The University of Sioux Falls congratulates 550 students who made the Fall 2024 Dean’s List. Sierra Goedtke of Fulda, MN, majoring in Accounting Atalie Rosenbrook of Slayton, MN, majoring in Elementary Education About University of Sioux Falls: Founded 141 years ago, the University of Sioux Falls is a transformative Christian liberal arts university serving over 1,600 students through traditional undergraduate programs as well as graduate, evening and online degree programs including a Doctorate in Leadership.

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Sheriff Heath Landsman asked for a 13% increase in his 2025 salary and a 9.59% increase in his 2026 salary. A 22.59% increase overall. This was misquoted as an 8% increase in last weeks article. It was denied by the commissioners.

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Week 2 Adult League The Bowbarians 8 Willy Sinners 7 Capt Dan & Crew 7 Group Tighters 5 Lake Sarah’s Lost Arrows 4 Great White Buffalo 1 Stonegate Orchard 0 Shalak Outdoors 0 High Scores Nick Pieske 445 James Determan 441 Todd Nelson 440 Mike Buldhaupt 428 Matt Wahl 426 High Scores with H/C Trinty Wildfever 450 Natalie Wahl 450 Malcom Miller 450 Justin Opdahl 450 Joe Giese 450 Junior League Bison 7 Wild 6 Titans 6 sharks 5 Jack Rabbits 4 Foresters 3 Seals 3 Hawks 3 Eagles 2 Orioles 1 High Scores Alex Hasara 167 Carson White 163 Owen McNab 163 Zachery Haken 148 Kaitlyn Wehking 148 High Scores with H/C Bennett Krueger 276.3 Zachery Haken 235.3 Alex Hasara 223.7 Leah Baumgartner 208.1 Bently Peterson 207.3.

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With the holidays upon us I wanted to share a message about distracted driving. Here is some information we recently shared on our Department of Public Safety blog.

Please, do not request that your name be left off the District Court List. MN DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES Dwayne Leroy Bengtson, Marshall, MN, Transport Loaded Firearm - $185.

By Joanne Bergman The Murray County Board of Commissioners met on December 17, 2024. This was the regularly scheduled meeting for the third Tuesday of the month. County Attorney Travis Smith was on hand to comment on the recent action of the Board to support the Wonder World efforts to construct a new facility. The original motion was for $750,000 to be taken from the General Funds of the County to provide a loan to Wonder World. Mr. Smith advised the Commissioners that, according to statute, they had no authority to provide a loan to any private or non-profit organization. Their action is limited to providing the funds to the Economic Development Authority for a restricted purpose. The Board then rescinded the original motion from Oct. 1st to correct this error which passed unanimously. Lori Gunnink then presented a new motion to transfer $750,000 to the EDA with restricted funds for use by Wonder World for their project. No public comment was taken. Commissioner Gunnink asked if this change in funding will affect the grant process for Wonder World. Justine Wettschreck, Murray County EDA Coordinator, was able to give an update on this. She also provided updated estimates and a rendering of the design. The new estimates put them closer to $2.5 million on the project. Commissioner Malone expressed her opinion that she had been blind sided by the action, as there had been no previous discussion of the issue. She also felt “this kind of behavior does not support a healthy community, a healthy board or healthy county government”. Board Chair Jackie Meier stopped Malone and moved to a roll call vote on the motion. There were two ayes (from Molly Malone and Lori Gunnink) and three nays (from Jackie Meier, Dennis Welgrav-en and Dave Thiner). Board Chair Meier than asked Wonder World to come back with their costs and business plan to discuss again. When asked by Malone, Smith stated that the request for his legal opinion had come from the County Administrator Carolyn McDonald and Board Chair Jackie Meier. He also stated that any further request for a legal opinion must be submitted by the Board as a whole and not by any individual or individuals.

There will be a community dinner held at 12:00 noon on Wednesday, December 25 at the St. Ann’s Church Hall in Slayton. Reservations are encouraged and can be made by calling (507) 760-0090 or (507) 760-1303. Take out is available.