I became active in politics in the late 1950s, got elected to Congress in 1964, and have remained engaged in one way or another every year since then. I’ve had a ringside seat for a long time. So I suppose I should not be surprised that I get asked a lot these days how American politics have changed over the last six decades. A few things stand out. When I first arrived in … [Read more...]

By Donna Buckbee Rushford, MN One of the habits I learned from my mother: special newspaper articles are to be clipped and filed.  This past winter I went through 50 years of those special clippings — reviewing, sorting and tossing. One of the few I held back from the burn pile was a book review from February 27, 2004, written by David E. Hoffman appearing in the St. … [Read more...]

As the final snow melts away and spring flowers appear, our staff at Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation (SMIF) is looking ahead to a busy year of programming for our 20-county region. This spring, our Early Childhood team has already been focused on providing trainings to area child care providers, while working with several communities on addressing the child care … [Read more...]

Fishing is a huge outdoor activity for many Minnesotans. Unfortunately, our native fish are being harmed by some unwelcome invasive species. One such fish is the Silver carp. The Silver carp, Hypophthalmichtyhs molitrix, is a species of fish that is native to eastern Asia and was imported from China to the United States during the early 1970s to help fish aquaculture operations … [Read more...]