New Hills pastor moves closer to home
Pastor Lori Bonkoski’s call to Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Hills brings the Mountain Lake native closer to home in more ways than one.
Wanted: Slinkys for Sophie
Sophie Gehrke is a sixth-grader at Hills-Beaver Creek Secondary School and will undergo open heart surgery later this month.
Star Herald earns state awards
The Rock County Star Herald brought home seven awards from the Minnesota Newspaper Association Annual Convention last week.
Fire officials fight grass blazers, warn of dry conditions
Luverne volunteer firefighters were called to a grass fire Monday afternoon, the third in the past eight days.
ARC to host Christian school startup in Luverne
The American Reformed Church will host classes for Equipt, a K-5 income-based tuition Christian school starting in Luverne.
New veterinarian starts in local clinic
Rock Veterinary Clinic has another veterinarian on staff after Dr. Jaden Austin recently started in the Luverne clinic.
News
- By Mavis FodnessOctober 30, 2024The Hills-Beaver Creek School District had a more favorable bid opening for the second construction phase. Bids were received at or below estimates to remodel the Hugo Goehle gymnasium in Hills and were accepted Monday night by the Hills-Beaver Creek School Board. The total was $2.8 million and included accepting three alternate bids. Accepted bids also included $448,000 to demolish the three-…
- By Mavis FodnessOctober 30, 2024At their meeting Monday night, Hills-Beaver Creek School Board members committed $100,000 toward a $500,000 project to build running lanes at the secondary school. Potential donors to the project indicated they would not move forward with fundraising efforts without financial support from the district. The district’s building and grounds committee and personnel committee recommended…
By Mavis FodnessOctober 30, 2024As part of its “Love the Business Coffee,” Luverne Area Chamber members visited the Rock River Apothecary located just off East Main Street in Luverne. Owner Jennifer Wipf is a licensed hemp-derived products retailer with 25 percent of her business focused on helping people sleep or manage their pain through hemp-derived products. She opened Rock River Apothecary in March 2023. “I don’t do any…
October 30, 2024Members and parent volunteers with the Luverne Girl Scouts volunteered with ATLAS of Rock County on Oct. 24 helping to set up for the annual One Warm Coat distribution last weekend. Pictured are (front, from left) Iris Yonzon, Kali Bolan, Payton Jackson, (back) Amanda Bernard, Avery Aning-Staeffler, Rayna Johnson, Aria Bernard, Rose Gainey, Addison Hastings and Everly Goodwater. The project…
By Lori SorensonOctober 30, 2024Nine local young people participated in the third annual Pheasants Forever Youth Hunt Saturday. More than 20 adult volunteers led the young hunters in harvesting pheasants on land in three different parts of Rock County. They hunted on Oldre land near Kenneth, on Williamson land south of Jasper and on Lowe ground northwest of Beaver Creek. At the end of the day, more than 16 pheasants were…
By Mavis FodnessOctober 30, 2024The Hills-Beaver Creek Secondary School student council visited Patriots elementary school students Friday afternoon for the annual Fall Festival at the elementary school in Beaver Creek. Nineteen secondary students helped at the various booths and stations set up in the elementary gym for the kindergarten through fifth-grade students to complete. Elementary teacher Shelly Fischer said the…
By Lori SorensonOctober 23, 2024City government has been supporting a community pool in Luverne for more than 100 years, according to research shared at the Oct. 15 Luverne City Council meeting. During a presentation of the pool and fitness center’s recent financial audit, City Administrator Jill Wolf shared that the city has been investing in swimming recreation since 1922. In June of 1922, the Luverne Fire Department used…
By Lori SorensonOctober 23, 2024For over 100 years the city of Luverne has subsidized local pool and fitness recreation, with the budget amount increasing every year. After the recent $6 million remodel and expansion, the annual subsidy for 2024 was projected to be $692,900, prompting an audit of pool and fitness operations. The city Abdo Financial Solutions for $15,000 for a process evaluation to assess financial management…
By Mavis FodnessOctober 23, 2024Employees in the Rock County Auditor-Treasurer’s Office will move back into their remodeled offices Tuesday, Oct. 29, in the Rock County Courthouse. The department of motor vehicles (DMV) will be closed to the public Tuesday during the move. Absentee balloting will not be affected and will be available during the transition. The auditor-treasurer’s office was relocated to the commissioners’…
By Mavis FodnessOctober 23, 2024Community Transit provided over 21,000 rides to Rock County residents in 2023 with organizers focused on continued growth. “There’s kind of always been that stigma that public transit and assisted transportation are just for the elderly and the disabled,” said Nick Lesko with United Community Action Program (UCAP). “That’s not the case — anybody and everybody can ride.” Lesko, who is UCAP…
By Lori SorensonOctober 23, 2024A $1.37 million construction project is planned for the Luverne Municipal Airport in 2025. At their Oct. 8 meeting, Luverne City Council members approved the 2025 airport capital improvement plan and a construction project for a new T-hangar and taxi lane. The project includes building a five or six-unit hangar, extending the taxi lane, and completing associated site work, with an estimated…
By Mavis FodnessOctober 23, 2024Four Luverne residents are seeking election to three open seats on the Luverne School Board. Each term is for four years. Heather Johnson is the sole challenger in the field with incumbents Ryan DeBates, Tim Jarchow and David Wrigg seeking re-election. The Star Herald asked each candidate to answer three questions, keeping answers to each at 200 words or fewer. Questions included: 1.) Why are…- October 23, 2024The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is announcing the launch of the Distressed Borrowers Assistance Network, an initiative designed to provide personalized support to financially distressed farmers and ranchers across the nation. Through a series of cooperative agreements, this national network will connect distressed borrowers with individualized assistance to help them stabilize and…
By Lori SorensonOctober 23, 2024The Rock County Historical Society received word on Friday that it would receive a $111,722 grant from the Minnesota Historical Society. “This is big news,” said Wendel Buys, director of the Rock County History Center. He said the grant funds will be used to purchase museum quality collection storage. Specifically, “mobile, high-density shelving” will be installed in the History Center’s new…
By Mavis FodnessOctober 23, 2024For Pastor Ed Borchardt, life experiences overlap as the rural Wisconsin native settles into leading the Zion Lutheran Church in Hardwick. He returns to an agricultural community, with which he is familiar. Borchardt spent part of his youth on a dairy farm near Abbotsford in central Wisconsin. At age 14, he moved with his family into the small town of Abbotsford. “Farming wasn’t at the time…- October 23, 2024Sanford Health is now administering COVID-19, influenza and RSV vaccine for eligible patients at its clinic locations across its footprint in North Dakota, South Dakota, Northwest Iowa, Minnesota and Northeast Nebraska. The health care system is also encouraging everyone to make sure they are up to date on their pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine. Pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine It’s…
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