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Editorials

Surplus still growing, but still chancy

Minnesota’s latest state economic forecast shows the state’s whopper of a surplus is getting even more whopping — instead of $7.7 billion, it could be as much as $9.25 billion. But at this point the state budget forecast is, as the old saying goes, counting chickens before the eggs hatch. The forecast that came out Monday is based on a lot of projections and assumptions that could change drastically in the months ahead as the effect of Russia’s invastion of Ukraine spreads throughout the world. Economic sanctions designed to punish Russia could raise inflation rates and fuel ...

Brave Ukrainians fight for their freedom

“The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission.” — John F. Kennedy Right now, the Ukrainian people are paying the high price for their freedom. Fathers and husbands are sending their loved ones to other European countries with an uncertain future. Men and women remain to fight the invading Russians. And fighting is what they are doing with much success so far. They are keeping the Russians at bay outside major Ukrainian cities. While no official numbers have been ...

Thumbs Up/Down

A good sign THUMBS UP: This week the New Ulm Medical Center had some good news to report. For the first time in a long time, there were no COVID patients hospitalized at NUMC. This is a welcome development for the hardworking, overstressed staff at NUMC. COVID patients can put a severe strain on nursing staff, requiring intensive, around the clock care. Not having patients to treat gives the caretakers a chance to recuperate and recover. We have no doubt that there will be more COVID patients in the weeks and months ahead, but we hope they will be few. Spelling wizard THUMBS UP: ...

The world vs. Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin has invaded Ukraine, taking his country back toward the halcyon days of the old Soviet Union when Moscow controlled wide swaths of territory, from the Baltic Sea to the Chinese border, and countries like Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and East Germany looked to the Soviets for leadership. Under the guise of a “peacekeeping” excursion into eastern Ukraine, Putin sent Russian troops with bombs, missiles and artillery Thursday to start taking back the territory he thinks the Soviet Union should never have lost. Putin said he sent the troops to protect ...

It’s all progress

The Journal is publishing its Progress Edition in today’s paper. It is a mammoth undertaking for a small staff to try to chronicle some of the advances and changes that have been taking place in New Ulm in the past year. For those who think that nothing much happens around here, we are happy to report that there is more than we could cover in this year’s edition. We try to cover the main stories, but there are certainly many more than we could get to. We are always amazed when we sit down and start looking at the list of advances and changes that take place in New Ulm in a year. ...

Call it what you like, it’s an invasion

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops on Monday into sections of Ukraine held by Russian-backed separtists. Putin had earlier recognized the validity of the separtists’ claims of independence, and said the Russian troops were entering the regions as “peacekeepers.” Peacekeepers? Riiight. President Joe Biden has pegged the move for what it is, the beginning of an invasion of Ukraine, and he announced heavy economic sanctions against Russian oligarchs and banks, with harsher sanctions to come if Putin advances further into Ukraine. Germany took steps to halt the ...