Editorial

Things are about to get interesting in the world of Farmington politics. The primaries are over, in the cases where they were held. The filing is closed. And voters are guaranteed to have some choices when they go to the polls in November. It didn't always look like that would be...

There has been no shortage of opportunities to celebrate community so far this summer. There have been block parties and neighborhood gatherings, events in the park and celebrations designed to bring the whole city together. They were all a lot of fun, but that was really just the...

When the Farmington School Board talked Monday night about the possibility of a conservation easement on part of the land it owns in Castle Rock Township, the focus was on doing the right thing. There just wasn't always agreement on what the right thing was. Does doing the right...

There are some interesting things happening these days along Highway 3. In what for years has seemed to be a troublesome corridor for business, there are signs that change is taking place. Perhaps the most obvious sign of that change is red and white and located in what was once...

On Saturday, Farmington residents will get one of the easiest opportunities they will ever have to give back to their community. Farmington postal workers will make their rounds as usual that day, but in addition to the dropping off they usually do, they plan to do some picking up....

On Sunday afternoon a group of nearly 200 Dakota County residents gathered to kick off a countywide effort to defeat a constitutional amendment that would outlaw same-sex marriage in Minnesota. It is the first such county-level gathering held in conjunction with a group called Minnesotans...

There is no shortage of learning opportunities in Farmington, and they come in all shapes and sizes. You don't have to look any farther than this week's edition of the Independent to see that. Consider the construction trades program in District 917. Featured on page 14A, the program...

It wasn't all that long ago that homecoming was a challenging time at Farmington High School. The weeklong celebration seemed to be less an opportunity to display school spirit and welcome alumni home than it was a chance for students to stay out late, toilet paper houses and, in...

A few weeks ago we talked in this space about the high quality of students in Farmington schools. But it's worth noting that it takes more than students and paid staff these days to keep a school running smoothly.

There will probably be people who see the Farmington School District's plan to commit more than $5 million over five years to improve technology districtwide and wonder why it is necessary. We didn't have fancy projectors and computers when I went through school, the argument always...

There could be some concern these days about the future of schools in District 192. With the district preparing for cuts of close to $2 million it will be difficult to maintain all of the programs currently available to students. But there is still reason for optimism. For all the...

Last week in this space we lamented that the Farmington School District received little of tangible value with its investigation of board member Tim Burke. The board censured Burke for his behavior, passed the information on the the county attorney and hoped Burke would change his...

This is going to be a difficult holiday season for a lot of people. You don't have to look farther than the foreclosure notices in this paper or the reports the unemployment rate to know that. In Farmington, the number of families signed up for the annual Toys for Town gift drive...

There has been a lot of concern in the newspaper business that the Internet will draw people away from the printed paper. That people prefer to get their news on a screen rather than on newsprint. That is less of a concern in the world of community newspapers, where a good web page...

Blight is never easy to get rid of, and it doesn't matter if you're in Farmington, Minneapolis or New York. Properties fall into disrepair because there is nobody either willing, able or available to care for them. The people who are able to fix them aren't the ones responsible, and...