Windom Police Department reported on March 17th Officers handled an accident at HWY 62 and 4th Ave. At approximately 8am a 2003 Pontiac Grand AM and a 2012 Ford Escape collided. Moderate Damage to both vehicles no injuries reported.
On March 16th Windom Police Officer spoke with a Windom female resident about trespassing issues. Female was advised of her options, and she requested extra patrol in the area of Cottonwood Lake
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The Windom School Board has narrowed down the Superintendent field to two finalists to interview for the school district’s superintendent position. The finalists are:
- Jamie Frank, Prek-5 Principal with the Windom Area Schools in Windom, MN
- Darrin Strosahl, Vice President of Academic Affairs and Chief Operating Officer at the Northwest Technical College in Bemidji, MN
The finalists were selected from a pool of six (6) applicants based on hiring criteria established by the school board. Three of the six applicants were interviewed on Wednesday, March 16th.
The school board has scheduled final interviews for the finalists beginning at 4:00 pm on March 21, 2022. All interviews will be held in the Windom High School Media Center and are open to the public.
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Two students selected for $1,000 Federated/Basin scholarships (Jackson, MN) — Federated Rural Electric, Jackson, announced the two local students receiving the 15th annual $1,000 Federated/Basin Scholarships. Tanner Sinn from Trimont, received a $1,000 Basin/Federated scholarship. Sinn is a senior at Martin County West High School. Sinn intends to go to South Dakota State University or the University of Sioux Falls. He is the son of Jeffrey and Bethany. Meta Tewes from Jackson, received the $1,000 Federated/L&O/Basin Scholarship. Tewes is a senior at Jackson County Central High School; Tewes is the daughter of Jeffrey and Jennifer. She plans to attend South Dakota State University and major in agriculture education with a minor in animal science.
According to Scott Reimer, Federated’s General Manager “These scholarships come from two of our power suppliers, Basin Electric Power Cooperative based in Bismarck, North Dakota; and L&O Power Cooperative in Rock Rapids, Iowa,” which they have been members of both cooperatives since 2008. Basin awards 136 of these scholarships to local electric cooperatives. Federated is excited to award these $1,000 scholarships to Tanner and Meta.” Each applicant completed a two-page application, wrote an essay, submitted grades, a reference checklist, work history and involvement. Federated is a Touchstone Energy Cooperative serving more than 6,800 members in Jackson and Martin Counties
This is the 13th year that two students were selected.
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State Representative Rod Hamilton (R-Mountain Lake), who serves as the Republican Lead on the Minnesota House Workforce and Business Development Finance and Policy Committee, announced that Tax increases of 15% or more will be leveled on local employers following repeated inaction by Minnesota House Democrats. Hamilton went on to say that he was disgusted that the House majority has chosen to financially punish our state’s job providers when the state is sitting on more than $10 billion in unallocated funds.
“House Democrats had months to solve this problem, and in the end, they refused to bring a bill forward and allowed devastating tax increases on local employers to take effect,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton said the tax increase on job providers is happening due to a debt of more than $1 billion in Minnesota’s Unemployment Insurance (UI) Trust Fund. Governor Walz’s employment commissioner stated legislation needed to be approved by March 15 in order to prevent tax increases of 15% or more on business owners from moving forward.
Minnesota has a $9.3 billion budget surplus, along with more than $1 billion in federal COVID funding that has not been utilized. Hamilton said either of these pots of money could be used to eliminate the UI trust fund issue.
Before the deadline, Hamilton said House Republicans twice tried to move legislation that would have prevented these tax increases. In both cases, House Democrats blocked them from debate.
Hamilton declared, “If you’re a job provider who is looking for someone to blame, your finger needs to be pointed solely at House Democrats.” Hamilton went on to say “Senate Republicans and Democrats passed a bill that would have prevented this from happening. House Republicans supported that bill. Even Governor Walz supported that bill. But if we’re going to help out job providers in this state, it’s very clear the House Democrat majority wants something in exchange. Because House Democrats want to play political games, local employers can prepare for a completely unnecessary tax increase.”
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Cottonwood County Board of Commissioners will hold a Special Meeting on Tuesday March 22nd at 10am in the Cottonwood County Courthouse in Windom. Agenda includes Redistricting and Wage Matrix.
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Murray County Board of Commissioners will have their meeting on Tuesday March 22nd at 8:30am in the Murray County Government Center. Calling in to listen or a zoom link is available by going to the Murray County Home Page.