now only lasts for several short days. Even people who don’t work in agriculture know that farming is important. It’s vital not just for rural regions ...

Better days ahead

I could tell at the beginning of my tonsil cancer treatment that this was not going to be a fun experience, much in the same way that having root canal is not a fun way to spend time with your dentist. My oncologist laid out his proposed plan of action. This plan had been agreed upon by a tumor committee who had reviewed my case. I had never heard of such a thing as a tumor committee; it just goes to show how bureaucracy has crept into every facet of modern life. Anyhow, the oncologist recommended chemotherapy combined with radiation treatments. His chemotherapy drug of choice ...

Emerald Ash Borer tree removal and replacement program to begin Oct. 1

In 2023, Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) was discovered in Marshall and Lyon County. There are now 53 counties in the state of Minnesota with known EAB infestations. EAB is an insect that attacks and kills ash trees. It is spread through short distance natural flight and infested firewood transported long distance. The adults are small, iridescent green beetles that live outside of trees during the summer months. The larvae are grub or worm-like and live underneath the bark of ash trees. Trees are killed by the tunneling of the larvae under the tree’s bark.  The Minnesota Department ...

Major win in fight to bring down drug prices

For far too many Americans, high drug prices can force difficult choices like whether to ration meds or pay for groceries. This has been true even for seniors covered by Medicare. Medicare is the biggest payer of prescription drugs in the country. If our free market system was working the way it’s supposed to, that would give Medicare some serious bargaining power. But up until two years ago, a provision in federal law written by Big Pharma companies prevented Medicare from getting better prices for seniors and taxpayers. That’s why for years, I led the legislation to allow ...

Voting for America, not Trump

For quite a while during this election season, when someone would ask me why I’d ever vote for Donald Trump, I wallowed into a conversation that always ended with me asking “Why do you focus on the minor things that the media always emphasizes, such as mean tweets and hyperbolic comments?” I’ve discovered that allowing myself to constantly be on the defensive, talking about things which in the larger scheme of things are irrelevant is not the way to win hearts and minds, or change an opinion or vote one iota. After thinking about our presidential elections over the past ...

Lecture on Vietnam offers thought provoking look at war’s events

I attended a Southwest Minnesota State University Gold College class this past week that went all the way back to my childhood. Bill Palmer gave a very comprehensive lecture on the Vietnam War from 1964 to 1975. It included video clips of events such as Operation Rolling Thunder, Search and Destroy, the Tet Offensive, and the My Lai massacre. As one of the younger class members, I don’t have many firsthand memories of the Vietnam era. I remember seeing war footage on television, but I didn’t know much about Vietnam or why there was a war. My most detailed memory was the fall of ...