View From The Cab By David Tollefson, Columnist From the February 2024 issue of Successful Farming magazine comes an interesting story of a woman who grew up on an Iowa farm and became an astronaut. The subtitle of the above headline is “Lessons learned on her family’s Iowa farm helped Peggy Whitson become an astronaut and served… Read More

Growing Green By Robin Trott, Extension Educator Join Douglas County Master Gardeners for the revamped Let’s Get Growing event! Experience the new half-day format on Saturday, April 13, from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Discovery Middle School (510 McKay Ave N, Alexandria). Meet specialists, explore educational displays by University of Minnesota Extension Master Gardeners, and… Read More

View From a Prairie Home by Hege Hernfindahl, Columnist If you take one of those introvert/extrovert tests, you will always be surprised. This is because most people have a strong notion of themselves as either an introvert or an extrovert and the test will show, you have almost equal characteristics of both. We like to be with… Read More

From Where I Sit By Pat Spilseth, Columnist Between funerals, celebrations of life and Sunday church services, lately I’ve been spending lots of time in churches. So many changes have happened in the churches I have attended. This past weekend Dave and I attended services for a dear friend at Mount Olivet Lutheran Church in Minneapolis. It… Read More

Publisher’s Perspective By Tim Douglass, Publisher of the Pope County Tribune Monday morning’s Star Tribune headline screamed at readers: “Horrific Loss Gunman kills two Burnsville Cops, paramedic” A third officer was hurt and the shooter was dead after the early morning standoff. Once again we are forced to realize that our police officers face greater and… Read More

U.S. Senators hear from local letter writer From Jim Thoreen. Glenwood (The following is a letter sent to three Senators, Sen. James Lankford, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema and Sen. Chris Murphy, who I believe worked to benefit our country.) Dear Senators: Thank you for producing what should have been the proverbial “no brainer” in terms of… Read More

Notes from the Capital By Paul Anderson, State House Representative District 12B The legislative session recently kicked off and the dynamics compared with last year are not the same, since this is not a budget year (our two-year budget is set in odd-numbered years). Another aspect that’s different is the $19 billion surplus we had last year,… Read More

Stoneage Ramblings By John R. Stone When my mother moved into Glenwood Retirement Village my brother and sisters and I went through all her stuff and split it up. There were tons of pictures and other memorabilia. She was there for a couple of years suffering from dementia and died eight years ago. I had skimmed… Read More

The Outdoors By Scott Rall, Outdoors Columnist Minnesota’s legislature is now in session and as always there are bound to be some issues that surface when it comes to natural resource funding. When it comes to funding sources, Minnesota has done a pretty good job of protecting much of these funds from diversion to other non-related… Read More

Growing Green By Robin Trott, Extension Educator University of Minnesota Extension is hosting a flower farmer forum to address key questions facing Minnesota’s flower growers and foster a stronger network within the community. Cut flowers, versatile and in demand for various decorative uses, offer opportunities for both small-scale and large-scale producers seeking to supplement their crops… Read More