The Dodge County Sheriff has confirmed his office is investigating a possible tornado touchdown Wednesday afternoon north of Claremont.
Sheriff Scott Rose told the DCI that emergency management director Matt Maas will be surveying damage with weather officials to determine if it was a tornado that touched down on the Kent Schmidt turkey farm about two miles north of Claremont near the Steele-Dodge border.

The Owatonna Huskies Bullpen Club in partnership with Youth 1st, The Walser Foundation, Federated Insurance, Jostens, Pearson, Cashwise, Bennerotte & Associates and the Minnesota Twins Community Fund have selected the Mantorville KoMets Baseball Team as the recipient of a Youth 1st Team Award for their outstanding sportsmanship during the 2017 Owatonna Tournament.

In Minnesota, the softball season can be one filled with wet and cold weather as teams try to hack it out over a two month period to gure out which team is the best in the state. Because of the post-ponements and quick nature of games, the softball season seems to fly by in the spring and most of the refinements of a player’s game takes place over the summer months.

Throughout the summer I find myself getting out of the house more than I usually would in past years. I’ve been busy with family trips, dance practices, and my job. I’m starting to notice how busy I’ve become. I kind of like it.
To add to my already eventful summer, my friends and I have decided to take a trip to Valley Fair, which is going to prove itself to be rather eventful.

Got a haircut the other day – quite a few of them, actually – and gazed across the street at the Olmsted County Fairgrounds, home of many childhood memories.
Rochester was small enough back then that you could probably hear the Fairgounds-based stock car- racing racket across town. We certainly could. But it was just far enough way to provide kind of a pleasant sound for a kid to fall asleep to on sweet summer nights.

A common saying is, ‘Never talk about politics, religion, or money,’ but today I’m going to ignore that guideline.
In our current news environment, we can no longer afford to not talk about politics.
But I’m not going to bash or praise our current president. Instead, I want to talk about local politics, especially community involvement.

I have had the chance to y the friendly skies many times over the years, but none of those came close to matching up to my experience last week.
As part of a media promotion, I had the unique opportunity to experience the excitement of the Roaring Twenties Thursday afternoon in Rochester.

If you think the water near the dam in Mantorville seems lower than usual, you’re not imagining things.

It’s quite a lineup for Kasson’s 28th-annual Festival in the Park, set for Aug. 10-13 in and around Veterans Memorial Park.
You could watch blacksmithing demonstrations, go splat! or WHOP! in the belly-flop contest, help lead your team in archery “combat,” and try an obstacle course challenge alongside a local Ninja Warrior in Veterans Memorial Park.