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Northfield girls basketball captains aim for improvement
The Northfield High School girls basketball team will be looking to improve upon its fortunes this winter thanks to a roster filled with players who gained quality varsity court time in 2021-22. Northfield ended its season with a 3-24, 3-19 Big 9 record last winter but head coach Paul Eddy believes last year’s trials could result in positive results this winter for the Raiders. “We bring back a fair amount...
Winter classes for Cannon Valley Elder Collegium
Cannon Valley Elder Collegium, CVEC, has announced its course offerings for the Winter Term, 2023, January 9 through March 10. Fifteen courses are being offered: four online via Zoom, six at Village on the Cannon (VOC), two at FiftyNorth (the senior center), two at Kildahl Park Pointe, and one at St. Peter's Lutheran church. All sites are in Northfield. Current registration began November 21 and runs through December 12. Class...
National economics editor visits Northfield for insight on low employment rates
With the lowest unemployment rate in a state that is ranked lowest of all 50 states, statistically, Northfield is making international news. An editor from the London-based magazine, “The Economist,” visited Northfield last week to research a story he is working on regarding low employment rates across the United States. Simon Rabinovitch, U.S. economics editor, camped out in the conference room of the Northfield Chamber of Commerce for a full...
Jackknifed semi slows I-35 traffic (copy)
One person had minor injuries in a three-vehicle crash that included a jackknifed semitruck on I-35 in northern Rice County this morning. A southbound semi jackknifed in the median north of Northfield a little before 7:30 a.m., according to the State Patrol. A car then struck the semi and then the car and a pickup collided. The driver of the car had non-life-threatening injuries. The driver of the pickup and driver and passenger in the semi were not injured. Freeway traffic was slowed for several hours following the crash.
Northfield boys hockey captains hope to build off strong season
The Northfield High School boys’ hockey team charted an impressive 20-6-1 overall record and also claimed first place honors in the always rugged Big 9 Conference with a 16-1-1 record under the direction of head coach Mike Luckraft in 2021-22. The outlook for the upcoming 2022-23 season is bright for the Raiders, as eight of the team’s top-10 point producers from last year are back on the ice, including All-Conference recipients and team captains junior forward Kamden Kaiser, junior forward Cayden Monson, junior defenseman Ty...
Project Friendship forges forever friendships between college students and youth (copy)
Every child deserves a mentor. That’s the slogan for Project Friendship, a Northfield-based mentoring program that has been matching youth from second through seventh grades with Carleton College and St. Olaf College students for over 50 years. “Mentors help children feel that they are an important individual who deserves respect and attention,” said executive director Holly Schoenbauer. ...
Project Friendship forges forever friendships between college students and youth
Every child deserves a mentor. That’s the slogan for Project Friendship, a Northfield-based mentoring program that has been matching youth from second through seventh grades with Carleton College and St. Olaf College students for over 50 years. “Mentors help children feel that they are an important individual who deserves respect and attention,” said executive director Holly Schoenbauer. ...
Riverwalk Winter Market brings holiday shoppers inside on cold Saturdays
For those consumers who take pride in shopping local during the winter holiday season, head inside the old Northfield News building during November and December Saturdays for a comfortable indoor shopping experience, filled with a plethora of homemade and handmade items. Since Nov. 5, Riverwalk Market Fair vendors have set up shop on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. inside the sprawling building at 115 5th St. W in downtown Northfield. ...
Northfield man sentenced to probation for sex crime
The charge against a Northfield man who pleaded guilty to having sexual contact with a developmentally disabled woman will be dismissed if he completes probation and attends sex offender treatment. Michael Dean Tomlinson, 57, was charged with felony third-degree criminal sexual conduct with aa mentally impaired victim in February 2021. A then 24-year-old woman with a traumatic brain injury who knows Tomlnson reported he had sexual contact with her multiple...
Republican Finstad, Democrat Craig prepare to represent southern MN at Congress
After an election that delivered a major power shift, yet reflected a country as deeply, narrowly and bitterly polarized as ever, southern Minnesota’s two members of Congress have been sent back to serve in Washington for two more years. Reps. Brad Finstad, R-New Ulm, and Angie Craig, DFL-Prior Lake, both won re-election by increased margins earlier this month. Millions were spent by both Democrats and Republicans in both seats, which have produced a series of tight results in recent years. ...
Jirik family recognized for conservation efforts
As he stood on a creaking, frozen lake with his herding dog named Keeper, Jim Jirik pulled a wire trap from the water. It was full of hundreds of flopping minnows that he’ll use for fishing bait. When he worked at the U.S Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service and now, on his own farm, he’s consistently thinking up new sustainable practices to try out. For this reason, Jirik...
Catalytic converter thefts again on the rise in Faribault
As Faribault sees another wave of stolen catalytic converters, one of Minnesota’s congresswomen is proposing legislation aimed at curbing such thefts. Faribault Police Chief John Sherwin said there’s been a jump in catalytic converter thefts in the city this fall. Fourteen thefts have been reported since the beginning of October. In one more instance, a different vehicle part was taken that a thief might have mistaken for a catalytic converter. ...
A Northfield Christmas tradition moves to Twin Cities
This year, the St. Olaf Christmas Festival, a tradition dating back to 1912, will be held in one of the nation’s finest concert halls. The move will provide better sound, better seats, and better ambiance — except in a concert hall 50 miles north of Northfield. As one of the oldest musical celebrations of Christmas in the United States, the St. Olaf Christmas Festival moves from Skoglund gymnasium on campus to Orchestra Hall, 1111 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis. ...
Former NHS classmates start SPICE, a political engagement group
In 1979, when Anne Larson, Amy Pfefferle, Karen Larson Welinski, and Tom Rasmussen graduated from Northfield High School, they all knew each other but really weren’t close friends. Now, the foursome are tightly intertwined by a shared belief that democracy requires well informed citizens to vote in every election. Moved to action by recent events, they decided to take action. In late summer, they formed SPICE, a political awareness site...
Timberwolves, Lynx and Post Consumer Brands announce new partnership
Post has been named the official cereal of the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx have scored a new multi year partnership with Post Consumer Brands, headquartered in the greater Minneapolis-St. Paul area. The Post portfolio includes a host of beloved cereal brands, including Fruity PEBBLES™, Honeycomb® and Honey Bunches of Oats®, all inclusive of the Wolves and Lynx partnership. Announced in November, the partnership includes both in-arena activation...
Train rides and candyland add magic to annual Winter Walk Festival
It’s almost time to light up Northfield for the Christmas holidays. On Thursday, Dec. 8, the city’s 24th annual Winter Walk Festival will transform downtown into a sea of twinkling white lights. Added to thousands upon thousands of strung lights across trees and buildings, are the traditional luminaries lining the sidewalks. “Every year, I say it, and every year it’s true,” said Jane Bartho, president of the Northfield Chamber of...
Carleton invests millions into fossil fuels and students aren't happy about it
The emotion was raw from 22-year-old Dallas native Diana De La Paz, as she read out her carefully composed words during a protest on the Carleton College campus Oct. 29. “For nearly six figures, you promised to offer an education of the highest quality, to nurture my dreams and to make me statistically happier,” De La Paz said. ”You failed. You expected a first-generation student to understand the complexities of a system you have reaped the benefit of for centuries. You let me wander your...
Raiders chess students and families strategize next moves
When the Northfield School District announced this past spring $4.5 million in proposed budget cuts for 2022-23 and 2023-24, it meant that teachers would lose jobs and students would lose vital services. On top of those difficult losses came cuts to student programs, including the high school chess team. Founded more than 50 years ago, NHS Chess has been a success story in many ways. An all-comers “game for life” that doesn’t require expensive gear or training facilities, chess rewards participation and perseverance, and it...
Bethel Lutheran Church raises funds for CAC's Hillcrest project
In this holiday season, Bethel Lutheran Church might provide an example for what unconditional generosity can accomplish. In a span of five weeks, church members collected $64,000 in cash, with an additional $6,000 in pledges, to raise a total of $70,000 earmarked specifically for the Hillcrest housing development. The funds will go toward purchasing all new appliances for the 17 homes within Hillcrest, an environmentally efficient housing development located on North Highway 3 and operated by the Community Action Center (CAC). Many of the rental...
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Northfield News has been serving Rice County, MN since 1876 and publishes Wednesdays and online at www.NorthfieldNews.com
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