I recently read an article about a CEO of a large corporate chain restaurant, publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. He gave up his annual bonus plus base salary this year to pay his chain’s workers during the coronavirus pandemic. The total amount donated to employees from the CEO amounted to about $1 million. This has been shared all over the national media. Some … [Read more...]

The recent pandemic has exposed some deficiencies in our current system. For example, millions of people have lost their jobs and therefore lost their medical insurance when they may need it most. Others may put off going to the doctor because of high deductibles, which could be fatal.  Trump fired the pandemic response team two years ago after they predicted a respiratory … [Read more...]

By Donna Buckbee Rushford, MN Chinese Americans and Asian Americans, in general, are being scapegoated for the COVID-19 pandemic. We all know where this could go and I want it to stop.  Those “wet markets” — the open air meat markets where raw meat and fish are sold alongside live, wild animals, including bats and snakes. We like to call that type of meat exotic to … [Read more...]

By John Torgrimson Lanesboro, MN I first heard of the coronavirus in early January when my friends in Hong Kong started posting about a strange deadly SARS-like virus that was emerging in Wuhan, a city in Hubei province in China.  This was right around the time of the Chinese New Year and my first thought was:  the entire country will be returning to their ancestral … [Read more...]

One of the intriguing features of the coronavirus pandemic is how sharply it has illuminated the importance of effective political leadership. Wherever we stand on the political spectrum, we’re looking to elected officials to help steer us through this crisis. While I don’t want to talk about specific politicians, a lifetime in politics has given me a sense of what makes a … [Read more...]

As many of our readers grapple with the change that has taken place with our community newspapers over the past couple weeks, we are working behind the scenes at the Fillmore County Journal to expand our news coverage. With this transition, we realize that we have become the only newspaper serving all of Fillmore County and portions of Houston and Mower Counties. This is … [Read more...]

Howdy folks! Well, it’s the first day of having the kids home because daycare can’t keep them anymore. The morning was flash cards and working on handwriting for the 3- and 5- year-old respectively, then some games, then lunch, then a nap. Luckily, as my substitute teaching job was essentially covering the $300/week cost for their daycare, My wife and I are lucky to essentially … [Read more...]

In 1986, an economic crisis had shaken Greater Minnesota. Farms across the state faced bankruptcy and rural communities suffered. Accordingly, young people were leaving the small towns that had nurtured them in search of opportunities elsewhere. These developments created uncertainty about the future of rural Minnesota. In the midst of that “farm crisis” the urban-based … [Read more...]

By Mike Sieve Rushford, Minn. In these dark days of the coronavirus it’s important to believe that we will get through this and life will go on. But it’s also important to learn lessons so that we might be better prepared for threats like this in the future, as there almost certainly will be. With that in mind, it seems to me that there are three things that a country … [Read more...]