column
By Lori Sorenson, editorJanuary 14, 2026Many workplaces are like families. And the lucky ones are happy families. It makes sense if you think about it — we often spend more time with our co-workers than we do with our own family members. But, unlike real families, we don’t expect we’ll be with our co-workers for a lifetime. There’s a general understanding someone will end up leaving our workplace family for some reason or another…- By Rev. Dr. Steven Voris, First Presbyterian Church, LuverneJanuary 14, 2026In their 2023 book, The Great Dechurching, Jim Davis and Michael Graham point out that 40 million adults used to go to church in the United States but no longer do. They list a plethora of reasons people used for quitting church, including bad experiences with church leadership, mingling of faith and politics, loss of faith, simply not looking for a new church after a move, intolerance of…
By Mavis Fodness, reporterJanuary 07, 2026Twenty-one percent of U.S. adults ages 50 and older (about 24 million people) now live alone. They are “aging alone because they live without a spouse or partner or anyone else under the same roof,” according to an AARP magazine article I read from beginning to end, because I’m now one of these statistics. As 2026 began, I’m among the growing number of people aging solo due to a death of a…
By Rick Peterson, General ManagerJanuary 07, 2026Mary and I aren’t what you would call moviegoers. From our first date in 1976 and currently closing in on nearly 49 years of marriage in 2026, we have seen maybe four movies, and No. 4 happened on New Year’s Day. We both had seen trailers of the movie “Song Sung Blue” and thought this is one we would both enjoy. At 12: 15 p.m. on New Year’s Day I mentioned that “Song Sung Blue” was playing at…
By Scott Rall, Outdoors ColumnistJanuary 07, 2026To some folks these two words are pretty scary. These two words are “silencers” and “suppressors.” To others they are just the common names for a firearm accessory. Suppressors or silencers were heavily regulated starting in 1934. This intense regulation was to prevent criminal and others of ill intent during the days of prohibition. They were and are still regulated as an NFA item. NFA stands…
By Brenda Winter, ColumnistDecember 30, 2025As Jim and I reviewed our personal highlights of 2025, we were amused to conclude the year's "best" was the wooden patio screen we built from repurposed hog barn lumber. Seeds for the patio project were planted when we concluded something was needed to shield the patio from the comings and goings of the busy city park behind our house. We studied what we consider to be Luverne's best mid-…
By Scott Rall, Outdoors ColumnistDecember 30, 2025I really need someone to tell how much it is going to snow this winter. We got snow early on and in one weekend hunting pheasants in South Dakota it made it all the way to 12 below zero. I have a dog box equipped to handle this but it did not keep from checking on them several times throughout the night. The snow in this location was so deep that a group of 4 gave up after one morning of hunting…
By Calla Jarvie, Rock County Library DirectorDecember 30, 2025Happy 2026! The Rock County Community Library wishes you the best year to come. Did any of you make a New Year’s resolution? Mine is to finally reach my Goodreads reading goal. I always start off really strong, dip a little in the spring, rebound in the summer and early fall and then just crash and burn. This year, my goal was to read 75 books. I made it to 70. Close, but no cigar. Whatever…
By Lori Sorenson, editorDecember 23, 2025I enjoy seeing the variety of Christmas trees this time of year as people’s personal tastes and holiday spirit are expressed in their choice of lights and ornaments on the branches. Many are truly beautiful, and I marvel at the creative investment in each of them. My tree is also beautiful, in its own homemade sort of way. When the kids were little, they made ornaments in Sunday school and…
By Rick Peterson, General ManagerDecember 23, 2025It’s not often that my column hits the stands and mailbox the day before Christmas. So, I thought I would take the opportunity to share a few of my Christmas memories from childhood to grandpa-hood. My earliest childhood memories of Christmas date back to the late 1960s and very early 1970s. The Peterson family Christmas schedule was the same year after year. There was the Christmas Eve church…
By Mavis Fodness, reporterDecember 17, 2025My youngest child was married Saturday in an early evening ceremony in southern California. The event brought a little glimmer of happiness to my days that have been overshadowed with grief at the loss of his dad five months ago. As I sat watching Adam and Adriana exchange vows, I reflected on those two weeks in July — of waiting in the hospital for hopeful news followed by Bryan’s visitation…
By Rick Peterson, General ManagerDecember 09, 2025There are only about three weeks left in the 2025 pheasant hunting season, and due to some mobility issues, I haven’t hunted once this season. However, I have hunted vicariously through other hunters’ Facebook posts and watching YouTube videos. By all accounts from the locals, I am missing out on a banner year of available roosters. Jeff Haubrich had a recent Facebook post where he shared what…
By Scott Rall, Outdoors ColumnistDecember 09, 2025As soon as Thanksgiving has come and gone, it is the Christmas shuffle that creeps up on me. I do not wait until the last day or two, but I am never way ahead of time. I get a bad taste in my mouth when I must default to a gift certificate when all else fails or the procrastination overcomes me. I am a “consumable-product-gift” kind of guy. Buying a gift that sits on a shelf or hangs on a wall…
By Lori Sorenson, editorDecember 03, 2025This week’s Star Herald went to press without the trusty guidance of our proofreader, Esther Frakes, who retired after our Nov. 26 edition. We have smart and capable staff who are assuming Esther’s duties, but we are all nervous about carrying on without her. For 21 years, we’ve enjoyed the assurance of Esther’s eagle eyes on our final drafts before press time. Her job was to catch errors in…
By Mavis Fodness, reporterNovember 25, 2025Over the decades, Thanksgiving has become my favorite holiday. It’s a day where I’ve stayed home, and Bryan and I would prepare a Thanksgiving dinner. We grew to be partners in the kitchen, each of us preparing a portion of the meal. At first, the guest list included only grandparents, but it grew to include our four children and my sister’s family. We’ve served as many as 20 people in our…
By Rick Peterson, general managerNovember 25, 2025Last weekend The Blue Mounds State Park was closed to the public because of the annual youth deer hunt. Ten hunters between the ages of 12 and 15 spent the weekend trying to harvest a deer. Each of the hunters along with an adult mentor, generally a parent or grandparent, spent the time in pre-determined hunting zones. Only the youth hunters were allowed to harvest a deer. This will be the…
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