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Next week, we send the final pages of our 2025 edition of our annual Progress special section to press.

As in years past, Progress is made up of stories from Albert Lea and the surrounding area and is an insight into how important our little slice of southeastern Minnesota is.

These days, it seems hard to find a good story to hold on to in the world at large. Headlines we read through are filled with topics that can cloud a sunny July day far too easily.

And yet, each year we are uplifted by just how the stories in Progress can bring back the sunshine.

We’re not here to clap ourselves on the back. In the end, we are just the medium that gets the opportunity to tell some truly amazing stories that are centered primarily on the act of progress and the positive.

In reality, Progress is about you and what you are bringing to your community.

Progress is a long and often difficult process as the act of bringing it together can stretch across three whole months, but one thing that is never difficult is finding the stories we want to fill the pages with.

Again, that is about you because in a lot of ways Progress is about what our coverage area offers. Think about it. Each story is positive. Each story is about progress. The fact that we are able to so easily find stories that are included in these pages is a testament to the quality of life we enjoy.

Is everything in our area a bed of roses? No. There are always those areas that we need to work on, but approaching that work knowing that we have the people to lead those efforts is yet another highlight.

So much so that for many years we have just as many stories we can’t include because of space, but even then it gives us options to visit when planning our paper or Albert Lea Magazine.

Progress comes out on Feb. 22, and when you get your copy we hope you flip through and appreciate where you have chosen to set up your life.

Through business, community, diversity, education and our small towns, each story printed in this year’s Progress is just another indication of the quality of life we have right here at home.