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Le Sueur County News
City of Le Sueur to host public hearing, open house on N. Fourth Street project
The Le Sueur community is being invited to weigh in at a public hearing Aug. 13 on an estimated $8.6 million reconstruction project aiming to improve pavement conditions and install new utility infrastructure on N. Fourth Street and Cathcart Street. The large-scale effort stretches along the N. Fourth Street corridor between Bridge Street and Dakota Street and branches off to cover Cathcart Street between the N. Fourth Street intersection and Commerce Street. Due to the poor conditions of the pavement and the aging utilities under...
Le Sueur police chief exemplifies the American Dream
A SEAT AT THE TABLE The Minnesota Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Board is the government entity that sets regulations for training and licensing police officers. Gimenez Stier became a member in 2020, just after the murder of George Floyd, when Gov. Tim Walz expanded its oversight function and increased its membership from two to 17 people. It gave her a seat at the table during the most heated debates and significant decision-making that led to police reforms in Minnesota. In addition to expanding officer eligibility to legal residents, the board can now revoke the license of an officer...
Highway 99 bridge at St. Peter opens to traffic; 93 at Le Sueur and 19 at Henderson still closed
The Minnesota Department of Transportation continues to closely monitor state highways in south central and the southwest corner of Minnesota due to flooding caused by recent heavy rains. The historic Highway 99 truss bridge in St. Peter, and Highway 99 east of the Minnesota River bridge, was inspected for safety and opened to traffic today, with a 7-ton weight restriction. The sidewalk across the Highway 99 bridge will be temporarily closed to pedestrian traffic due to damage. ...
Le Sueur County picks up the pieces after historic flooding
Clayton Stoering is no stranger to coming home to a flooded crawlspace. Living in the city of Waterville for 34 years, occasional water damage has become an unfortunate hazard of residing in a community between the shores of the Sakatah and Tetonka Lakes and the flood-prone Cannon River that joins them. But this year was different. After being battered with a torrential downpour of 10-14 inches of rain over the month of June, the waters of the Cannon River rose to uncontrollable levels on Friday,...
Le Sueur-Henderson Senior Legion earns walkoff win over Ely
Friday evening, the Le Sueur-Henderson Senior Legion baseball team hosted Ely and after falling behind 4-2 after four innings, they needed a rally to come up with a victory. By scoring a run in both the fifth and sixth inning, LS-H tied the game 4-4 and in the bottom of the seventh, Brody Berndt came through in the clutch with an RBI single that earned his squad the walk off victory. Berndt pitched six innings for Le Sueur-Henderson, allowing four runs on eight hits before...
Action returns to Arlington Raceway after back-to-back weeks rained out
After a two week hiatus in events due to rain, Arlington Raceway managed to get an event in even though an inch and a half of rain fell the night before, making for some wet sloppy conditions. Drivers were eager to get back to the track and compete. Bode Collision & Glass and K&R Towing put up an extra $100 to each feature winner so every feature was intense. Brenna Braunworth started in the second row of the Jerry’s Home Quality Foods Auto Cross feature...
Koreyann Straub crowned first Miss Le Sueur-Henderson at Sauerkraut Days
Le Sueur’s Koreyann Straub received royal honors on Sunday as she was crowned the first Miss Le Sueur-Henderson at Henderson’s annual Sauerkraut Days festival. Following a coronation ceremony under the Bender Park shelter, Koreyann, the daughter of Chad and Stacy Straub, became the first young woman to be honored with the title of Miss Le Sueur-Henderson since the pageant’s debut this year. Alongside Le Sueur-Henderson royal princesses Alison Miller and Kaylee Berger, Straub will represent both the Giant Days festival of Le Sueur and Sauerkraut...
Tri-City United youth soccer teams wrap most successful season to date
Tri-City United youth soccer teams completed their 2024 spring/summer seasons last week with a cumulative record of 55 wins, 29 losses and seven ties across all competitions. Saturday, the U10 Girls team capped a 14-1 season by winning the Southern Minnesota Soccer League (SMSL) Division 3 championship. The Titans notched a 3-2 victory over Rochester in the semifinals, then avenged their only loss of the season by besting St. Peter 5-2 in the finals. ...
Highway 22 bridge, 169 from St. Peter to Le Sueur reopen
The Minnesota Department of Transportation continues to closely monitor state highways in south central and the southwest corner of Minnesota due to flooding caused by recent heavy rains. MnDOT reopened Highway 22 just south of St. Peter Saturday, June 29. Highway 169 from Le Sueur to St. Peter also opened to traffic Saturday. Northbound Highway 169, just north of Le Sueur, remains reduced to one lane near the temporary dike...
New grant program intended to help alleviate shortage of water, wastewater operators
As communities across southern Minnesota experience a shortage of water and wastewater treatment operators, help is on the way in the form of a new training program at Riverland Community College, funded by a grant approved by the Minnesota Legislature. Championed by the Southeastern Minnesota League of Cities, a three-year, $350,000 appropriation approved as part of this year’s Jobs and Economic Development Omnibus bill will enable the creation of such a training program at Riverland’s main campus in Austin. ...
Svoboda-Hoefs Family recognized as a 2024 ‘U of M Farm Family’
The Svoboda-Hoefs family, of Le Center, currently led by Ruth Hoefs, has been named Le Sueur County’s 2024 Farm Family of the Year by the University of Minnesota. Ruth’s parents, Reuben and Carol (Erkel) Svoboda, purchased the original 80 acres in 1954 after they got married. In the early years, Carol worked at Green Giant in Le Sueur. They had two children, Wayne and Ruth. The family worked hard on...
Update on south central highways impacted by flooding
The Minnesota Department of Transportation continues to closely monitor state highways in south central and the southwest corner of Minnesota due to flooding caused by recent heavy rains. MnDOT is working to open highways that have been impacted by flooding as soon as it’s safe to do so. We appreciate the public’s patience as we work through this. There are several roads that are still under water, and it will be a slow process to reopen them after the flood waters recede. We also anticipate...
101-year-old Le Sueur woman nominated for national SilverSneakers award
Marion Peck has never let age, nor a knee replacement, stop her from living life to the fullest. When she’s not playing bridge with her friends, the 101-year-old Le Sueur resident can usually be found lifting hand weights and working her muscles in SilverSneakers exercise classes at the Le Sueur Community Center. For more than 40 years, Peck has been going to SilverSneakers classes with gusto. She’s a well-known regular at the Community Center fitness program, attending the hour-long sessions three to four times a...
Le Sueur declares state of emergency, installs bypass after wastewater released into river
On the morning of Tuesday, June 25 the city of Le Sueur’s Mayo Park wastewater lift station experienced a failure, due to being overcome by floodwaters, resulting in a release of wastewater into the Minnesota River. This release was concentrated near the Mayo Park area. To protect public safety and the safety of remaining public infrastructure, a temporary bypass was put into place to ensure proper transmission of wastewater to the Le Sueur Wastewater Treatment Facility. ...
Barb and Art Straub named Giant Days grand marshals
The Giant Days Committee held a giant welcome for the fesitval’s 2024 grand marshals Art Straub and Barb Iten Straub on Saturday. For over 30 years the Straubs have taught generations of Le Sueur and Henderson area children about the natural world that lives right outside their window with their Nature Neighbors Le Sueur/Henderson summer program. The couple has sparked the curiosity of learners both young and old as they continue to host nature programs in two nursing homes in Le Sueur. ...
Home near Rapidan Dam swept into Blue Earth River
A portion of the house near the western bluff of the Rapidan Dam has collapsed into the Blue Earth River after a partial failure of the dam. Footage of the home was falling into the river was captured just before 10 p.m. Tuesday night as waters breaking around the Rapidan Dam eroded the earth underneath the residence. The Blue Earth County Sheriff's Office announced on Monday morning that the Rapidan...
Davis announces retirement from coaching
After nearly four decades in the dugout and guiding traffic at third, Tri-City United head baseball coach Bruce Davis has announced his tenure with program has come to an end with the conclusion of the 2024 season. Having coached for one season with Claremont H.S., Davis joined the Montgomery-Lonsdale baseball program, which eventually merged with Le Center to form Tri-City United, and has helmed the program for 37 years. With...
Berberich to be inducted into Minnesota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame
This past Sunday, it was announced that Lon Berberich will join the Class of 2024 in the Minnesota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame. Born in Sleepy Eye, MN, and growing up in Leavenworth, a tiny community not far from Sleepy Eye, it was natural that Berberich took to baseball. He started in organized baseball as a batboy for Leavenworth Cardinals/Orioles in 1962. His first coaching job was with the Leavenworth...
Le Sueur declares state of emergency, installs bypass after wastewater released into river
On the morning of Tuesday, June 25 the city of Le Sueur’s Mayo Park wastewater lift station experienced a failure, due to being overcome by floodwaters, resulting in a release of wastewater into the Minnesota River. This release was concentrated near the Mayo Park area. To protect public safety and the safety of remaining public infrastructure, a temporary bypass was put into place to ensure proper transmission of wastewater to the Le Sueur Wastewater Treatment Facility. ...
Le Sueur County declares state of emergency requesting FEMA aid
In the wake of historic flooding event which swamped scores of homes in Waterville and drenched low-lying areas across the region, Le Sueur County declared a state of emergency on Tuesday morning. Over the past week, constant storms inundated Le Sueur County with 14-16 inches of rainfall. Of the communities impacted, Waterville was hit the hardest. Streets were submerged in waters as high as three feet while hundreds of homes were flooded with overflows from Lake Tetonka, Sakatah Lake and the Cannon River. ...
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Le Sueur County News has been serving Le Sueur County since 1918. Le Sueur News-Herald was found in 1983 and merged with the Le Center Leader in 2018 to provide better coverage to local readers. Publishes Thursday and online at www.LeSueurCountyNews.com
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