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Fritz showed passion as a reporter

I worked in the Journal newsroom for 24 years, about 20 of which beside Fritz Busch. During that time, I met many writers from whom I learned many, many different tricks of the trade. Some wrote with enviable flair, others with concise clarity. Longtime Journal editor Kevin Sweeney, with both. But almost never, or perhaps simply never, did I meet a reporter with a more brightly burning passion for news. Fritz is a news hound. No news is uninteresting to him. He simply sniffs out the quirky, the clever, the silly, the sublime... Or perhaps news finds him. Fritz would tread through a ...

Thanks to Fritz for dedicated service

I want to congratulate our good friend Fritz Busch on his retirement from full-time reporting at The Journal, and to thank him for his tireless service in New Ulm, Sleepy Eye, Brown County, and the surrounding communities. If you were like me, you raced to the end of the article and, thankfully, together we learned Fritz plans to continue being a part-time correspondent. His experience, institutional knowledge, fairness, and steady presence will remain available to the communities he covers. Thank you, Fritz, for your dedication to local journalism and for helping ensure that the ...

Because of my Catholic faith, I’m voting for Jake Johnson

Every Sunday morning growing up, my mom, my dad, and my nine siblings would tumble out of our Ford Club Wagon and cram into the same front pew in our small town church. On this particular morning in early Fall of 1996, my 10-year-old heart swelled with pride as my pastor stood behind the pulpit and praised our California State Senator, Dick Mountjoy, seated just a few pews back, for being “so vocally pro-life.” Later at home, my dad paused as he flipped through political mailers in our kitchen. “I think it’s really great that Dick Mountjoy is pro-life, but I won’t be voting ...

What has Finstad done to rein in Trump?

Representative Brad Finstad says his constituents complain a lot about fraud and wasteful government spending. Amen, brother! (President Trump) has used his presidency to enrich himself by at least $2 billion. He started a $65 billion war with Iran, costing the average household more than $1,000. His tariffs have cost households another $1,000. $10 trillion has been added to our national debt during his six years in office. Taxpayers will be expected to pony up for his $16 million reflecting pool boondoggle and his costly ballroom fiasco. Meanwhile, health care, food, housing, energy, ...

The spending spree must stop

nment, controlled by the allegedly fiscally responsible Republicans, going to quit sitting impotently on the sidelines while the resident in what’s-left-of-the-White House spends obscene amounts of money to satisfy his Midas-like lust for all things to be gold? It’s worth noting that in the president’s oath in taking the reins a second time, he did choose to say, “I do solemnly ‘swear...’” rather than using the verb “affirm,” and he concluded the oath by saying, “So help me God,” an addendum that, I’m sure, was artfully uttered to ingratiate himself further with ...

Starve out the problem in Iran

I have been thinking about the situation in Iran and what we should be doing. The goals are to keep them from getting nuclear weapons now, and to dismantle and destroy their program of supporting Terrorism in countries all over the world that has been going on for at least 40 years. I don’t think that destroying that country’s infrastructure of bridges, water facilities, communications, industries, etc. will be effective in getting Iran to give up their nuclear weapons operation. They have demonstrated in the past that they intend to continue to develop nuclear weapons by going ...