MANKATO — Private schools will welcome students back to their buildings full time this fall — with some new precautions.

An inter-GOP tussle at the primary level next week will decide the future of House District 23B.

NORTH MANKATO — Goats could be coming to North Mankato.

The Free Press

MANKATO — Jamie Aanenson of North Mankato filed on Monday to run for Mankato Area Public Schools Board.

NORTH MANKATO — Nancy Goodwin is the first to file for one of two open North Mankato City Council seats.

The Free Press

MANKATO — Mankato’s Department of Public Safety has been instituting for several years the policies and approaches to policing demanded nationwide in the wake of the George Floyd killing by a Minneapolis cop, officials told the City Council during a two-hour presentation Monday night.

The Free Press and MPR News

A majority of area respondents support Minnesota’s recent guidelines to open public schools in the fall, according to a Free Press online question.

When Tim Hatlestad began woodworking, he was the same age as the third grade students he teaches at Bridges Community School in North Mankato.

The Free Press

MANKATO — More people in the Mankato area are buying campers, motorhomes and boats this summer compared to previous years; and that increased demand, compounded by the temporary shutdown of factories to quell the spread of COVID-19 in March and April, has left dealers in short supply this summer.

On a busy Saturday in July, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources conservation officer Jacob Swedberg was patrolling Big Floyd Lake near Detroit Lakes when he spotted a loon.

The Free Press and MPR News

MANKATO — Much of Monday’s Mankato City Council work session will be devoted to an examination of the city’s policing policies in the wake of the killing of George Floyd.

As the calendar flipped to August I had a little pang of regret knowing there will be no State Fair this year.

The Free Press

Wade and Veleda Cordes worry they’ll have to move out of their Courtland home if plans for an expanded gun range next door come to fruition.

Q: I have a question. Why hasn’t an investigative reporter researched Minnesota deaths further? How many deaths were there in the state of Minnesota in Quarter 2 of 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. If the 2020 number is 1,400 more than the preceding three-year average, then people are dying “of” COVID. If not, they are dying “with” COVID.

MANKATO — Even as the White House casts suspicion on voting by mail, Blue Earth County residents are adopting the practice at historic levels.

MANKATO — An open Blue Earth County commissioner seat has attracted five candidates, with the Aug. 11 primary election set to winnow the field to two candidates for the November general election.

The Free Press

The “No Wake Restriction” has been lifted for Lake Tetonka and Lake Sakatah but remains in place for Lake Washington, Le Sueur County Sheriff Brett Mason announced Saturday.

Thrivent Financial

By Sgt. Troy Christianson, Minnesota State Patrol

The Free Press

Surgeons say the continued expansion of robotic surgery options at Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato will allow for more minimally invasive procedures.

The Free Press

ST. PAUL — The state’s highest court upheld the life imprisonment of a young man from Montgomery who murdered his father.

A new state law prohibiting retailers from selling tobacco products to people younger than 21 goes into effect Saturday.

MANKATO — Jennifer Jacobs of Mankato filed to run for Mankato School Board Friday.

MANKATO — Since its founding in 1876 Dotson Iron Castings has survived and grown, including bouncing back from a devastating fire three years ago.

The Free Press

The Free Press

The rains haven’t come often this growing season, but when they did, they came hard.

The Free Press and MPR News

KASOTA — A Kasota man allegedly admitted he was a methamphetamine dealer after investigators found the drug in his residence.

From the earliest stages of the coronavirus pandemic, finding safe sources of entertainment has been a difficult task.

The Free Press

As owner of Mankato’s True Facade Pictures, Ryan Sturgis is accustomed to being on the road for his job — more often than not traveling to Los Angeles to meet up with high-profile musicians.

There once was a children’s television show called “Zoom.” I never liked it, not only because of the irritating theme song (“Come on and zoom zoom zoom a-zoom! You know you want to zooma zooma zoom zoom zoom!”) but also because it featured the kind of kids TV producers thought were cool, the eager beavers who wore Garanimal-type clothes even in junior high and always asked one more question just when the bell rang and the rest of the class was practically ejecting out of their seats.

COURTLAND — A plan to reconstruct a section of Nicollet County Road 12 north of Courtland will begin mid-August. That includes a section that will be raised about 8 feet to prevent flooding.

Most students and parents will have to wait longer for a decision on whether their school will reopen for in-person learning in September.

MANKATO — Five more candidates filed to run for Mankato Area School Board seats on Thursday.

MANKATO — Agriculture has been battered by low commodity prices and pandemic-related economic pain, but GreenSeam Director Sam Ziegler said there’s still plenty to celebrate.

MANKATO — City and county officials reached consensus Thursday that a roundabout, rather than a more limited intersection, is needed at Adams Street and Blue Earth County Road 12 before the region’s largest truck stop opens next year.