How this column gets made: a mix of tips from other members of the Arts Council, hints from the general public, and me trolling area websites to find news of upcoming events. This is because I live twenty minutes away and sometimes do not alas organically hear of neat things via word of mouth.
Minnesota state parks and trails will host candlelight events across the state this winter, including one at Lac qui Parle State Park on Saturday, February 15th, 2025. Drop by any time between 6:30 pm and 8:30 pm for hiking as stars twinkle overhead and candles flicker in the snow.
“The only measure that he knows is desire—desire for power.” — Gandalf
At Monday evening’s meeting of the Yellow Medicine East Board of Education, Bert Raney Elementary Principal Lisa Hansen provided the board with updates from the elementary. In her report, Hansen noted that February is national Random Acts of Kindness month. “Our social workers have been busy working on projects. Our staff members fill out what they call a ‘kindness catcher card’ and the students get to share their random acts of kindness with the class, and then those cards are hung up around the school,” Hansen said. “I really appreciate the social workers doing that. It’s definitely a day brightener.”
On January 29, Seth Naeve, University of Minnesota Extension soybean agronomist and Anibal Cerrudo, a visiting professor for the last 3 years in the Naeve lab joined UMN Extension crops educator Angie Peltier for a discussion about how using crop modeling can help soybean producers in Minnesota gain important insights into how their management choice could impact yield. This was the fourth weekly episode of the 2025 Strategic Farming: Let’s talk crops! webinars. The series runs through March.
Connor Michael Fagen of Granite Falls has been named to the Deans’ List at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for the fall semester of the 2024-25 academic year.
Many people have been caregivers at one point or another but often don’t see themselves as such. The term “caregiver” can sound a bit formal or like it’s a specific job title when most people who are caregivers say they are just doing what is right, being helpful, or fulfilling their responsibilities as a family member. A caregiver is a person who helps another with any of these: providing or coordinating transportation; buying or organizing medications; taking care of money; making meals; monitoring medical conditions; making medical appointments; talking with health care professionals; helping with activities of daily living such as getting dressed, taking a bath or shower, eating and using the toilet. Caregiving may be short term, like helping a neighbor after a surgery, or longer term such as when a spouse has dementia. Most caregivers have no formal training and don’t feel prepared.
Question: Can you talk about railroad crossing safety and the laws that cover it?
Last Thursday, the Yellow Medicine East High School Pep Band performed with the sixth graders joining the action to play their favorite tune from their previous concert alongside the Middle School Band.