In his inauguration address on Jan. 20, 1961, President John F Kennedy said, “Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.” Who knew that almost 60 years later, the most important thing that many of us could do is stay home?
No matter how we pray, as a community, as a country, COVID-19 brought us to our knees. Once the surreality of its scope and impact set in, we found ourselves praying for wisdom and courage and reasons to feel hopeful.
Looking toward the future of our state is a critically important part of our work at the state Capitol. There’s no better place to start this work than by addressing the needs of those who will witness the success of our efforts: Minnesota’s youngest learners. All children deserve a quality …
The legislative session has once again begun, and I am thrilled to be back at the capitol advocating for the people of Minnetonka and Eden Prairie. As your state senator, I understand it is an awesome responsibility to be your voice as my colleagues and I work to craft laws that improve the …
The 2020 legislative session begins Feb. 11 and I look forward to returning to the Capitol in St. Paul so we can begin addressing the vast array of challenges which await the Legislature’s return.
I hope the new year finds you and your family well. A new year should bring new goals, and with just six short weeks until the 2020 Legislative Session, I have had this at the forefront of my mind. Some of my top priorities for this year center on three issues you may be familiar with: emerg…
How should schools and places of learning be designed in the year 2030, 2040 or even 2050? VUCA is an acronym that is sometimes used to describe our future — volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. This future will present opportunities that we have not yet experienced. There will be job…
Lakeshore Weekly News is hosting its third annual holiday memories essay contest. Contest winners and honorable mentions will have their stories featured in the Dec. 26 issue of Lakeshore Weekly News. Here is one of those stories:
Lakeshore Weekly News is hosting its third annual holiday memories essay contest. Contest winners and honorable mentions will have their stories featured in the Dec. 26 issue of Lakeshore Weekly News. Here is one of those stories:
Lakeshore Weekly News is hosting its third annual holiday memories essay contest. Contest winners and honorable mentions will have their stories featured in the Dec. 26 issue of Lakeshore Weekly News. Here is one of those stories:
Lakeshore Weekly News is hosting its third annual holiday memories essay contest. Contest winners and honorable mentions will have their stories featured in the Dec. 26 issue of Lakeshore Weekly News. Here is one of those stories:
Lakeshore Weekly News is hosting its third annual holiday memories essay contest. Contest winners and honorable mentions will have their stories featured in the Dec. 26 issue of Lakeshore Weekly News. Here is one of those stories:
Lakeshore Weekly News is hosting its third annual holiday memories essay contest. Contest winners and honorable mentions will have their stories featured in the Dec. 26 issue of Lakeshore Weekly News. Here is one of those stories:
“Helen, what was your most memorable Christmas ever?” I asked my 86-year-old mother-in-law.
Last night (Dec. 16), as part of its regular meeting agenda, the Minnetonka City Council considered three special matters. They were recognitions of departing Council members Mike Happe, Tim Bergstedt and Bob Ellingson. It was a meaningful, somewhat emotional event. This letter is to thank e…
Lakeshore Weekly News is hosting its third annual holiday memories essay contest. Contest winners and honorable mentions will have their stories featured in the Dec. 26 issue of Lakeshore Weekly News. Here is one of those stories:
Earlier this year, when I met with leaders from several southern Minnesota rural electric cooperatives, their communities were still reeling from the devastating blizzards and high winds that knocked out hundreds of power lines across the region and left thousands of families and businesses …
A member of our Hopkins community recently emailed me after receiving the Hopkins Vision 2031 Roadmap. He told me that, even though his children had already graduated from Hopkins schools, education continues to be very important to him. He then shared that after carefully evaluating the Vis…
More often than not, when you see Orono Schools it is followed by “Where excellence is a tradition and a goal.”
June 15th marked World Elder Abuse Awareness Day as designated by the United Nations. And while this is a day to be especially mindful of the reality of this abuse, millions of older adults are forced to endure it daily.
Recreation by the waters of Lake Minnetonka had modest beginnings.
The science is clear: Carbon emissions sent into the atmosphere from a variety of human sources threaten to upend our economy, our health, our national security and our very way of life.
When the people of Plymouth sent me to St. Paul, I made a commitment to our community to find common ground to get the job done for the people of Minnesota. Working collectively to represent our values at the Capitol, one of the only divided legislatures in the country delivered on that prom…
I was 14 years old in 1980 when John Anderson, an Illinois Congressman and independent candidate for president, visited my middle school. Bright-eyed and a bit naive, it was the first time I’d ever seen a politician — those men in suits on television — in real life.
I’ve learned the lessons of depression the hard way. It’s something I experienced first in my late teens and then again in my 30s.
“You mean, you actually wash your kids’ fruit with special soap before they eat it?” I blurted.
The legislative session is just past its midpoint, and it’s been an incredible honor to represent Plymouth at the Capitol. House DFLers and I have advanced specific plans to lower the cost of prescription medications, end our opioid crisis, reduce distracted driving by requiring “hands-free”…
The bedrock of a strong democracy is the act of voting. Each citizen has the awesome responsibility to cast their ballot to choose our leaders and to create a government for the people by the people. It is easy to not vote, but that only leads to an alienated, apathetic, uneducated and uninf…
We’ve been talking a lot about Vision 2031, our new vision. In 2031, our current kindergartners will graduate from high school. What will places of learning look, sound, and feel like in 2025, 2030, or even 2035? In Hopkins, we are determined to imagine our future, and then create it. Why ar…
The first half of the 2019 legislative session is over and it’s been an honor to hear from residents in our communities while serving at the State Capitol.
It’s an exciting time at the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District, which has been working with the city of Edina on a major park restoration along Minnehaha Creek. The improvements at Arden Park will not only improve water quality and wildlife habitat, they will also enhance the park’s communi…
Don’t get too anticipatory about hearing the things I never told my parents. I lead a comparatively boring life now, and I always have. Yet, the things I never told my parents still make me wonder what my kids aren’t telling me.
The assignment for the fifth-graders at Excelsior Elementary School was a fun one, but somewhat complex: Build a machine, often referred to as a Rube Goldberg machine, that could transport a gift from Stuart Little, the talking mouse of book and movie fame, from one point to another.
Although there is still a lot of snow on the ground, I am excited to let you know about a new program that will be launching soon: Adopt a Drain! This metro-wide program will provide you an easy way to take steps in your own neighborhood to protect your local lake, river or stream from pollution.
In 2014, the Twin Cities saw the wettest first half of the year since modern day record keeping began in 1871. Coupled with a long winter and late snowmelt, this extreme precipitation led to record water levels and more than $1 million worth of erosion damage along the six main streams in th…
With the new year upon us, January is the perfect time to start building mindfulness into your daily routine. Mindfulness, which is essentially the practice of being present, brings with it an array of benefits — research shows that practicing mindfulness regularly improves our attention and…
Happy New Year, everybody. I hope you and your loved ones had an opportunity to step away from life as usual over the holidays, spend some quality time together, and count the blessings in your life.
Question: What do Peter Hitch, Steve Bohl, Joyce Leatherman, Peter Sellwood have in common? All are former employees at Ski Hut/Sports Hut. Quite a few family combos, too — sisters, brothers, mother/daughters, mother/sons.
It’s been a busy few months in the Six Mile Creek chain of lakes, where the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District and its partners have been hard at work reducing the number of common carp that are in the system. It’s the first phase of one of the metro’s largest habitat restoration projects, f…
Signs of fall are everywhere. The air is cooler, the animals are gathering food for winter, and the leaves are turning color and blanketing lawns. While we all seem to slow down this time of year, it’s actually the best time to do some annual lawn care to ensure a healthy lawn for next year.…
With the school year now officially underway, you’ve likely done everything you can to set your teen up for a successful year. Purchased all their school supplies? Check. Kept them on track with their grades and activities? Check. Scheduled conferences with their teachers? Check. But there’s…
We may be headed into fall colors, cooler weather and less daylight, but gardening doesn’t have to be all about preparing our garden beds for winter. There is still time to add native plants to your landscape to provide food and habitat for pollinators like bees and butterflies next spring a…
The 989-page legislation vetoed by Gov. Mark Dayton in May was a “garbage bill.” It contained thousands of unrelated budget and policy provisions covering a vast range of issues. It lacked transparency and prevented accountability. It also violated the Minnesota Constitution.
Sometimes it’s hard to feel like you can make a difference when you contemplate the issues that are affecting our environment and communities across the region, the country and the globe. But local action can truly make positive change that we can see and experience in our neighborhoods, our…
Our kids of all ages and all stages of development show up in our schools, streets and playing fields every day. Each of them a one-of-a-kind, unique-in-all-the-world, singular miracle of being and becoming. Any one of us who has ever loved any one of them has been privy to moments when the …
The writer of a letter in the July 19 issue about the proposed mountain bike trails at Lone Lake Park is off-base on several fronts, the first being the statement of “machine bike trails.”
The lakes and streams in the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District offer beauty, open space and numerous recreation opportunities.
It’s not often you can look at a calendar and know without question exactly where one of your direct ancestors were, what they were doing, and who they with 165 years ago. You could do it if you had your ancestor’s diary, but absent that, it would be kind of tough. I can do it.
Last week, after months of negotiations, Republican leadership in the House of Representatives finally scheduled a vote on common-sense immigration reform legislation.
