Derek Olinger, representing Bolton & Menk, addressed the Houston City Council April 13 at their regular meeting to update them on the Spruce Street project scheduled for this summer. Olinger reported that the bids had been received and were favorable. The city of Houston will be responsible for $1.7 million of the cost. Funding for the project will come through a locally … [Read more...]
No Streaming for Lanesboro Board Meetings
After receiving requests for their meetings to be streamed, the Lanesboro School Board ultimately decided to not stream their monthly meetings at their April 8 meeting. At the board’s request, Superintendent Matt Schultz had contacted 10 schools in the area to ask whether they streamed their meetings. Schultz reported that five schools have never and do not intend to stream … [Read more...]
Chicāhuac, Mexican Women’s Stories of Strength and Sacrifice
The Chicāhuac Exhibition, currently on display at the Driftless Fiber Arts Collective in Lanesboro, highlights the strength and sacrifices of six incredible women from Mexico: Oligaria, Doña Conchita, Fatima, Concepciona, Veronica and Doña Teresa. The word chicāhuac means strong, robust and powerful in Nahuatl, an indigenous language of Mexico and the first language of many of … [Read more...]
Pam’s Corner Convenience/R-P Booster Club Collaboration
One of the gas pumps at Pam’s Corner has a new look; the familiar R-P Trojan green and gold now covers the pump. A sign at the top of the pump explains a new promotion. Five cents for each gallon of gas sold at that pump will be given to the R-P Booster Club. On Trojan Tuesdays, the donation increases to ten cents for each gallon. When the R-P Booster Club was … [Read more...]
Rushford Ambulance On-Call Pay
At the March 23 Rushford City Council meeting, the council heard from Ambulance Director Joey Busse and EMTs Shannon and Evan Meier as they returned to the council to discuss ambulance on-call pay. They looked at the data from last year and the previous years before returning to make a suggestion. In 2025, $62,500 was paid out for on-call pay. If the on-call pay had run on … [Read more...]
Rushford Peterson Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting
The annual meeting of the Rushford Peterson Chamber of Commerce featured several local speakers who highlighted different parts of the community. Executive Director Stephanie Eggert greeted the attendees and began the meeting. Eggert shared both the secretary’s and treasurer’s reports. Eggert pointed out that expenses were up by around $2,000; she encouraged members to … [Read more...]
R-P Sets Up New Technology
Superintendent Ben Bernard informed the school board at their March 16 meeting that the new 3D printers, laser cutter/engraver and large format printer that had been obtained with a REAP grant have been set up in the last two weeks. The staff is training on them currently so they will be able to teach the students how to use the technology. As could be expected, the new … [Read more...]
Fr. Gawarecki Sews His Own Vestments
Father Nicholas Gawarecki, pastor of the local Holy Family Catholic Parishes, has many hobbies including cooking, woodworking, playing Ultimate Frisbee, working out at the gym, playing piano, singing and sewing. Fr. Nicholas has applied his sewing skills to sew somewhat unique items – his own vestments. As a child, Fr. Nicholas learned to sew from his mother. She had cut … [Read more...]
Semester Tests and Virtual Meetings Discussed at Lanesboro
Much of the Lanesboro School Board meeting on March 11 was spent discussing two items – semester tests linked to attendance and virtual options for school board meetings. The first discussion came after Superintendent Matt Schultz updated the board on the policy committee meeting held the week before. Schultz informed the board that the committee had spent an hour and a half … [Read more...]
Audit Review for City of Houston
Andrew Forliti of CohnReznick presented an audit review for the city of Houston, Minn., at its regular city council meeting on March 9. An unmodified “clean” opinion was issued. In his review, Forliti shared that the general levy was up $24,000 from the previous year, a 3% increase. Most of the increase was for the vehicle fund and the infrastructure fund. Forliti pointed … [Read more...]