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The northern lights were scarce, but trip to Iceland was fantastic anyway

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:42:00 GMT

Last summer, I woke to the sounds of my family oohing and aahing as they watched the northern lights dance across a lake in Wisconsin. I had never seen this atmospheric phenomenon before, so I ran down to the dock and looked over the water. The sky was so vibrant green that I felt like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz looking out at the Emerald City. It was magical. I was so excited that I shared my photos with everyone.My neighbor made a print of the picture on canvas so I could look at the lights all summer. My sister’s boyfriend gave me a coffee cup for Christmas that lights up with the northern lights when hot coffee gets poured into it. Needless to say, I was hooked, so traveling over the rainbow to Iceland to get a closer look was no surprise to anyone.Iceland BoundThe northern lights, as viewed from Iceland. (Lori Swanson / Pioneer Press)My travel group consisted of two girlfriends and my sister, all on the same quest to see the northern lights in all their vibrant glory. We were ...

Medical debt relief in St. Paul: How will it work?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:42:00 GMT

Working through at least a handful of hospitals and health care providers, St. Paul is poised next year to cancel out $110 million in hard-to-collect medical debt held by some 43,000 city residents, a first for Minnesota.To purchase the debt, the city will use $1.1 million in unspent federal relief money from the American Rescue Plan, congressional funding that bailed out cities and counties during the pandemic. Every $1 will buy $100 in “dormant” or “terminal bad debt” for qualifying residents, allowing a nonprofit partner to zero out the debt entirely.“It’s difficult to go back to a hospital where you know you owe $1,000,” said Keith Hearle, a coordinator with RIP Medical Debt, the New York-based nonprofit overseeing debt relief efforts in some 30 cities and counties. “We get testimonials back from people that we’ve helped. You can’t imagine the amount of relief people feel when some of these medical debts disappear.̶...

Stillwater sisters held warden’s assistant job for 46 years. Now their time is up.

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:42:00 GMT

Penny Anderson Karasch was the first of the Anderson girls to get a job with the Minnesota Department of Corrections.It was March 1973, and Penny, then 19, was hired to work in the steno pool at the Minnesota Correctional Facility-Stillwater.“I loved it,” she said. “I took three years of typing in high school, and I really liked it. I typed all the initial intake reports on offenders. It was interesting, typing that stuff, and it paid pretty well.”She worked her way up to become supervisor of the steno pool. In 1977, she became Warden Frank Wood’s executive assistant.Three years later, Wood was chosen to be warden of the soon-to-be-built maximum-security prison in Oak Park Heights. Wood oversaw staffing and planning for the site – with Karasch’s help.“He and I went to this little house on the farm (at the Stillwater prison) with some other people, and we did the planning for Oak Park Heights out of there,” she said. The Minnesota Correctional Facility-Oak Park Heights opened in 1982...

Literary calendar for week of Dec. 17

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:42:00 GMT

Laura Childs Courtesy photo)MINNESOTA MYSTERY NIGHT: Laura Childs, prolific and bestselling cozy mystery author, is joined by humorist and author Lorna Landvik for what is sure to be a laugh-filled program featuring these Minnesotans. Childs is the author of 26 Tea Shop mysteries and is listed by Fantastic Fiction as one of the Most Popular Cozy Mystery Authors in the world. Landvik is a New York Times bestselling author of 13 novels as well as performing as a standup comic, playwright and producer.Minnesota writer Lorna Landvik.7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 18, Axel’s Restaurant, 1318 Sibley Memorial Highway, Mendota. Reservations can be made at 651-686-1840 for the program and pre-show dining beginning at 5:30 p.m.READINGS BY WRITERS: Ann Jenkins, wife of the late Minnesota poet Louis Jenkins, and Lars Jenkins, his son, celebrate “Louis Jenkins: Collected Poems” (2023). Guest readers will share memories of Jenkins and read from his work. They include Michael Dennis Browne,...

Skywatch: A celestial Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:42:00 GMT

Is that Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in the stars? Not exactly, but I’m going to try to give you the closest thing in the night sky that has something to do with the magic of Rudolph.The stories of most of the brighter constellations in our night skies involve Greek and Roman mythology, so it’s tough to find one that has much to do with Christmas or reindeer. Monoceros the Unicorn is the only one that even comes close, but it’s a really faint, deep-track constellation. It resembles a radio or TV antenna rising in the eastern sky on these mid-December evenings, just behind the majestic, well-known winter constellation Orion the Hunter.(Mike Lynch)A constellation on the rise in the evening this time of year doesn’t have a red nose like Rudolph, but he does have a bright red eye. It’s Taurus the Bull, prowling around the heavens almost all night at this most wonderful time of year. It’s a small but distinct constellation that’s part of a grou...

Ultralight outdoor gear store in St. Paul finds success uplifting small businesses

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:42:00 GMT

Despite being around for more than a decade, Lloyd Vogel said his outdoor gear store is a relatively hidden gem in St. Paul, getting maybe 10 in-store shoppers a day.Garage Grown Gear specializes in ultralight outdoor equipment. It doesn’t sell Patagonia, North Face or Marmot. Nearly all of its inventory comes from small businesses or “cottage brands,” as co-founder and CEO Vogel calls them.Ultralight backpacking takes a minimalist approach to hiking with the lightest equipment possible, and operates on the idea that the journey to your destination doesn’t have to be uncomfortable.This means lightweight backpacks, cooking equipment and poop trowels. Ultralight backpackers know what they need for their adventures and what they can leave behind, and are comfortable with creating their own solutions.The minimalist approach is reflected in the business model.Most of the brands stocked at Garage Grown Gear are from very small businesses that don’t even think of themselves as “brand...

Ask Amy: Family is stressed by elder’s inaction

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:42:00 GMT

Dear Amy: My father-in-law died about five years ago. My in-laws were married for 45 years.My mother-in-law is 80 and insists on living in her own house.She expects us to help with her house. Anytime anything breaks, needs fixing or work needs to be done, she expects us to tend to the issue.We both work full-time jobs and change shifts every six months.We have our own home, four acres of property to maintain, three horses and three dogs to care for. It’s not that we don’t want to help. We just don’t have time!We’ve asked her to move in with us many times, but she refuses.She is not independent.She has never learned to drive, so she has to rely on various friends or neighbors to take her shopping and/or to doctors’ appointments.Soon, we are moving out of state, and she is coming with us.For the past five years I’ve been telling her that she needs to start clearing out her house. We are now a few months from moving and she has done nothing.We are busy try...

Bridge: Dec. 17, 2023

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:42:00 GMT

A pessimist sees a tunnel; an optimist sees a light at the end of the tunnel. A realist sees a train approaching. And, according to Cy the Cynic, the engineer sees three idiots standing on the track.When I watched today’s deal in my club’s penny game, Cy became declarer at four hearts. His second bid of three hearts was competitive, not forcing, but North inferred from his spade holding that Cy’s hand was short in spades; so North optimistically raised to game.Alas, Cy’s play was neither optimistic nor realistic. When West led a spade, East won and shifted to his singleton queen of clubs. West took the ace and led the jack, and Cy scowled when East ruffed dummy’s king. Cy ruffed the next spade, led to the ace of trumps and returned a trump. When East followed with the eight and nine, the Cynic consulted the ceiling … and put up his king. Alas, West discarded, and East’s queen won the setting trick.“It was a clean guess in trumps,”...

Japan and ASEAN bolster ties at a summit focused on security and economy amid tensions with China

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:42:00 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Leaders from Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, at a special summit in Tokyo on Sunday, adopted a joint vision that emphasizes security and economic cooperation while respecting the rule of law, amid growing tensions with China in regional seas.Ties between Japan and the 10-member ASEAN bloc used to be largely based on Japanese assistance to the developing economies, in part due to lingering bitterness over Japan’s wartime actions. But in recent years the relationship has focused more on security amid China’s growing assertiveness in the South China Sea, while Japan’s postwar pacifist stance and trust-building efforts have fostered friendlier relations.The summit marks the 50th anniversary of official Japan-ASEAN ties, which started in 1973 with trade talks over Japanese synthetic rubber exportsThe leaders, in a joint statement, called for strengthening their “mutually beneficial” partnership and working together for peace and stability in the Indo-Pa...

Los servicios de salud mental de Israel no pueden hacer frente al trauma masivo del 7 de octubre. Los voluntarios están tratando de llenar los vacíos

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:42:00 GMT

(CNN) — Cuando Marina Golan viajó a Ucrania a principios de este año, fue una experiencia emotiva. Ahora, con 42 años y madre de dos hijos, había abandonado el país cuando era adolescente cuando su familia emigró a Israel.Golan formaba parte de una delegación de psicólogos israelíes que se habían ofrecido como voluntarios para apoyar al país devastado por la guerra con su experiencia en el tratamiento del trauma.Mientras estuvieron allí, impartieron talleres a médicos y profesores sobre el manejo psicológico del trauma.“Fue muy emotivo y sentí que estábamos haciendo cosas muy importantes. Nuestros colegas en Ucrania no tenían este tipo de conocimiento, así que nos estaban muy agradecidos”, dijo Golan a CNN en una entrevista telefónica.Apenas unas semanas después, la situación se revirtió. “Cuando comenzó la guerra (Israel-Hamas) recibí mensajes de mis colegas en Ucrania preguntándome si necesitaba su ayuda ahora”, contó Golan.Al igual que otros profesionales de la ...