New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo released a farewell message on his last day in office on Monday, defiantly citing himself as the victim of a “political stampede” that cut his term short. Cuomo’s resignation follows an investigation conducted by private attorneys that concluded he sexually harassed 11 women during his time in office, some of whom were employed by the state. The findings were released in a 165-page report by Attorney General Letitia James.
In a pre-recorded message, Cuomo questioned the fairness of that report and its findings, saying he authorized the attorney general’s investigation in February and repeatedly asked constituents and critics alike to wait for their findings before issuing judgement upon his administration. Cuomo said Monday, “The truth is, ultimately, always revealed. The attorney general’s report was designed to be a political firecracker on an explosive topic and it worked. There was a political and media stampede.”
However, the governor reaffirmed his decision to step down amid growing bipartisan calls at both a state and federal level. New York Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul will be sworn in as governor at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, scheduled to serve the remainder left in Cuomo’s term. Hochul will become the first woman to hold the position of NY governo, and has also announced plans to run for governor once this partial term ends.
The US Food and Drug Administration has fully approved the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for people age 16 and older, and authorized it for people as young as 12. However the agency is warning against using the vaccine “off-label” in children younger than 12, saying it “would not be appropriate.” The Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine is not currently approved nor authorized for children younger than 12, and the appropriate dosage for this age group has yet to be determined.
‘Off-label’ refers to an approved product being used in a way or in a patient that it wasn’t necessarily approved for; it happens commonly with some drugs, such as when a chemotherapy approved for one type of cancer is used to treat a different type.
The FDA and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) both strongly recommend that all eligible adolescents ages 12 to 17, be vaccinated as soon as possible, especially as the highly transmissible Delta coronavirus variant continues to circulate nationwide. As of last week, the AAP reported 180,000 new cases of Covid-19 among children and adolescents, according to the Academy. Currently approximately 8.5 million or 34% of all adolescents ages 12 to 17 are fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
Editorial credit: Daniel Chetroni / Shutterstock.com
Eugene Levy announced on Twitter that the Schitt’s Creek: The Farewell tour has been canceled due to a surge in COVID-19 cases across the country. Series co-starts Eugene Levy and his son, Dan Levy had scheduled tour visits to several North American towns to talk to fans about the show; however, the duo has since decided to cancel all live speaking engagements.
Eugene and Dan Levy starred on the Emmy-winning sitcom for six seasons. Eugene Levy said in a statement: “We’re so sorry to be missing you, and we will continue to try to find a way to see you in the future.” Tickets will be refunded at the point of purchase.
Mayim Bialik, 45, will temporarily step in as “Jeopardy!” host for three weeks, following longtime executive producer Mike Richards’ decision to remove himself as full-time host amid controversy surrounding his past comments. Bialik will start filming episodes this week, which will air beginning Sept. 20. Bialik will film a total of 15 episodes which will air after the five episodes Richards had already pre-taped.
Richards and Bialik were announced as the new “Jeopardy!” hosts earlier this month, with Richards set to host regular broadcasts, while Bialik was tapped to host the primetime and spin-off editions of the quiz show. Both Richards and Bialik served as guest hosts of “Jeopardy!” this year as the show searched to find a permanent replacement for the late Alex Trebek, who died last year after a long battle with cancer at age 80. However last week, Richards stepped down as host of the game show after the recent resurfacing of misogynistic, racist and anti-semitic jokes he told on a podcast that ran from 2013 to 2014.
A Sony rep said: “As we move forward with production on this season of ‘Jeopardy!’, additional guest hosts will be announced.” Richards will still remain an executive producer of “Jeopardy!”
The Crookston Ways & Means Committee met on Monday night inside the City Hall Council Chambers to discuss six different departments’ budgets for the 2022 year. The committee will have roughly one month to review all the departments with an end goal date of September 20th.
COUNCIL BUDGET
The first budget reviewed was the Council budget. City Administrator Amy Finch discussed what items are taking top priority in the Council budget. “One of the main highlights is recurring stipends,” said Finch. “In this upcoming budget, we proposed a $50,000 budget for that item. That includes annual stipends to DCDP and Tri-Valley; DCDP will be adding a few park benches downtown with that money and waste receptacles as well.”
Some of the annual stipends may be 50-50 agreements between the companies which would also leave more money left over for other departments. The Council Budget also holds the Ox Cart Days Fireworks budget, and after the successful show a few nights ago, the city will plan to move forward with that budget staying the same in 2022.
MAYOR BUDGET
The next budget that was reviewed by the Ways & Means Committee was the Mayor’s Budget. The mayor’s Budget did not have any changes needed for the upcoming year as the only line items for the budget were salary and travel expenses that were already built-in.
ADMINISTRATION BUDGET
The committee then viewed the Administration Budget. This budget includes the City Administrator and City Administrator’s Assistant. Finch went over some of the smaller fees associated with the Administration Budget. “We will probably make a few slight adjustments with this budget,” said Finch. “Our police chief Paul Biermaier is planning to retire in 2022, and we have money set aside in this budget for spending on job advertising. It’s tough out there right now, hard to find people for jobs, and we may end up needing to spend a little more than the $3,000 that we set aside this past year for that.”
ELECTIONS BUDGET
Following the Administration Budget, the Elections Budget was then reviewed by the board. The elections budget rotates based on the Cities Elections. Nothing was budgeted for this year as there were no elections; however, there will be a budget for Elections in 2022, and Finch discussed what it would look like. “Two of the biggest expenses in this budget are paying the election judge and the election equipment we use,” said Finch. Because 2020 was a presidential election year, we may be able to actually cut back on some money in this department for 2022 because we won’t need to spend as much on paying election judges.”
BUILDING OFFICIAL BUDGET
The committee also spent some time looking at the Building Official Budget. This budget will increase for smaller items such as office supplies, new chairs, and other smaller increases that the department was operating a very tight budget on. The increase for the department will be set at 3.62% for the 2022 year.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY BUDGET
Lastly, the Ways & Means Committee reviewed the Information Technology Budget. IT Director Chad Palm gave a presentation to discuss what new technology may be added to enhance the department’s performance. He explained more in-depth what changes will be made and how they will affect the city. “Some of the talking points for 2022 include replacement of computer workstations, a shift from our current office productivity platform to Microsoft 365, and we also talked about a redesign of our city website,” said Palm. “We also discussed moving away from paper time cards and adding digital for 2022.”
There have not been any IT Department upgrades for a few years now, so the technology in Crookston and the department has started to fall behind a little bit. All committee members agreed that the IT Department would be one budget that increases dollars for 2022.
There will also be the addition of an IT Technician for the 2022 year to lighten the load for Chad and allow him to focus more on the Cities servers and other tasks. The salary for the IT Technician as of now is going to be set at $45,000.
Once all the budgets are reviewed and discussed by the Ways & Means Committee, a spreadsheet will be created to show the public where the money is being spent and how different increases in percentage points per department could be shifted around moving forward.
The discussion was quick on each budget, and some of the heftier budgets will be addressed at the next Ways & Means Meeting, which will be held next week on Monday night, August 30, at 6:00 p.m.
The Crookston City Council met on Monday night inside the City Hall Council Chambers. Big items on the agenda were a mayoral proclamation making August 25, 2021, Jeannine Windels day, A public hearing and resolution for the New Flyer of America Inc. Expansion with the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development and Minnesota Investment Fund Incentive programs, and approval of a new letter of intent/revised land option agreement with Epitome Energy.
CONSENT AGENDA
The consent agenda included approval of the August 9th meeting minutes and a resolution to approve City of Crookston bills and disbursements in the amount of $303,752.53. There were also resolutions before the board to approve partial payment estimates for the 2021 local and federal-funded street improvements happening in Crookston this summer. All items on the consent agenda were approved.
JEANNINE WINDELS DAY
Mayor Dale Stainbrook announced that August 25, 2021, will be Jeannine Windels day. Windels was the CEO for the Crookston of Area Chambers for 13 years and was an active member of the Crookston Lions for 30 years.
Brian Frisk of the Crookston Lions was in attendance to accept the honor for Windels, who was feeling under the weather. The Crookston Lions will throw her a goodbye party with a farewell program on Wednesday, August 25, from 3:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. at Trinity Lutheran Church. The program itself will be at 5:00 p.m., and all are welcome to attend and wish Jeannine well in her new venture.
NEW FLYER OF AMERICA EXPANSION
The board approved the New Flyer of America Expansion resolution with the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development and Minnesota Investment Fund Incentive programs.
The New Flyer Plant manager David Rhode presented to the board during the public hearing about what the project will be and the reason for the expansion. City Administrator Amy Finch discussed more what the expansion will do and what options were before the board. “New Flyer with this expansion will bring in roughly 35 new jobs with this new bus line,” said Finch. “This is fantastic for our community, and while the framework for the organization is already there, they need more room to grow. They are expanding on their site, and some of the groundwork has already begun on that.”
EPITOME ENERGY
The board had two resolutions before them at the meeting regarding Epitome Energy. To pass a new letter of intent with Epitome Energy and a revised land option agreement. Finch explained what was in the new letter of intent. “The letter of intent was a short document that was drafted because the project just isn’t at the point where we can develop a full developer’s agreement,” said Finch. “What this does is allows us to negotiate the terms of a developers agreement, and certain things within the agreement will fall under their control, and then certain things will fall under our control. Epitome is requesting that we have a 9-year tax increment financing plan, upgrading the southern road to a 10-ton road, and a few others. If a deal can’t be reached by December 31st, the letter of intent will terminate.”
The board did not initially pass the motion for the letter of intent as they needed 5 votes to have the majority and only received 4. However, there was a reconsideration after a lengthy discussion, and the vote did end up passing. CEO of Epitome Energy Dennis Egan will address the board sometime soon to address concerns and discuss more of the project details.
The board also approved the revised land option agreement with Epitome Energy, and Finch spoke more about the agreement and timeline moving forward. “Revising the land option agreement was necessary because we don’t have a developer’s agreement in place, and there was also the boundary change,” said Finch. “There was also the updated legal description that needed to be incorporated into the revised land option.”
As of now, the City has not locked itself into anything as these resolutions only allow negotiations of the project to take place. An agreement must be met between the City and Epitome Energy by December 31 of 2021, which means there is a little over 3 months for negotiations on the project.
OTHER ITEMS
Other items included the approval for the Crookston Inn for Dispensing and Consumption of Intoxicating Liquor, as well as a dance permit on their premises. The board approved the resolution.
The board also approved an ice time agreement with the Crookston Blue Line Club. The ice time agreement will be from September 10 to October 3 at the Crookston Sports Center.
The board also approved a resolution for the City of Crookston Park and Recreation Department to purchase a Ventrac slope mower. Parks & Rec Supervisor Scott Butt answered any questions the board had and said the new mower would cut the grass more efficiently and leave a better-finished look.
There was also a resolution to approve the MNDOT joint powers contract for professional and technical services regarding the MNDOT Corridor study in Crookston. The board passed the resolution unanimously.
There was another resolution to approve authorization to execute the MNDOT Grant agreement for airport improvement. Finch also talked more about the details of the agreement. “We became aware of a potential grant of up to $30,000,” said Finch. “we had to match that as a city, and MnDOT actually came back and believed this was a necessity and gave more money which allowed us to give more and receive that grant. This agreement tonight was MnDot’s part in the grant, and this was the final piece to start getting that project started.”
Another resolution was to approve a variance order for Our Lady of Sorrows Church and their expansion project on the worship area of the building, which the board passed.
The last resolution was to approve a conservation reserve program contract located at Natures View Estates Plat 5. The board approved the program unanimously after hearing from Public Works Director Brandon Carlson and Parks & Recreation Supervisor Scott Butt.
There was also a closed session before the City Council meeting began to discuss Labor Negotiations. According to Finch, the board voted on upgrading the Health benefits for the city employees by $38 each, bringing the total from $155,000 to $193,000. This is included in dental vision and health.
The next City Council meeting will take place on September 13 inside City Hall.
On Monday, August 23, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office was advised of a counterfeit $10 bill at LePiers West, located at 511 1st Street West in the City of Fosston. Upon investigation, this appears to be an isolated incident.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office reminds businesses to closely examine paper currency and encourages the use of money markers. Any bills that appear to be counterfeit should be reported to law enforcement promptly.
The Crookston School Board met on Monday evening at the Crookston High School Choir and Orchestra room. Before the meeting started, the new Crookston School District teachers were introduced to the school board members.
MAIN AGENDA –
The board approved the staff handbooks for the Highland School and Crookston High School staff handbooks and approved the District Employee handbook.
MENTORSHIP PROGRAM-
The board also unanimously approved a Mentorship program. The mentorship program will pair new teachers in the district with top veteran teachers to help them through their first year in the district. There are three parts to the mentorship program. Step one is the little things like showing them where the copier is and other basic new employee questions. Step two is what do they teach, curriculum, and other items like that. The third step is the art of teaching, helping them learn how to get the ideas, skills, and how to assess what they are teaching is sinking in with the students. “We want to support our teachers. The number one indicator for student success is the teacher and we want to make sure that we create an environment in which teachers can be successful and grow,” said Superintendent Jeremy Olson. “We identified some key teachers that are strong and really good at what they do to teach the craft of teaching. The mentors will be teamed up with no more than three mentees. This program will be an ongoing program throughout the year.”
OLD BUS GARAGE –
The topic of the old bus garage was added to the main agenda at the start of the meeting and the board approved one of the two bids they received on the sale of the old bus garage. The bids were $31,700 from Mike Jobe/Advanced Tire, and another bid that was $26,000 less. The board approved the bid from Mike Jobe. After the first rounds of bids were in, the City of Crookston decided that the wooden portion of the old bus garage would have to be torn down if there was a sale so the School District had to reopen the bids. The winning bid came from the same person that won the original bid but at about half the price. “We don’t have a specific date of transfer at this point so we will sit down with the winning bidder and go over what everything looks like,” said Olson. “We will look at when it is advantageous for the winning bidder to take over and as we exit how do we exit in the very best way possible.”
BUS DRIVERS –
Crookston School District Transportation Director Rick Niemela said they had bus inspections last week and all the busses passed inspection and are ready for the first day of school. Niemela added they are still looking for bus drivers with a starting wage of $23 per hour. If you would like to drive bus (the district busses are all automatic with navigation systems) and don’t have a bus license (CDL), the district will help you with behind-the-wheel training. “If they come we can train them,” said Superintendent Olson. “If you are interested in driving a bus and don’t have a CDL we can work with you to get the CDL. We will help with the written tests and the behind-the-wheel while providing the bus for the pre-trip inspection.” Once you get your license the district will hire you with a lot of opportunities for driving bus on school routes and extracurricular trips.
PRESCHOOL AT HIGHLAND AND JR HIGH MODEL PLANS SUBMITTED –
The Crookston School District has turned in plans for the preschool plan at Highland School and the Junior High model plan at the High School to the Minnesota Department of Education and are now awaiting a response. “It has been 11 days since we sent in the plans and we still haven’t heard back from them,” said Superintendent Olson. “Sending in the plans is something we have to get approval before we can even do some of our local site planning and communication with our community.”
TRACK AND FOOTBALL FIELD COMPLEX –
Superintendent Olson said Zerr Berg Architects of Fargo are currently working on estimates for the proposed Crookston School District turf football field and track complex. “We are expecting we will have more information in our September board meeting for possible approval of a project moving forward,” said Superintendent Olson.
CONSENT AGENDA –
The consent agenda had the approval of Melissa Palamo as a Paraprofessional at Highland Elementary School, Corey Winger as Head Custodian at Highland Elementary School, approval of Lane Advance Requests, approval of the Master Agreement with AFSCME (Custodial Union for 2020-2023), approval of the updated Fall Coaches list (the list is below), and accepting the resignation of Karen Cooley as Instructional Assistant at Washington Elementary School.
The board also approved Emma Morlan, Rochelle Chaput, and Jasmin Hanson as Instructional Assistants at Washington School, and Janise Dorman as a part-time Title Aide at Washington School.
TRUTH IN TAXATION HEARING –
The Crookston School District Truth in Taxation hearing has been scheduled for December 13 at 6:00 p.m.
The next school board meeting will be Monday, September 27 at 5:00 p.m. at the Crookston High School Choir/Orchestra room.
COACHES LIST –
Football –
Head Coach – Nate Lubarski
Assistant Coaches – Darin Zimmerman and Dave Hennings
Volunteer – Brian Boll
Freshmen – Brett Brenden and Dan Rooney
8th grade – Jeremy Lubinski and Dan Halland
7th grade – Don Edlund and Tim Moe
Girls Tennis –
Head – Sue Tiedemann
Assistant – Pat Janorschke
Junior High – Kylie Simmons
Girls Swimming –
Marley Melbye
Girls Soccer –
Head Coach – Sarah Reese
Assistant Coaches – Anna Brekken and Shelly Erdmann
Boys Soccer –
Head – Lon Boike
Assistant – Jason Tangquist
Trainer – Luke Biermaier
Auditorium Manager – Steve Biermaier
Student Council – Linda Morgan
Choir Director – Gabby Foede
Band Director – Caitlin Becks
Orchestra Director – Haley Ellis
FFA Advisor – Whitney Repprecht
The University of Minnesota Crookston men’s basketball team has announced the hiring of Tim Lubke as an assistant coach. Lubke, is a former Golden Eagle men’s basketball player from 2010-15. Lubke has spent the last six seasons with one of the premier AAU programs in Iowa and the Midwest, Kingdom Hoops. Lubke was most recently the Director of Camps, Lead Coach, and Skills Trainer for Kingdom Hoops, based out of Des Moines, Iowa.
“I am excited to welcome Tim Lubke back to the Golden Eagles,” said Head Coach Dan Weisse. “Tim has been with me since day one. Since leaving UMC he has done a great job with Kingdom Hoops and the AAU basketball scene over the past years. Tim already knows how I want to run our program and he will be a great asset for our players. A few things have changed since Tim has been here but they also remain the same. Tim will be involved in every aspect of our program. On another note, I’m also excited to welcome Don and Eva (Tim’s parents) back as well. They are great supporters of our program.”
Lubke has worked with countless basketball players for Kingdom Hoops, who have gone on to NCAA Division I, II, and III programs including the University of South Dakota, University of North Dakota, the Air Force Academy, Drake University, University of Iowa, University of Northern Iowa, Minnesota Crookston, and Minnesota State University, Mankato. He has coached children grades 4-11, most recently coaching the last two Kingdom Hoops 17u squads.
During his career as a Golden Eagle, Lubke amassed 450 points. As a senior during the 2014-15 season, he averaged six points and 2 rebounds per game. Lubke was an 88.0% free throw shooter his senior season and shot 34.4% from beyond the arc. Against St. Cloud State his senior year, Lubke tallied 17 points, including going 5-of-7 from beyond the arc. Lubke played his senior season for Head Coach Dan Weisse. For his career, Lubke was a 37.7 percent three-point shooter and a 78.8 percent free throw shooter.
“I’m very excited to be back with the Golden Eagle family,” Lubke remarked. “I loved playing for Coach Weisse during my senior year. This will be a great opportunity to learn more and coach with him. I’ve always wanted to be a college coach and now I’m starting on this dream. I couldn’t be happier to begin my journey at Crookston.”
He is a native of St. Paul and graduated from Tartan High School. Lubke plans to reside in Crookston.
