STAPLES — Leaving the California coast to relocate to a small central Minnesota city may raise a few eyebrows.  “A lot of people thought we were crazy, but now already a few months living up here we can say, ‘Oh, it’s definitely the right decision,’” said Andreas Vogel, who made the...

  BACKUS — Doug Kuschel has been a rancher his whole life. It’s in his blood, passed down through several generations.  Kuschel and his family run their beef cattle ranch the old-fashioned way — the cowboy way — on horseback.  “Part of our job here, being in the cattle busin...

  Steve Bergerson is a busy man. But Bergerson, 47, wasn’t too busy to email his “Many hats” submission to the Brainerd Dispatch’s Labor Day section contest. He also wasn’t too busy to answer questions for this interview since the Dispatch picked him as the prize winner when it asked:...

  When the economy throws you lemons you have to make lemonade. Or if you’re Charlie Johnson, you make pizza.  Johnson owns Jimmy’s Pizza on Washington Street in northeast Brainerd. It’s a venture he undertook after retiring more than 15 years ago.  “I said, ‘How hard can it...

Like most moms, Becky Flansburg is up bright and early every morning while her family sleeps away the last few moments of night. Flansburg does what any other mom does — gets her kids’ belongings ready for school, gets ready for work, takes a few moments for herself and then she blogs. “I can ...

  Missy Ostrowski and Marissa Engisch shared future career ideas before they ever knew each other.  Even as children.  “All we wanted to do was push buttons,” Ostrowski said of her and Engisch’s shared childhood dream job.  Ostrowski said she also wanted to be a spy or a la...

Kathy Krueger is always being offered a new job. Some offers come from gun dealers, others from construction companies. Today the offer was a TV treatment. “I think it’s because I was from Minnesota,” Krueger said.  She said she was interested in the job, she just had one question — wha...

Sammy Hall has been working for years. Six years to be exact. The 21-year-old college student spent her summer vacation serving the patrons of Cowboys in Nisswa. When she wasn’t waiting tables, Hall spent her leftover free time in the lifeguard tower protecting swimmers at Whipple Beach in Baxter....

I’m a Millenial. Or a member of the Net Generation, Generation Y, Generation Next, an Echo Boomer— it depends on who you ask.  We were born in the 80s, and some of us the 90s. Out of our generation came the wonders of social networking, endless access to information and millions of gold spr...

By SARAH NELSON Staff Writer Mandolin Copa has done everything right. She is smart. She is educated. She is hard-working. But two years after finishing her college degree, Copa still can’t find a job.  It’s not like she hasn’t applied. She has. Hundreds of times.  “You name it, I�...