Most everyone is in the midst of the Christmas rush — buy those gifts, send out those Christmas cards, bake those cookies, decorate that tree. And if there is any time or energy left, try to think about the real meaning of Christmas. Christmas was celebrated quite differently before the ...

District manager The holiday season is upon us, bringing with it family gatherings and familiar traditions. As you bustle about from place to place, sharing turkey dinners and catching up with loved ones, there’s one errand you can avoid — a visit to the Social Security office. Why ...

Bob, as he’s best known, tells of his family history including growing up during the Great Depression. “My father was William Roy Galbraith who was married to Edna Hannah. He worked most of his life as a trucker. Sadly and unfortunately in 1930, he was killed in a truck accident and that ...

What makes a couple successful in their financial relationship? Ameriprise Financial surveyed over 1,500 couples (those married or living together for at least six months) to learn about their money conversations and how they make decisions. The results revealed eight ways you can improve the ...

Post-season accolades are nothing new to the SMSU Mustang volleyball program. The team’s continued success under head coach Terry Culhane has resulted in numerous all-conference, all-region and all-American selections, not to mention many all-academic teams, too. What are the odds, then, ...

Around the end of the year (it’s already near the end of the year? eek!), Facebook creates a video for you (if you’re on Facebook) called “A Year in Review.” Mainly it takes photos you or your friends have posted on your timeline and makes a one-minute video. So on Thursday afternoon ...

On No. 30, the KMHL Broadcasting Company marked its 70th anniversary. According to the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting, Harry W. Linder was born in Minneapolis in 1892, and he worked in various businesses until 1940, when, at the age of 48, he decided to find the largest town in Minnesota that did ...

Now that we are in the heart of the holiday season, you may be thinking about ways you can put your money where your heart is. Specifically, you might be pondering which groups you should support with charitable gifts. And as long as you choose groups that meet the right criteria, your ...

The holiday season is here, which means family, friends, presents, traditions and — of course — food. Eating healthy can be a challenge when the aroma of Grandma’s cookies is in the air, and while the average American gains weight over the holidays, this does not have to be the case for ...

It looked me right in the eye! I enjoy watching and feeding birds and therefore, in our backyard, there is a hanging sunflower seed feeder, a suet basket swinging in the breeze and there is always bird seed spread on the ground. It’s a joy to watch the many different birds interact, feed ...

You can’t live in this part of the world without developing a close personal relationship with tires. There are so many different kinds of tires to choose from these days — bias, radial, the spare one that many of us carry around our midsections — but the type that we focus on at this ...

Tis the season to send out and receive those beautiful Christmas cards, usually accompanied by a typewritten letter. These ever-popular Christmas letters have received a bad rap in the last few years. To quote a reader’s letter to Ann Landers, “Why do normally intelligent folks take leave ...

How many of you have a wish list on Amazon? Whenever I learned about or read about a book that sounded interesting and perhaps wanted to check out from the library, I put it on that list. In the past, I’d write those titles down on backs of envelopes or a piece of scratch paper. Of course ...

The aluminum Christmas tree is a type of artificial Christmas tree that was popular in the United States from the 1950s to the mid-1960s.  The tree is made of aluminum, featuring foil needles and illumination from below via a rotating color wheel. The museum has a couple of aluminum Christmas ...

Question: The other day at an intersection I noticed a car with the windows so frosted up that the driver had to roll down a window to check for cars coming from my side. What is the law on frosted windows? When I received this question my initial thoughts were of a fatal pedestrian crash ...

The holidays are often filled with time-honored traditions that include some of our favorite meals and foods. As you celebrate, think of little changes you can make this holiday season to create healthier meals and active days. Here are some suggestions from the United States Department of ...

There are holiday celebrations and then there are other types of celebrations. One of the reasons to celebrate has a bit to do with the past holiday (Thanksgiving) and nothing to do with the future holiday (Christmas). So let’s start with the past celebration that calls for some ...

It seems a bit strange for babies to be having babies. At least that’s how my wife and I saw it. During recent holiday gatherings, we got to coo at and say “isn’t he cute!” to the babies born to our nieces and nephews. We can clearly recall when these nieces and nephews were babies, ...

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) announced on Thursday, Aug. 6, that emerald ash borer (EAB) was confirmed in Chisago County by the Washington County border near Manning Trail.Two adults were discovered on a purple EAB trap. When a follow up visit was conducted, an ash tree with ...

Prairie plants grow best in full sun and in open spaces. When selecting a site, look for areas with the maximum sun exposure with minimal root competition from trees. Ash, basswood, and maple trees provide more competition for prairie plants because they have many surface roots which compete ...