We are here for you

Dear readers, advertisers and subscribers:
While we learn to live with the new normal in our community for the next several weeks, we are determined to make the best of it.
So, please be aware that the Rock County Star Herald remains committed to reporting on news and information that offers glimpses of our community a week at a time … every week, every month, every year. As we have for nearly 150 years.
We plan to continue our normal publication schedule for the Rock County Star Herald and the Luverne Announcer, despite the fact that our coverage of community events and activities looks anything but normal.  And we’ll continue sharing news online at www.star-herald.com — for free — during the coronavirus stay-at-home order to make sure everyone has access to the important updates.  (Of course, a subscription to support our work is appreciated.)
Knowledge is power, and as we spend less time in face-to-face dialogue with each other, publications like ours can help maintain the sense of community we share. We need to share good news with each other, so that while our community is honestly aware of the challenges we face, we can still be uplifted by our continued joys and successes. That is what community newspapers do. Connect community members … with shared experiences, both good and bad.
We ask that you keep us posted on the news in your world at editor@star-herald.com. Especially your good news, but also your heartaches. Because that’s how life is — good and bad.
Accuracy matters more than ever.
Because the pandemic is the most talked-about event of our time, it is also the least accurately talked-about event of our time.
We encourage you to do what good journalists do and go to the primary sources of information as directly as possible. For more information on the virus — symptoms, preventative measures and recommendations — go to the CDC website at CDC.gov.
A final word.
Tomorrow will belong to those who make the best use of their time today. Change, even unwelcome change, brings opportunities. New ways of doing things will present themselves.
Those who use this uncomfortable time to observe the changes and prepare for their effects will be far more likely to find prosperity on the other side. Stay healthy, stay vigilant and never allow complacency to set in.
We wish good health to our readers and advertisers and look forward to the day we can shake hands with you again amid new opportunities awaiting us on the other side of this crisis.