In June of 2020, David Giese opened Trash B Gone LLC, operating out of the Benson area but serving up to a 60-mile radius, sometimes further. Giese says he was inspired to start the business after having some family members pass away in 2012. “My stepdad and stepbrother passed away in Washington and I had to go out and help my mom go through a bunch of stuff, and it started me thinking. And then when my wife’s brother passed away, we had to clean out his apartment, and I thought about it again,” says Giese. When his mother passed away, finding himself back in Washington sorting through her home, he decided it was time to turn the ideas into a business. “I thought somebody could do something like this as a job. I like to help people and I decided if I could combine not only estate work, but individual residences, people getting things out of their home that maybe they don’t have the means to move, I could put myself to work,” he says.

A Facebook page, titled Abandoned Minnesota, has gained a number of followers since it was created in 2020 by Mankato photographer Zak Rivers. Those group members share photographs of abandoned spaces throughout the state that have incited many conversations about memories involving those properties. Recently, one of the group's members shared a photograph taken in the mid-1960s by Owen V J (Jerry) Rude of the Pete’s Point bait shop that no longer exists. The photograph inspired numerous comments of group members' memories of the location, being one of the more popular posts in the group. Among those comments were remarks about memories of fishing at Pete’s Point, the phone poles with sturgeon and catfish skulls attached, dads playing horseshoes while children enjoyed orange sodas and fishing off the dock. One commenter wrote, “There are so many memories in this photo. Everything from the drink signs to the rowboat oar, cabins for rent. I can still hear the noise the screen door would make as it slams behind you.”

Through a LYFT grant, Yellow Medicine East students have the opportunity to participate in a new opportunity to partner with Pioneer PBS for a video journalism program. YME teacher Tamara Isfeld applied for the grant, with the intention to focus on journalism opportunities by partnering with PBS, but also to work some with Southern Minnesota State University and other experts in the field to show students what rural journalism opportunities exist. “The goal is to teach them different skills to create so they can look at a possible career down the road, whether that’s with PBS or with someone else,” said Isfeld. The program began in mid-January, and last week, the students were able to tour the Pioneer PBS studio and meet with staff members to learn more about what goes into video production.

The band Molly Hatchet opened for Great White at the Prairie's Edge Casino and Resort hosted Firemen's Dance. SCOTT TEDRICK The Granite Falls Volunteer Fire Department at the Firemen's Dance.

Once upon a time there was a young girl who was never satisfied with what she had. When her friends would get the new name-brand jeans, she would feel less-than because she didn’t have what they had. When her friend’s parents got a new car, she would feel less-than because her parents didn’t have a new car. She judged everything she had by what others had. She never took the time to like what she had. These feelings became the foundation for a life of always wanting more; a life of never being content; a life of superficial happiness.