editorials

Good news on the Becker County solid waste front: The bonding bill that was just approved by the Minnesota House includes up to $2.6 million for Becker County to design and construct a waste transfer facility and a material recovery facility. The money will go to the Minnesota...

The May 10 walleye fishing opener is fast approaching, and with another boating season just around the corner, Minnesota boaters and anglers need to continue to take steps to prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species. OK, so the ice still clings to the lakes and it still hasn’t...

Got health insurance? If not, better move fast: Monday is the deadline for purchasing health coverage through the MNsure online insurance exchange. That’s when Open Enrollment ends, and if you have put off purchasing health insurance, now is the time to explore your options and...

We need to fix the federal Freedom of Information Act. Or more specifically, Congress needs to fix it. FOIA is a critical law for making sure the public has the ability to get copies of records the government might not want it to see. For more than four decades, reporters...

We’re glad to see that U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson has decided to run for another term in office. Peterson, who lives on Floyd Lake, has represented Minnesota’s Seventh Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1990. He knows and loves this area: An...

Volunteers with the Detroit Mountain Recreation Area are doing a tremendous job putting together a first-class ski lodge and year-round recreation area. But a first-class facility needs a paved parking lot — that’s especially obvious this time of year — and the Detroit Lakes...

Becker County was wise to impose a half-cent sales tax to help pay for transportation projects. A resolution to adopt the new Safe, Multi-Modal, Active, Responsible Transportation (SMART) tax was unanimously approved by the Becker County Board last month. Starting in July, the...

National Women’s History Month’s roots go back to March 8, 1857, when women from New York City factories staged a protest over working conditions. International Women’s Day was first observed in 1909, but it wasn’t until 1981 that Congress established National Women’s...

Open government is good government, and part of that is for citizens to be able to easily obtain information from their state, county, city or township. So we offer this brief guide to obtaining public records. It was compiled by the St. Cloud Times, for newspapers to use during...

Minnesota K-12 students are some of the best in the nation, but there has been an ongoing, and distressing, achievement gap afflicting students of color. That may now be changing: New data from the Minnesota Department of Education show that public school districts and charter...

Township annual meetings will be held March 11 this year, and many townships also have their annual election of officers that day. In Minnesota, if you don’t live in an incorporated city, you live in a township … It’s important to vote and have a say in your leadership. Like...

The United States has done a good job counter-attacking Al-Qaeda, disrupting its cash flow and communications and assassinating its top leadership. Now here’s a surprise: The torture and mistreatment of suspects and detainees didn’t help, and apparently hurt the cause. That’s...

When the Minnesota Legislature goes into session on Tuesday, one of the issues it will be looking at is a push from counties and cities for permission to move their legal advertising out of newspapers and onto their own websites. We understand the motivation: Saving money by essentially...

Gov. Dayton hasn’t taken the propane shortage lying down. He has worked with other governors, pipeline operators, members of congress and the Obama Administration to keep the supply of propane flowing to Minnesota. Some examples: Jan. 23 — Dayton and other Midwestern governors...

It’s time for Aaron Wittnebel to step down as mayor of Lake Park, and to step down as chairman of the Becker County DFL Party. He and the rest of the Lake Park City Council are at basically at war, and under his leadership the Becker County DFL Party saw its lowest turnout in...