Minnesota’s Small Business Person of the Year scores big with Walmart contract extension
SBA award winner Beth Fynbo Benike and her Oronoco business Busy Baby are learning the realities of fast growth.
April 1, 2025
No prison for MN woman who cooked up twin-swapping scheme tied to deadly Amish buggy crash
The twin sisters conceived an identity-swapping plan after one of them crashed an SUV into an Amish buggy in southeastern Minnesota, killing two children. The sister who wasn’t driving has been handed a brief jail sentence and probation, but the other still faces charges.
March 31, 2025
Are Minnesota districts facing uphill push to get more kids to walk to school?
Schools are pushing more kids to walk or bike in hopes of introducing physical activity, easing transportation budgets and de-congesting drop-off zones.
March 29, 2025
Judge, congregation show mercy to troubled woman who set fire to Rochester church
She avoids prison for the 2022 blaze at Peace United Church that caused nearly $5 million in damages.
March 28, 2025
Rochester raccoon survives brush with electric transformer and causes blackout
A raccoon can withstand a lifetime diet of garbage – and, apparently, electrocution.
March 28, 2025
Prison for southern Minnesota driver whose drunken crash killed a motorcyclist
Nicholas Sprau, 60, of the Rochester area was drunk and within feet of his driveway when he crashed his vehicle into an oncoming motorcycle in 2022.
March 27, 2025
Downtown investment in Rochester up, almost all of it from Mayo Clinic
Non-Mayo private investment in 2024 was just over $9 million, the lowest since the city started Destination Medical Center.
March 27, 2025
Red Wing juvenile center’s well-being checks faulted in teen’s death, investigation says
A state inspector general’s report also finds the facility did not seek parental approval before administering medication to the young inmate.
March 26, 2025
Ticket totals for illegal parking in disabled spots vary widely in Minnesota. Do the numbers lie?
Disabled residents and advocates say ticket violations in disabled parking is vastly undercounted.
March 23, 2025
Today is the first day of spring. Here's what it looked like across Minnesota.
From Redwood Falls to Itasca State Park, here’s what our reporters saw.
March 20, 2025
Weather Service: Strong spring storm will likely miss metro but set to hammer southeastern Minnesota
The I-90 corridor still in bull’s-eye as storm track shifts south.
March 18, 2025
Popular Olmsted Co. farm program could reduce water pollution, if officials can agree how to pay for it
The county’s program has wide support to help clean up nitrate pollution in southeast Minnesota, but questions remain over how it gets funded.
March 16, 2025
