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Opinion

School budget deficits a community-wide problem

Editorials

Just a couple weeks ago, in a meeting room filled with concerned parents, the New Ulm School Board made the decision to cut the school district’s budget by $1.98 million. The cuts included a combination of elimination and reductions of both school programs and staff. Officials said the district had been deficit spending for three years. Among other things, declining enrollment, rising employee contracts, insurance and state mandates were blamed for the deficit. “I am hopeful that looking at cuts this deep will help stabilize where we are at,” Superintendent Sean Koster told the ...

How do you feel about your better half?

Community Voices

When we meet, date, fall in love, and finally marry the person of our dreams, the relationship evolves over time. Feelings ebb and flow, and are modified over time by experience. Feelings are very personal emotional states that vary in intensity and have been known to overwhelm thinking, reality, and even common sense. The feelings that other people trigger in you have a lot to do with the way the relationship goes. If somebody makes you feel good, you feel good about that person. If somebody makes you feel bad, you feel bad about him or her. It is not that complicated. It is hoped ...

Tooling up

Local Columns

Artificial Intelligence has quickly become the latest digital implement to make life easier. From doing document review and summarization, to crafting entire programs out of thin air, even a luddite such as myself has found countless benefits from the simple commands given to this Google on ...

Do I really care

Local Columns

I wish there was a dollar in my pocket for every time I asked myself the question: “Do I really care?” I'm quite sure you have asked yourself the same question on your journey through life. Do I really care if I graduate from high school or college? What's in it for me to vote — it's just one vote. Who cares? Do I really care about the occupation/profession I choose or should I just naively take the easiest one? Do I really care about those long not seen people from the past? Do I really care if the wind blows since I have no control over such matters? Well now, that just might ...

Don’t look away

Letters to the Editor

To the editor: In this world of plenty, millions are suffering. How can Netanyahu and Trump carry out war and reckless bombing that have targeted schools, hospitals, the press, even ambulance workers sent to help the wounded? (If such atrocities are news to you, take a look at what has been happening in Gaza.) Trump holds microphones with no accountability followed by his demonizing. When a population is demonized over and over it is easier to look the other way not questioning what the leader says, easier to look the other way as children and families are swept up in ICE raids or ...

Moonshot memories

Community Voices

The success of the recent Artemis moon mission has caused many Americans to feel uplifted and inspired. Uplifted because we could all imagine leaving Earth and its countless botherations — especially the Kardashians — behind. Inspired that four brave souls managed to accrue nearly 700,000 frequent flyer miles despite the TSA situation. For us Boomers, the name Artemis evokes memories of the 1960s TV program “The Wild Wild West.” Artemus Gordon was Secret Service agent James West’s sidekick. But Artemus was more than just an ordinary aide-de-camp. He was also a gadgetry ...