My son brought me an unexpected gift. It was wild but more on that in a bit. When our children were little tykes, we did a lot of reading to them and it was a mutually beneficial arrangement. They liked to hear the stories being read to them, and we liked to read them the stories. One of my ...
To the editor: As the death toll from gun violence mounts we are told that because of the Second Amendment nothing can be done to keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them. That is false. You have to wonder how many of those who make that argument have ever read the ...
As much as President Donald Trump says he wants to pull U.S. troops out of Syria and let others worry about the civil war there, Syrian President Bashar Assad is making it difficult. On Saturday night, Syrian government troops reportedly launch a poison gas attack on the rebel-held town of ...
With spring on hold, there’s plenty of time to think about what comes when the snow melts. Of course, the fishing will be fast and furious, but after the solid spring bite and those big fish will come a season of making a difference. In order to preserve these great opportunities for ...
Back in 1889, about a million cyclists relied on bikes for social entertainment as well as a quick way to get out of town, according to author Robert A. Smith in “A Social History of the Bicycle” (1972). Organized by the League of American Wheelmen, cyclists lobbied congress for road ...
To the editor: So many of us have watched in dismay, frustration, even anger, at the direction our country has taken in the past two years. We are appalled by the lack of honesty, integrity, compassion, and leadership exhibited by our politicians, particularly in Washington. We are sad, ...
A law that allows courts to confiscate guns from those convicted of child or domestic abuse or facing a restraining order was well intentioned when it was passed on a bipartisan vote in 2014, but a recent report shows lax enforcement is still putting victims at risk. A KARE 11 TV ...
All winter long we’ve been dazzled and amazed by the bright luminaries that make up the cast of what I call “Orion and his gang.” When you gaze upward into the late winter-early spring skies you can’t help but see those three distinct stars that make up the belt of the mighty hunter, ...
Inflation is the normal state of affairs in the U.S. economy. Most economists consider an annual increase in the cost-of-living of 2 or 3 percent per year to be a manageable level of inflation. This increase usually is a good trend, because it is an indication of a growing economy. While ...
When I decided to read E.B. White (b 1899 d 1985), I had many choices. Children’s books like “Charlotte’s Web” and “Stuart Little” came to mind. I went to the library and checked them out, also the audiobook of “Charlotte’s Web,” read by E.B. White. Then I remembered two ...
During that bygone time known as B.C.E. — Before Cerebellum-atrophying Electronics — children had to invent their own entertainment. For instance, the summer when I was 10 my sister Di and I decided that we needed ponies. We presented our best pro-pony arguments to our parents (ponies ...
Each year at this time, two of America’s favorite past-times collide: baseball and betting. Monday night, Villanova beat Michigan to win the NCAA Men’s basketball championship, ending a three-week tournament that carries the distinction of having more “amateur” wagers associated with ...
The Prairieland Genealogical Society was organized in a meeting at Southwest State University on Nov. 7, 1976. Prairieland was located on campus in the History Center until moving in 2014. In 2014, the Prairieland Genealogical Society moved to the Lyon County Museum building and share research ...
After joining the Reader’s Coffeehouse Facebook page a few weeks ago, I have found myself interacting a lot with fellow readers about favorite books, anticipated new reads and reading goals. As I said a couple of weeks ago, the page was started by authors of women’s fiction and “this is a ...
Firefighters from all over respond THUMBS UP: Firefighters throughout the region once again deserve a big thumbs up for the response early Friday morning to the fire that destroyed a grain elevator in Hanley Falls. The Yellow Medicine County Sheriff's Office said a total of 10 fire ...
To the editor: As the Out of the Darkness Marshall High School, Southwest Minnesota State University Community Campus Walk draws closer I would like to share a few things. These things are not easy to talk about and most rather turn away than face some serious statistics about ...
All over the nation, states have been allowing cameras in courtrooms to record what is going on, something that is totally in the spirit of the 6th Amendment guarantee of a public trial for those accused of crimes. Courts had previously banned cameras when they were big and bulky and needed ...
To the editor: During 2017, the Minnesota Legislature took these steps on healthcare: Insurance companies received a $549 million cushion against losses associated with the small number of patients with costly claims. This was meant as an inducement to keep these companies in the ...
Rhubarb is one of the first food items to be harvested in the spring. If we can just get it to stop snowing and start melting, it shouldn’t take long to find evidence of rhubarb spears poking their way out of the dirt. You don’t even need a green thumb to get rhubarb to grow and one or two ...
Why do we get stressed out with the thought of aging? From the moment we’re born, we age. Therefore, aging occurs every second, minute, hour, day, month and year we draw breath. If we experience it our entire lives, don’t we ever get used to it? Hmmm —something tells me there’s ...