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On the Porch

In 1982, St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church and Parsonage were listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In Lyon County, there is a total of 12 listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In addition to St. Paul’s Church, there are: Martin Norseth house in Cottonwood, Kiel and Morgan Hotel in Lynd, William Gieske (Gieseke) house in Marshall, Masonic Temple/Delta Lodge No. 119 in Marshall, J.S. Anderson house in Minneota, O.G. Anderson and Company Store in Minneota, First National Bank in Tracy, Camden State Park in Lynd, Bridge No. 5083 in Marshall, Bridge No. ...

Your health savings account can be integrated into your retirement planning

When you retire, one of the biggest expenses you may be confronted with on a regular basis is health care. Even if you enroll in Medicare, you may need to pay various medical costs out-of-pocket — and, in general, costs are going up, not down. Fortunately, there are tools that can help make these expenses more manageable, one of which is a Health Savings Account, or HSA. If an HSA is available to you, you may want to explore its potential benefits. A targeted, tax-advantaged savings tool HSAs are savings plans associated with high-deductible health insurance policies. Many ...

While it’s hot

If I could bottle up these 85-degree days in July and save them for early February, I would, especially if the fishing that is part-and-parcel with summer comes along with my preserved point in time. From sunfish and crappies to white and largemouth bass, this time of year presents fast fishing and getting in on the action while it’s hot — both metaphorically and in terms of the thermometer — is the best time to connect someone with the outdoors, especially young anglers. The primary reason for this is the fast bite. Introducing new anglers (or reactivating those who might ...

July is National Mental Health Awareness month

July 2025 marks the 16th annual National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month, also known as BIPOC Mental Health Month. This observance was established in 2008 when congress officially recognized July in honor of author and health advocate Bebe Moore Cambell. Cambell (1950-2006) co-founded a NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) chapter to support Black families affected by mental illness. Through storytelling and advocacy, she worked to break the silence and stigma surrounding mental health in communities of color. Her efforts led to the national designation of this month to ...

Answering patient questions about measles

As multiple outbreaks of the measles have popped up across the United States, so too have the number of internet searches about the measles virus. When it comes to your health and the health of your loved ones, it’s important to separate fact from fiction. Here are a few frequently asked questions about the measles, with answers from Avera experts: How contagious is measles? Measles is one of the most contagious of any known viral infection. It is more contagious than smallpox, tuberculosis or Ebola. It has an attack rate of 90%, meaning about nine out of 10 susceptible people can ...

How to make sense

How in the world do we make sense of what’s happening? I expect all of us have encountered a number of things in our lives when that question was relevant. There are times when something makes no sense what so ever. From my experience, when these no sense moments occur, it is how we react to them that’s very important. Yeah, easy to say, hard to do, right? What might solve an issue for me, might not help you. We can’t control many matters that leave us wondering, but perhaps, we can approach no sense matters like this. When wine began to really interest me, I couldn’t make ...