The content of public words and actions combined with a person’s/organization’s overall words and actions in private matters in the political realm, whose words and actions affect the lives of every person within that country.

If you’re a baseball fan, they say the best four words each spring are ‘Pitchers and catchers report’ to spring training. Each spring, when professional baseball players show up for spring training, it’s a sign we’ve survived another winter, that the best of our climate is yet to come and there is hope for better days ahead.

As of this month, I have been in New Prague working for The New Prague Times for 25 years.
In the last few months, I’ve had a few people mention they remembered when I started. One person said they remembered how black my hair was then. At the time I started, I was 31. Someone recently asked how old I was now and when I told them, they were surprised.

I can recall a number of naughty things I have done over my earlier childhood years when left to my own devices. Usually, these instances of mischief would come from being with the company of another friend in the same boat. Both of the following stories come from about the same age period of about 12 years old or so — give or take a year or two. It’s been about 30 years since then so forgive me if I don’t remember.
 
Flame broiled

You know the penny dishes originally intended for folks to use a penny or two rather than breaking a dollar bill. You take a few pennies when you need ‘em and leave a few when you have extra.

There used to be a baseball stadium along the Minnesota River in Shakopee, at the north end of the old Holmes Street bridge.
It’s the same bridge where, local legend has it, a man flew a small airplane under the bridge to win the affections of a local young lady. Such a feat today would be considered insanity since the level of the river is much higher than it reportedly was back in those days.

This week marks 248 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, when the American colonies declared themselves free from the United Kingdom. Many people will be celebrating it by spending time with family, friends and with fireworks capping the day.

The time has come for school districts to put their feet down. It’s time to consider banning cell phones in schools, especially the high school. No, this isn’t about what books, videos or information is made available to students. The time to ban cell phones in schools, New Prague Schools, in this case, has arrived.

A few weeks back, the New Prague Area School Board discussed the notion of once again asking voters to approve some form of levy increase, possibly a blend of levy and capital projects referendum.
The district has had two separate levy requests rejected, a two-part question in 2022 and a levy increase alone in 2023.

Even here in New Prague, we’ve started to see a few of the new state flags flying, some of them so new you can still see the crease marks from where they were folded for packaging.

Many Minnesota partisans have recently been saying out loud what many of us have said for years: Precinct caucuses are a major contributor to the angry, political division permeating politics today.

We acquired a .22-caliber handgun for dispatching unwanted animals from the barn. Fortunately, we gave it away before ever needing to use it. We were always taught every gun is always loaded unless you personally see it is not loaded. The point of such counsel was to prevent the unthinkable. The advice came from an older brother, who owned many handguns all properly stored in a secured gun locker separate from ammunition.

For more than 24 years I’ve been covering the news in New Prague. There’s been the good and the bad and plenty of events. There’s been events where friends and neighbors gather to help someone in town. This weekend, I was at the grand march for New Prague High School’s prom. This coming weekend, I likely will be at Run New Prague, the 39th year of the event.

MVEC remains grounded amidst industry changes
 
Jordan, Minn. – While the energy sector is facing many changes in the coming years, Minnesota Valley Electric Cooperative’s focus will always remain on putting members first and the unique needs of the co-op’s service area in 2024.

OK, we’ve just enjoyed the wimpiest winter in recent memory. It came after a brutal winter the previous year, a winter reminiscent of the early-1980s. It chased us from the country into town.
We had two, maybe three snowfalls worth noting this winter. We didn’t even have to endure the mid-January cold snaps folks always seem to be surprised by even though they are the stuff calendars can be set by. The point is, this is a bonus spring. Sure, it’s been a bit damp of late, but that’ll help our friends on the farm and help the lawns green up.

Taking public notices for schools out of newspapers would hurt public
A significant discussion is taking place at the state legislature in reaction to the recent announcement that eight community newspapers will close at the end of the month.
Under a proposal in the Senate Education Policy Omnibus bill (SF 3567), school districts would no longer be required to publish their proceedings in newspapers and could instead move them to their own websites.