Sylvia Antonia Wells, 83, of Kasson passed away on Tuesday, May 26, at the Seasons Hospice House in Rochester.
Sylvia was born on Feb. 26, 1937 in Wrangell, Alaska to Burton and Ruby (Everson) Brouillard.

With everything going on in the world, good news is needed now more than ever and Kasson-Mantorville rising senior Jakob Aarsvold received some good news when he learned that he’d been selected to play in the Hawaii Tiki Bowl, a nearly weeklong event held in Honolulu, Hawaii Dec. 30 – Jan. 4, 2021.

After competing for the blue and white KoMets for the past two years, right-handed pitcher and third baseman Kaleb Thiesse has decided to compete for another blue and white team, the Norse of Luther College, next year.
            He chose Luther because, “I loved the campus, loved the facilities and the people on campus seemed very welcoming.”
He also liked that Luther was just a little less than 90 miles away.

Each year about 500 high school sophomores and juniors apply to make it into the following year’s All-State band, mixed choir or orchestra, but only about 140 are accepted. Despite those odds, Kasson-Mantorville High School will be well represented next year as Ethan Barnum (clarinet) and Sayer Flynn (flute) made the All-State band while Olivia Smith made the All-State mixed choir.

Two former Steele County commissioners who lost their spots on the county board in the 2016 election are staging a comeback in this year’s election.
On Tuesday, James “Corky” Ebeling and Mark Schultz filed to get their old seats back on the Steele County Board. They will go up against the two incumbents that beat them in 2016—Jim Abbe and Rick Gnemi. 

Nathan Davidson has made the half hour trip to Kasson from Grand Meadow area hundreds of times in all types of weather conditions in the last 30 years driving a yellow VW.   

A last minute filing has produced a race for state representative in Minnesota’s District 24A, which covers Steele and Waseca counties.
Former Steele County commissioner and county administrator Tom Shea of Owatonna has filed for District 24A to challenge incumbent John Petersburg in November’s general election.
Petersburg, of Waseca, has been in office since 2013.

The Steele County Free Fair has joined a growing number of fairs in canceling its 2020 fair.
On Wednesday night, the Steele County Fair Board voted to cancel this year’s fair because of the coronavirus pandemic. 

This past week I had the pleasure to interview a woman who turned 107 years old on Sunday.
My only regret with this story is that I didn’t get to personally meet Elrose Milverstedt, who grew up in Dodge County and now lives in Owatonna. Knowing that social distancing requirements are in effect right now with long-term care facilities, we arranged for a phone interview.