By Lee Hamilton Recently, a couple of reporters at The New York Times published an intriguing story about conversations between House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy and other members of his leadership team. It was shortly after the events of January 6 at the Capitol, and they were talking about what to do about then-President Trump. His conduct, McCarthy said, had been … [Read more...]

By Kathie Haynes Canton, MN Are You Paying Attention?? It appears that soon the Supreme Court of the United States of America will overturn Roe v Wade. That law, Roe v Wade, has been the law of the land for 49 years. It allowed people the right to choose to have an abortion. How does it happen that now that right will be taken away? As I understand it, conservative people … [Read more...]

By Eric Leitzen Hokah, MN You would not believe how worried people get when I say “Tax the Rich.” Whether it is on a sign, in a conversation, or on social media, those three little words really seem to set people off. I can only assume the idea cuts pretty deep for some folks, who might fear that THEY are the rich I want to tax, and that saying such a simple slogan might be … [Read more...]

Letter about we are known by the company we keep!... To the Editor, A decade ago, my wife and I chose Chatfield as our retirement home. We had enjoyed the area as a recreational and business destination since moving from Canada in 1978. Here we found that residents and business owners were polite, intelligent, and fair-minded people of integrity. A few months ago, a new … [Read more...]

Letter about an electable candidate... To the Editor, Electing a responsible person to be First Congressional District Representative is important. In these days of culture war distractions and heavily promoted propaganda we need someone who is serious about solving real problems that affect us all. Out of the many primary candidates there is one who seems best equipped and … [Read more...]

By Tim Ryan Preston, MN I recently finished reading a book by Lesley Blume titled “Fallout.” It’s a book about another book titled “Hiroshima” by John Hersy. Fallout describes the difficulty Hersey had in researching and then publishing “Hiroshima.” Hersey presents a graphic description of the detonation of the bomb that the U.S. called “Little Boy” above the city of … [Read more...]

By Tim Penny President/CEO Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation At Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation (SMIF), our tagline is “Collaborating for Regional Vitality.” Whether we are working with partners in early childhood, economic development or community vitality, we do our best to complement what others are doing in those arenas so that collectively we can have … [Read more...]

By Nathan Rider Chatfield, MN There is a distinction between subjective and objective. A light-bulb may appear to a person yellow, and to another as blue, not necessarily due to the objective truth of the color of the bulb, but as perceived, received and processed by each viewer. Women see thousands of more colors than men. But to jump from that to saying that the … [Read more...]