President Barack Obama vowed to continue the fight to extend background checks to all gun sales. He made that promise to the parents of children killed in the Sandy Hook, Conn., shooting who gathered around the president at that news conference. Sen.

Grandmas using pressure cookers may be on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) watch list following a revelation that the perpetrator in the Boston Marathon bombing used pressure cookers to contain bomb elements.

Criminal indictments have been issued in Atlanta charging 35 school officials and teachers in what is now the nation's largest cheating scandal.

The Patriots Day bombings in Boston, at this point, have raised far more questions than answers. Law enforcement officials are working feverishly to determine who planted the bombings that killed three people and injured more than 170.

Minnesota lawmakers have their work cut out for them in the next few weeks. Adjournment is scheduled for May 20 and the mad rush is on as they work to balance the budget.

Brainerd's annual ceremony marking the fall of Bataan and the beginning of the Bataan Death March is a 71-year-old community tradition that has taken on the feeling of a respectful, low-key reunion.

Have our elected officials lost their collective minds? We fund about half of a $1 billion stadium, obligating the state to provide the privately owned Minnesota Vikings a state-of-the-art football stadium for eight regular season games a year, but hesitate to stand with Mayo Clinic, a world-class h...

Brainerd Dispatch reader, Kent Rees of Emily wanted to know what the Dispatch's opinion is on HF 1442. Minnesota's House of Representatives is in the process of declaring all-out warfare on aquatic invasive species.

There were questions posed to Brainerd Dispatch Publisher Tim Bogenschutz, Echo Publisher Pete Mohs, Echo Editor Nancy Vogt and me as Dispatch vice president of audience development.

A debate that has been simmering for decades has finally pushed its way onto the national stage. Gay marriage, the joining together of two persons of the same sex, was an unthinkable notion 20 or 30 years ago in the minds of many Americans.