The small yellow signs do exactly what any good piece of advertising ought to do – catch your attention and encourage you to learn the rest of the story.

Found at many intersections, the signs state, “We love Our City.”

Maybe young eyes can read the fine print. From the driver’s seat, the small print at the base of the sign is illegible. At first, one might assume they were created and placed by a business, perhaps the New Prague Chamber of Commerce. Might one of the community’s outstanding service clubs be behind them?

Back in 2006, former Minnesota State Rep. Tom Emmer, then R-Delano, took the editor of a nearby community newspaper to the woodshed for suggesting in an editorial the proposed smoking ban for bars and restaurants was worthy of discussion.

This past week, news outlets covering the capitol reported on progress, or the lack of it, on the desire some folks have to address the accessibility of guns to people who ought not have them. So far, about six weeks after a gunman took the lives of two innocent children and injured 30, no news is not good news.

Hopefully, you’ve already heard the New Prague Area School District is asking its residents to consider a $20 million operating levy referendum this fall, $2 million per year for 10 years. It will be on the ballot Tuesday, Nov. 4.

First the city, then the county and school district and even townships. Local units of government are approving their property tax levies. The results are both predictable and frustrating.

A few weeks ago, we reported the results of the latest round of the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs). Statewide, the results were, at best, uninspiring. Locally, New Prague students who took the tests were slightly above the state average.

Given the highly-charged political environment we live in these days and the huge investment Minnesota dedicates toward E-12 education these days, the resulting blame game was predictable. Social media was awash with people blaming the DFL and Gov. Walz with the mediocre results.

Superintendent Andy Vollmuth presented the district’s plan for informing the community about its operating levy in the coming weeks. If you are willing to listen with an open mind, we hope you take advantage of the opportunity to learn about the district’s request of its taxpayers.

Mike Geisen was, and still is, a practical man with more common sense than most. He has lived much of his life in a rural area, a few miles outside Belle Plaine on the edge of Carver and Sibley counties. No doubt he was bewildered back in 2006 when his new neighbor, a transplant from the suburbs, was putting up pasture fence for horses and explained what he was doing as if asking for Mike’s approval.

“What do you care what I think? It’s your land. You can do what you want,” he said.

“Yeah, but I’d rather get along with you more than not,” the transplant said.

We frequently receive columns and statements from the politicians who represent the area. More often than not, they are complaining about what the ‘other’ side of the political spectrum is up to. This week, an email from Rep. Terry Stier, R-Belle Plaine, reached the in-box.

During the June 23 school board meeting, directors Carrie Cuff and Dan Call cast two votes in opposition to the school board’s plans to ask New Prague School District voters to approve in a single question an increase in the amount of property taxes it can use to fund daily operations. One of the votes was far more interesting than the other.

Tomorrow, Friday, July 4, we’ll celebrate the nation’s 249th birthday. It’s quite a feat, celebrating so many birthdays until you think about how young a country we are compared to some of the other great democracies around the world.

It’s been said one of the few constants in life is change. We see it in our personal lives, we’re seeing it in our own towns and we see it in our country and the world.

On a quiet Saturday morning, the peace in an upscale suburban neighborhood was shattered when Minnesota’s speaker emerita of the House of Representatives and her husband were murdered. In another neighborhood not that far away, a member of the Minnesota Senate and his wife, were shot and wounded, allegedly by the same gunman masquerading as a police officer.
Why? The popular working theory in the hours shortly after the murders and attempted murders was that the lawmakers supported a prochoice agenda. Really?

Having not held the required public hearing to sell bonds to fund the proposed new police station attached to the fire station and, in the eyes of some, ignoring the comments of the people who opposed the issuance of bonds once a public hearing was held, the New Prague City Council has arguably given people the idea it is going to do what it wants.
Regardless of the opposition from a small number of people.

The Minnesota Legislature has effectively done what school boards across the state have seemingly been unwilling to do – require students put their cell phones on hold during class time.
Monday, Feb. 10, the New Prague School Board discussed a proposed policy requiring students not be allowed to use their phone during class time. The proposed policy will be considered during the spring and likely included in the student handbook for the 2025-2026 school year. The proposed policy is a reasonable start at governing an issue that unfortunately has become a problem.

Just when the Minnesota House of Representatives appears it cornered the market on the biggest circus since Ringling Bros.-Barnum and Bailey went dark in 2017, the Minnesota Senate made a bid for your attention.