Breaking News

Columns

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Alongside falling leaves of orange, red and yellow, pink is a familiar color during October, because it’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women (aside from non-melanoma skin cancers), affecting one in eight women during their lifetime. Rarely, it can also affect men. We all know someone who has had breast cancer. And many women reading this today are breast cancer survivors. Breast cancer can be serious, yet it’s very treatable at its earliest stages. Thanks to advancements in therapies and technology, treatments are improving every day; ...

Counting the votes

This is the third in our three-part series on the process of absentee/mail-in voting in Minnesota. This article will describe the ballot board in charge of reviewing absentee/mail-in ballots and the steps the ballot board takes to prepare absentee/mail-in vote ballots for counting. The first part of the series described the importance of Absentee/mail-in voting for voters who may not have access to the polls on election day and for voters who live in sparsely populated voting precincts. Part one also described the security measures of the ballot itself which is tracked to the ...

Anxiety over my PET scan

My finger hovered over the mouse button. Did I really want to read this report? No matter what it said, it would be life changing. The report contained the results of my latest PET scan. I tried to beg off the procedure, telling my medical team that I’d been thoroughly inspected by our dog, Bella, and our cat, Sparkles. The doctors replied that didn’t count. It all began in March of 2024 when I noticed an odd lump at the base of my jaw. Thinking it might be cat scratch fever (don’t play tag with a cat unless you’re faster than a cat), I was prescribed an antibiotic and a ...

Celebrating Ruth’s visit to Sleepy Eye

You might have heard. Babe Ruth played in Sleepy Eye. For thirty years, I’ve tugged and pulled at that game in every possible way. My fascination with that day in my hometown’s history began when I was doing research for the Brown County Historical Society 30 years ago for an exhibit: “Baseball and Brown County, A Glove Affair.” Growing up here, we always knew about Babe’s visit. The picture of Babe and Yankee teammate Bob Meusel in front of the grandstand appeared in the paper every so often. They looked cold. That fall was the 75th anniversary of the Oct. 16, 1922, ...

Absentee/mail-in voting: Why and how it’s done

This article is the first in a three-part series which describes the process of absentee/mail-in voting in Minnesota. Minnesota has used absentee/mail-in voting for over a century dating back to the Civil War. This three-part series will explain the process and protections in our system that make sure Minnesota absentee/mail-in voting is secure. Absentee/mail-in voting is an important voting option which allows Minnesotans to vote who aren’t present in Minnesota on election day, have challenges which prevent them from traveling to the polls to vote in person, or who reside in ...

School’s back in session — let’s talk mental health

Mental illnesses among youth — and especially depression and anxiety — have increased over the past decade according to many studies. So it’s important for parents to learn the warning signs and what resources are available. Pay attention to changes – changes in how a child is eating, ...