By Senator Jeremy Miller Fillmore, Houston and Winona Counties It’s been another busy week here at the Capitol as bills continue to get introduced and move through the committee process. This update provides highlights on two of those bills: Paid Family Leave, and the Veterans Homes supplemental bill. Paid Family Leave This week the Senate introduced a paid family and … [Read more...]

To the Editor, Darn near everyone who actually works for a living is not paid what they are worth for what they do. How can I say that? Let’s take a look: a Big Mac is $4.49. Let’s say Mickey’s sells 200 in an hour. They just made $898. Let’s say we’ve got four people working: one front counter, one in the back, one drive-thru, and one manager floating between all three. … [Read more...]

By Jason Sethre Publisher Fillmore County Journal jason@fillmorecountyjournal.com As the world has changed over the past couple years, we have all learned to adapt to whatever challenges we have faced.  And we’ve had to adapt to a lot of challenges.  Too many to recall. Our kids have definitely seen a different world than what we saw as children. And, over these past … [Read more...]

By Donna Halvorsen South Portland, Maine We Peterson High School kids lost a treasure when Roy Johnson, our blind English teacher, died so young so many years ago. He didn’t have time to spread his brilliance over all of us, but those who came under his influence will never forget him. He inspired us as no one had ever inspired us before. He told me I had to go to college, … [Read more...]

By Guy T. Soland Chatfield, MN In today’s world, it’s sometimes tough to find positivity, it’s a mindset, to stay positive, that most people, including myself need to work on at times. Negativity is everywhere – news, social media... it’s not tough to find. but, every day I find something that I’m thankful for. I’m so blessed with so many things – God, wife, kids, family, … [Read more...]

By John Torgrimson Lanesboro, MN When the priest who taught my religion class my sophomore year in high school asked if anyone wanted to attend a lecture by Mulford Q. Sibley, four of us raised our hands.    Sibley, an avowed socialist and pacifist, who encouraged civil disobedience, was a Sociology professor at the University of Minnesota.  He was a Quaker who became a … [Read more...]

President/CEO Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation One of my proudest moments as a congressman was voting to support the creation of the national AmeriCorps program 27 years ago. Little did I know at the time how central this program would become to our culture of volunteerism and giving back to our communities. Even more surprising, and delightful, to me is the fact … [Read more...]

Letter about Sen. Miller should deliver for livestock farmers and meat processors with the state surplus... To the Editor, The State of Minnesota has a historic budget surplus of $9.3 billion and Senator Jeremy Miller, particularly through his role as the Senate Majority Leader, has a unique opportunity to deeply invest in building economic and environmental resiliency in … [Read more...]

Letter about SE MN needs a leader, not Jeremy Miller... To the Editor, Recently, Amir Locke was killed during a “no-knock warrant” in the Twin Cities. Body camera footage shows a sleeping Amir awoken by the sound of men breaking into the apartment. When he grabbed his legally permitted handgun he was shot immediately. A no-knock warrant is when police enter a home without … [Read more...]

Letter about connecting with others... To the Editor, The suffering that’s happening in our world fills me with sadness. I believe one antidote is to feel connected to others. Connecting can be as simple as one driver waving to another as they pass.  Or reaching out and telling someone how much they mean to you. Or the act of smiling at someone you may or may not like could … [Read more...]