editorials

You get the impression Don Corrigan would have liked Larry Prieur, and not just because Don Corrigan seemed to like just about everyone. Corrigan, the longtime Rosemount businessman who died earlier this month, was the kind of guy who always seemed to have a minute to lend a hand....

On Saturday night, the community once again turned out in large numbers for the Farmington Fire Department’s annual Turkey Bingo fundraiser. Dedicated players started showing up more than an hour before play started, and well before the doors were even officially open. They packed...

Voters dropped a lot of work on the plates of school board members and district administrators in the Farmington and Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan school districts Tuesday, but you’re not likely to hear any complaints. After months of stating their cases, a successful bond vote...

Every year at election time the Independent Town Pages sends questions to the candidates who are seeking office. It’s hardly exhaustive, but we do it to help residents get at least a little more informed before they go to the polls in November. This year the only significant local...

Life has changed for Minnesota school districts in recent years. As districts cut programs and staff in an effort to balance budgets, they’re looking places they otherwise might never have looked to find funding. When the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan School District started selling...

The Farmington and Rosemount high school football teams played a game last Friday, and if all you looked at was the results on the field you would have missed a whole lot. The game was part of Farmington’s homecoming week, and it couldn’t have gone much worse for the Tigers....

There was an unsettling comment made Monday at a public meeting to discuss the Farmington School District’s upcoming levy and bond votes. During a discussion in which parents urged the district to do a better job of communicating the reasons for the votes, one participant suggested...

School is back in session this week in Farmington and Rosemount, which means students are out again in large numbers. They’re walking and biking to school and waiting for buses along city streets. That’s true these days more than ever. Schools have made an increased effort in...

Who said doing good deeds had to be boring? There are three local opportunities in September to raise money for good causes, and all three give participants a chance to have fun while they’re giving back. So, dust off your cowboy boots, your running shoes or both and get out to...

Last week the Farmington City Council approved a $40,000 contract with Hoisington Kogler Group to take a closer look at the city’s downtown district and figure out what can be done with it. That’s not a bad idea. The comment we hear over and over around town is that Farmington...

This was always a possibility. With this summer’s reconstruction of 195th Street, Dakota County took on a significant project. Crews had to tear up and rebuild an extended stretch of roadway. There will be three new roundabouts when everything is done. A new bike path. Even an underpass...

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is considering a change to fishing rules on the Vermillion River. They hope to draw more people to the aquatic and wildlife management areas near Farmington. We think it’s a great idea. The DNR has put a lot of time and effort into...

Elsewhere on this page, Rosemount mayor Bill Droste writes about the impact volunteers can have in the community. He offers as an example the work done earlier this month to put on Leprechaun Day, the city’s annual celebration. It’s a good example. Leprechaun Days volunteers...

We’re still not thrilled with the way they got there, but when Farmington School Board members made a decision Monday to ask voters to approve a $45 million building bond and a $433-per-student operating levy, it was the most sensible choice. We wrote last week about our problems...

The agenda for Monday’s Farmington School Board meeting suggested board members would make a decision that night about whether to ask voters to approve an operating levy and a building bond when they go to the polls in November. The decision has been a long time coming. It’s...