In Luverne, the Rock County Star Herald leads with this photo:
Minnesota West’s student parade entry, “Peach on Earth,” took first place in the Small Business category of Luverne’s 2008 Winterfest Lighted Parade Saturday. It also collected food and money for the Rock County Emergency Food Shelf. Pictured are (front row from left) Jessica Wipf, Anna VanOverschelde, Kimberly Xaisongkham, (back row) Rebecca Potrament, Tricia Scholtes and Dylan Reisch. There were 16 entries in Saturday’s parade.
We're a little late with this, but these students also win BSP first annual Jared Stene award for the combination of humor and good citizenship.
The Star Herald also reports about one of Minnesota West's thriving programs in Health care careers alive and well in Luverne:
The
former hospital at 305 East Luverne Street is now known as the Luverne
Education Center for Health Care Careers where, according to
Administrator Jeff Ernst, more than 100 students access classes every
day.
The Center, which opened in the fall of 2007, is a branch
of Minnesota West Community and Technical College, a member of the
Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. Students take classes
either by traveling to the Center or by taking them online.
Ernst
said Minnesota West created two programs - radiology and surgical tech
- specifically for the Luverne site. "These programs didn't exist at
Minnesota West prior to this year." Three other programs, medical lab
technology, medical assistant and phlebotomy, were relocated to Luverne
to take advantage of the hospital setting.
. . .Course
offerings at the Luverne Education Center are not limited to medicine.
Courses ranging from business law to geography to English 101 are
provided for students seeking general education credits.
Ernst
said some of the students are taking advantage of the post-secondary
education option. PSEO is a state program for public high school
juniors and seniors that gives them an opportunity to complete certain
high school requirements by taking courses at participating colleges
and universities.
"Given the economy, this is a tremendous
opportunity for families to get a jump on the cost of college," Ernst
said. "The PSEO course catalog gives high school students a broader
variety of classes than what might be offered at the high school level."
The Austin Daily News says in Watching the wind: Waltham man owns only farmer-owned wind project in SE MN:
And to ask questions.
Jim Hartson asks questions wherever he goes.
He was also at the 2008 Truth in Taxation hearing held by the Mower County Board of Commissioners Dec. 4 to ask questions, and also to offer opinions and observations.
And, to crack jokes. Hartson’s sense of humor sometimes is forgotten by the ultra-serious demeanor he exhibits at public meetings.
He is, however, the silver-haired devil’s advocate on many issues and a silver-tongued devil of a spokesman for wind energy.
So much so that the Waltham farmer believes wind energy can reduce the spiraling costs of county government.
Hartson and his wife, Jane, live on a farm in the countryside near Waltham.
A personal computer is his best technological friend. Hartson scours the Internet for information about the most natural renewable energy source: wind.
He tracks his own wind energy project and others in Mower County. Hartson’s is the first and still only farmer-owned cooperative wind energy project in the southeast Minnesota region.
He tracks wind energy projects’ progress through a maze of approval hoops and hurdles on the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator Web site, which monitors the bulk power transmission system.
He follows closely the emergence of Minnesota’s Community Based Energy Development, which encourages the growth of locally-owned wind energy projects such as his own.
Critics may say he’s “windy,” but there’s no disputing: Hartson knows wind energy and its potential impact in many areas. . . .
Read the rest at the Herald.
We were somewhat concerned when we first saw the headline for a Herald editorial, Track the ox and lamb with GPS, but were relieved when we read they meant those Christmas nativity scene figures that naughty people are prone to steal, rather than bovine bloggers and the sacrificial Republicans who declare against Walz in the First.
The Jackson County Pilot reports New wind farm seeks approval. The paper has recently noted that the town is thrving in these hard financial times; see New construction at ‘unprecedented’ pace and Jackson teeming with big news, good news. The paper itself sports a re-designed web site.
The news is not so good on the other end of the district where the Winona Daily News reports Northern Engraving to close Spring Grove plant because of downturns in the automotive industry:
Northern Engraving Corp. announced this morning it will close its
Spring Grove plant by spring because of the dramatic deterioration of
the U.S. automobile business in the past few months and the overall
economy.
More than 200 employees are working at the Spring Grove
plant, which makes nameplates for appliances and automobiles,
decorative appliance panels and interior trim for cars.
The Sparta-based company will move the Spring Grove
plant’s production to its plants in Sparta and West Salem, Executive
Vice President Ed Johnson said in an interview. That will mean some
employment increase at those plants, but it will be less than the
number of jobs being eliminated in Spring Grove, he said.
Northern Engraving also has a plant in Holmen and one in Great Britain.
Johnson
said layoffs at the Spring Grove plant probably will begin in mid- to
late February. Employees were notified Thursday that the plant will
close. . . .
The papers also reports that the CP Holiday train stops in Winona to help local food shelves. In Some people just don’t get it, the editors scold Governor Pawlenty for going on a trade mission in Israel and Senator Klobuchar, to a conference in Poland, when there is work to be done at home.
A Navy mom's letter tells of her son's First Christmas away from home and asks that people send him greetings. Come on: you know you want to, and she provides his address.
Elsewhere some interesting reading about the financial crisis. The GAO's report on the oversight of the TARP bank bailout is online here in pdf format. The Minneapolis Federal Reserve discusses the myth of the credit crisis here. And the New York Federal Reserve looks at the effect of the 2005 bankruptcy deform bill on the mortgage foreclosure crisis. David Sirota looks at the three precious rings in this circus and says Ahem, we told you so. He isn't the only one. The late Senator Wellstone blocked bankruptcy deform reform while he lived; Congressman Walz cautioned against the lack of oversight in the Wall Street bailout.
OpenCongress is Announcing Battle Royale - May the Best Bill Win, which facilitates citizens' ability to follow different bills addressing the same policy areas work their way through congress. Speaking of transparency, we remind readers of Legistorm, which posts financial information about members and their staff. Salaries, financial disclosure statements, travel and other interesting information can be viewed at LegiStorm: Transparency's Sidekick.
And now little music from a silver-tongued devil who turned into a move star and moved off to LA:
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