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Opinion

What’s on your mind?

Columns

What are your thoughts on Victorian-era clothing? (Asked at the 1870s Fashion Day at the Harkin Store on Sunday)

Get more treatment to addicts

Editorials

Substance abuse is both a personal crisis and a public health challenge. Resources to battle it need to be viewed in that light. If a new study of how people purporting to be heroin users are treated by some health care providers is any guide, relatively minor federal policy changes could ...

Our nation’s odd relationship with things that go … BOOM!

Columns

I never knew when it would happen … or how often. It was rarely in the morning, but sometimes in the afternoon and frequently in the evening when all of a sudden … BOOM! Now, this was July 4th in the 1970s in Missouri. The sound of fireworks exploding overhead throughout the day, ...

Thumbs Up/Down

Editorials

Celebrating baseball in New Ulm THUMBS UP: New Ulm got a nice boost this week when a Fox 9 TV crew came for its series on Town Team Baseball in Minnesota. The series focuses not just on the ballparks and the teams, but on the people and the communities. New Ulm, of course, has had a long love ...

Business’ name offensive to Latinos

Letters

To the editor: A few days ago, I was shocked to see a notice from the Sleepy Eye Chamber of Commerce promoting a food service with the name of “illegal” followed by “amigos,” a word linking it to the Latino community. The ad was also accompanied by a cartoonish depiction of a Mexican ...

Make ‘swatting’ a felony offense

Editorials

‘Swatting’ has to be one of the stupidest, most dangerous pranks modern ne’er-do-wells have come up with. It involves calling police and reporting a dangeous crime is going on at someone’s address, in hopes that police will turn out in full force, SWAT team and all, bust down the doors ...

City should crack down on rotting railroad crossings

Letters

To the editor: Two years ago, city workers came by and spray painted some marks on my sidewalk indicating where the concrete was raised a bit due to tree roots growing beneath and raising the sidewalk. The sidewalk was only raised about an inch, but the City of New Ulm called this a “trip ...

Town Talk: EDA housing programs

Columns

The New Ulm Economic Development Authority (EDA) has two new programs to assist with a home purchase. The first program is Down Payment Assistance for Garden Terrace Residents who wish to purchase a home in New Ulm. For residents at Garden Terrace Apartments, for each monthly rent payment ...

Misgivings about traffic enforcement activities

Letters

To the editor: I, as a concerned citizen of the New Ulm area, have some uneasy feelings and questions about the upcoming local operation to catch distracted drivers. First off, I worry about who will be stationed in the undercover cars around town as we obviously do not have an extra fleet ...

Declaration carries a warning to gov’t

Editorials

What comes after the phrase, “and the pursuit of happiness ...”? Today, we Americans celebrate the Declaration of Independence. Our focus is what the document meant — creation of a new nation. But what the document itself says about the Founders and about what they intended for us is ...

Weeds: Louis said it all: It’s a wonderful world

Columns

I was somewhere with longtime friend Billy Moran. I can’t remember where, a bar or a ballgame? “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong was playing in the background. Bill offered casually, “This is a great song.” Sometimes it is the role of friends to state obvious things that we ...

Simple items can help fight against ebola

Editorials

Ebola sometimes seems like a nightmare that will not go away. It is a truly horrible disease, killing about half of those who contract it. Here in the United States, where the very few people who have contracted Ebola receive the very best of care, the illness can be less serious. But in ...

Brown County Browser: Dealing with effects of spring flooding

Columns

The Brown County Highway Department has been busy with normal maintenance work plus repairing damage to county roads from this spring’s flood. This work will be ongoing through the summer and fall. The Minnesota River has been high for so long some county roads have been under water for ...

Good news for elephant preserve

Editorials

Elephants are among the most majestic creatures on the planet. Yet in some places, they are being killed off at an alarming rate. Poachers, who often cut the tusks out of dead elephants and leave their carcasses to rot, are responsible for many of the killings. Ivory still can bring a nice ...

Hwy 14 expansion

Letters

To the editor: There are many reasons to support the improvement of Hy. 14 from Nicollet to New Ulm to four-lane status: 1. This stretch of Hy. 14 has a notorious bad safety record because of all the serious accidents and heavy traffic. 2. The road is in poor condition and MNDOT is ...

No time to play politics at the border

Editorials

There is a crisis at the U.S. southern border. Regardless of whom you think is responsible, Central American immigrants seeking asylum have been coming north in record numbers, and many of them have been trying to cross the border illegally. It has led to tragedies, illustrated most recently by ...

What’s Going On: July 4th: A time reflect on fundamental rights

Columns

Do you like oddities? Here’s an oddity: The number 243 is a prime number, divisible by three. Thursday, our country will celebrate its 243rd Independence Day, dating back to 1776. It’s genuinely a Prime Independence Day. Here’s another oddity: A week before we celebrate that Prime ...

Thumbs Up/Down

Editorials

Baseball, cars and quilts this weekend THUMBS UP: It’s a busy weekend in New Ulm. Seems like there’s something going on for everyone. If you like baseball (and who doesn’t these days with the Minnesota Twins sitting atop the AL Central with a 52-28 record?) you could head down to ...

Get used to driving without phones

Editorials

The law won’t take effect for another month, but when Aug. 1 comes around motorists driving along while holding a phone up to their ear can be pulled over and given a ticket. Only hands-free mobile devices will be allowed in cars. You might as well get used to the idea. Start now. Figure ...