To Marion Ross.

Thanks for coming to Albert Lea. We always welcome you back and we appreciate how you have maintained your roots to your hometown, as many celebrities do not. As a tribute, we print here a drawing from Albert Lea artist Eloise Adams.

Thumbs down:

To mowing roadside ditches.

The state Department of Natural Resources collaborates with the state Department of Transportation for the Roadsides for Wildlife program. The state has changed its management practices for ditches to increase habitat of pheasants, songbirds and other wildlife. They also are working with landowners to reduce mowing of ditches. Not only do we see farmers crushed by tractors while mowing ditches too often, native grasses in the ditches have extensive root systems that improve water infiltration, reduce the need for weed control and anchor the soil.

Thumbs up:

To the Mouldy Figs, the Southside Aces, and Trent Tomlinson

Trent played Friday, giving country music fans a good show. And anyone who missed the Doc Evans Jazz Festival didn’t get to hear some good Dixieland jazz and traditional jazz. It takes a lot to be a Mouldy Fig. They are always a blast &045; literally. And the Southside Aces never disappoint. It was a toe-tapping good time.