It may be the most dangerous time of a school child’s day, the few seconds he or she is crossing the street to get on a school bus, or crossing to get home after getting off the bus. It shouldn’t be dangerous at all. State laws all across the country require motorists to come to a ...

Wanda Gág was born 125 years ago in New Ulm. She died in New Jersey in 1946 at the age of 53 after a prolific career as an artist and children’s book author. Today, 72 years after her death, she is still being recognized for her achievements as an author and artist. Last week, the ...

Split First District Thumbs Up: The results of the last two elections in Minnesota’s First Congressional District show how evenly divided the district is between Republicans and Democrats. Two years ago Democratic Rep. Tim Walz barely defeated his long-time challenger Jim Hagedorn by a ...

At one point in time, critics rightly called out American lawmakers for being too cozy with one another. Democrats and Republicans happily engaged in logrolling to pass their pet projects and programs, getting federal largesse flowing to their home districts. That legacy is part of the reason ...

As Gov.-elect Tim Walz begins his transition to take over the seat from Gov. Mark Dayton in January, he has been meeting with past governors to seek their counsel and advice on the role he will now play. That is a wise strategy, provided he doesn’t feel too obligated to accept their ...

The legislative agenda of Gov.-elect Tim Walz is starting to emerge. Walz will be working with a Democratic-led House of Representatives and a Republican-controlled Senate when the Legislature reconvenes in January. What those facts mean is that nobody can get everything they want, and nobody ...

On Tuesday night, Democrats won back the U.S. House of Representatives. On Wednesday, Speaker-in waiting Nancy Pelosi discussed their victory, noting that her party’s candidates who won in crucial swing districts stayed on message, and that message had primarily to do with health care, not ...

Minnesota, it is reported, is the only state in the union with a divided Legislature — Democrats in control of the House, and Republicans in control of the Senate. But the results of last Tuesday’s election show the Minnesota divide is not political as much as it is geographic. A map of ...

One hundred years ago today, the conflict many hoped was “the war to end all wars” drew to a close. For decades, Nov. 11 each year was observed as Armistice Day. Now, we know it as Veterans Day, honoring those among us who have served at any time in the armed forces. Though the last ...

Voting does matter THUMBS UP: People who claim their votes don’t really matter are proven wrong nearly on nearly every election day when one race or another is decided by a handful of votes. There were plenty of them in this election. In Sanborn, the mayor’s race was decided by two votes. ...

Jim Hagedorn, who won the First District congressional seat by a margin as thin as the one he lost by in 2016, is proof of the adage, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” — and in his case, ... and again, and again. Hagedorn, the erstwhile Republican candidate, won the seat ...

The Minnesota Legislature, like the U.S. Congress, is split between Democrats and Republicans. In both, Democrats control the House, and Republicans control the Senate. So, in order to get anything done, it will take bipartisanship, intellectual maturity and compromise. Democrats in the House ...

For the third time in the past month and a half, a pedestrian crossing a street in New Ulm has been hit by a car. This accident happened at First North and Garden Street near Harman Park at about 7:28 a.m. Tuesday. Paulette Schmeling was struck as she walked along North Garden Street, and ...

You may be asking yourself, “Why is it so important that I vote today?” There are a lot of good reasons, but one of the best is that it is in your own best interest to vote, to elect someone who will represent you and your interests. We will be electing US senators and representatives ...

The right to vote... the right to select our representatives in government, the right to help set the course for our town, county, state and nation. It is an awesome right, and one that makes this country different from and better than many others around the world. This right gives us a ...

This has been a tempestuous campaign season. Republicans and Democrats both have declared this a historic turning point, with “the very future of the country” at stake. Whoever winds up in control of Congress will either save or destroy America as we know it, depending on which side you ...

Blessed silence THUMBS DOWN: We have heard that 100 years ago, on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the Armistice ending World War I went into effect, and the guns and artillery all along the front fell into blessed silence. That is what we hope will happen on Tuesday, Nov. ...

Republicans used to bash President Barack Obama for his “imperial presidency” — his use of executive orders to do things that the Republican-controlled Congress wouldn’t go along with. What, then, do they have to say about President Donald Trump, who Axios on HBO he could to sign an ...

We’re sure in his 30-year career as a police officer in New Ulm, Police Chief Myron Wieland did just about every job there was. But there’s one thing he was incapable of doing — playing the “bad cop” in the “good cop-bad cop” interrogation scenario. He is just too cheerful for ...

Unless they find motorized transport, the 7,000 Central Americans trudging on foot through Mexico will not arrive at their destination, the U.S. border, for three to six weeks. Good. U.S. officials will need all the time they can get to prepare for the group’s arrival. Use of caravans has ...