School asked to acknowledge Martin Luther King Day as school holiday
Often there is no one in attendance during the period allotted for public comment before the School District 166 board meeting begins. However, on January 22, 2015, a parent spoke, giving an impassioned plea for the school to observe Martin Luther King Day as a holiday. Maureen O’Phelan told the board her four children had spent at least part of […]
County board discusses ARMER towers
Cook County Information System (IS) Director Rena Rogers came before the Cook County Board of Commissioners with an informational update about two planned Allied Radio Matrix Emergency Response (ARMER) towers that the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) plans to add in Cook County near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). One tower will be located approximately 3½ miles southeast […]
Hospital board to make decision on elective birth services
With every seat taken and people standing shoulder to shoulder or sitting in the aisles, the hospital board listened intently to speaker after speaker passionately—sometimes tearfully—explain why the hospital board shouldn’t vote to discontinue elective deliveries at the hospital. The audience, mostly women with young children in tow or many who are pregnant or of child bearing age, gathered in […]
Windshield wiper whining
It is amusing to hear the reaction of friends and relatives to the recent snowfall. Some folks are aghast at the precipitation. They don’t care that it is usually warmer when it snows or that new snow is certainly prettier than the dirty, off-white and gray stuff that was covering our streets and sidewalks. There are people who just don’t […]
Worried about decision to end labor and delivery services
I would like to write to you in concern of the ending of labor and delivery services here at the Cook County Hospital. As a concerned community member who had my first child here in five hours, it seriously worries me that I may not have the option to birth my future children in my own town. I feel every […]
Clinic and hospital work together—but are separate entities
I’d like to begin by saying I enjoy reading the Cook County News-Herald – for its informational and (near) correct reporting of the news. And I enjoy reading articles by Brian Larsen. Yet… In the reporting of Senator Franken’s visit to the Sawtooth Mountain Clinic (SMC) on January 17, 2015, several misconceptions were passed along to the public. As the […]
YMCA misses budget target by $260,000
Reading Mr. Holmberg’s Letter to the Editor, I thought he was right on target with the subsidies issue and dug out the January 3 News-Herald article claiming the YMCA finishes year with budget on target. After a closer look and simple mathematics, the YMCA had a net loss of over $260,000 ($220,000 plus $40,000 from previous year funding). What business […]
John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon delivering adventure
The hardy tradition of life in the Northwoods lives on in the men and women who participate in the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon. The 2015 race almost didn’t take place, but volunteers as determined as the mushers found a way to develop an alternate route and the 31st running of the Beargrease took place on schedule. Ryan Anderson of […]
