MANKATO — For Somali families settling in Mankato, a dizzying array of the unfamiliar and confounding confronts them — language, schooling, culture.

NORTH MANKATO — Bill Borchardt wore numerous hats over the years, always remaining heavily involved in many aspects of the community.

MANKATO — Blue Earth County is accepting applications for businesses and nonprofits affected by the pandemic.

MANKATO — A man was shot in the leg Sunday outside a Mankato apartment. The suspected shooter is in custody and says it happened accidentally.

MANKATO — South-central Minnesota counties combined for 65 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday, a jump from the previous two days.

NORTH MANKATO — A resident sustained minor burns in a fire that damaged a North Mankato duplex Tuesday evening.

Browsing through a catalog, looking for something to write about and there it is — two words to beware of ‘self sows.’

ST. PETER — Nicollet County is accepting applications until Feb. 5 from small businesses and nonprofits in the county impacted by the pandemic.

MANKATO — Just two years after he became sheriff of Blue Earth County, La Roy Wiebold was leading an interstate murder investigation. Helping send the killer to life in prison became one of his proudest accomplishments in his 22 years as sheriff.

MANKATO — Disabled American Veteran Auxiliary member Debbie Mason braved Tuesday morning’s snowy weather to travel a few blocks from her home to see the local DAV chapter’s new van. The vehicle, to be used for getting veterans to medical appointments, will use Lyle C. Pearson VA Community Based Outpatient Clinic’s parking lot as its home.

MANKATO — A $48 million redevelopment project planned for the downtown Hy-Vee site would create 29 jobs, retain 85 others and generate more than $220,000 in property taxes, according to an application for a state economic development grant.

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Q. Help! I bought a pomegranate at the store and am unsure what to do with it now. Should I cut it open? Peel it? Any suggestions?

MANKATO — With combined degrees in journalism and education, Stacy Wells has come full circle as the new communications director at Mankato Area Public Schools; and it likely began when she hosted a television show more than 25 years ago.

MANKATO — Nicollet County has been selected as one of nine statewide pilot community COVID-19 vaccine programs throughout Minnesota aimed at increasing access for seniors and school staff, according to a Nicollet County press release Monday.

The top four resolutions every January are to exercise more, eat more healthfully, lose weight and save money, all of which sound wonderful, especially on New Year’s Day when you wake up with a candy cane glued to the roof of your mouth and the sad realization that all of the clothes you ordered for your husband to give to you for Christmas are now the wrong size.

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When husband and wife duo Ben and Sara Hansen opened Functional Chiropractic Rehab in Mankato in May of 2020, they knew there would be plenty of competition, with over a dozen chiropractors in town.

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St. Peter High School social studies teacher Kyle Hilding sees plenty of connections between the civil rights movement of the 1960s and today. After his students watch Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech given from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., Hilding poses a question.

Patricia Conde-Brooks is an immigrant, but she wants you to know that’s not the only thing that defines her.

MANKATO — Margarita Ruiz should be celebrating.

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The passing of Art Petrie recently no doubt brought back memories for many people of the early transformation of downtown Mankato in the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s — a process filled with passionate dedication and also missteps.

(This revise version corrects Bethany Hawkwatch numbers).

There’s been a significant drop in college aid applications filed by Mankato area graduating students this year, which likely signals a decline in students enrolling in college this fall.

Q: With the news of another hotel scheduled to be built on the former post office property, I am curious as to how our number of hotels/motels per 10,000 population compares to other cities of similar size. My count indicates there are presently 14 in Mankato.

For members of the Southern Minnesota Poets Society in Mankato, poetry is an opportunity to take personal, authentic, even daily and seemingly mundane experiences and turn them into something vivid and profound.

By Sgt. Troy Christianson, Minnesota State Patrol

It wasn’t streaming services or rental kiosks that brought down the last remaining video rental store in Mankato.

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Minnesota Connections Academy

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NORTH MANKATO — The North Mankato City Council, after more than a year of discussion and research by staff, will hold a public hearing and vote Tuesday on a proposed “natural managed lawn area” ordinance.

MANKATO — As the COVID-19 pandemic puts further strain on families already struggling with economic stability, advocates used a virtual visit to Mankato this week to encourage people to seek tools helping them connect to assistance programs.

Kathy Jacobson decided her shovel would be enough to clear her Mankato driveway Friday morning.

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MANKATO — Middle and high school students in Mankato Area Public Schools will return to part-time in-person learning Feb. 4.

Q. I keep reading about branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) in my fitness magazine. Are they really worth the hype? Or are they geared more towards those competing in body building?

It’s time to submit photos for Mankato Magazine’s annual photo issue. We know you’ve got plenty.

Long before talk of a downtown Mankato renaissance, Art Petrie was laying the early building blocks of the long, circuitous path of success for the downtown and much of the rest of Mankato.