Policy & Government

Jo Anne Agrimson, Co-President of Fillmore County League of Women Voters, shows her support for ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). (Photo by Renee Bergstrom)

Four Generations of Advocating for Equal Rights

Julie Fryer informs readers about the League of Women Voters efforts to amend the state constitution regarding the Equal Rights Amendment.

Southeast Minnesota's karst topography–and its network of sinkholes, caves and streams–exacerbate well contamination issues. There are more than 10,000 sinkholes in Fillmore County alone. (Photo Julie Little)

State Officials’ January 2024 Plan Addresses Nitrate Contamination Issues

Minnesota updated its response to EPA on nitrate contamination in ground water.

Fillmore County became a member of the AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities. Pictured Front Row: Bonnie Heidtke (Wykoff), Linda King (Mabel), Marge Fuller (Lanesboro); Back Row: Dan Conway (Southeast Area Agency on Aging), Sue Olinger (Harmony), Pam Nelson (Chatfield), and Bill Sullivan (Pilot Mound). (Photo by Brenda Pohlman)

Developing Age-Friendly Communities in Fillmore County

John Torgrimson looks at the Age-Friendly Communities project in Fillmore County.

Paul Wotzka, hydrologist and co-founder of the Minnesota Well Owners Organization, speaks about the challenges karst geology presents to water quality in Fillmore County during a Water Quality Forum at Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center, Lanesboro, on November 16. (Photo by John Torgrimson)

Local Forums, EPA Raise Questions About SE Minnesota Water Quality | State Agencies Respond

John Torgrimson reports on local, state, and federal action on water quality in karst country.

The Historic Forestville bridge, built in 1899, before it was hoisted off its abutments and placed on the south side of the Root River. (Photo by John Torgrimson)

Moving Day for a 19th Century Bridge at Historic Forestville

Dave Shaffer and John Torgrimson chronicle the first phase in the restoration of the Historic Forestville bridge.

A family explores Cave of the Mounds, located in Dane County Wisconsin (link in article below). Cave of the Mounds takes its name from the Blue Mounds, two large hill landmarks. The main cavern began forming over a million years ago as water dissolved the limestone bedrock below the surface. (Photo courtesy of DARK Trail)

Explore the Driftless Area Via the DARK Trail

John Torgrimson looks into the DARK Trail connecting 69 dramatic landscape and discovery sites in the Driftless Area.

Minnesota Office of Broadband Development Executive Director, Bree Maki, attends a White House celebration of funding for nationwide broadband. (Photo courtesy of Bree Maki.)

Internet for All

Julie Fryer interviews the state’s leader on broadband development in rural Minnesota.

Sterling Drug currently owns what originally had been the family-owned Slindee Pharmacy in Harmony; prior to its purchase by Sterling, the pharmacy was owned by Witt Pharmacy, a community chain based in Rushford. (All photos courtesy of Luke Slindee)

Essay | Pharmacies in the Root River Valley | A Recent History

Luke Slindee documents the disappearance of small town drug stores.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is restoring floodplain forest habitat on Mississippi River islands throughout the Reno Bottoms area, east of Houston County, with trees such as river birch, hackberry, cottonwood, silver maple and swamp white oak. Above, Corps forester Sara Rother drives a boat full of trees to be planted on an island south of La Crosse. (Photo by Mark Hoffman, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

The Mississippi River’s Floodplain Forests are Dying | The Race is on to Bring Them Back

Madeline Heim reports on efforts at restoring forests along the Mississippi at Reno Bottoms, south of LaCrosse, Wisconsin

Students study Karst geology on Eagle Bluff’s campus. Using simple tools of a geologist, they identify the chemical and physical properties of four different types of sedimentary rocks. (Photo submitted by Eagle Bluff)

Eagle Bluff Champions Outdoor School for All Bill

Eagle Bluff Director Colleen Foehrenbacher explains how the proposed Outdoor School for All bill in Minnesota will benefit the health of middle schoolers.

Some of the trout and other fish electroshocked this spring as part of the DNR’s annual trout stream analysis (Photo by John Weiss)

DNR Shocks Trout to Check Health of Area Streams

Nature writer John Weiss observes annual health check of area trout streams

This image is an artist rendering of what a manure digester plant planned for Benson, Minnesota may look like. (Graphic: Nature Energy)

Manure Digester Proposed in Lewiston

Julie Little and Loni Kemp explore the impact manure digesters may have on local communities.

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