Buttercups come in

Yes, the dateline says Jan. 28, but all signs point to spring’s arrival. Five-year-old Angelina Widman brought in the first buttercups of the year from her family’s farm west of Rosalia Tuesday. Young Miss Widman was awarded the Gazette’s traditional $1 prize for bringing in a number of fantastic specimens. This year is the third in a row the Widman family has claimed the Gazette’s fabled buttercup contest.

Jeanette Ping of LaCrosse displays a buttercup brought to her by niece Dawn Marie Sinclair from Mount Olympos outside Athens, Greece, who picked the flower last July. Ping said she and Sinc...