By Jason Sethre Publisher Fillmore County Journal jason@fillmorecountyjournal.com As of July 27, 2025, the city of Rochester only has one movie theater. CMX Chateau, one of the biggest movie theaters in Rochester, closed, leaving only Marcus Rochester Cinema left to serve a booming population currently approaching 124,000. Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, … [Read more...]

By Jason Sethre Publisher Fillmore County Journal jason@fillmorecountyjournal.com I wear a number of hats, besides working at the newspaper.  One of my jobs, which I thoroughly enjoy, is delivering copies of the Visit Bluff Country Magazine to locations all throughout Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin. While recently making my rounds in Rochester, Minn., I stopped … [Read more...]

To the Editor, Many of you know me as a 94-year-old gentleman who often needs a cane to get around. That’s what I want to talk about. Many places where I go, and often the people don’t know me, I am offered help.  They want to help me get around or carry something for me. For this I am very thankful. I believe this shows how people really are, not how they are presented in … [Read more...]

To the Editor, “There has never been a more intimate connection between the amount of cheap, clean electricity a nation can generate for A.I. models and its future economic and military might.” (NY Times’ Tom Friedman in his July 3, 2025, opinion, “How Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Will Make China Great Again”) Nations’ economic future and military might. It is what China … [Read more...]

To the Editor, Do you remember? Do you remember before the Nazis came? Before they banned books, then burned them? Before they wrecked your neighbor’s business, then took them away to a camp oven? Do you remember how you peeked out your curtain, glad it wasn’t you? Do you remember feeling ashamed for saying nothing? Do you remember before the Taliban came, saying they were … [Read more...]

To the Editor, Like millions of other Americans around the country I have been going to rallies to protest what Trump is doing.  The response from passersby is overwhelmingly positive: waves, thumbs up, “thank yous,” supportive honks.  Maybe only 5-10% scream profanities, flip the bird or spew out clouds of diesel fumes. At a recent rally on Memorial Day Eve, a threesome … [Read more...]

By Jason Sethre Publisher Fillmore County Journal jason@fillmorecountyjournal.com Each year, our team at the newspaper discusses ways in which we can create more story sharing opportunities for the sake of our readers and advertisers. We discuss the presentation of the content, story selection ideas, and how we can involve the supportive and connected business … [Read more...]

To the Editor, How have farms changed?  Fifty years ago most were small compared to today. Most were 160 acres, like my family and they raised seven children; across the road four children were raised on 80 acres. In 1996 an Iowan wrote a book entitled “One Thousand Acres.”  Peanuts to some of today’s farms.  Throughout my life I have seen farmers compete for the … [Read more...]

By Stan Gudmundson Peterson, MN While reading a Christian book, I came across a chapter that didn’t seem to make much sense.  The author thought that near-death experiences were Satanic given that the Bible doesn’t talk about them.     There are three reasons why I don’t agree.  First, it doesn’t seem possible that we could confine God to a single book, even though … [Read more...]