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  • By Mavis Fodness
    June 04, 2019
    U.S. Senator Tina Smith toured the Minnesota Veterans Home in Luverne for the first time May 30 as part of a “Rural Economy Tour” of southwest Minnesota. Smith briefly addressed the crowd at the veterans home as a Memorial Day Service was wrapping up. She has served as senator since 2018, after serving as the state’s lieutenant governor for five years. Smith, in a short address, congratulated…
  • By Lori Sorenson
    June 04, 2019
    Trinity Lutheran Church is 125 years old and its parish members are celebrating the anniversary this weekend, with food, fellowship and a look back on the church’s history in the community of Jasper. The German Evangelical Lutheran Trinity Church was organized in the early 1890s around the same time the Methodists, Presbyterians and Norwegian Lutherans were starting churches in the booming little…
  • June 04, 2019
    The Service Over Self event kicked off its second year with more than 90 participants scheduled to complete more than 75 identified projects including one at Mead Court, where a sandbox, bench and paving stones were installed for the neighborhood to enjoy. Even before the project was finished, service participants were showing the fun that can be had playing with sand.
  • By Lori Sorenson
    June 04, 2019
    Luverne’s 3,000-piece nutcracker collection is the third largest in the world (after Germany and Leavenworth, Washington) and visitors increasingly stop off I-90 and venture into town to see it. City leaders are looking to capitalize on this traffic and invited local artists to create 10- to 18-inch nutcrackers to be exhibited at the History Center where the nutcracker collection is housed. These…
  • By Lori Sorenson
    June 04, 2019
    “Farming is an occupation that requires a tremendous amount of faith,” Rev. Billy Skaggs told about 60 people at Thursday night’s Farming in Faith event in Luverne. Skaggs is pastor of Living Rock Church, which hosted the gathering in Grand Prairie Events in response to increasing stresses on the farming community. Farmers across the region are up against a fourth year in a row of record low farm…
  • By Mavis Fodness
    June 04, 2019
    A proposed campground east of Luverne can move forward under an amended ordinance passed by county commissioners May 21. Mike Davis and Billy Cowell, both of Luverne, proposed creating a campground along 111st Street southeast of the Luverne City Park in Luverne Township. However, campgrounds weren’t a permitted use in ag districts in Rock County until commissioners unanimously supported amending…
  • By Mavis Fodness
    June 04, 2019
    For the first time in decades, a bridge project will be postponed in Rock County because no bids to complete the work were received. “Everyone is booked through October,” County Engineer Mark Sehr told commissioners May 21. The notice to construct a new bridge on County Road 52 over the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad in Martin Township was completed in late April with the bid opening…
  • June 04, 2019
    The South Dakota Department of Transportation, in cooperation with the Minnesota Department of Transportation, closed the westbound lanes of Interstate 90 from the Minnesota State line (rest area) east to Exit 1 (Highway 23) in Minnesota until mid-July. Westbound I-90 traffic will be diverted to two-way traffic in the eastbound lanes. I-90 westbound on and off ramps will also be closed at Exit 1…
  • June 04, 2019
    Malfunction within a trailer’s brake system was the possible cause of a fire inside a toy hauler RV Thursday afternoon, May 30, on South Highway 75 in Luverne. The Luverne Fire Department was called to the scene near the intersection of Koehn Avenue and Highway 75. The call came shortly before 5 p.m. when motorists noticed smoke coming from the fifth-wheel trailer as it was westbound on I-90 and…
  • June 04, 2019
    Russell Lofthus (far right), Adrian Elementary principal for the past 21 years, said goodbye to students, colleagues and friends Wednesday afternoon, May 29, in a public open house at the school. “It was time,” he said to well-wishers. The McVille, North Dakota, native began his career in education as an elementary teacher in Balaton followed by principal positions in Lynd, Fulda and Adrian.…
  • By Mavis Fodness
    May 28, 2019
    Monday’s rain showers forced Hardwick’s annual Memorial Day program indoors to the town’s community hall. About 90 people gathered for Hardwick’s annual event to remember those who died while serving in the U.S. military. Commander of the Arthur Moeller American Legion Post 478 Kyle Oldre encouraged audience members to visit the veterans memorial in Luverne where “every serviceman down there has…
  • By Mavis Fodness
    May 28, 2019
    An events center could open this summer in the former Beaver Lodge Banquet Hall, less than a year after a Sioux Falls real estate developer purchased the property. Rick Gourley renamed the facility SpringBrooke Events after the brook that runs through the 89-acre former Beaver Creek Golf Course. “I am very excited about the project and I firmly believe in it,” he told Rock County Commissioners…
  • By Lori Sorenson
    May 28, 2019
    When Ron Schouwenburg was a student in Hills High School, he worked in the Hills John Deere Implement dealership for his dad and uncle, Don and Marinus Schouwenburg. That was when John Deere tractors, like the 720 and 630, ran on two cylinders and less than 50 horsepower, and planters like the 494 and 694 operated in only four or six rows at a time. After he graduated, Schouwenburg started…
  • By Lori Sorenson
    May 28, 2019
    Terry Gray and Monty Hagedorn opened Herb ‘N Legend 10 years ago on Luverne’s East Main Street, and they say sales since then have been steady. Gray said typical customers are 25- to 40-year-olds shopping for tobacco products and “head shop”-type accessories, including glass pipes and decorative glass hookahs. But business spiked sharply in recent months — to nearly 50 transactions per day —…
  • By Mavis Fodness
    May 28, 2019
    Less than a week after classes ended for the 2018-19 school year on May 17, construction ramped up inside the Luverne Middle-High School building. Joel Bornhoft, ICS project manager, updated Luverne School Board members Thursday night, May 23, on the construction progress, including some surprises during demolition and additions to this summer’s construction schedule. On May 17 faculty packed up…
  • By Lori Sorenson
    May 28, 2019
    The four-cylinder “put, put, put” of a vintage farm tractor filled the History Center with a nostalgic farm fuel aroma on May 16 when a newly restored 1936 Massey Harris Challenger assumed its place near the windows of the round showroom. The “iron mule,” as it was called in its day, is the centerpiece of an agriculture display that’s rotating in to replace the Luverne Fire Truck that’s held the…
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