News Archives

Representative Torrey Westrom of Elbow Lake supported the common sense tort reform that’s passed through the House Wednesday to improve the business climate in Minnesota. He says they’re trying to streamline justice, and help reduce the burden of unneeded lawsuits on the court systems. Westrom said they’re also giving consumers, small businesses and the parties involved a more streamlined process whether its class action lawsuits or cases where the end result really doesn’t warrant all the litigation that went on and the high cost attorney fees could be brought into check if a case doesn’t pan out to be what they purport it to be in the beginning.

Employing veterans, new college graduates, and the long-time unemployed or underemployed is on Representative Andrew Falk's mind. The Democrat represents District 20A, including part or all of Big Stone, Lac Qui Parle, Swift, Lincoln, and Yellow Medicine Counties. Falk says a new job bills developed by Governor Mark Dayton and the DFL party is vital for getting the unemployed or underemployed back to work. Falk says the bill would offer tax credits to employers who hire from the three underemployed groups.

Non-profits across the region are gathering this month in a resource sharing effort. In the 3rd annual Resource Connection Expo, more than thirty non-profit organizations will be meeting one another, and educating the public on services available in the Morris community. On February 20th, the expo will be open in the Morris Area High School gymnasium. The doors will be open to the public from 4-7. A free community meal will be served to all who attend. If you'd like to reserve a table for your organization, or if you have questions about this event, you can contact event organizers Pat Mumm or Holly Witt.

There are free dental clinics for children across Minnesota today (Thursday) and tomorrow (Friday) as part of the Give Kids a Smile campaign. The clinics will be offering free cleanings, among other services. Caring Hands Dental Clinic in Alexandria is taking appointments for tomorrow for routine exams, fluoride treatments and fillings. To make a morning or afternoon appointment, call (320) 815-5711. In Willmar, the Rice Regional Dental Clinic will be offering the same services tomorrow afternoon. Appointments can be made by calling (320)214-2620.

The US Department of Agriculture and the Farm Service Agency are ready to pay you for your crop-free land. A four-week, general sign-up period for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) has been set for March 12 through April 6. CRP is a voluntary program available to agricultural producers to help them use environmentally sensitive land for conservation benefits. Producers enrolled in CRP plant long-term, resource-conserving covers to improve the quality of water, control soil erosion and develop wildlife habitat. In return, USDA provides participants with rental payments and cost-share assistance. Producers with expiring contracts and producers with environmentally sensitive land are encouraged to evaluate their options under CRP.

You can still see the movie Courageous in a local community showing. The movie follows four police officers as they struggle to order their personal lives in an increasingly challenging landscape. The film will be showing at Shalom Lutheran Church in Starbuck this Saturday night, February 11th, at 7. The church is housed in the Starbuck Community Center. Popcorn and drinks will be provided.

40 year old Richard Nelson of Montevideo has been arrested and charged in connection with the theft of cattle in Lac qui Parle County. According to the Lac qui Parle County Sheriff’s Office he has been charged with felony theft. He posted a $20,000 bond and has been released. All the cattle have been accounted for. Assisting the Lac qui Parle County Sheriff’s department were the Chippewa County Sheriff’s Office and the Minnesota State Patrol.

Darek Nelson’s public defender has asked for a Rule 20 evaluation for his client to determine if he is competent to stand trial. 24 year old Nelson, of Montevideo, is facing charges in the stabbing death of 18 year old Vinessa Lozano of Montevideo. He is being held in the Chippewa County Jail in Montevideo on $750,000 bail.

20 year old Chase Hodapp of Willmar pled guilty yesterday (Thursday) to eight counts stemming from a two week crime spree last spring. He was originally charged with 17 counts, 13 of them felonies. Yesterday he pled guilty to seven felonies and one misdemeanor. The felonies include first and second degree burglary, damage to property, and theft. Hodapp will be sentenced March 5th.

February is I Love to Read Month and local schools are celebrating in a variety of ways. Today (Friday) at St. Mary’s Catholic School in Morris, students will hear Principal Jennifer Grammond announce they should “stop everything and read.” Students will also have a school-wide reading assembly, with older students reading to younger students this afternoon. At Chokio-Alberta schools, a book drive to supplement the library is open; new or gently-used books can be dropped off at the school on February 6th and 7th. In Morris, students will also be engaging in reading activities as well as a coordinated book exchange; any student can bring in a book from their private collection and trade it for another book they haven’t read.

The application window for farm families in need of crop planting assistance is now open. Farm Rescue, a nonprofit organization, is currently accepting planting requests from farmers in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Farm Rescue provides planting and harvesting assistance to farm families that have experienced a major injury, illness, or natural disaster.

Representative Paul Anderson of Starbuck says legislators have left St. Paul to return home for visits with constituents and to take part in the precinct caucuses scheduled for Tuesday. He says committees have begun hearing bills at the capitol and yesterday they heard from experts in the area of invasive aquatic species. Anderson says they’ve called for immediate action to pass legislation that would provide for the construction of electrical barriers in the Mississippi River to prevent Asian Carp from migrating upstream and invading our state’s lakes and streams.

Affiliated Community Medical Centers has been identified as a ‘better performer’ by the Medical Group Management Association because of superior operational performance compared with similar medical group practices nationwide. They were recognized for achievements in productivity, capacity and staffing, and also performance in the area of profitability and cost management. This marks the third consecutive year AMCM has been recognized by the medical group.

Mary Sawatzky of Willmar will be running for the House 13B seat held by Representative Bruce Vogel of Willmar because .she did not like what happened last summer with the gridlock in St. Paul in balancing the budget at the expense of our children. Sawatzky says she’s interested in politics, and in what goes on in St. Paul but is also interested in seeing that the representatives collaborate to solve the issues. She says she can’t understand why the two sides are unable to find a way to communicate and find common ground. There are several other issues beside education, Sawatzky says they need to get people back to work so jobs are needed, they need to look at our infrastructure, and health care, look at making sure we’re raising our children in a healthy, productive way and providing services for that.

A meeting at Ridgewater College yesterday (Thursday) with Representatives Andrew Falk of rural Murdock, Tim Mahoney of St. Paul, and Larry Hosch of St. Joseph  centered around the DFL Jobs Plan. Falk says the plan hopefully is going to put about 20,000 Minnesotans back to work. He says they realize this is one set of proposals and it is a fairly small target set of proposals, but because it is so targeted they want to see specific outcomes achieved. One of the key points about this jobs proposal is they know there are some groups of people, specifically veterans, recent college graduates and the long term unemployed that have higher than average unemployment or under employment, and our goal is to put forth some policies specifically like some tax credits for companies that hire these workers. If they hire a worker they get a $3000 tax credit this year, $1500 tax credit next year.