The Polka Dance Party scheduled for Friday, March 13 at the Central Education Campus in New Prague has been canceled. We are following the Minnesota Department of Health's recommendation to not have large group activities. Please pass this information on to anyone that may have been interested in attending.

UPDATED March 13, 2020- The Adapted Floor Hockey games scheduled for Friday and Saturday, March 13 and 14 will NOT be played.

Thursday, March 12, 2020 UPDATE
MANKATO, Minn. – (3 p.m.) Highway 93 from Highway 169 to Henderson is expected to reopen by 6 p.m. this evening, Thursday, March 12, after being closed since March 8 due to flooding on the Rush River.  Crews have been working to clear debris off the road and make repairs to shoulders and culverts.
 The shoulders of southbound Highway 93 are extremely soft due to exposure to the floodwaters. MnDOT is advising no travel on the shoulders until they dry out and repairs can be made.

Caleb Whipps, Brody Rud, Riley O’Malley and Jose Reyes didn’t receive the medals they wanted at the State Wrestling Tournament, but their coaches said they fought hard with gutsy mental toughness.
Whipps earned an early victory but fell in two matches in the first day, while Rud, O’Malley and Reyes ended just shy of a medal with top-eight finishes.
Coach Shaun Timmerman said the boys performed very well.
“We won some VERY awesome matches, and come-from-behind-wins, which showed that we had a lot of guts,” he said.

In a three-to-one vote, Lonsdale’s city council has opted to move forward with selecting a new garbage collector for weekly trash services.
Every five years the city advertises for bids for this service, historically selecting just one company to handle all the refuse services within the city.
Since 2005 the city has gone with Waste Management. But, starting April 1, pending final contract negotiations and council approval, West Central Sanitation, Inc. will take over the refuse and recycling collection.

TCU added more weight lifters to its state roster after the Mi5 meet in Lakeville on February 22.
Ava Rud, Lexi Factor, Chloe Freeman, Alexis Freeman, and Anabelle Davies all qualified, according to Coach Andrew Meier.
Morgan Meier took first and set a new PR for a total of 65 Kg.
Alexis Freeman also took first and set a new PR for her total of 130 Kg.
He also noted that Ella Rise scratched out on Snatches, but set a PR for her Clean and Jerk, and Alexis Neubauer scratched out on both lifts.

The Le Sueur County Board cruised through a very light agenda Tuesday, March 3.
The regular meeting lasted approximately 40 minutes, but was followed by a special road and bridge work session.
A number of items which were dealt with during the regular meeting involved the highway department.
A couple of final payments were approved for work done this past year.
Crane Creek Asphalt received final payments of $148,200.72 for the CSAH 15 project from CSAH 22 to CSAH 26, and a payment of $69,056.47 for the CSAH project near Heidelberg.

A Las Vegas homicide suspect is in police custody after being located in Rice County.
Mark Doocy, 60, of Blooming Prairie, was arrested on March 4 at the Flying J Truck Stop at I-35 and Highway 19. According to Rice County Sheriff Troy Dunn, Doocy was arrested and forced to leave his vehicle after he refused to cooperate with officials.

Russell Clarence Harkins, 70, of Le Center, died on Monday, March 2, 2020, at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park. Visitation will be held on­­­­­­­­­­­ Thursday, March 5 at the Le Center Funeral Home from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. Memorial Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Friday, March 6 at 10 a.m. with visitation one hour prior at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Le Center with Fr. Tim Sandquist, officiating. Interment will be at a later date.

Spring Load Restrictions on Rice, Le Sueur and Scott County State Aid Highways and County roadways will go in to effect at 12:01 a.m., Friday, March 6, 2020.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation has issued a notice that Spring Load Restrictions on the state highway system in the south, southeast and metro frost zones go in to effect on Friday, March 6, 2020.
Ending dates for spring load restrictions are variable and based on how weather is affecting roadway strength.
The Spring Load Restriction map is posted on the MNDOT website at mndot.gov/loadlimits.

Minnesota will join Super Tuesday this year — and 13 other states, including Texas and California, in perhaps the most consequential day of the presidential primary season.
It’s new in Minnesota. It’s our first presidential primary since 1992 and only the fourth in state history. Here are some rules.

The Montgomery Food Shelf and Salvation Army have a new home.
The two organizations moved from former convent at 105 3rd St NW to the former MVEC building on 151 Elm Ave. E, across from the Post Office.
Over the past several weeks, volunteers have moved refrigerators, freezers and built pallet shelves for storage. Pictured is one of the commercial freezers being moved Friday, Feb. 28.
The food is scheduled to be moved Saturday, Feb. 29 by several organizations, youth groups, and family volunteers.

The New Prague Adapted Floor Hockey team continued its unbeaten winter season with a pair of wins last week.
The Trojans defeated South Suburban, 11-1, Tuesday, Feb. 18 and Winona, 13-1, Thursday, Feb. 20.
In the win over South Suburban, Dylan Raaen scored five goals, Leo Fahey scored three goals, and Mathew Boike added two goals.
Garrett Gagner had four assists and Seth Dorner had three assists.

Milliseconds.
Nanometers.
The blink of an eye.
Those flashes are the measures of the most significant events in our lives.
We have all experienced them - and they usually happen when someone passes away. One minute they are here. The next, they’re not.
In a blink.
The lives of many people were changed last week when a Lonsdale family and the Tri-City United family - again - lost one of its own. Blake Ryan Asher, age 17, died tragically in a car accident on Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2020.

A new proposal that would solve many of the city’s aging building problems was presented at a city council meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 18.
Resident Bill Marek introduced his plan after he recently toured city buildings with Mayor Tom Eisert and City Administrator Brian Heck.

The Hwy 21 bridge replacement project in Jordan begins in two weeks and will continue through November to replace two bridges and to build a trail for pedestrians and bicyclists.
Beginning Mon, March 9, construction crews will close Hwy 21 between Mill St. and south of the Sand Creek bridge to:

Replace two bridges over Sand Creek and the Union Pacific railroad
Build a trail for pedestrians and bicyclists between Mill St. and the Sand Creek bridge
Reconstruct Hwy 21 between Mill St. and south of the Sand Creek bridge