John Gaddo

John Gaddo is co-publisher of Root River Current. His professional career has included stints as a public media manager, journalist and audio producer.

Author's Archive

<span style="font-size: 14px; color: #6c6b6b; ">Karin Ferden of rural St. Charles plays the flute in a Chatfield Brass Band performance of “Stars and Stripes Forever”. (Photo by John Weiss)</span>

This is Our Little Happiness

John Weiss takes in the Chatfield Brass Band’s annual patriotic ‘concert in the park’.

A rainbow arches over the recently dedicated Minnesota Veterans Home in Preston. In addition to its official dedication, the home has passed its first Certification Survey allowing it to welcome additional residents in the months ahead. (Photo provided by Rachel Lemmer)

A Big Thing in a Small Town | Welcoming Veterans Home in Preston

Alison Leathers recaps the dedication ceremonies recently held at the new Minnesota Veterans Home in Preston.

<span style="font-size: 14px; color: #6c6b6b; ">A crocheted version of a Turkey tail mushroom which makes shelves or brackets to produce spores above the ground and are known for their medicinal properties. (Photo by Laurie Byrne)</span>

Art Grows on the Trail

Laurie Byrne goes in search of an innovative art installation on the Lost Creek Trail near Chatfield.

<span style="font-size: 14px; color: #6c6b6b; ">Retired geologist Jeff Broberg is framed in the doorway to his Winona County well house at his home near Elba. The water from his well exceeds the guidelines for nitrate contamination. (Photo by Mark Hoffman, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)</span>

Southeast Minnesota Runoff Pollutes Beyond Local Area

Southeast Minnesota’s nitrate pollution affects health and recreation beyond the local area; Madeline Heim traces its impacts to the Gulf of Mexico’s “dead zone”.

<span style="font-size: 14px; color: #6c6b6b; ">Staff with the Minnesota Department of Health welcomed well owners to a nitrate open house June 26th in Rushford. (Photo by John Torgrimson)</span>

Minnesota Officials Launch First Phase of Nitrate Mitigation Plan

The first phase of the Minnesota Department of Health’s nitrate mitigation plan for southeast Minnesota is underway. John Torgrimson has the latest.

<span style="font-size: 14px; color: #6c6b6b; ">A timber rattlesnake utilizing woodland habitat. (Photo by Stephen Winter)</span>

Rattlesnake Responders Work to Bring Timber Rattlesnakes Back from the Brink

Hugh Gabriel goes on a timber rattlesnake rescue with the Minnesota DNR’s Rattlesnake Responders.

<span style="font-size: 14px; color: #6c6b6b; ">Nitrate pollution enters groundwater, streams and rivers through many sources including runoff from area agricultural fields. (Photo by John Weiss)
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Minnesota Nitrate Concerns Inspire Iowa Groups to Seek EPA Help

Southeast Minnesota’s nitrate pollution issues inform groups working to mitigate similar concerns in Iowa’s Driftless area.

<span style="font-size: 14px; color: #6c6b6b; ">A stave church in Renlie, Valdres, Norway, about 80 miles north of Oslo, where the author’s great grandfather attended church as a young man. (Photo by John Torgrimson)</span>

The Fabric that Binds | A Family’s History

Tracing family roots – from Ireland, Germany, and Norway to southeast Minnesota, John Torgrimson shares his personal story of how families are woven into our region’s past and present.