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...

The Brainerd Dispatch for the first time ever, Friday made “Today’s Top Ten Front Pages” in Newseum.org, Washington, D.C., the most interactive museum. What this means is that the Dispatch’s Friday front page was singled out as one of the best pages not only in newspapers in the United States, but newspapers in the entire world!

Want to live longer? The American Heart Association (AHA) reports for every hour of regular exercise, a person gains two hours of additional life expectancy. That’s even true, the AHA notes, if you don’t start until middle age. The good news is you don’t have to get it all in one lump. The AHA says three 10-minute periods of moderate activity are almost as beneficial to overall fitness as one 30-minute session. And just 30 minutes has proven health benefits, the AHA says.

Thursday I was forced to play nine holes of golf for a segment the Brainerd Dispatch is putting together for the Brainerd Lakes Marketplace. Eric Peterson, director of golf at Cragun’s Legacy Courses in East Gull Lake, was kind enough to accommodate me and Dispatch reporter/Sideline View co-producer Jessi Pierce for the afternoon. Mitch at the front desk was trusting enough to believe me when I told him this unbelievable scenario and ushered us off1 to the back nine of Dutch’s where we wouldn’t...