If Republican Jim Hagedorn has proven anything in his campaign for the First District Congressional seat, it's that he's not afraid of putting in the work.After losing the Republican endorsement at the convention, Hagedorn re-entered the race, after first saying he wouldn't challenge the ...

Voters have a lot to think about in the U.S. Senate race between Democratic Sen. Al Franken and Republican candidate Mike McFadden.Compare the candidates - they are both smart, hardworking individuals, dedicated to their vision of making government work better for the people of Minnesota and ...

Legacy DadsTHUMBS UP: There have been a lot of examples this year about how not to be a father. Most notably, Adrian Peterson is learning that corporal punishment is not a great way to bring up kids, even if it is the way he was brought up.A program that started in New Ulm this week, Legacy ...

Canada is experiencing a disturbing new trend in terrorism - the lone-wolf terrorist, acting alone but with the encouragement of Islamic terror groups on the other side of the world. This week two Canadian soldiers were targeted and killed by lone individuals - one was run over with a car, the ...

When public health threats surface, many Americans, including health care professionals, turn to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC officials are the experts, after all.So why did they get things so badly wrong when Ebola came to the United States? Why did the CDC finally issue ...

Ron Klain, the man President Barack Obama has put in charge of coordinating the national response to Ebola, has no experience in public health or dealing with large-scale disasters. As a former aide to Vice Presidents Joe Biden and Al Gore, he is skilled in making his bosses look good, ...

In what may be the most irresponsible act of his tenure, President Barack Obama has appointed a political hack to lead the fight against Ebola. Thoughtful Americans of all political persuasions may conclude Obama is more worried about his reputation than about saving lives.Time and time again, ...

With election day a few weeks away, the political advertising is coming faster and more furious. For voters already tired of the negative ads that have been running, it's a hard time to bear.Experienced political operatives may well chuckle when they hear voters complaining about negative ...

One has to wonder how much effort the White House put into coming up with the official name for the war against Islamic State terrorists. Clearly, more thought went into that than into a strategy to actually fight the Islamic State.With much pomp and ceremony, the name "Operation Inherent ...

Getting to know the candidatesTHUMBS UP: New Ulm is fortunate to have an organization like the League of Women Voters of New Ulm, which is continuing its mission this election year of bringing information to the voters.Every election season the league sponsors candidate forums, which highlight ...

U.S. officials have proven effective tactics to battle infectious diseases. But the devil is in the details - and the devil now is Ebola.It was confirmed Wednesday that a second employee of the hospital where a Liberian man died of Ebola has come down with the disease. Like the first American ...

For most of us, the work Nobel Prize winners do in fields such as science and economics is impenetrable. They write about exotic reactions among various chemicals, models to predict how economies will react to certain stimuli, etc.But Frenchman Jean Tirole's Nobel Prize in economics is easy to ...

U.S. policy aimed at destroying the Islamic State terrorist army isn't even containing it, as was President Barack Obama's original goal. And American airstrikes are doing little to safeguard anti-terrorist allies such as the Kurdish people in Iraq.After Obama declared the U.S. would use ...

It appears Americans will escape the most devastating consequences of an Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Just one person has died of the disease in the United States.If we have dodged a bullet, good luck rather than preparedness probably deserves the credit. There have been serious failures in ...

There are election years when the air is abuzz with excitement. In years past the state was battling huge deficits and the tax or cut battle had people worked up. Or Obamacare had just been passed and Republicans were eager to overturn it. Or a particularly charismatic candidate is running for ...

A million dollars is a million dollars, a lot of money even when compared to the $1 billion budget to build the new Vikings Stadium.So we can understand the reluctance of the Vikings and the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority to simply tack on another $1 million to put bird-friendly glass in ...

Arts grantsTHUMBS UP: The Prairie Lakes Arts Council announced $16,000 worth of grants are coming to Brown County to support arts programs or events. We congratulate the three groups receiving the funds.New Ulm Actors Community Theater (NUACT) has received $8,000 to help fund its season. The ...

Concern about exotic diseases is high because of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. News that a Liberian man visiting Texas had brought Ebola to the U.S. heightened the worry among many Americans. On?Thursday, the man died.But what of a disease that has killed far more Americans - influenza? ...

As highway funding goes, it isn't much. The state has awarded $700,000 from the Corridors of Commerce funding this year to hlep pay for preliminary design work on the Highway 14-15 intersection just north of New Ulm, the interchange more notoriously know as "The Y."That's loose change for most ...

Election Day is less than a month away, but people have been voting in Minnesota for a couple of weeks already. Minnesota's absentee ballot system now allows voters to vote now, whether they will be able to make it to the polls on Election Day or not. So now there's no excuse for not casting a ...