I have found that it’s difficult to clean out an ancestral farmhouse when history keeps getting in the way. Especially when it’s my family’s history. After delaying the chore for far too long, I have thrown myself into clearing out the home where my seven siblings and I grew up. A house ...

Few life milestones are as emotionally and financially transformative as becoming a parent. While this chapter is often filled with deep joy, it can also bring new worries as each stage of parenthood can present fresh challenges. It’s only natural to wonder whether the financial decisions ...

Editor’s Note: Because of the federal holiday and no mail delivery on Tuesday the Independent will not be publishing a printed paper on Tuesday. U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s column is running in the weekend edition ahead of the Veterans Day holiday. On this and every Veterans Day, our nation ...

There’s something special about landmark anniversaries and the media coverage that they attract. We’ll have one such event on Monday. It’s the 50th anniversary of the wreck of the Great Lakes freighter Edmund Fitzgerald. It sank to the bottom of Lake Superior in a fierce storm that ...

The American Legion was chartered by Congress on Sept. 16, 1919 as a patriotic veteran’s organization, focused on service to veterans, service members, and communities. Earlier in the year on March 15-17, members of the American Expeditionary Force convened in Paris for the first American ...

We have been following Marland Burckhardt, a Russell High School graduate who married his Russell sweetheart in college and began an Army career focused on Military Intelligence and Special Forces operations. He deployed to Vietnam in January 1970 and then he and Barb had assignments at Fort ...