If President Barack Obama does not get what he wants from Congress this year, he will take the desired action on his own, he said in his State of the Union address. So, what else is new?The president indicated he will take action by executive order, not legislation from Congress.That is not a ...
Students and staff at New Ulm Area Catholic Schools took part in special activities as part of the National Catholic Schools Week during the week of Jan. 26 to Feb. 1. The events are part of the 40th anniversary of the nationwide celebration of Catholic education. This year's theme is 'Catholic ...
Clinic project opensTHUMBS UP: The New Ulm Medical Center celebrated the completion (almost)?of its clinic expansion project Friday with a ribbon cutting ceremony. The exam rooms are open, the new pharmacy and eye clinic are up and running, and the new entryway is available.The Medical Center ...
Exciting gains have been made in teh area of early childhood developmet in Minnesota recently. New studies show that 72% of children are now ready to learn when they enter kindergarten, up from 60% only a few years ago. This means that work being done by schools, communities, and early ...
Good budget newsTHUMBS UP: The latest Minnesota state economic forecast, issued on Friday, showed the state expects to have a $1.2 billion budget surplus this biennium. That is good news in a state that had become used to hearing about billion-dollar deficits.There are many ideas about what to ...
It is two years overdue, but Congress has finally produced a farm bill. The new bill, replacing the old one that expired last month and left the nation's farmers in a state of uncertainty, was cobbled together by the House-Senate conference committee last week. It passed the House on Wednesday ...
Strip away all the hopeful, feel-good stories and the introductions of this average American and that average American who did great or admirable things, and the annual State of the Union address would be a lot shorter. The address President Barack Obama gave on Tuesday, when boiled down, ...
The bitter cold, blowing snow and high winds made this weekend a dangerous one in Minnesota.Despite several days of dire forecasts and winter storm warnings, there were still a lot of people out on the roads Sunday getting stuck in the drifts, running off the road or into each other in whiteout ...
Another wave of arctic-cold weather is set to hit the area. Minnesotans are used to this. It is kind of amusing, sometimes, to watch the national reporters or news channels in the southern states making a big deal out of weather that, for us, is par for the course.What is unusual this year is ...
On Monday, U.S. officials announced some economic sanctions against Iran are being eased because that country says it is complying with an agreement not to build nuclear weapons.Also on Monday, other U.S. officials announced the United Nations should rescind an invitation for Iran to ...
Upon further review, MNsure stinksTHUMBS DOWN: An outside review of MNsure, the Minnesota health insurance exchange that's supposed to help people get health insurance before the March 31 federal government deadline, was released this week. In the opinion of UnitedHealth Group's Optum Division, ...
Americans have gone from a White House with a "just say no" attitude toward illegal drugs to one recommending, in effect, "just say maybe.""Just say no," the slogan coined by former first lady Nancy Reagan during the 1980s, was a firm reaction to the dangers of illegal drugs, including ...
Hackers who could be sitting at a computer anywhere in the world hacked into the Target Corporation system during the holiday shopping season, stealing credit card and debit card information from millions of shoppers. They used a program developed by a teen-aged computer expert in Russia. Two ...
The '96 Sable was packed full, all Abby's stuff that fit, including her pet hedgehog. Our daughter graduated from the University of Minnesota in December. Now she was moving to Seattle, preparing to drive the 1,613 miles there (according to Mapquest).The moment came for leave-taking. Abby's mom ...
What if MLK had lived to lead?Today the nation celebrates the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the great civil rights leader of the 1960s who's life was tragically cut short on April 4, 1968 by an assassin's bullet.In November, as the nation marked the 50th anniversary of the assassination ...
In 1906, the state of Minnesota held its last execution of a murderer. William Williams was hanged in the Ramsey County Courthouse basement, in the middle of the night. It was a botched job - the sheriff overestimated the amount of rope needed, Williams hit the floor without breaking his neck, ...
One of the issues sure to come up before the Minnesota Legislature is the state anti-bullying law. Minnesota's current 32-word law is considered one of the weakest in the nation, and efforts were taken last session to pass a stronger version. It passed the House but not the Senate, and is sure ...
Helget honorTHUMBS UP: Brown County Auditor-Treasurer has been around a long time at the County Courthouse. He was elected County Auditor in 1986, and became Auditor-Treasurer when the two positions were combined in 1989. It's easy to take someone for granted after all this time, but Helget was ...
Governor Mark Dayton issued his bonding bill proposal, a wish list of nearly $1 billion in projects he says will create tens of thousands of jobs in the state. Like a letter to Santa Claus, it contains a lot of really neat stuff, but stuff that Santa (or Mom and Dad) probably can't afford.It's ...
Late in the final hours of the last Minnesota legislative session, a measure was shoehorned into the tax bill to build a new office building for the state Senate, along with a parking ramp. The office building that is envisioned will cost the state $67 million, with $23 million more for the ...