By: Mike O'Rourke on February 17, 2012 - 8:47am - Add new comment

Newsroom staffers serve two masters these days — readers of the news printed on the big, noisy press in the back room and readers who fire up their computer each morning to see what’s going on. That dictates how reporters and editors spend their time. What was not so important 30 years ago can be vitally important today.
A case in point is video footage. In an effort to serve our website viewers we often carry video cameras with us while on assignment in addition to the still cameras, pens and notebooks,

By: Mike O'Rourke on February 23, 2012 - 2:39pm - Add new comment

BAXTER — Two Brainerd Dispatch newsroom employees scurried into the back of Lord of Life Lutheran Church Thursday — late for a funeral.
It was, perhaps, an unintentional tribute to Joe Melby, the longtime Dispatch printer, who had spent much of his newspaper career waiting for a layout dummy or a late photo or story in order to put Page1A to bed.
Melby, who died Saturday at the age of 82, at his Baxter home, worked in the Dispatch composing room longer than anyone here can really remember, retiring in 1993.

By: Mike O'Rourke on July 17, 2012 - 9:03am - Add new comment

I understand the need to restrict the use of firewood in state parks but sometimes the rules and regulations make you scratch your head.
Last weekend we camped at Itasca State Park and had considered bringing some firewood from around Crow Wing County. After inquiring we learned that wood had to be purchased within 50 miles of the park. OK, it's worth it to keep invasive pests such as the emerald ash borer out of Itasca. When I buy the park ranger's wood, however, I looked at the label. It came from Crow Wing County.

By: Mike O'Rourke on February 21, 2012 - 12:24pm - Add new comment

They're just lines drawn on a map but the political boundaries that are scheduled to be announced Feb 21 by a Minnesota judicial panel will have a big impact on politics in 2012.
Most candidates can't wait for final lines to be drawn to begin their campaigns so they've been on the campaign trail hoping their homes will wind up in their preferred district.
Central Lakes College instructor Steve Wenzel, who served 29 years in the Legislature and later worked in President George W. Bush's Agriculture Department, knows the importance of redistricting decisions.