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Readers and writers: Author digs into family’s intersection with legendary Hormel swindle

Published Tue, 04 Mar 2025 11:07:44 GMT

Gretchen Cherington might be a wealthy woman today as a stockholder in the $11 billion Hormel Foods Corp., if only Hormel hadn’t been robbed of $1.2 million by a company executive who was found out in 1921. The business, known then as Geo. A. Hormel & Co., almost didn’t survive. It left her grandfather bankrupt.Gretchen Cherington launches her new book, “The Butcher, the Embezzler, and the Fall Guy,” about how her grandfather lost his fortune to an embezzler in the Hormel company. (Gretchen Cherington)Cherington’s new memoir, “The Butcher, the Embezzler, and the Fall Guy” (She Writes Press, $17.95), is the engrossing, well-told story of the entwined lives of three ambitious men living in Austin, Minn., in the early 20th-century glory days of entrepreneurs.“The Butcher” is George Hormel, a German American who could “cleave a hog with a single blow,” innovative founder of a company in 1891 that sold good meats that ...

40 years later, Burnsville-based Northern Tool brings its first product into the battery-powered age

Published Tue, 04 Mar 2025 11:07:44 GMT

What began as a single build-it-yourself product out of a garage in Eagan has grown to a billion-dollar multi-channel retailer with 130 stores.Northern Tool + Equipment is celebrating more than 40 years in business by updating its flagship product that Minnesotans know all too well: the log splitter.Don Kotula, founder of Burnsville-based Northern Tool + Equipment uses the company’s original log splitter (undated). The retailer debuted its new battery-powered log splitter in June 2023. (Courtesy of Northern Tool + Equipment)Don Kotula started his family-owned company, first known as Northern Hydraulics, in 1981 with a log splitter that customers had to build themselves. This month, his sons and now co-owners Ryan and Wade Kotula launched the company’s first battery-powered log splitter.“We are getting back to our roots and what started the company,” said Ryan Kotula.Headquartered in Burnsville, Northern Tool sells tools and equipment online, mostly to trades professionals, and...

‘Ladies from the River’ — including 2 Minnesotans — resume their canoe trek to Hudson Bay

Published Tue, 04 Mar 2025 11:07:44 GMT

“The Ladies from the River” are back on the water — this time in Manitoba — and if all goes according to plan, they’ll reach the First Nations settlement of Norway House at the north end of Lake Winnipeg sometime in July.I first wrote about “The Ladies from the River” — Anne Sherve-Ose of Williams, Iowa; Deb White of Rosemount; and Deb Knutson of Owatonna, Minn. — last summer when they embarked on the first leg of a canoe trip from Lake Traverse to Hudson Bay.With the Sorlie Bridge in the background, “The Ladies from the River” – from left, Anne Sherve-Ose, Deb Knutson and Deb White – enjoyed the luxury of eating in a restaurant June 21, 2022, after paddling into East Grand Forks, Minn. The women were on the homestretch of a canoe trip that began June 9, 2022, on Lake Traverse and took them down the U.S. portion of the Red River to the Manitoba border at Pembina, N.D. (Brad Dokken / Forum News Service)Sherve-Ose said they decided to paddle to Hudson Bay as a sequel, of sorts, to a c...

Skywatch: Here comes summer

Published Tue, 04 Mar 2025 11:07:44 GMT

The summer of 2023 begins this coming Wednesday morning at 9:58, at least astronomically. Astronomers call this the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. On Wednesday, the sun reaches its highest height in our sky. It all has to do with the inclination or tilt of Earth’s axis as it orbits the sun. On the summer solstice day, the northern hemisphere is tilted to the maximum toward the sun’s most direct rays. At noon, the sun shines directly overhead along the Tropic of Cancer at a latitude of 23.5 degrees north of the equator. In southern Minnesota and Western Wisconsin around 45 degrees north latitude, our noontime sun won’t be quite at the zenith, but it will be close at nearly 70 degrees above the southern horizon.(Mike Lynch)On Wednesday, the sun will take a very long and very high arc across the sky. It will rise in the northeast at 5:26 a.m. and set in the northwest at 9:03 p.m., giving us nearly 15 hours and 37 minutes of daylight. As a bonus, morning...

Literary calendar for week of June 18

Published Tue, 04 Mar 2025 11:07:44 GMT

TIM BURKETT: Introduces “Enlightenment is an Accident,” 7 p.m. Thursday, June 22, Magers & Quinn, 3038 Hennepin Ave. S., Mpls.NANCY CROCHIERE: Discusses her novel “Graceland,” about a soap opera star convinced she is dying who wants to visit her favorite place, Elvis Presley’s Graceland, driven by her granddaughter, to whom she promises to reveal the secrets about her long-lost father. But the young woman’s mother doesn’t want secrets revealed and has to stop the journey of grandmother and granddaughter as they travel from Boston to Memphis meeting free-range ferrets and Elvis-impersonating frat boys. 6 p.m. Thursday, June 22, Next Chapter Booksellers, 38 S. Snelling Ave., St. Paul.JULIA FINE: Presents “Maddalena and the Dark,” in conversation with Kat Howard. 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 20, Magers & Quinn, 3038 Hennepin Ave. S., Mpls.MINNESOTA MYSTERY NIGHT: Hosts a conversation between Thekla Fagerlie-Madsen, a technical write...

Conor Sen: Booming EV market is complicating the GOP’s message

Published Tue, 04 Mar 2025 11:07:44 GMT

It’s still very early days, but if you’re wondering how the 2024 presidential campaign might be different from the last matchup between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, one place to start is electric vehicles. Battery-powered cars are one of the biggest economic vulnerabilities that Republicans have in the battleground states such as Georgia, Michigan and Arizona that could wind up deciding the winner.The growth of electric vehicles is unique in that it touches an area of the U.S. economy that has changed dramatically since the last presidential election. They’re a key part of the Biden administration’s policy accomplishments, and they’re also entangled in the culture wars that animate the bases of both political parties.Electric-vehicle sales in the U.S. are growing so quickly that you could even describe the shift as monumental. In 2020, 325,000 electric vehicles were sold in the U.S., accounting for 2.4% of all passenger vehicle sales. Those numbers are p...

Ask Amy: Neighbor’s music problem is amplified on FB

Published Tue, 04 Mar 2025 11:07:44 GMT

Dear Amy: Until recently, my neighbor “Ron” and I always got along very well.Ron works from home, and I am retired.I enjoy working in my garage, house or yard during the day, usually between 11 and 5 p.m.While working in the garage, I will listen to music, and sometimes it can be a little loud because of the tools I am using.Recently Ron posted on Facebook a profanity-laced post about my loud music, saying that it interferes with his job.Basically, he made me out to be an inconsiderate jerk, which is the farthest thing from the truth.All he or his wife had to do was to let me know it was an issue, and I would have turned it down, no problem.When my wife talked to them about the situation, first they denied that they were referring to me, blaming it on the neighbors across the street. (Not true.)Then they tried to turn it around, blaming my wife for telling me about the FB post.My wife eventually got a half-hearted apology, which she said should be directed toward me.They said they w...

Word Game: June 18, 2023

Published Tue, 04 Mar 2025 11:07:44 GMT

TODAY’S WORD — PLATFORM (PLATFORM: PLAT-form: A raised flooring, such as a stage or dais.)Average mark 40 wordsTime limit 60 minutesCan you find 56 or more words in PLATFORM?TODAY’S WORD — PLATFORM palm parol part patrol plat plot polar port portal pram prom lamp loaf loam loft aloft alto aport atom atop tamp taro tarp tram tramp trap tromp farm faro flam flap flat float flop foal foam form formal format fort from opal oral raft ramp rapt roam romp malt marl mart moat molar molt moral mortalTo purchase the Word Game book, visit WordGameBooks.com. Order it now for just $5 while supplies last!RULES OF THE GAME:1. Words must be of four or more letters.2. Words that acquire four letters by the addition of “s,” such as “bats” or “dies,” are not allowed.3. Additional words made by adding a “d” or an “s” may not be used. For example, if “bake” is used, “baked” or “bakes” are not allowed, but “bake” and “baking” are admissible.4. Proper nouns, slang words, or vulgar ...

Horoscopes June 18, 2023: Blake Shelton, stick close to the ones you love

Published Tue, 04 Mar 2025 11:07:44 GMT

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Blake Shelton, 47; Carol Kane, 71; Isabella Rossellini, 71; Paul McCartney, 81.Happy Birthday: Leave nothing to chance. Don’t trust others with important matters. Gather and verify information to ensure you have everything you need handy before you act. Expect outside influences to cloud your vision, and take the time to sort through any differences or challenges you face before you agree to change or move. Trust in yourself, and stick close to the ones you love. Your numbers are 9, 12, 24, 26, 33, 38, 42.ARIES (March 21-April 19): You’re on the fast track, ready to take on the world. Refuse to let anyone interfere with your plans. Make your objective clear to those who challenge or try to redirect you. Follow the road that leads to your happiness. Romance is favored. 4 starsTAURUS (April 20-May 20): Take it easy. Promising too much will lead to fretting. Put your needs first, and avoid letting someone take you for granted. Redirect your ene...

Bridge: June 18, 2023

Published Tue, 04 Mar 2025 11:07:44 GMT

“I’ll tell you what annoys me most,” Cy the Cynic said to me in the club lounge.“If you must,” I sighed.“It’s when my opponent assumes I’ve made a mistake or will do so,” Cy said. “And then, he turns out to be right!”Cy was today’s West in a penny game. After East opened one heart, North-South bid to four spades, their best chance to score game. Presumably, East would have led the king of clubs against 3NT by North, and Cy would have kept his four spades against five diamonds by South.Cy did well to lead a club against four spades. With a heart lead, South could take the ace, take three high trumps and start the diamonds, losing a trump and two clubs. But when East led three rounds of clubs, South had to ruff and was threatened with loss of control.“He cashed the A-K of trumps, not best” Cy told me, “and then led diamonds. On the third diamond, I ruffed and led a heart. South won, drew my last ...