ALERT :
- 5/22/13, The North Iowa Baseball and Softball games vs. Algona Garrigan at North Iowa tonight have been cancelled due to the weather. :
- 5/22/13, The Lake Mills vs. Rockford Baseball game at Lake Mills has been cancelled. :
- 5/22/13, The Forest City Park and Rec has cancelled all BB and SB practices for the 5th, 6th and 7th grades for today.:
- 5/24/13;Reminder that the Forest City CSD will have a one (1) hour early dismissal on Friday, May 24th.:
MN News
UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE-MINNESOTA Benefits could expire for 12,200 Minn. unemployed (Information in the following story is from: Star Tribune, http://www.startribune.com) MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Thousands of out-of-work Minnesotans are at risk of having their unemployment-insurance benefits expire Saturday. There are 2.1 million Americans who currently receive benefits, including more than 12,000 in Minnesota. There were hopes that Congress would reauthorize the benefits, but those hopes dimmed after lawmakers left Washington last week without striking a deal on the fiscal cliff. A Minneapolis Star Tribune report says some unemployed Minnesotans are minimizing expenses by downsizing their homes and looking for alternatives to owning a car. Andrea Ferstan is with Greater Twin Cities United Way. She says unemployed people who use up their savings could find themselves turning to charity and government programs for needs such as food and shelter. Although Emergency Unemployment Compensation is temporary, Congress has renewed the program 10 times since 2008.
DEPUTY INJURES SUSPECT Minn. deputy shoots, wounds Winona County suspect (Information in the following story is from: La Crosse Tribune, http://www.lacrossetribune.com) ROCHESTER, Minn. (AP) – A Winona County man who was shot and wounded by an Olmsted County sheriff’s deputy on Christmas Eve remains in the hospital. A La Crosse Tribune report says Winona County deputies responded Monday morning to a report of a domestic disturbance. The suspect fled, and authorities believed he was armed with a handgun. Deputies in Olmsted County found the man hiding under a camper in Dover. He allegedly charged at officers, and a deputy fired a nonlethal round from a shotgun. The suspect was injured and airlifted to a Rochester hospital. His name and condition were not immediately released. Authorities have only identified him as a Winona County resident in his mid-20s.
WAYWARD HORSE KILLED Minn. trooper shoots, kills unruly horse near road (Information in the following story is from: Duluth News Tribune, http://www.duluthsuperior.com) HIBBING, Minn. (AP) – Authorities say a Minnesota trooper had to shoot and kill a wayward horse that couldn’t be moved away from near a busy highway. The Minnesota State Patrol says the animal was reported near Minnesota Highway 73 south of Hibbing on Sunday about 10:15 a.m. A Duluth News Tribune report says a state trooper and several passers-by tried in vain to capture it and move it off the road. Patrol spokesman Eric Roeske (ROS’-kee) says no one could identify to whom the horse belonged. He says it was in poor shape, suggesting it may have been loose for some time. Efforts to capture it continued for more than two hours. After several close calls where vehicles nearly struck the horse, the trooper decided to shoot and kill it.
BREEDING BUTTERFLIES Program aims to breed rare Minn. butterflies (Information in the following story is from: St. Paul Pioneer Press, http://www.twincities.com) APPLE VALLEY, Minn. (AP) – The 20 tiny butterfly larvae being cared for by a Minnesota Zoo biologist could represent the last hope for a species that used to be ubiquitous across Minnesota prairies. A St. Paul Pioneer Press report says the Poweshiek Skipperling used to flit and float above more than 2 million acres of Minnesota prairie. Now, for some reason, they’ve virtually disappeared. There are some populations in Wisconsin and Michigan, but the brown butterfly with white stripes may already be extinct in Minnesota. But conservation biologist Erik Runquist hopes to bring them back. He’s caring for 20 tiny larvae that are each the size of a grain of rice. By breeding new generations of Poweshieks, he and state officials hope to figure out what killed their predecessors.
SUNKEN MOTORCYCLE Motorcycle resurfaces in Minn. lake after 56 years (Information in the following story is from: The Free Press, http://www.mankatofreepress.com) NEW ULM, Minn. (AP) – The motorcycle that Ron Miller of New Ulm is restoring is not in the greatest shape. But then again it did sit at the bottom of a lake for 56 years. A commercial fisherman recently netted the 1938 German motorcycle from Big Swan Lake in Dassel. Turns out it had been there since 1956, when 15-year Dean Allie crashed through thin ice just a days after his dad gave it to him. Even scuba divers couldn’t find it. The fisherman returned it to Allie, now 71 and still in Dassel. But Allie turned it over to Miller, an acquaintance of the fisherman who collects motorcycles. Miller tells The Free Press in Mankato that Allie asked only for a picture of the restored bike. Miller says it’ll never be drivable again, but he plans to display it publicly.
THEATER-GUTHRIE-TWEET SEATS Minn.’s Guthrie Theater offers ‘Tweet Seats’ MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Instead of telling patrons to put away their smartphones, the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis is offering a limited number of “Tweet Seats” to social media fans. Starting this Thursday, the Guthrie will offer its first-ever “Tweet Seats” during four consecutive Thursday performances of the commedia dell’arte (keh-MAY’-dee-eh dehl-AR’-teh) classic “A Servant of Two Masters.” Those seats will allow social media users to interact during the show. The seats are in the balcony of the McGuire Proscenium Stage in a section that won’t be disruptive to other theatergoers. Tweet Seat tickets cost $15 and are available by calling the Guthrie box office. Tickets are not available online, with other offers or on previously purchased tickets. “A Servant of Two Masters” runs through Jan. 20.