Thumbs up to Brandon Hartzell for playing all 45 holes — 186 strokes — at the Smokey Bear Invitational with the same ball.

Thumbs down to the city of New York for approving the demolishing of Yankee Stadium.

Thumbs up to all the high school kids who volunteer their time for summer programs for the younger kids. It's great to see the older kids being role models for the younger children. It's great that they take their time to invest in the lives of other kids. It's great that they spend their summers doing something they enjoy plus something that will help someone else.

Thumbs way down to the U.S. Senate for passing a bill last week granting immunity to telecommunications firms that aided illegal government wiretapping. The surveillance circumvented a special court specifically created to oversee government wiretapping.
The legislators justified their votes by saying the new bill ensures future safeguards. These safeguards already existed. Telecommunications executives should have required the government agencies to go through appropriate channels to obtain legal warrants through the special court.

Thumbs up to Mel Millerbernd for successful Up North Volleyball camps

Thumbs down to Brett Farve. It's a shame, if indeed he was pressured, that he had to announce his retirement before he was ready. But it's even worse to now say he wants to come back. It's not fair to loyal football fans on either site of the state line. Green Bay fans want him back but management doesn’t. Some Minnesota fans want him to lead our young, talented team to the Super Bowl. Either way, it's an emotionally charged issue. While Farve could be the final piece to the Vikings Super Bowl puzzle, it's hard to get over the long-standing rivalry we've had with Green Bay — and the face of Green Bay for so many years — Brett Farve. Maybe in February we'll be thumbs upping Brett for a Vikings Super Bowl win, but until then, thumbs down for toying with us.

Thumbs up to Sen. Amy Klobuchar for bringing to the Senate floor a vote that would secure $700,000 in funding for the building of a plasma gasification facility in Koochiching County. The county is currently in the midst of a feasibility study for the facility, which would convert solid waste into energy.

Thumbs up to the Koochiching Economic Development Authority for changing its meeting location to one that is more open and allows more members of the public to attend its meetings.