You know, the child poverty story out of Owatonna was probably more important, but you have to admit, this headline made you read this story. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention figures that if a community can handle a zombie apocalypse, it can handle most other catastrophes. Edie Grossfield of the Rochester Post Bulletin writes that last Saturday, a team of medical and other community organizations gathered at a Boy Scout camp southeast of Rochester and helped people “pretending to be afflicted with the make-believe, zombie-causing disease HADAD, or Hemorrhagic Acral Dermatitis with Anesthetic Delirium. … Students from Mayo Medical School and Riverland Community College's nursing program had to practice the skills they've learned to triage and treat the patients. Also involved were Mayo medical professionals, members of local Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops, various Mayo Clinic health-care students and community volunteers, including students from the University of Minnesota Rochester. … The health care and medical students assessed the zombie-like patients — some of whom acted the part more than others — and moved them along for various levels of treatment. Sometimes that included medivac by fake wooden helicopter.”
More than 13 percent of children in Steele County were living in poverty in 2011, reports Al Strain of the Owatonna People’s Press. According to data from the Kids Count Census, in 2011, 13.6 percent of children in the county lived in poverty. The total number of children in poverty in 2011 was 1,280, down slightly from 1,292 children in 2010. One of the indicators is the number of students receiving free or reduced lunches from the school district. There have been times this year when 37 percent of local children used the free or reduced lunch program in Owatonna. Statewide, more than 81,000 children are in extreme poverty, a figure that held steady from 2010. Statewide, more than 88,000 children aged 0 to 19 lacked health insurance in 2010. In Steele County, that figure was 579, or 5.8 percent.
Steve and Sid Brown of Mankato like to fish the walleye-northern opener on a small lake near Cass Lake in northern Minnesota, but that lake still had ice on it so they went Lake Mazaska near Faribault, where they were abused by the tough wind and cold waves, writes John Weiss of the Rochester Post Bulletin. The “wind made boat control a joke and staying warm problematic. In three hours of fishing, they had two bites.… Shermayne Cross, an owner of Roberd's Lake Resort in Faribault, didn't have a fishing report because the northwest wind pounded their side of the lake and no one could even launch a boat. Andy Nagel, of Nagel's Bait Shop in Faribault, said fishing was ‘pretty slow. It was so windy, they got blown off the lake.’ He heard only one report of anglers catching fish, but mostly largemouth bass."
Speaking of fishermen, Gov. Mark Dayton snagged a walleye Saturday, reports Anna Erickson of the Bemidji Pioneer. With the help of Park Rapids fishing guide Jason Durham, Dayton caught a walleye at 12:25 a.m. Saturday, although no size was reported. He didn’t catch any others but was happy he caught the one walleye. Dayton was joined by North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple as they launched a boat about 8 a.m. on the Fish Hook River. "It’s cold, it’s windy, it’s icy. It must be a Minnesota fishing opener," Dalrymple said.
Nathan Hansen of the Winona Daily News says the fight against the emerald ash borer is, well, in full bore.“Entomologist Mark Abrahamson with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture said the documented infestation in Great River Bluffs State Park is spreading quickly, and that the ash borer has likely spread to other locations. ‘There are a lot of beetles. Winona County is definitely the hottest in terms of beetles.’ Abrahamson said the population growth of the ash borer is at an accelerated stage.” Winona has previously removed 40 ash trees and treated another 220 with insecticide, and this year will treat 1,300 ash trees and remove up to 100 more. Infested trees have been found in La Crescent, near the New Albin Big Lake Wildlife Management area, near the Nodine interchange of Interstate 90 and in the Great River Bluffs state park.
Last Thursday, more than 50 Marshall-area veterans were able to bring their questions and concerns about health care and access to benefits to representatives of the Sioux Falls VA health care system and the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, writes Deb Gau of the Marshall Independent. Help for vets is not always easy to find, so the groups host these town hall meetings to help vets find the services they need. Patrick Kelly, director of the Sioux Falls VA health care system, spoke about how the system is trying to offer more health care for women veterans, improve patient experiences and update facilities at the Sioux Falls VA hospital. Kelly said providing mental health services to rural vets is a significant challenge. "There are not enough mental health care providers to go around," he said.
This story is mildly interesting, but the photo is really cool and worth checking out. Sam Cook of the Duluth News Tribune relates the story of how an employee of Monaco Air, an aircraft servicing center at the airport, watched as two bald eagles grappled in mid-air and then fell to the ground, talons still entangled as they smacked into the concrete. He called the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, which put Randy Hanzal, a conservation officer with the DNR, on the case. “Their talons were embedded in each other very deeply,” Hanzal said. Hanzal didn’t have a cage large enough to contain the eagles, so he put them in the back of the pickup and covered them with blankets and jackets. He strapped them down with webbing straps and traveled slowly to Wildwoods, a wildlife rehabilitation organization in Duluth, about two miles away. Soon, “there was a ruckus in the back of the truck. I looked around and saw feathers flying up. One of the eagles jumped out the back, onto my tailgate.” The eagle flew away. The other one made it to Wildwoods and was transported to the Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota in St. Paul. The eagle had some deep puncture wounds in its leg and one deep abdominal puncture, and was treated with antibiotics, fluids and pain medication, she said.
Spring Grove Soda Pop is going great guns, writes Steve Cahalan of the Winona Free Press. Bob and Dawn Hansen have added distributors and boosted annual production of Spring Grove Soda Pop by 50 percent in the nearly 10 years they’ve owned the business. And they’ve installed newer equipment that will allow them to bottle much faster. That’s a lot of change in a short time for a business founded in 1895. Outside its core market swath of a 100-mile diameter around Spring Grove, the company has distributors in Illinois, California and Texas. Spring Grove Soda Pop also is sold in Rocket Fizz (a fast-growing soda and candy retailer) stores nationwide. In addition, the Spring Grove company may begin bottling for other beverage companies. The company has eight soda flavors: strawberry, orange, creamy orange, black cherry, cream soda, lemon sour, root beer and grape. For the third year this summer, Spring Grove soda lovers will have a new flavor to look forward to: rhubarb.