Fifty years ago today, millions of people around the world watched as the Apollo 11 mission blasted off from Cape Kennedy in Florida, carrying the first men who would walk on the moon. The marvel of that accomplishment, carried out only eight years since President John F. Kennedy had proposed ...

President Donald Trump has exhibited racists tendencies since he first announced his candidacy for president by denouncing the “rapists and murderers” who were crossing the southern border from Mexico. If there was any doubt about his feelings towards other races and cultures, he made it ...

H. Ross Perot died last week. The 89-year-old self-made Texas billionaire is best known for his 1992 run as an independent candidate for president. With a grassroots organization, a big collection of pie charts, a talent for folksy expressions like “That giant sucking sound you hear is jobs ...

Trust that Roman Catholic Church officials will do the right thing about allegations of sexual misconduct by members of the clergy is in question in many countries, not just the United States. What Pope Francis and others in the Catholic hierarchy do about the matter is watched closely ...

Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein may yet spend an appropriate amount of time in a federal prison. He should have been sent away years ago. Why that did not happen needs to be explained. Epstein, 66, has been arrested by federal authorities in New York, on charges of sex trafficking involving ...

Even before President Donald Trump threatened to use tariffs on Mexican goods imported into the United States, that country’s leaders seemed to be doing more than their predecessors to keep potential illegal immigrants from crossing our southern border. Now, however, the campaign has ...

Since the U.S. Supreme Court decided it is too hard for it to get involved in settling gerrymandering questions, we guess it is up to the states to settle the question when one political party tries to redraw legislative or congressional boundaries to perpetuate its own advantage. Minnesota ...

Still think we haven’t painted ourselves into a corner in this country with the taxpayer-funded public assistance programs that now keep so many families afloat? A study by the Ohio Chamber of Commerce Research Foundation shows 20% of Buckeye State businesses have had problems with hiring, ...

Substance abuse is both a personal crisis and a public health challenge. Resources to battle it need to be viewed in that light. If a new study of how people purporting to be heroin users are treated by some health care providers is any guide, relatively minor federal policy changes could ...

Celebrating baseball in New Ulm THUMBS UP: New Ulm got a nice boost this week when a Fox 9 TV crew came for its series on Town Team Baseball in Minnesota. The series focuses not just on the ballparks and the teams, but on the people and the communities. New Ulm, of course, has had a long love ...

‘Swatting’ has to be one of the stupidest, most dangerous pranks modern ne’er-do-wells have come up with. It involves calling police and reporting a dangeous crime is going on at someone’s address, in hopes that police will turn out in full force, SWAT team and all, bust down the doors ...

What comes after the phrase, “and the pursuit of happiness ...”? Today, we Americans celebrate the Declaration of Independence. Our focus is what the document meant — creation of a new nation. But what the document itself says about the Founders and about what they intended for us is ...

Ebola sometimes seems like a nightmare that will not go away. It is a truly horrible disease, killing about half of those who contract it. Here in the United States, where the very few people who have contracted Ebola receive the very best of care, the illness can be less serious. But in ...

Elephants are among the most majestic creatures on the planet. Yet in some places, they are being killed off at an alarming rate. Poachers, who often cut the tusks out of dead elephants and leave their carcasses to rot, are responsible for many of the killings. Ivory still can bring a nice ...

There is a crisis at the U.S. southern border. Regardless of whom you think is responsible, Central American immigrants seeking asylum have been coming north in record numbers, and many of them have been trying to cross the border illegally. It has led to tragedies, illustrated most recently by ...

Baseball, cars and quilts this weekend THUMBS UP: It’s a busy weekend in New Ulm. Seems like there’s something going on for everyone. If you like baseball (and who doesn’t these days with the Minnesota Twins sitting atop the AL Central with a 52-28 record?) you could head down to ...

The law won’t take effect for another month, but when Aug. 1 comes around motorists driving along while holding a phone up to their ear can be pulled over and given a ticket. Only hands-free mobile devices will be allowed in cars. You might as well get used to the idea. Start now. Figure ...

The settlement agreement announced Wednesday between the Catholic Diocese of New Ulm and the survivors and victims of clerical sexual abuse in the diocese may help bring some closure and healing to those who were abused. We hope and pray that it does. But even as the the diocese and other ...

In a case of selective law enforcement, an Orlando, Florida woman has been arrested for theft after turning over her abusive husband’s guns to police. Courtney Irby’s husband Joseph Irby had been charged with domestic violence-aggravated battery. He was in jail for a day for ramming her ...

Sen. Bernie Sanders upped the ante on his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination on Monday, calling for the government to eliminate all college student loan debt. Just wipe it out, all $1.6 trillion of it. How to pay for it? Sanders would raise the money through a tax on Wall ...