In a recent report, Lower St. Croix River authorities have noted an increase in boat traffic year-over-year for the last decade. While large stretches of the waterway remain relatively calm and open, ...

After a while, no one wants to look like a tourist. Experienced travelers will buy a hat in a local store, convinced that having the same head covering will somehow make them less conspicuous. They ...

Our son Graydon will be three years old in May. My wife Kylee and I have talked many times about how time has seemingly flown by while simultaneously crawling. It feels like he was just an infant ...

It’s been an interesting start to the second Trump administration. The president has hit the ground running, signing a large number of executive orders and testing the limits of the executive branch’s ...

Scandia’s newly reconstituted Economic Development Authority will have five citizen members and two elected city council members. The Scandia City Council last week appointed city residents Carolyn ...

Jim Birkholz never intended to become a farmer. “I was working for the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources and traveling all around the state meeting farmers and staff from Soil and Water ...

In response to the letter “Trump’s slash-n-burn approach” (Country Messenger, March 12, 2025), it must be pointed out that the referenced twenty-one employees who quit “saying they were refusing to ...

The Village Hall in downtown Marine on St. Croix is an iconic piece of the city’s history. In fact, it is the oldest village hall in the state of Minnesota that is still being used for governmental ...

The population among local municipalities may steadily increase in the coming years, but not enough to cause increased pressure in more rural communities. A recent Met Council study titled Imagine ...

Everything is on display when you’re ice fishing. It’s all right out there in the open. There is nothing to hide because you can see everyone outside fishing on the ice. Most importantly who’s ...

The Red Bridge is a beloved structure in Marine on St. Croix, and plans are underway to preserve its integrity going forward. The Marine on St. Croix City Council discussed recent survey results ...

How are you feeling after Daylight Saving Time last weekend? Have you bounced back from your lost hour of sleep? Or are still feeling groggy? Personally, I’m not a fan of Daylight Saving time. There, ...