March is Women’s History Month, which is both a time to look back at the incredible accomplishments of women in the history of our country, but also a time to celebrate women who are doing amazing things today. At Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation (SMIF), we know that there are countless women who make our region thrive. I’d like to take a moment to highlight several of these women today.

No matter where you look it seems like there is always a lot of negative news and information out there.
Dodge County saw two events this Saturday that put a more positive spin on the world.
The first was the Dodge County Expo.

Remember when you were a kid, and you couldn’t wait for your birthday? Well, I can wait.
Somewhere along the way, the anticipation of an upcoming birthday has faded.
Recently, while having coffee after church, we were seated at the same table with several other couples. The wife of one of the couples was a former student of mine. She said she also was not eager to have her next birthday because she was turning 60.

Last week marked the midpoint of the 2023 Legislative Session! And it has indeed been a fast and furious session.
Our Founding Fathers did not intend it to be easy to enact laws and wisely provided that each Legislative Body act as a check on the other — to prevent bills from passing into law too quickly and without thorough discussion and consideration and the citizen involvement that comes with that.

Last week Minnesota State Senator Steve Drazkowski (R-District 20) raised eyebrows when he declared on the Senate floor that he had “yet to meet a person in Minnesota that is hungry.” He made the comment during debate prior to the vote on a bill to provide free lunches to all school students regardless of the parent’s financial condition.

At the end of February, “60 Minutes” featured a story about life in the city of Kherson in Ukraine. While once under Russian occupation, they had driven the Russian army out but they had only retreated across the river.
From this position, the Russians regularly bombarded the city with tanks and artillery. You would think the prudent thing for the people to do would be to evacuate their town. But they weren’t willing to give in.