Month: October 2020

On Wednesday, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) reported an additional 55 cases of COVID-19 in Polk County. A social media post by Representative Deb Kiel on a KROX story Wednesday read, “Outbreak in Nursing homes is part of the increase, and they have been diligent in protecting the residents and staff.”

KROX spoke with Kiel and Senator Mark Johnson about the outbreak occurring in Polk County nursing homes. Kiel indicated that several northwestern Minnesota nursing homes are currently dealing with some form of COVID-19 including a larger outbreaking affecting approximately 14 residents and 11 staff in McIntosh. “We have seven in the northwest area that have some sort of outbreak, it might be minor,” said Kiel. “We have one that has over 14 residents now.  The hard part is the staff has also tested positive. Not everyone has any symptoms, but we need to really work at making sure that they have what they need to be able to take care of residents. They are working very hard. I have to commend the director and all the staff for how hard they are working to make sure that they are taking care of these residents. I would encourage everyone to be careful. Don’t be visiting family members at this point. I believe that they have a stop on resident visits, but we need to make sure we take care of everyone.”

However, Kiel indicated that the first case had been identified last week and there had been a bulk of positive tests over the weekend. “It started on the 19th of October,” said Kiel. “Another case was the 20th, and then, all of a sudden, over the weekend was the bulk of the residents that have gotten sick. They are making sure they are following all the practices. Senator Johnson and I have contacted the Department of Health and have worked with them for the last three days on how we can get staff. Kudos to Sarah (Polk County Public Health Director Sarah Reese) and her team. They are stepping in to help staff there so that they have some immediate help. State Emergency Operations are stepping up and reviewing today to get them help.”

Polk County Public Health Director Sarah Reese said Wednesday evening that there were multiple outbreaks at long-term care facilities in the county resulting in a staff shortage.  “We have been notified of outbreaks happening in a couple of long-term care facilities in our county that is resulting in a staff shortage,” said Reese. “The past couple of days we have been working with regional, state, and now federal resources to try to meet those staffing needs. Unfortunately, we’ve been experiencing some challenges with all of the options that we’ve been exploring. Nonetheless, we have continued to explore our options and are working toward getting staff secured whether it’s our office assisting or other external resources that are available. We are working really diligently to ensure the same level of care for residents as well as recognizing that staff is at a crisis level in some situations.”

Reese was assisting at one of the facilities but said she couldn’t release information on which facility had the larger outbreak. “For more detailed information about the specific facilities you would need to utilize the MDH website which identifies the facilities,” said Reese. “Or else contact the facility for additional information about their facility.”

Messages left at McIntosh Senior Living for Administrator Sharlene Knutson were not returned as of Wednesday evening. The MDH Situational Update webpage states the list of congregate care facilities is updated weekly on Fridays.  The only Polk County location listed as of Friday, October 23 is Pioneer Memorial Care Center in Erskine which has been on the list since an employee tested positive in May.

Reese said a few other facilities had reported cases but weren’t suffering critical staff levels at this point. “There is a couple of other facilities that have reported a few cases but are not to a crisis staffing level at this point,” said Reese. “We are watching that closely and working on logistically identifying backup plans to assist other facilities should we find that necessary.”  

Senator Mark Johnson said talking with MDH, most other facilities are currently stable. “On this particular, case the Minnesota Department of Health says typically on these nursing homes it’s about a seven-day cycle,” said Johnson. “We’re on about day four or five on this cycle right now. Hopefully, with the help that is coming, that will be implemented later today, we’ll see the situation stabilized and be on the recovery route. The issue is, are other facilities going to see this? And, currently, it doesn’t look like it. Most of our facilities are pretty stable at this point. It’s just something we have to watch and monitor to keep ahead of. Our Public Health Director, Sarah Reese has been doing a great job. Sharlene and others have been doing a wonderful job. We’ll just keep an eye on this and make sure we’re ready if another facility runs into the same situation.”

The Crookston School District is reporting another positive COVID-19 case today.  The new case is the third one tho week and fourth since School began this fall.
The official notification from Superintendent Jeremy Olson is below-

Parents and Guardians:

This is a general notification to let you know that one individual at Crookston High School has tested positive for COVID-19. We have worked with Polk County Public Health and any close contacts have been notified individually.

Three districts on the Polk County Commissioners are up for election this year in Districts 1, 3, and 5.

The candidates in District 1 are incumbent Jerry Jacobson, and opponent Travis Johnson. We asked each candidate to introduce themselves and why they are running. 

Q: Would you please tell us about yourself?

Jerry: “I’m a resident of Polk County. I’ve lived here almost all of my life. I spent four years in Seattle and four years in Minneapolis. Other than that, I’ve lived in Polk County for all of my life. I’m married to my wife, Lynn. We have three children and three grandchildren. I think Polk County is one of the best places to live in the whole world.”

Travis: “I recently retired from the U.S. Army in 2018 after 20 years of active service. I have three kids. Christopher is a UND student, Alexis who just graduated from the University of Minnesota last year and Jamie, who we adopted this year and who’s a senior at Crookston High School. I have a passion to serve. The issues are important to me. I want to get the most out of every tax dollar (the government) gets. I want to get something of value. I don’t want to waste it. People don’t mind paying taxes, but if they’re paying their taxes, they want them to be utilized. If we’re going to be told that we can’t use our land because the state needs to have access to it, then make sure you’re only taking as much as you need. Common sense is what’s missing. That’s what I hope to bring in is a common sense mentality.”

Q: Why are you running?

Jerry: “I’ve got 12 years of experience in this job. I really enjoy the job. I enjoy working with people. I feel like I’m a good listener and people are comfortable talking with me. You can’t buy experience. I feel like I can go into the next four years. My health is good, I’ve got good energy and I look forward to working with the county for another four years.”

Travis: “I’ve always had an interest in politics. I went to this (county commissioner’s) meeting, and asked them, ‘Hey. Just tell me why you need (this land) and I’ll be fine. Not only did they not tell me, but one of the council members was on her phone the whole time I was in there. She later told me that she was researching the issue on her phone, but to me, I felt like I wasn’t heard. When you look at the minutes, it said I only had a zoning concern. It doesn’t say what the concern was They didn’t put much detail into it at all. It’s like I was just a blip on the radar screen. Then, when I started talking to other people, that’s when I found out that Polk County, as far as zoning is concerned, people who want to start a farm go elsewhere, because they don’t want to deal with zoning in Polk County. That’s a problem. We have tax bases not coming here, because they feel like we’re over-regulated.”

Q: Anything you would like to add?

Jerry: “Polk County has been good to me. I just feel comfortable as a Polk County Commissioner. My strong suit is listening, I believe. I don’t always get the answers my constituents want, but I always listen to them. I treat everybody with respect, so I feel like I can easily go another four years.”

Travis: “I appreciate the opportunity to talk with you all. With COVID, campaigning is a challenge. You can’t go door-to-door. You can’t go to the (county) fair and shake everyone’s hands. As someone who’s not from here, I don’t have the name recognition of Jerry (Jacobson) in there forever. So, the opportunity to get my name is out is very valuable for me.”

Running unopposed in District 3 in incumbent Gary Willhite. We asked Willhite to introduce himself and why he is running.

Q: Would you please tell us about yourself?

Gary: “I’ve lived in the city of Crookston since 1978. I raised four children with my life, Lynn. I love the place. I’ve worked at UMC for the last 43 years and going to be retiring at the end of this year. I’ve had the opportunity to be involved in city government and now for the last four years, with county government.”

Q: Why are you running?

Gary: “I just find it fascinating. I think I first got started, because of issues and things like that which I think could be handled a little bit more effectively. I love being involved and helping other commissioners, council members or board members make some decisions that give the city of Crookston a lot of opportunities to grow and be successful.”

Q: Anything you would like to add?

Gary: “Four years went fast, and it’s a big learning curve. There is a lot involved in the county business. Each of us serve in 10-12 different committees, so that keeps you busy. It’s been an interesting year in 2020. I’ll be glad to move onto another year and hopefully, we’ll get things back on track.”

In District 5, Polk County Commissioner Don Diedrich announced his retirement. Two candidates are running to replace him. They are Mark Holy and Tim Finseth. Holy declined an interview with KROX. We asked Finseth to introduce himself, and why he is running. 

Q: Would you please tell us about yourself?

Tim: “I’m a lifelong resident of Polk County. I’ve lived and worked here my whole life. I raised my family here. Polk County is definitely a big part of my life. I had the opportunity of serving part of Polk County in the Minnesota State Legislature. I did that for 10 years, and it was always a pleasure to get to know the people, and take those views and concerns down to St. Paul and represent the people from the area.”

Q: Why are you running?

Tim: “I haven’t been in any office for awhile, and I’ve been feeling the need that it’s time to get back and try to do my civic duty and do what I can to help out the community. I’ve always been very interested in government and how it operates, and I want to do what I can to help and improve things. You always want to leave your home better than the way you found it.”

Q: Anything you would like to add?

Tim: “This coming year is going to be stressful for all local units of government. If you’re in a rural part of the state, budget is going to be a very big concern. The COVID pandemic has just upturned the whole economy and it’s really going to hit home here in the next couple of years. We need to do our best job to protect our employees we have out here and protect the services we provide. We also have to protect our tax base so we don’t drive away business and opportunity for people to live and enjoy the area.”

Another major milestone for the Ag Innovation Campus was reached on Wednesday when the facility’s groundbreaking ceremony was held. The ceremony was attended by local and state leaders, including the Crookston City Council members, Crookston Housing and Economic Development Authority Board, Senator Mark Johnson, Representative Deb Kiel, and Governor Tim Walz.

Tom Slunecka, the Executive Director/CEO of the Minnesota Research & Promotion Council and Minnesota Soybean Growers Association, said the Ag Innovation Campus fills the gap between ideas and brings new products to commercialization. “What we found is there is really what we call – the valley of death. That’s the place between benchtop idea or new genetics and commercialization. In between is a very, very expensive process that many great ideas can’t make it through that valley. They end up falling apart, or can’t find funding, or most importantly, they can’t find a place to be tested at a large enough scale to prove that they’re viable. That’s really what this project is all about. This project is about how do we create enough feedstocks consistently day in and day out so that new developments can be seen to fruition and make it to our farm gates and consumers all across the nation.”

The northwest Minnesota region centered around Crookston is the largest soybean producer in the United States. Slunecka said it made it an ideal location for a first of its kind facility like the Ag Innovation Campus. “There isn’t a facility like this anywhere in the world,” said Slunecka. “This is going to be the first of its kind where it is crushing soybeans. It will, at some point in time, be able to crush any oilseed crops as well. Anything from the new cover crops we’re trying to develop, to sunflowers, to canola, any type of product like that will be able to be processed through this facility. We are going to start with soybeans because this is soybean country. From an acres standpoint, quite honestly, this is the biggest soybean production area in the United States. So, where else would we build a center like this then Crookston.”

Jim Lambert, project manager, said the campus will have three distinct features – the crush facility, the agricultural business incubator, and an education and office center. “When you look at the Ag Innovation Campus, I look at it as three parts,” said Lambert. “Tom talked about a small crush which will be the heart of the Ag Innovation Campus. In that section, we’ll have three lines for crushing soybeans or any other oil crop you may want to bring in eventually. We will have the ability to do research trials in that particular unit. Things like high-oleic soybeans, non-GMO soybeans, organic soybeans, any kind of soybean you can think of. Also, when seed companies have trials, they want to figure out what their meal looks like or what the soybean oil will look like. They’ll be able to come, and we’ll be able to produce enough so they can actually go out and do commercial trials.”

More than 80 farms across the region will have a positive value-added impact from the facility that will crush approximately 2.5 million bushels of soybeans a year, explained Lambert. “The small crush will be doing about 8,000 bushels of soybeans a day, which is 8-10 truckloads, which will be about 2.5 million bushels over the course of a year,” said Lambert. “As far as soybean crushes go, that’s a pretty small number, but for us, that’s a pretty big number. Those 2.5 million bushels translate to about 61,000 acres of soybeans, which will impact between 80-100 farms in northwest Minnesota.  The byproduct of that will be about 2.5 million gallons of soybean oil, which can then be converted into high-value biodiesel. We’ll also be producing about 64,000 tons of soybean meal, which in the eleven-county area of northwest Minnesota, the demand for soybean meal is about 184,000 tons, so we can only meet about one-third of the need in northwest Minnesota.”

The campus will also house companies looking to grow and develop commercially viable products said, Lambert. “The second business area we look at is the industrial innovation bays,” said Lambert. “Right now, we’re scheduled to have ten of those. That will allow some of those companies to prove out their ideas, test their processes, and develop commercially viable products. There will be several different companies, and we can move the bays to make them smaller or larger, depending on what they need.  There will be a lot of synergies with other companies while they’re in there. They’ll be able to talk to other entrepreneurs in other stages of development. We’ll have research teams available, technology teams from AURI. It’s really more of an agricultural business incubator.”

Governor Tim Walz called the Ag Innovation Campus an investment by the state, by Crookston, and by local producers to create something unlike anything else in the world. “It’s a great thing for Crookston and the regional economy,” said Walz. “And it’s a great thing for Minnesota. Minnesota Soybean Growers – always been innovators whether it’s increasing yields or opening up new markets and new uses of soybeans. This innovation center, unlike anything else in the world, can focus on that. We’re investing as a state in this, but so are the producers investing in this. And, so is the City of Crookston, so it’s a great day.”  

Walz said he’d love to see the next great food or fiber producer get their start in Crookston because of the research and exploration of new soybean markets that will take place at the campus. “We don’t know what’s out there yet, but I keep saying this – we’re leading,” said Walz. “We stand firm on being ones who are reducing carbon emissions. Biodiesel is a huge advantage. We need to expand its usage. We’re trying to do that in Minnesota. But I think there is things out there yet that we don’t know. There is products that can be made out of this. It’s food; its fuel, it’s fiber. We don’t know if it’s pharmaceuticals or if there is other things out there. But having something like this, focused on this research, on opening new markets and the incubator you’re talking about. What we’d really love is the next great food-producing or fiber-producing company to get started in a garage here at this and then move out and create new jobs.”

Ag Innovation Campus Board Chair Mike Skaug also thanked the state and local officials in attendance, including the Minnesota Department of Agriculture represented by Deputy Commissioner Andrea Vaubel, the City of Crookston, Polk County, and the Crookston Housing and Economic Development Authority. “When we launched this thing, I just can’t get over how excited we were once we got the grant dollars from the State of Minnesota,” said Skaug. “I do want to acknowledge the City of Crookston, the Commissioners from Polk County, and everyone at CHEDA. Craig Hoiseth has been a great asset to us working with him and the City of Crookston, and we’re very happy about that.”

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RiverView Health will host an education course for individuals interested in basic first aid on Thursday, Nov. 5. The program, developed by the American Heart Association, is open to the public. Participants in this First Aid Course will learn to provide first aid for acute injuries and sudden illnesses such as burns, bites, poisoning, and seizures.

The four-hour class will be held from 6 to 10 pm at the RiverView Home Care building, 721 South Minnesota Street, Crookston.  The cost of the class, including the book and card, is $50. The American Heart Association is not responsible for any fees charged for this course.

The class is an American Heart Association (AHA) Community Training Center affiliated course. Contracted Community Training Centers (CTCs) and their affiliated sites are the only facilities permitted to offer AHA courses to the public and professionals through their affiliated instructors and programs.

To register or for more information on this class or other courses offered through the CTC, call 218-281-9405.

The Minnesota Department of Health released the latest COVID-19 test results and Polk County is reporting 55 positive confirmed COVID-19 tests and seven probable cases.
Mahnomen and Roseau counties had 11, Marshall and Norman counties reported seven each, Pennington County had two, Kittson County and Red Lake County reported one case each.

Minnesota reported 1,804 positive tests with 112 probable cases and 19 deaths.  Minnesota conducted 26,920 tests in the latest 24 hour reporting period for a seven percent positive rate.  All the information is below – 

Updated October 28, 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.”

The COVID-19 case definition was recently updated to include antigen testing. Previously, cases were only reported through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing. Positive PCR test results are considered confirmed cases. Positive antigen test results are considered probable cases. Confirmed and probable cases are reported separately in the following areas:

• Newly reported cases
• Total approximate completed tests
• Total positive cases
• Total cases by county of residence

Death, hospitalization, demographic (age, gender, race), likely exposure, and residence type data combine PCR (confirmed) and antigen (probable) cases for an overall total.

All probable cases get the same public health follow up and recommendations as cases confirmed by PCR tests.

Other Statistics

• Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome In Children (MIS-C) Statistics
• Minnesota COVID-19 Public Dashboard
• Minnesota’s COVID-19 Response and Preparation Capacity
• Dial Back Dashboard
• CDC: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Cases in the U.S.
• Minnesota COVID-19 Modeling

Crookston Rotary Club began their Student of the Month awards for the 2020-21 school year by honoring both September and October students. September’s Student of the Month was Victoria Proulx and October’s is Emily Funk. Both Proulx and Funk provided the club with background on themselves and what they’re involved in.

VICTORIA PROULX (Rotary Student of the Month for September)

Victoria Proulx is the Crookston Rotary Student of the Month for September.  She is the daughter of Brian and Shea Proulx and has

a younger brother named Chase who is a freshman at Crookston High School. 
Proulx is on the Pirate girl’s swim team, speech team, plays violin in the orchestra, and is in the choir.  Proulx has been in numerous One-Act and Three-Act plays and many productions outside of the high school. She is the Crookston High School Student Council President and a Leo Club member.

“I have helped out and participated in many activities at my church. I have been an alter serve at Cathedral since I was in elementary school, I am a cantor at the Lifeteen masses, and I have been to the Stuebenville Youth Conference with my youth group. Stuebenville is a nationwide conference that takes place during the summer. I have been to one in Kenosha, Wisconsin and Rochester, Minnesota. The conference is 3 days long and filled with many musical artists and keynote speakers. This conference has really tested my faith and allowed me to make great friendships. During the summer I also volunteer at the Public Library helping put on the summer reading program,” said Proulx. “Usually, if I’m not at school or doing some sort of extracurricular you can find me at Hugo’s where I work part-time as a cashier. I’ve also recently started to live up to my name as I was crowned Miss Crookston 2020 in August. So far I have made many fun appearances, my favorite being the Celebrate the Young Child Event where I did a Disney sing along with the kids.”

Proulx plans to attend college at either Minnesota State University in Moorhead or the University of Iowa and major in Speech and Language Hearing Science and a minor in Theatre. After she completes her degree, she plans to go to grad school to become a certified Speech Pathologist. 

EMILY FUNK (Rotary Student of the Month for October)

Emily Funk’s parents are Curtis and Kristin Funk.  She has three siblings: Anna, Mackenzie, and Grant. I would like to thank the

Rotary members for selecting me as the Student of the Month for the month of October.

Funk participates in volleyball, figure skating, band, choir, Builders Club, Prom Committee, and Leo Club. This year she is the Co-Vice President of the Leo Club.
Funk has been on the A-Honor Roll since 7th grade and voted the Junior Snofest Princess and Homecoming Queen.

Funk is also an active member of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. This past August she received the Sacrament of Confirmation and she has served as an altar server since 5th grade. Funk also volunteers at many church events including the Fall Festival and numerous Fish Fries.

“I also would like to recognize the community of Crookston, which has provided me with many different opportunities to grow and learn as an individual,” said Funk. “Everything from playing T-ball when I was 5, being in Safety Town and going back as a volunteer, to participating in Miss Crookston, working my first job as a daycare assistant, getting to coach figure skating and opportunities like these have made me realize what a supportive community Crookston is.”

Funk plans to attend the University of North Dakota for Occupational Therapy.