When local band Active Transport hits the stage at Byron’s Good Neighbor Days on Friday, July 18, the performance will mark more than just a show. It will celebrate a journey that began in a Byron High School biology class and has grown into one of the area’s most promising young music acts.

For nearly two decades, Ready Set Learn has been quietly transforming the back-to-school season for hundreds of Dodge County families.
What began in 2007 as a grassroots effort to provide school supplies to local students has grown into a year-round, volunteer-run nonprofit that now serves more than 500 children annually.

For more than five decades, Gene Gulbransen has been the face of the Oslo Sinclair station, a fixture in this small Minnesota town. What began in 1972 as a leap of faith has become a lifelong commitment to service, community and family.
“I didn’t know what I was getting myself into,” Gulbransen said, reflecting on his early days. “It was hectic, but I got the hang of things.”

Beth Giese is less than a month on the job as the new Kasson-Mantorville Superintendent, but she doesn’t mince words when it comes to contract negotiations, including with KMEM, the union representing rank-and-file teachers.
The administration will recommend against deficit spending to settle contracts. 

Shirley Jean Hinsch, 98, of Hayfield, MN passed away on Monday, July 14, 2025, at Field Crest Care Center in Hayfield.