It is Christmas Eve, one like nothing in our memories. In too many homes, the silence tonight is painful, not comforting. It is the absence of precious family members, cherished friends, neighbors who were more than that. We are assaulted by something that on this holy night is an unholy ...
To the editor: Three cheers for the restaurants and bars in Marshall who are following the guidelines to slow the spread of COVID-19! By their actions they have demonstrated their concern for the health and well-being of their customers (& the entire community) and their willingness to ...
It seems difficult sometimes to keep up with all the lawsuits against drug companies without a scorecard. But the more we learn about the truly evil practices in which some engaged, the more it seems the punishment cannot be too harsh. A bipartisan congressional report issued last week ...
This will not surprise anyone who knows me, but I’m confused. Why am I confused? Well, my life, like yours, has been just a smidgen upset by our recent events. I’m not going to go into our national emergency but I could go on for pages about all of that stuff — from the recent chaotic ...
Anybody notice Pat Buchanan’s Nov. 25 column? “..the China of 2021 is not the China with which Obama and Biden had to deal. The China of today revels in its Communist ideology. For it openly crushes democratic dissent….” The dragon of dynasties past is awake and well fed on income ...
We urge area residents thinking of going over the river and through the woods to grandma’s house this Christmas to bear one thing in mind: We are not out of the woods yet. In many ways, COVID-19 is more dangerous than ever in most states. In Minnesota, 406 people died from COVID-19 in the ...
Like so many other outdoor activities, ice fishing offers up some incredible opportunities at dawn and dusk and even late into the night for crappies, walleyes and other fish that forage in low light or even in times of complete darkness when a hot bite can materialize out of the depths. As a ...
Minnesotans hold dear their right to vote and this year was no different. Nearly 80% of eligible voters participated in the November election, making us No. 1 in the nation in turnout. As in the Mankato region, the election was carried out smoothly all across the state. And yet, a state ...
It’s time to paw through the clutter of the past 12 months and ask some deep, philosophical questions, the chief one being: “What the heck just happened?” The year 2020 began with farmers in my area worried that our saturated soils had set the stage for a repeat of 2019. That year ...
Folks depending on Congress to act THUMBS DOWN: Folks are hurting. Evidence of that could be seen Thursday on Lyon and Fifth streets as vehicles lined up to enter the Holy Redeemer School, parking lot. It was there that workers with the Lutheran Social Service handed out packaged free ...
A bipartisan coalition of U.S. senators and representatives is pushing for enactment of a new COVID-19 relief bill, priced at about $900 billion. Both Democrats and Republicans involved in the effort say that in the spirit of compromise, some provisions they wanted were left out of the ...
To the editor: Is there a reasonable, common sense, legitimate and justifiable explanation as to why the Minnesota House Democrats continue to allow a single authority to delegitimize the legislative process in dealing with this, so called, epidemic that has more than a 98% survival rate? ...
The U.S. electoral college convened on Monday and, as expected, cast the votes that officially declare former Vice President Joe Biden to be the president-elect of the United States. It’s official, and all the tweeting and public declarations from President Donald Trump about how his victory ...
It isn’t fair to compare hunting dogs, not among friends or fellow hunters, or even among the different ones owned throughout a person’s lifetime. It isn’t fair, but we do it anyway. I was spoiled with my first lab, Gunnar, who lived for 15-and-a-half years and hunted for 13 of them. He ...
To the editor: The Minnesota legislature voted on Monday night to pass a $216 million COVID19 relief package aimed at small businesses and workers. This is good news. But guess who helped vote down an amendment that would have allowed To-Go sales of growlers and cocktails? Senator Gary ...
Reforming law enforcement agencies where the stain of bigotry remains a threat to the public is important. We have no doubt the vast majority of men and women in the profession agree with that. But hamstringing them is not the answer. It not only discriminates against good cops, it also has ...
In a sign of just how far President Donald Trump can wield his influence by threat, Minnesota’s GOP members of Congress have been silent on his baseless claims, bullying behavior and rampant retaliation in regard to his election loss. Minnesotans should be scared and worried that these duly ...
Many of us feel that 2020 has lasted way longer than a normal year. This is not an illusion; 2020 is a leap year, which means that has a full day more than the usual 365. But that doesn’t explain why it seems as if this year has lingered for more than a decade. This year brought the twin ...
Question: I was recently told that I could not keep the trailer ball mount attached to the receiver of the vehicle when it is not actually hooked up to a trailer. Is this in fact true? Answer: There is not a law in Minnesota that prohibits leaving a ball hitch in the receiver when not ...
Last year I brought home a sack of used books from the library book sale, after I worked for a couple of hours at the sale table and helped other people buy some choice titles. One of the books I brought home was “Eighty Years & More: Reminiscences 1815-1897,” by Elizabeth Cady Stanton. ...