Opinion
With the moon landing’s 50th anniversary on July 20, it made me wonder if that qualifies humans as an extra-terrestrial species. We have left our planet and walked on another world. If that doesn’t meet the definition, we may soon have people on Mars, and it could even be possible to maintain a...
How do we increase healthy, fresh foods in rural America? One way is to identify new opportunities for people to access food. Here are five suggestions for your community.
o Mobile grocery stores or veggie vans are refrigerated vans or trucks that bring affordable produce into communities at a...
As director of the University of Mississippi Center for Population Studies, I regularly talk to people about how they can use data to help their communities thrive.
The decennial census is particularly important – and the next one is less than a year away.
People living in rural and small town...
By Tom Burch
Cass County Sheriff
The Minnesota DNR has created a new campaign focused on dealing with boating issues and creating public awareness. As the popularity of wake boarding and wake surfing increases, statewide sales of wake boats have increased dramatically. With their heightened...
What’s going on with the Staples-Motley school administrators?
Now some of the administrators are requesting that the Staples-Motley school board no longer honor the top grade ranking students with the honor of valedictorian or salutatorian for their extraordinary grade achievements.
The school...
New research from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) finds that during a five-year period one in five deaths of Minnesotans younger than 75 were potentially avoidable with effective and timely health care treatment.
The study, Disparities in Premature Death Amenable to Health Care, 2011 to...
Clarifying response to school board quote critique
In last week’s Staples World, a reader quoted me, correctly, as saying that I would rather see students take English and math classes to prepare them for what they do after high school, instead of training them for technical careers. After that,...
Whether driving up to the cabin, carpooling kids to camp, or towing your boat to the lake, Minnesotans spend much of the summer on the road. From these busy final weeks of summer to the dead of winter, we must do everything we can to ensure our families arrive where they’re going safely. That is...
I recently had the opportunity to milk a cow by hand, or at least attempt to. It was all part of June Dairy Days, an annual celebration at Culver’s. While I was grossly unsuccessful in the number of ounces (I only got .25 of an ounce!), the celebration was successful in shining a light on one of...
Rep. John Poston, R-Lake Shore, is encouraging farmers to utilize the Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s new Dairy Assistance, Investment, and Relief Initiative (DAIRI) program, which provides financial assistance for small- to medium-sized dairy producers who meet certain qualifications. The...
