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Minnesota’s future being priced away — and next generation sees it firsthand

Community Voices

I am part of a generation that wants to farm here, build businesses here, and raise families here. But more and more, Minnesota is making that harder, not because we lack innovation or work ethic, but because failed DFL state leadership continues to ignore the basic costs of doing business. The warning signs are already clear. According to the Minnesota Chamber’s most recent Business Benchmarks report, from 2019 to 2024 Minnesota ranked 38th in GDP growth, 40th in labor force growth, and 41st in net domestic migration. For young people deciding where to plant roots, those numbers ...

Celebrate!

Community Voices

Happy New Year! It’s time to celebrate! Perhaps we should celebrate not only the beginning of a New Year, but, also, the many other daily occasions that we take for granted. Therefore, let’s all pause, take a breath, relax a bit and begin the New Year noticing all the people, places and things that surround us. Oh, did we have a terrific holiday family gathering! For some of us, such family times happen frequently during the year, and, for some of us, the family coming together times are less frequent. However, there is joy in every reunion and we must celebrate those precious ...

The kayak mystery

Community Voices

Cleaning out an old family farmhouse is an exercise in conundrums. As you sift through all the stuff, you have to constantly ask yourself, “keep or crap?” Many of the decisions are easy. It’s unlikely that anyone will want a yellowed feed store calendar from 2013. Ditto for the rubber over boots that have more holes than a standard slice of Swiss cheese. But other things aren’t quite so easy to categorize. Back in the corner of a dresser drawer, I stumbled across a tattered paperback book that delineated, in excruciating detail, In the lineage of the Ruen family. I was ...

Bad call from 50 years ago still stings

Local Columns

You may have seen those lists of Minnesota pro sports teams’ flops. Many times, the Vikings, North Stars, Wild, and Timberwolves have had good seasons. Those were followed by epic losses in the playoffs, smashing fans’ hopes against the rocks. Of cities with the four major men’s sports, Minneapolis/ St. Paul has the longest drought of championships. The Twins did win the World Series in 1987 and 1991. Those were years I was boycotting the Metrodome because God means baseball to be played outdoors. So, I experienced those listening to the radio. Since then, the Twins had a ...

On the Porch

Local Columns

The social news or gossip columns in the old newspapers are always fascinating to read. A special section in the newspaper was devoted to the social media of the day. The whereabouts of local people and events were often featured in these columns. Here are a few from The News Messenger of Lyon County on Dec. 27, 1912: Among the college students home for the Christmas vacation are: Ruth Fulton, Edna Newman, Truman Bumford, Clifford Blanchard, and Artys Schroeder of Carleton College; Viola Nash of St. Mary’s Seminary at Winona, Henry Elder from the University, Paul Bockoven from ...

Public education remains vital to future of Marshall

Local Columns

With a New Year right around the corner, many of us can look forward to spending a little money; for things like a car, a vacation, furniture or hobbies. The Marshall School District won’t have that luxury in 2026. Instead school officials will have to find ways to economize after voters turned down a levy request in November. There might be some difficult budget decisions. Things that would be nice to keep, like some of the elective courses and school activities, might have to be discontinued. It will be a matter of making do with limited funding. I was disappointed in the ...