Opinion

Cookie salad has become my go-to dish to bring to potlucks or picnics – it seems to be a crowd pleaser, gives me a chance to eat my favorite dessert and the opportunity to share a story about a fiasco I had at a chain restaurant’s salad bar! I was thinking about how what I have to share this week will be a bit like a salad bar, a variety of services and programs and hopefully something that looks good to everyone.

I mustache you a question. I always thought of the world as kind of divided into two camps: Us and Them.

This week’s edition contains more of our new feature, and as we use it more, I get more into the swing of things and can work through it rather quickly. I’ve also learned that out here on the prairie, I most definitely need some type of microphone cover for filming because the wind is always present. Always.

In a field of milkweed, Rob Perez sits with Mary the Monarch Butterfly. Rob Perez: Mary, thank you for taking the time.

Last week, you may have noticed a QR code appearing in the newspaper. This has been an idea I’ve been working on for a little while, to provide an even more immersive experience to some of the news we share.

Summer is a time for kids to kick back, take a break from routine, and enjoy lazy days. It also, in many cases, is when learning loss-aka “The Summer Slide” can take place. Summer setbacks are nothing new regarding academics and the phenomenon has been researched by educators since the beginning of time. On average, student achievement can decline over the summer by up to a third of a prior year’s learning gains. Loss is usually greater in mathematics than in reading, and higher grade leveled students are more noticeably affected than younger learners. The summer slide can be measured in both social skills and classroom discipline, in addition to academics.

The time has come for my Grandma’s last shipment of cookies to land somewhere overseas. For the entirety of my son’s deployment, my Grandmother has been on a mission. It started with her sending a batch of cookies to him, as she had been sending to -him since his arrival at Fort Drum. Upon receiving his first shipment of “Grandma Cookies” overseas, he promptly distributed cookies to as many soldiers as he could, wanting to spread the grandmotherly love to boost morale.

In my last article, I wrote about a person who had been diagnosed with Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA). I promised that in this article, I would share more specifics on this type of dementia.

With the weekend of graduations past us, I’m left reflecting (and feeling old). Not only reflecting on my own graduates childhood years leading up to this point, but on the years working in journalism in this area.

We are learning more details about the severe thunderstorms that hit Minnesota on Memorial Day in parts of western and northern Minnesota. Celeste Edenloff, from the Echo Press, and I toured the storm damage in the city of Forada with Congresswoman Michelle Fischbach, along with Sen.