Month: June 2020

The Minnesota Department of Health has released the latest COVID-19 numbers which include 372 newly reported cases and 14 new deaths.

Polk County has 61 positive cases, Pennington County has two new cases bringing the total to 21, Norman County has one new case for 14 total, Marshall County has 12, and Red Lake County has 4. Lake of the Woods County is one of the two counties that doesn’t have a positive case reported.  All the numbers are below – 

Updated June 3, 2020
Updated daily at 11 a.m., with data current as of 4 p.m. the previous day.

Data is for cases that were tested and returned positive. All data is preliminary and may change as cases are investigated. Many data points are collected during case interviews. Data presented below is for all cases, regardless of interview status. Data for cases pending interview may be listed as “unknown/missing”.

Not all suspected cases of COVID-19 are tested, so this data is not representative of the total number of people in Minnesota who have or had COVID-19. Cumulative numbers are since Jan. 20, 2020.

• Minnesota COVID-19 Public Dashboard
• Minnesota’s COVID-19 Response and Preparation Capacity
• CDC: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Cases in the U.S.
• Minnesota COVID-19 Modeling

Data in the data tables is correct as of 11 a.m. daily. Dynamic images and maps for case demographics, likely exposure, residence, and residence type will update shortly after 11 a.m. daily and will not work if your browser is in compatibility mode.

Altru Health System announces a reduction of its workforce of approximately 6.5%. In total 167 positions at Altru were eliminated, with most of the reductions in support and administrative departments.  Of those layoffs, 4.2% were at the Crookston Clinic which calculates out to the elimination of seven positions.  

“While I hoped we would never have to make this decision, it is necessary,” Dr. Steven Weiser, President of Altru, shared regarding the change. “We are taking deliberate actions to position Altru for ongoing success in a challenging environment.”

Like most healthcare organizations across the country, Altru made significant changes to its operations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. These changes had a serious financial impact. Prior to today’s announcement, Altru had made a series of decisions to offset significant financial losses this year. These have included reductions in executive, leadership, and physician pay, workforce adjustments to patient volume, and the decision to pause the construction of Altru’s new hospital.

“Today’s announcement is part of a crucial re-design of our organization,” adds Dr. Weiser. “We must continue to make changes in the best interest of those we serve. As we adapt, we will not lose sight of our patients and our responsibility to the community and region. Patients always come first and providing safe, high-quality care remains our priority.”

Those departing the organization will receive a separation package, a pay-out of unused vacation time, and access to health and dental benefits through the month of June.

“At Altru, we value our entire team, and the departure of these fellow employees will be felt by us all,” shares Dr. Weiser. “I am grateful for the time our employees gave to Altru, and for their service to our patients and the community.”

Altru’s mission is to improve the health and enrich life of those they serve. The changes being made strengthen Altru’s path forward.

The Crookston School Board held a special meeting on Wednesday morning in the choir/orchestra room at Crookston High School.  During a special meeting, the discussion is limited to the items on the agenda which included a Highland Elementary School (HES) Playground Project and approval of spring coaching pay.

HIGHLAND ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PLAYGROUND PROJECT
The playground and tennis court at HES both had items addressed in the proposed project.  There were safety concerns according to Superintendent Jeremy Olson regarding the merry-go-round, which are no longer recommended at schools for safety, as well as the condition of the court surface.  There were old tennis poles that had been cut off that have pushed up above the court surface due to the thaw cycle, as well as some old basketball hoop poles, explained Olson. “We’ve been looking at our playground, play surface area at Highland,” said Olson. “As we walked around we realized there were some things that need to be done.  One is blacktopping the old tennis courts. We wanted to do that to have a good playing surface.  There were some safety concerns we’re addressing and taking care of after the spring thaw and everything.  We have some fencing that is in disrepair, so everything along the parking surface will get new fencing as part of the bid. We received multiple bids and went with the lowest responsible bidder per state statute.”

The Board received three bids for asphalt work to replace the surface in some parts of the playground and to remove some areas no longer needed.  The second part of the project to replace the fencing received two bids.  The board voted to approve awarding the asphalt project to Agassiz Asphalt and the fencing to McGlynn Fence for a total project cost of $25,891.  All the bids are below –

All of the current work is the removal or repair of dangerous areas.  Olson said nothing new is being added to the playground although there is a possibility of additions through a separate project. “Nothing extra is going in (at this time),” said Olson. “We are working with our athletic director and there might be a possibility of some basketball hoops or something like that going up that would be separate from this project that would be funded through a different source. Right now, what we’re trying to address is the frost heave has pushed up some of the old tennis court poles, so obviously as we walk through that surface make it unsafe. We need to get those removed before we have kids back on that surface.”  

SPRING COACHING SALARIES
The School Board also voted to approve paying spring coaches 50 percent of their salaries for the season that was canceled due to COVID-19.  The board had been considering a payment range between 33-50 percent, but no motion was made calling for a 33 percent payment.  When the request for a motion for a 50 percent payment was made, Tim Dufault made the motion to pay coaches, seconded by Dave Davidson, and passed unanimously.

The district is also returning the spring sports fees to the families, which totals $20,600.  Olson said about half the spring coaching salaries are fee-based, so with paying 50 percent salary and returning fees the district budget isn’t impacted positively or negatively by having no spring season. “About $20,600 is being returned to the families,” said Olson.  “Because of the spring sports not happening we wanted to return those to the families to make them whole because we believe that’s the right thing to do. When you take the $20,600 and look at the total savings, we had paid the coaches 33 percent. If you look at the total savings the district is still a little bid to the good there. So, we are making the decision to pay the additional 17 percent which is pretty much in line with the dollars that are being returned from the spring sports fees, and the dollars being saved from the coaching salaries. About half of the spring sports salaries are fee-based, so we’re able to pay the coaches about 50 percent of their contract.”

The graph below shows the fees returned as well as the budget impact of paying coach’s salaries at different levels for the spring season.

Olson said spring sports fees are being automatically returned, so families don’t have to take any action, however, if they’d like to have the lunch account balances returned instead of rolled over they should contact Food Service Director Anna Ogaard-Brekken. “The fees for spring sports are the ones people have paid and not received anything for,” said Olson. “Those are going back right away. But families can also request the lunch balance. Let’s say they have a couple of hundred dollars that they paid ahead on their child’s lunch accounts. Those can also be returned back to families as well. That would just be contacting us, letting us know that you want those returned. What we often do with that is if families have paid ahead and they don’t request them back we just keep those dollars in their account for use next year. That is an option those families would have as well.”

The funeral service for Grand Forks Police Officer Cody Holte was held on Tuesday at the Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks.  After the funeral Officer Holte was brought “home” by a huge procession and the video from iNewz.tv is below.

Below is the meal schedule for the first two weeks of the Crookston School District’s summer food program –

The Crookston Chamber’s 3rd Annual Photo contest got underway Monday and will run through August 1.  Chamber Executive Director Terri Heggie said photos from the contest are used to help promote Crookston through the lens of community members. “We utilize the images that people are out and about taking in the community and the area surrounding Crookston for the marketing of Crookston,” said Heggie. “For example, we use it on our Google page, Facebook, website, and other material that may get published out of the Chamber office for marketing outside the area. Last year, it was kind of exciting to have one of the pictures picked as the cover of the Yellowbook phone book.  That was a beautiful image of a sunflower that Preston Hoiseth took.”

The Chamber Board will select the top 20 images from submissions and then the community will four for the four winners said, Heggie. “The first year that we did this we had over 80 submissions of photos,” said Heggie.  “Last year was similar in size and we put it to a voting contest. This year, the Chamber Board will pick out the top 20 images and we’ll let the public vote on the top four.”

Photos should be submitted to the Chamber’s Facebook explains Heggie. “We do have a designated spot on the Chamber Facebook page where we want all images submitted,” said Heggie. “We also need to know the location so we can make sure that it is in the Crookston area or just the surrounding area. And if the image is used in the future for any marketing, we want to know the area the image was from. You don’t have to be a professional photographer. I’d say 80 percent of the images submitted the first and second year were taken with a cell phone.”

Those without a Facebook page can submit their photos by email to theggie@visitcrookston.com.  The rules for the photo contest are available on the Chamber’s Facebook page and website and any additional questions can be directed to the Crookston Chamber office at 281-4320.

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