Editorials

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is considering a change to fishing rules on the Vermillion River. They hope to draw more people to the aquatic and wildlife management areas near Farmington. We think it’s a great idea. The DNR has put a lot of time and effort...

Putting on a big community event takes a lot of work.

The first thing Andrea Langworthy ever wrote to this newspaper was a complaint. A column we’d ran had less than glowing things to say about a particular car salesman, and Andrea, the first female car salesperson in the state back in 1976, stood up for the man. A while...

Seniors graduate from Farmington and Rosemount high schools this week. Summer is officially under way, and things are about to get busy around here. Farmington’s Dew Days, filled with bed races, rib cookoffs and more, is just 12 days away.

Most people will have the day off of work Monday, but Memorial Day is not a holiday about barbecues or yard work or an afternoon on the boat. As the name suggests, it’s a day to remember. Primarily that means remembering the men and women who have fought and died in service...

We put a lot of work into this newspaper every week, and we like to know people are reading it. It used to be a pretty simple transaction. We’d print the paper and deliver it to readers’ mailboxes, and they’d sit down to read it. The growing prominence of the Internet...

Rosemount has lost a treasure. Myron Napper passed away on April 18 and his death means the loss of a resident who was outspoken and fought for what he believed in. Napper, in his old work jeans and suspenders, was an active citizen who embraced his role as part of a democratic...

The city of Rosemount has put a lot of work in recent years into becoming a more sustainable city. It has built infrastructure to become more bike-friendly, added community gardens in several parks and managed park space so nearly everyone in the city is within walking distance of...

Look around your neighborhood and the numbers might surprise you. The food shelf at the Rosemount Family Resource Center serves 500 people a month. Farmington’s food shelf serves more than 1,200 per year. That’s a lot of need, even in communities where that need is not always...

When the federal government swooped into Rosemount 63 years ago to acquire land for its Gopher Ordnance Works, it threw hundreds of local lives into turmoil. Some farmers lost land that had been in the family for generations. They were forced to relocate family, livestock and...

There is a quote that stands out in this week’s edition of the Independent Town Pages. It’s in a story about a resident’s effort to have a mural built at Farmington’s Schmitz-Maki Arena, and it’s essence is that you might be surprised what you can accomplish if you’re...

Rosemount city officials have long argued it’s a matter of when, not if emerald ash borers shows up in local trees. Now, with the insect spotted in nearby Lebanon Hills Regional Park, it appears that arrival date is nearer than ever. Farmington and Rosemount have already started...

It’s not entirely accurate to say the start of a new year brings a clean slate in Farmington and Rosemount. There are projects started in 2014 that will continue or conclude in 2015. Groundwork already in place will pay off in a few weeks or a few months. But the arrival of...