columns

I don’t suspect the Star-Observer will be unleashing a “drone attack photo” anytime soon, but like other technological innovations, it may be coming sooner than I think. I’m sure most everyone has seen examples of drones taking photos of various events. Drones, of course,...

Editor's note: This column has been edited to correct misinformation that appeared in June 19 print version of the Star-Observer. In the original version, reporter Randy Hanson said that Mayor Alan Burchill could veto rezoning St. Croix Meadows dog track property for school use if...

My bad vacation karma started back when I was 7 or 8 and I was left behind at the Mille Lacs Reservation Trading Post as my parents and six siblings drove away in our green and white 1955 Pontiac station wagon. As I stood there crying, a nice woman said they would be back for...

Up until recently I thought to have a large, discolored tooth would be a very bad thing – worse than double chins, gray eyebrows and copious amounts of facial hair. But I was wrong as I am so often when it comes to this brave new world of technology. It all started with my...

Sunday is the 12th annual Hudson Area Chamber of Commerce & Tourism Bureau's Spring Showcase. The event is at the Hudson Sports & Civic Center from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Some who have been around the community for a while may remember that the event is much older than 12 years –-...

My days are numbered. March 31 will be my last day as pastor of Mt. Zion Lutheran Church, 505 13th St., Hudson. Our family is relocating to Cincinnati, Ohio. For 10 years Hudson has been our home. What a blessing those years have been. Raising our three boys here has been a...

I was having lunch at work last week when somebody noted after something I said that maybe not everyone’s life is as “rosy” as mine. It shut me up, at least for a minute or so, but got me thinking nonetheless. At first I felt defensive – rosy, my life rosy. Let’s...

It isn’t that I don’t appreciate technology and all the things it has made easier in our lives. It’s just that I don’t think it is necessary to make me feel like an idiot getting there. I got a smart phone for Christmas. It was a decision I considered long and hard. It...

My wife said, “You did what?” I had just driven back in a blizzard from an informational meeting about St. Croix Electric Cooperative’s planned 88.5-kilowatt photovoltaic solar array. The meeting was at Ready Randy’s south of New Richmond. Maybe the name inspired...

In December, Senator Tom Coburn, Republican from Oklahoma, released his fourth edition of the Wastebook. It highlights 100 different examples of outrageous government spending, which amounted to nearly $30 billion dollars. “If these projects had been eliminated," according to...

Hudson businessman Ron Weiler and his son Ryan attended the Packer-49er game at Lambeau Field in Green Bay Sunday and he reported that, despite the cold weather, “it wasn’t too bad.” “Of course, we were prepared,” Ron said. The game time temperature was just above zero...