Chill Fishing Report Cody Hill Dust off the ice gear, ice fishing season has officially begun. In Becker and Otter Tail Counties each lake froze over at different times so ice thickness can vary greatly from lake to lake. I have noticed that it can vary from place to place on bigger lakes. This time of the… Read More

Garver’s Movie Review Bob Garver When the writers’ and actors’ strikes of 2023 forced several movies off the fall schedule, it was a pair of musicians that came to the rescue with two of the most heavily-promoted concert movies of all time. “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” got the box office through a rough patch back… Read More

Publisher’s Perspective Chad Koenen My first job out of college was at the Pope County Tribune in Glenwood, Minn. It was a mid-size weekly newspaper located just a few minutes south of Alexandria, Minn. In those early days I was primarily the sports editor at both the Pope County Tribune and Starbuck Times, which was owned… Read More

The Prairie Spy Alan “Lindy” Linda There are some problems facing us here in this country, including but not limited to immigration, health coverage, cost of oil, Hillary, and finally, people who empty their ash trays at rural stop sign intersections. It should be noticeable to anyone paying attention that smokers seem to have fallen to last place… Read More

Ask A Trooper Sgt. Jesse Grabow Question: I hear there that DWI’s can become more of an issue around the winter holidays. Can you talk about that? Thank you for all you do.   Answer: Minnesota Law Enforcement is participating in a statewide campaign that includes extra DWI enforcement that started the day before Thanksgiving through New Year’s… Read More

Garver’s Movie Review Bob Garver Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon” did rather well for itself over Thanksgiving weekend, opening in the #2 position at the domestic box office behind the second weekend of the new “Hunger Games.” A debut at #2 behind a not-particularly-beloved returning champion may not sound impressive, but my prediction was that it wouldn’t even… Read More

To the Editor,  The way the political parties view issues abound. Women’s health care and who should control that care, how to deal with the economy, LBGTQ+, the effort by some to try to take over the agendas of the schools instead of allowing teachers to teach, the alleged crimes of presidential candidates, who should police… Read More

To the Editor, It’s time to restore our best protection against the meatpacking monopoly.  • What is the Packers and Stockyards act? More than 100 years ago, the U.S. passed the Packers and Stockyards Act (P&S Act) — the first law to protect farmers and ranchers from concentrated, abusive monopoly power in the livestock industry.  Initially the Packers &… Read More

The Prairie Spy Alan “Lindy” Linda I serviced and installed heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration products while doing business as Lindy’s Hardware in New York Mills. Then I designed an HVAC (heating, ventilating, air conditioning) program for the tech school at Wadena, which I taught for 15 years, up to retirement a couple of years ago. That’s my… Read More

By Jesse Grabow Ask a Trooper Question: I read your recent article about winter travel safety. I also heard you were a Boy Scout, which would apply to this also. Can you talk more in depth about what a person should have in their vehicle? Answer: Great topic to expand on. Yes, I serve as the scoutmaster for… Read More