Free Republic

If there should ever be a monument to the Second Amendment, it should be erected in Northfield, Minnesota. In this little college town in 1876, Jesse James and Cole Younger, with six other members of their gang, tried to rob the First National Bank, only to get shot up by an aroused citizenry. I just finished reading a new book on the subject, Mark Lee Gardner’s Shot All to Hell: Jesse James, the Northfield Raid, and the Wild West’s Greatest Escape. I knew about the Northfield raid and when I spoke at St. Olaf College a few years ago, my...

Police in northwest suburban Schaumburg issued an alert Friday after a motorist reported seeing a large animal resembling a cougar. ... Police say possible cougar sightings have been reported recently in Highland Park, Northfield and Winetka.

<p>WASHINGTON — Ten Russian intelligence officers have been arrested for allegedly serving as illegal agents of the Russian government in the United States, the Justice Department announced Monday.</p>

Stealing through the dark to yank three John McCain yard signs from yards along rural Hwy. 19 in Northfield was wrong but also thrilling and satisfying, a visiting instructor at St. Olaf College recently told readers of a national website. Philip Busse, who teaches a class in media studies at the Northfield school, said he intended the posting to point out the foolish things people do in a highly charged political season. But neither the McCain nor Obama presidential campaign was amused by his exploits, St. Olaf has condemned the prank and the Rice County sheriff is investigating. In his...

In 1876, a group of triumphant Northfielders propped up the dead bodies of some would-be bank robbers, ripped off their shirts and photographed them. They plastered the images on postcards and mailed them everywhere with the question, "Who are these guys?" Those guys turned out to be members of the infamous James-Younger Gang. And now, the Northfield Historical Society has received a valuable and unexpected gift: A set of glass-plate negatives that appear to be the originals from Ira Sumner, the photographer who shot the now-famous photos. "I knew there were negatives out there, but I never thought I'd ever...