Minnesota's latest state revenue forecast on Thursday had encouraging news for Governor Mark Dayton and legislators who will be writing up a new budget when the Legislature convenes in January.State forecasters are predicting a $1.037 billion surplus in the next biennium. State officials ...
As the Brown County and New Ulm budgets approach approval, it is apparent that real measures are being made to hold down spending.The Brown County Commissioners are actually looking at a budget for 2015 than cuts actual spending by about $1 million, or 3.3 percent of last year's budget. Even ...
Time is running out for Congress to act on critical pieces of legislation. Lawmakers have only about two weeks left in their current session to act on measures ranging from those to protect millions of Americans from tax increases to pressing matters such as battling Islamic State ...
As leaks from the Pentagon grow in the wake of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's decision to step down, it becomes apparent part of the problem has been White House micromanaging of the military.President Barack Obama is commander-in-chief of the armed forces. He has the authority to tell ...
The sad case of Karen Schroeder overshadowed the Thanksgiving holiday week in New Ulm. News that the New Ulm woman had gone missing broke Tuesday, and as the week of cold weather wore on the chances of her being found alive waned.Local authorities searched for her in the areas she was known to ...
Islamic terrorists who had been holding eight people hostage in Yemen probably were feeling fairly smug about themselves earlier this month. After all, they and others of their ilk often operate with near-impunity in that region.Then about two dozen U.S. commandos in company with Yemeni troops ...
Community dinnerTHUMBS UP: The New Ulm Community Thanksgiving Dinner served up over 1,000 meals on Thursday, a labor of love by the New Ulm Community Friends organization, for anyone who wants to partake.The dinner was originally organized after bad weather scrapped many people's travel plans. ...
Rioters in Ferguson, Mo., held the attention of most in the media and the public Monday night. By its very nature, violence usually becomes the big story in situations such as that in Ferguson - and too many other places.But the few hundred rioters in Ferguson should not be permitted to hold ...
When Thanksgiving arrives tomorrow, we should all look close to home for reasons to give thanks. Because looking to the horizon, things look pretty bleak.Across the sea, our efforts over the past dozen years in Iraq and Afghanistan have yielded an entrenched group of Muslim fanatics, the ...
Kenyans on the bus stopped by armed men at dawn on Saturday knew they were in trouble when their assailants demanded each recite the Shahada, part of Islamic scripture. Those who could not were taken off the bus and told to lie down in a line.Then two men went down the line, shooting men and ...
Beating the will of the people to the punch is not part of the job description for presidents of the United States. Neither is altering or hamstringing laws with which a chief executive disagrees.Yet that has been the story of President Barack Obama's nearly six years in office. Because no one ...
President Barack Obama has an interesting way of dealing with about 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States: Simply declare about half of them are not illegal.In the process, Obama has issued an open invitation to millions more people to come here illegally. He will do little or ...
Hub Club AnniversaryTHUMBS UP: The New Ulm Farm-City Hub Club is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. It will be holding a celebration event on Sunday from 1 to 4:30 p.m. at the Courtland Community Center.The club was formed 40 years ago to bring the towns people and farm people ...
It turns out alternative energy companies, supposedly kinder than kind to Mother Nature, have some dirty not-so-little secrets. At least one of them wants to keep it that way.Americans learned last year that President Barack Obama's administration had given the wind energy industry a break no ...
The National Football League ruled this week that Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings, one of its best players, will be suspended the rest of the season, up until April 15 at the earliest, because of the injury he caused to his 4-year-old son while disciplining him with a switch earlier ...
Let President Barack Obama talk. Congress should make it clear he is speaking for himself and a few other ultra-liberals - not for Americans worried Obama's climate change theatrics will send much of the U.S. economy into a deep freeze.Last week, Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to ...
Islamic State terrorists - still, for some reason, referred to by many in the media as "militants" or "extremists" - say they have beheaded another American. Given the butchers' track record, there is no reason to doubt their claim.Peter Kassig, an American who made himself vulnerable by ...
Just a few weeks ago, the World Health Organization estimated it would cost $1 billion to control the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. President Barack Obama wants Congress to provide $6.2 billion to battle the disease.The White House proposal includes money for infectious disease control ...
Department of Veterans Affairs officials have come up with a novel concept for better serving the heroes who depend on them -make things simpler.VA Secretary Robert McDonald said the agency will hire a new chief customer service officer, and then "simplify the way it is organized to deliver ...
Grain Belt signTHUMBS UP: There's no doubt that purchasing the Grain Belt label was a good move for the August Schell Brewing Co. Since acquiring the famous state beer in 2002, Schell's has seen Grain Belt become a bigger part of its business, especially with the advent of the very popular ...