Ask A Trooper Sgt. Jesse Grabow Question: I read your last article about school buses and flashing lights. Can you do a reminder on passing a school bus?   Answer: It is illegal to pass a school bus when its red lights are flashing and its stop arm is extended. If you are driving on a divided roadway,… Read More

Garver’s Movie Review Bob Garver “Caught Stealing” is one of those twisty crime thrillers where it seems like the filmmakers cast as many interesting names as they could and then wrote the movie around using them all. For example, at no point did I feel it was necessary for the film to feature Matt Smith as… Read More

The Prairie Spy Alan “Lindy” Linda “We who are about to die salute you.” That was what the gladiators said to the Emperor of Rome as they assembled in front of the royal box seats in the Roman Colosseum. And they were. About to die, that is. Beginning somewhere around 200 BC, fights to the death replaced the… Read More

To the Editor, The world we knew and loved has been stolen from us by a very smart, clever, devious, ambitious group calling themselves The Heritage Foundation to give some legitimacy to their existence. And they won. Not in an overnight raid of storm troopers at the gate but by decades of nibbling away at our… Read More

By Tyler Trieglaff Notes from the Chief Notes from the Chief…By the time you read this school will be back in session for the 2025-2026 school year. Please be cognizant of the little ones that are walking and biking to school. There will also be more traffic on the roads before and after school each day. Please… Read More

The Prairie Spy Alan “Lindy” Linda The Widow Fistula woke me up in the middle of last night in a dream and asked me: “How come you ain’t visited me?” Meaning, I guess, that she’s feeling kind of ignored. There was a time when I visited with and wrote about all the citizens of Boatville. Her included. One… Read More

Ask A Trooper Sgt. Jesse Grabow Question: I know the distracted driving law has been around for a while now, but can you please talk about it some more?   Answer: Driver distraction or inattention is a leading factor in crashes in Minnesota, accounting for at least 25 percent of all crashes annually. Distracted drivers fail to recognize… Read More

Garver’s Movie Review Bob Garver I remember being a big fan of the 1976 “Freaky Friday” with Jodie Foster and Barbara Harris. Granted, I saw it when I was young enough to not know the tropes of the body-swap comedy, but I still have fond memories. I got a few laughs out of the 2003 update… Read More

By Tyler Trieglaff Notes from the Chief Notes from the Farm…Haying season is done for us for the second time. There was a patch back by the honeybees that we forgot about, just a few acres. We also brought one group of cows home from the pasture. Bringing the cows home early will help the pasture in… Read More

The Prairie SpyAlan “Lindy” Linda As the years behind me add up, I’ve become somewhat more aware of those people who are gone now, and what they have left behind them. As in, for example, their name. The best person I can think of is the Earl of Sandwich, John Montagu, who died in 1792. Of… Read More