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Opinion

Fencing with bees

Columns

Farmers often have to defend their crops from pests. While these pests can range from microbes to insects to avians, imagine trying to prevent crop losses when the nuisance in question can tip the scales at 15,000 pounds, might be more than ten feet tall and is highly intelligent. This is a problem that’s routinely faced by the small-scale subsistence farmers who live on the borders of Ruaha National Park in Tanzina. Wild elephants have learned how to raid crop fields, erasing months’ worth of work in mere hours and imperiling the farmers’ livelihoods. A solution to this ...

Thumbs up/down

Editorials

THUMBS UP Plenty of Memorial Day observations It is Memorial Day Weekend, a time to remember those we have lost over the years. Many area communities, including Sleepy, Nicollet, Lafayette, Gibbon, Winthrop, Springfield, and New Ulm, are holding special Memorial Day programs on Monday. The New Ulm Memorial Day observance begins at 10 a.m. in the Lower Soldiers Rest. In the event of inclement weather, the program will be held in the New Ulm Community Center. THUMBS UP $100K NUMAS Haus donation shows community’s generosity New Ulm Ministerial Association Shelter (NUMAS) Haus ...

Sextortion happening here

Columns

By Sextortion: threatening to distribute someone’s sexual images, videos, or information in order to receive something of monetary value. This is a word that is slowly becoming unavoidable when we open our social media or news articles. It is common for us to say, “Oh, that doesn’t happen here,” or “That won’t happen to me or my kid.” The truth is that it is happening here, and it could happen to you or someone you know. Although sextortion seems like a new term or is unfamiliar, it has made a very big impact on people in our communities’ lives. WRAP staff have ...

Fighting for the fallen, caring for the living

Columns

Memorial Day is a solemn occasion to honor the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our nation. We attend parades, place flags at gravesites, and take quiet moments of reflection. But beyond the ceremonies and speeches lies another, often invisible war, one that too many of our veterans and active-duty service members are still fighting. Countless veterans struggle with substance use disorders, suicidal ideation, and an increasing risk of drug overdose. It’s a battle that doesn’t make headlines and is waged silently behind closed doors, far from the front ...

Different perspective on COVID

Letters

To the editor: I have been looking again at “COVID-19 and trust in our community,” an editorial/letter in the Journal in 2021 that was signed by 43 area doctors, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. These signers invited our trust, but made claims that, from what I’ve seen, have turned out not to be correct, such as: “The vaccine’s mRNA is destroyed by your body within hours. It is gone.” Perhaps we need another letter. It could do many things. It could admit that elites and experts got things colossally and catastrophically wrong. It could heap the highest ...

Finding modern warriors mindset

Columns

There really are authentic warriors who live and work around us. We take them for granted, rarely give them much thought, and may not even notice them until something happens. We depend on them, can’t live without them, but may not even know their names. They protect us, and thanks to them, we can go about our lives in peace. Who are the warriors of our time? They are the men and women who serve in the military and those who work in the various branches of law enforcement. They deal with the worst situations, the worst people in society and the world, and occasionally with real ...