22% of the waste that goes into the Lyon County Landfill is food waste. While it is easy to compact food waste once it gets into the landfill, there is more to the story. So, first, what are we wasting when it comes to food waste? A recent survey of the Lyon County Landfill this past spring ...
To the editor: I would like to begin with the statement no man or woman is perfect. We are all the products of the time we live in. This was even more true for past historical figures. People are molded by times which they live at times they break the standard mold for these we tend to ...
School, both public and private, will be quite different this fall. In many states, classrooms that normally would have been open by mid-August will not be occupied until September or October, if then. Whether the education process for millions of children will involve in-person teaching or ...
To the editor: On July 14 in Cottonwood, sometime during the night two political signs were removed from our yard. One was the Statue of Liberty with a rainbow background and the word “RESIST.” The other said, “Defending Democracy, Vote Democrat.” They cost about $60. Those signs ...
To the editor: On July 26, 1990, the Americans With Disabilities Act was signed into law by President George H.W. Bush. It was a bipartisan effort that has made positive changes for millions of Americans in the disability community. The disability community is the largest minority that anyone ...
Of all the irrational debates Americans should be having about the upcoming November elections, one reported last week takes the cake. Beyond any doubt, many voters will be leery of casting ballots at polling places because of COVID-19 concerns. That has renewed the debate over absentee ...
To the editor: Can’t we just get back to the way things were? I struggle with such a question. I want my children and grandchildren to grow up with access to basic living standards, to survive and thrive. Don’t all parents like that? My white skin color afforded me access to making ...
Some of the men and women who serve us in uniform suffer wounds or other injuries that lead to a lifetime of sacrifice for us. In return, taxpayers help the most severely affected purchase specially adapted motor vehicles — once. U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, ...
There are few hunters that I envy. Content with the options I have close to home for the limited species I pursue each fall with the time I can muster, I enjoy the success and adventures of my friends and relish hearing their stories from far off places or lucky tag draws when we meet up for a ...
Over the last several years there have been forecasts of bright comets coming. In fact some predictions went way over the top with promises like; “Comet of the Century this Month!” or “Comet Coming Visible in Daylight!” Even this year there have been two false alarms for potential ...
For thousands of years, we humans have celebrated weddings with sacred ceremonies, solemn vows, and DJ music that’s loud enough to curl your shoelaces. So, mankind knows how to do weddings. But how do you pull off a wedding in the midst of a pandemic? This is a question that has presented ...
To the editor: On July 16th, Rep. Chris Swedzinski wrote a press release about how the Minnesota legislature allowed another month of the governor’s emergency powers. He and his colleagues have ramped up the rhetoric by calling the Governor a “tyrant” and “dictator”, which is not ...
What is Marxism? Communism? Socialism? Capitalism? From the Oxford Language Dictionary: Marxism is a transitional social state between the overthrow of capitalism and the realization of communism. Karl Marx is the author of the “Communist Manifesto.” From each according to his ...
Over the years, I’ve been blessed. What does that mean to you? The Italians have a phrase I like to blend into the word blessing, and it’s “Sempre Avanti!” It means Always Forward! Of course, all of us have our own definition of what being blessed means to us. For many, it means a ...
Executive director, United Way of SW MN Impactful. Supportive. Accomplished. These are some words that come to mind as I look back on 2019. United Way of Southwest Minnesota (UWSWMN) continues to make a difference in the lives of local people, of all ages, by investing in community partner ...
The threat to rural MN is real THUMBS DOWN: The argument that COVID-19 is not a threat to rural Minnesotans is becoming less convincing by the day. Lincoln County is rural Minnesota. So is Pipestone County. Both counties are experiencing spikes in positive cases. In response to that spike, ...
President Donald Trump is threatening to withhold some federal funds from education institutions, both K-12 and colleges and universities, if they do not reopen soon for the fall semester. Some governors also have issued blanket reopening schedules for their public schools. This is misguided, ...
To the editor: Please, please, please Gov. Tim Walz and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan. I live 150 miles away from the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis and you will need to explain to me why I, and thousands and thousands of other citizens of Minnesota, as well as millions of citizens across the ...
Leave aside the political correctness that has resulted in universal condemnation of all law enforcement personnel, for a moment. In the interest of saving lives, let us return at least briefly to using our common sense. As The Associated Press reports, a significant number of officers, ...
President Donald Trump, who assured us that the COVID-19 pandemic would one day just “disappear,” who wanted to lift stay-at-home restrictions and re-open the economy by Easter Sunday, who doses himself with hydroxychloroquine because he thinks its will prevent or cure COVID-19 (scientific ...