Articles

For Farmington area cemeteries, a struggle to survive

Castle Rock Valley Cemetery is a peaceful place on a sunny spring afternoon. The rows of stone monuments are arranged on a low hill surrounded by farm fields, the grass neatly trimmed and greenery dots a landscaped area at the property’s entrance. It’s picturesque, but the group that manages the cemetery’s operations are increasingly worried about how long they can keep it that way.

• Photo:Castle Rock Cemetery

Shidor will expand its downtown Farmington location

Sometime between now and the first week of June, Shidor, a secondhand store located at the corner of Third and Oak streets, will move half a block south to a new location. The new spot, a former Dueber’s department store most recently occupied by a pair of churches, is twice the store’s current size.

Thompson, Garofalo have mixed opinions on session

Farmington’s representatives at the Minnesota capitol were on opposite sides of the highest-profile issue of the recently completed legislative session. Rep. Pat Garofalo voted for the bill that provided state funding for a new Minnesota Vikings stadium. Sen. Dave Thompson voted against it.

ISD 192 school board OKs first iPad purchases

The iPads are coming. Well, some of them are, anyway. The Farmington School Board voted unanimously Monday to spend $303,684 on a three-year lease for 630 iPad 2s, eight classroom carts and software to outfit all of the district’s teachers over the summer.

Trinity Lutheran Church will celebrate its 75th anniversary throughout 2012

Back at the beginning, Farmington’s Trinity Lutheran Church didn’t look much like it does today. There was no big stone building. There was no building at all, actually. Early on, there wasn’t even a name. There was just a pastor, six families and a few locations around town where church members could meet.

• Photo: Trinity Lutheran Church

School District 192 superintendent’s cabinet gets a new look

The Farmington School Board restructured superintendent Jay Haugen’s cabinet Monday night, eliminating four positions and replacing them with at least one and probably more.

School district approves first iPad purchase

The iPads are coming. Well, at least some of them. The Farmington School Board voted unanimously Monday to spend $303,684 on a three-year lease for 630 iPad 2s, eight classroom carts and software to outfit all of the district’s teachers over the summer. It is the first step in a process that could eventually put one of the popular tablet computers in the hands of every student in the district.

Farmington School District eliminates assistant superintendent, other positions

The Farmington School Board restructured superintendent Jay Haugen’s cabinet Monday night, eliminating four positions and replacing them with at least one and probably more.

Farmington woman learned to love the life of a pastor’s wife

Jeanne Trygstad took some convincing when the young man she’d been seeing asked her to be his wife. He asked once, and she said no. He asked a second time, and she turned him down again.

• Photo: Jeanne Trygstad

Attaboy Ride for men's cancers will start in Farmington June 17

In Kari Mitchell’s world, the bicycle is a powerful tool in the fight to do good. For the past four years, she has run a charity bike ride to raise money for breast cancer charities. Now she’s turning her attention to men and bringing her bikes to Farmington.

Columns

Column: Passing time at Target Field

A couple of weeks ago I made my first trip to Target Field for a Twins game. I gather I was about two years too late to catch anything resembling a quality home team, but, hey, the tickets were free. And while it’s not easy to tell from the photo I took, they were in fact in the stadium.

Column: Nice ride, worms and all

I had a worm stuck to my forehead Sunday afternoon. It wasn’t for long. And it wasn’t on purpose. I haven’t joined a strange new worm-face cult. Although, maybe that’s not a bad idea. We could wear pink jumpsuits and roll around in the dirt. But, I digress.

Column: The future of time-wasting toys

There was a time, and it wasn’t all that long ago, when I would have told you I didn’t need an iPad. I might have told you I really, really wanted one. That each new generation was shinier and faster and looked even more than its predecessor like the absolute best option for reading magazines in the bathroom.

Column: Attack of the robot reporters

There are a lot of challenges for newspaper employees these day. Subscriptions are declining as people get used to reading their news online for free.

Column: It’s all yours for the claiming

In honor of my first significant outdoor bike ride of the year, I’d like to take a moment to talk about a true pioneer in the bicycling world. Dan Henry, who died earlier this month at the age of 99, has made a number of important contributions to bicycling culture. He did early work on suspension systems for bicycles, and he created something called the sling saddle, which is a little like a hammock for your bike.

Nathan's column: Waiting with bated breath

By the time you read this column, nerds all around the world should know exactly what features the latest version of Apple’s incredibly popular iPad tablet will have to offer. Actually, depending on how diligent you are about getting to your newspaper, we might be well on our way to guessing what the iPad 4 will bring to the table.

Column: It was a super experience

The Super Bowl took place last Sunday. You probably knew that. It’s been discussed. If you didn’t know, maybe you could use some catching up. Let’s start at the beginning.

Column: Grappling with a fruit problem

You could say I have an aspirational relationship with fresh fruit. I’m not sure exactly why you’d say that, there being a nearly infinite selection of conversational topics more interesting than my attitude toward produce. But were you to say it, it would be accurate.

Column: Winter has to come sometime

A little more than two months ago I wrote in this space about the arrival of winter in Minnesota and the predictable howls of disappointment and surprise that accompanied it.

Column: Perfecting the self image

We all have mental pictures of ourselves that are just a little bit out of touch with reality. It’s not that we’re deluded. We just have an idealized image of ourselves. Maybe we imagine we’re a little bit smarter or better looking than we actually are.