Opinions

By Reed Anfinson

Publisher

There is a renewed focus on America’s vulnerability to two fundamental flaws in our economy: consolidation of businesses and outsourcing the manufacturing of too many critical products and components of products assembled in the U.S.

By Reed Anfinson

Publisher

When we read Richard Louv’s book “Last Child in the Woods,” we learned of the damage what he calls “Nature Deficit Disorder” can cause. 

By Reed Anfinson

Publisher

To combat the anti-democratic poison social media feeds into our political discourse Jonathon Haidt says we need to do three things: harden our democratic institutions, reform social media, and inoculate the next generation against the social media’s damaging impact.

By Reed Anfinson

Publisher

In his piece for The Atlantic magazine, “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid,” Jonathon Haidt compares what is happening to our political and social discourse today to the story of the Tower of Babble from the Bible.

By Reed Anfinson

Publisher

“Achieving a more transparent and less manipulative media may well be the defining political battle of the 21st century,” Stephan Lewandowsky and Anastasia Kozyreva write in an article published by OpenMind magazine. 

By Reed Anfinson

Publisher

For decades, the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) was a powerful political force in western Minnesota. Its candidates regularly won at the legislative, state executive office, and congressional levels. Those days are gone. 

Expanding Our Views Through Letters

As we enter the 2022 political season, we expect to see an increasing number of letters to the editor submitted to the newspaper. Some of those letters will be from local residents and subscribers. 

“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”

James Madison

 Father of the First Amendment

Rural America Needs Support Hiring Journalists

Not long ago, we received a phone call from a newspaper owner asking if we knew the name of a company buying up weekly newspapers. Now in his 80s, the strain of publishing weekly was taking a toll, and his motivation and skills weren’t what they used to be.

Metro Legislators Gain Influence In Redistricting

When the official 2020 Census figures were released last year, they showed Minnesota’s population at 5,706,494. As expected, the data affirmed the seven-county metropolitan area growing the fastest. It now accounts for nearly 3.2 million of the state’s residents, having grown by more than 313,500 people in the last decade. Those seven of Minnesota’s 87 counties account for more than 56% of the state’s population.