Minnesotans of Norwegian descent make up about 16.5 percent of the state's population. Over 18 percent of the nation's Norwegian Americans live in Minnesota (a good number of them in Hanska).So Minnesotans have a right to be concerned about the kind of ambassador the U.S. sends to represent us ...
Head to a state parkTHUMBS UP: We'll have to wait and see if the weather holds up, but if it does, here's an idea for something to do Saturday: Go to a state park - call it an early Father's Day treat for your dad. It won't cost you a thing to get in. The Department of Natural Resources is ...
It’s only 11 years since the U.S. invaded Iraq, misguided in the idea we would find weapons of mass destruction, and naive in the notion that we would be welcomed as liberators by a grateful nation which would embrace freedom and democracy. It took eight years of fighting insurgent rebels ...
University of Minnesota researchers reported on Wednesday that the federal health overhaul has reduced the number of uninsured in Minnesota by 40 percent.Through MNsure, some 36,000 people enrolled in private insurance plans, and about 155,000 people joined the publicly run Medicaid and ...
Somehow, no one saw Rep. Eric Cantor's primary loss coming on Tuesday. But it was all the political pundits could talk about on Wednesday.Cantor is the House Majority Leader, the Number 2 leadership position behind Speaker John Boehner. He was considered an heir apparent for the Speaker's ...
Some young Americans, unable to find jobs after they graduate from college, simply stay on campus, working toward advanced degrees. Many older men and women who cannot find work choose to take "early retirement" and reduced Social Security benefits.Many people in the prime of life spend months, ...
A health insurance company that notified one-fourth of its customers their rates might go up or they might not get coverage at all because of an in-office mistake with records might well pay the price of being driven out of business.But the Obamacare program is different. It's the law. No ...
Cherish the vetsTHUMBS UP: The 70th anniversary of D-Day on Friday brings to mind the thought that these amazing veterans, who accomplished this monumental landing, are becoming a rare breed. Someone who was 18 years old when the invasion began on June 6, 1944, is 88 today. Only about 1.7 ...
For most school employees, summer has officially started. The regular school year activities and programs have culminated. They are looking forward to a time to decompress and spend time with family. There are some staff who will be working to help with summer programs.We offer summer programs ...
Many Americans probably have never heard of Guadalcanal, the Kasserine Pass, Anzio, the Hurtgen Forest, Peleliu, the Coral Sea, Tarawa or Ploesti.But they have heard of D-Day, as they know about Pearl Harbor.Today is the 70th anniversary of the allied invasion of France during World War II, in ...
We're glad to see the New Ulm City Council is taking a closer look at the issue of chickens being raised inside the New Ulm city limits. There are other cities that do allow people to raise chickens in their back yards, and it would be good to hear from them on how things are working.We do wish ...
At Veterans Affairs medical centers throughout the country, lying, cheating bureaucrats are hoping the buck stops with former VA?Secretary Eric Shinseki. It should not.Dozens of veterans died while on waiting lists for?VA health care, even as agency officials including Shinseki were being ...
After three years of haggling, Congress finally gave us a new farm bill in February. And none too early. According to various politicians and farm leaders we farmers desperately needed one. Apparently we have been so wracked by uncertainty that we barely knew what to do.Farmers were so wracked ...
No wonder some bureaucrats think they can get away with shabby, dishonest treatment of veterans. The penalty for doing so, even when it puts the vets' lives in danger, is limited to a stern, no-nonsense warning that it had better not happen again.It has happened again - over and over again to ...
Softball hotbedTHUMBS UP: Congratulations to the New Ulm High School and Cathedral High School softball teams. On Thursday, both teams won their section championships and are heading to the Minnesota State High School League Softball Tournament next week.It says a lot about the quality of the ...
A major new natural gas contract will do more than keep tens of millions of Chinese warm. It also will thaw relations between their government and Russia. Meanwhile, U.S. officials seem to be doing all they can to limit diplomatic leverage our country can enjoy through energy sales.Under the ...
Minnesota Republicans were swept out of the House and Senate leadership last election as the state swung away from their conservative social agenda. They lost the governor's race two years before that after endorsing State Rep. Tom Emmer over State Rep. Marty Seifert in their state convention, ...
Another mass shooting grabbed the headlines over the weekend. Elliot Rodger joins the growing list of disturbed individuals who seem to suddenly snap and go out of this life while taking as many with them as they can.Rodger went on his killing spree Friday night near the University of ...
The problems that are being uncovered in the Veterans Administration are symptoms of a system that is riddled with ineffectiveness and mismanagement. In order to solve these problems, the Obama administration must get at the basic problems, and install someone who will rebuild the whole culture ...
They were young men from the plains and pine forests of Minnesota and the barren deserts of Arizona, from mill towns in Ohio and university communities in Connecticut. They were young women who knew of no other way to get an education and others who already had earned degrees in nursing.They ...