Need for blood is urgent

December 17, 2021

As we’ve said, this is the season of giving. Some people give money, some donate food items to help those in need. But an even greater need for health care is a reliable supply of blood. In Minnesota, the American Red Cross collects and distributes blood to health care facilities. It is constantly working to make sure that those of us who may need blood — and that could be any one of us, at any time — will have it when we need it. Right now, the Red Cross is struggling to keep an adequate supply. It has been for months, and the combination of the holidays and concerns over ...

Efforts to learn history boosts understanding

December 16, 2021

Recognizing Minnesota’s connection to the Indigenous people who lived here well before settlers came is key to understanding our heritage more completely. Recent efforts to educate about Native Americans’ ties to the land are another step in the right direction to accomplishing that feat. A group of young Lakota from the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota recently traveled to western Minnesota to take part in harvesting a buffalo. The event’s goal, with an animal provided by Sleepy Bison Acres of Sleepy Eye, was to further a youth organization’s mission to restore the ...

Vaccine anniversary

December 15, 2021

One year ago, something few people expected could happen, did happen. After nearly a year of people living in isolation, wearing masks and working from home, if their jobs hadn’t been eliminated due the the COVID-19 pandemic, a safe, effective vaccine was ready to ship to health care centers around the world. Developed over months, instead of the traditional years under the Trump Administration’s “Warp Speed” program, the Pfizer vaccine, then the Modern and Johnson & Johnson vaccine was administered to those most at risk from the virus. Within a couple of months, the number of ...

Tornado tragedy

December 14, 2021

The terrible storms that struck Kentucky Friday in Illinois, Arkansas, Tennessee and Missouri cut an incredible swath of tornado damage, especially in Kentucky. The death toll is expected to exceed 100, and hundreds of thousands are suffering, their homes destroyed and communities ravaged. This tragedy is compounded as the tornadoes struck in the middle of the Christmas holiday season. We in southern Minnesota know well the kind of devastation that tornadoes can cause. We have lived through the tornadoes that swept through Comfrey and St. Peter in 1998. We also know the kindness and ...

Local governments work on keeping taxes low

December 13, 2021

What is the difference between local levels of government and more distant levels — state and federal? It seems the closer the unit of government comes to the people, the more they try to hold down taxes. We are just finishing the local government Truth in Taxation hearing time of year, when local governments prepare to finalize their budgets. For the most part, they try to set their tax levies for no more than they need to cover services and government activities. A five percent increase is about the most you see in a city council or school board budget, as the council or board ...

Et. Cetera

December 11, 2021

Milk Depot receives donation The South Central Minnesota Breastmilk Depot, located in the Martin County Human Services building, recently received its first donation. Any milk donated to the depot is sent to the Minnesota Milk Bank in the Twin Cities, where a lot of it is given to babies in the NICU. This is a very valuable program and we’re lucky to have a depot right here in Fairmont. Kamp for Kids benefits community The Kamp for Kids red bag collection took place last weekend and an impressive 3,200 pounds of food donations, plus toys, was collected. This is a great ...