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Local Columns

Suite Liv’n repairs reputation by giving back to the community

Eric Miller with Suite Liv’n sent me an email a couple weeks ago inviting the Independent to cover a community outreach event involving apartment residents. The email stated that volunteers would be gathering to paint small flower pots and then add the soil and seeds. The pots were ...

Military museums give much needed credit to veterans

I had an interesting experience this week on Monday morning, one that involved a wide panorama of Midwestern history. I was part of a bus tour group that went to the Gold Star Military Museum at Camp Dodge west of Des Moines, Iowa. The stop was the last segment of a three-day mystery tour ...

Sweeping up the ladybugs

Pam and I have a nice house. It’s one of those old farmhouses that’s been remodeled a hundred different ways. Since the kids left, it’s just Pam and me. And a few thousands of ladybugs. Several times a day, I go around the house sweeping ladybugs into a dustpan and tossing them outside. ...

On the Porch

The social news or gossip columns in the old newspapers are always fascinating to read. A special section in the newspaper was devoted to the social media of the day. The whereabouts of local people and events were often featured in these columns. Here are a few from The News Messenger of Lyon ...

Congressional Republicans fail to protect the BWCA

Minnesota’s Republican members of Congress — Pete Stauber, Brad Finstad, Michelle Fischbach, and Tom Emmer — supported H.J. Res. 140, overturning protections for over 234,000 acres just outside the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA) in Minnesota, thereby opening the door to ...