Month: April 2025

The Northwest Regional Corrections Center reported the arrest of the following–

Salvador Amado Talamantes, 26, of Marshall, for DUI

Mary Ault Bauer, 35, was arrested in Winger, for Driving with a canceled license

The post ARREST/FIRE REPORT APRIL 2 first appeared on KROX.

Crookston Public School students competed in the Tri-College Math contest held at Minnesota State University Moorhead on Tuesday. The exams were written by the Concordia Mathematics Department.

A team consists of eight members, not more than four of whom are in the highest grade level. Each person takes an individual test, and then there is a team exam.  The team’s score is calculated by the sum of its team exam score and the individual exam scores of the eight members. 

This year, Crookston had students compete at each level.  6-8th grade had a full team of eight. 9-10th grade had a partial team of six members, and 11-12th grade had a partial team of two members.

Students/Teams who ranked in the top five were presented with plaques/trophies.

The Crookston Middle School team received first place overall for small schools in Minnesota/North Dakota. Individually, several Crookston students ranked very high out of the 150 students who competed.
Grayson Howland – 1st
Ella Capistran – 4th
Keziah Mason – 6th
Harrison Cameron – 11th
For the 9-10th grade students- Leah Johanneck ranked 12th place individually out of the 157 who competed in the small schools for Minnesota/North Dakota.

Back row: Coach Andrea Adrian, Grayson Howland, Jayden Nguyen, Jude Seddon, Harrison Cameron
Front row: Keziah Mason, Ella Capistran, Hamsini Chanda, Eva Gosse

Grayson Howland with his 1st place plaque

Ella Capistran with her fourth place plaque

The post Crookston Middle School students dominate at Tri-College Math contest first appeared on KROX.

The Polk County Board of Commissioners met on Tuesday, April 1 at the Polk County Government Center in Crookston.

POLK COUNTY HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT
Polk County Engineer Richard Sanders came to the board asking the commissioners to approve a street sweeping quote for the roads in the cities within Polk County. “Wherever we have curb and gutter, so it includes Fisher Avenue in Crookston,” said Sanders. Mathsen Sweeping out of Grand Forks got the bid at $165.00 per hour.
The commissioners also approved a contract for surfacing CSAH 46 from Highway 102 to Highway 2. RJ Zavoral and Sons Inc., out of East Grand Forks, was the low bidder at $2,020,319. The board unanimously approved both items.

The commissioners approved Hot in Place Bituminous surfacing for multiple locations.
1. Polk County Highway 19 from Highway 75 to the east county line just north of Euclid
2. Polk County Highway 9 from the Thompson Bridge to Highway 75 in Crookston
3. Polk County Highway 45 from Highway 32 east into Mentor to our CSAH 12
The lowest responsible bidder for the project was Dustrol Inc. out of Kansas at $4,793,919.75.

The fourth item for Sander was to get a revision to Resolution (2025 – 18) from last month, where he asked that the County transfer excess Municipal Funds to Regular County Funds in the amount of $1.2 million so that they could be freed up for other projects since there were no large scale Municipal projects for 2025. Sanders found out that it is required that he keep two years’ worth of funds in the account at all times, so he asked for a revised transfer amount of $630,307.57.  The board approved unanimously.

The board approved a blanket permit for the removal of blow (black) dirt from Polk County Highway Ditches as well as a motion to approve Sanders to approve County Ditch Drainage Petitions requested for the removal of blow (black) dirt from the county drainage system. “Throughout the county, a lot of soil has blown off fields into highway ditches, into county drainage systems, and so, for the Polk County Highway ditches, this doesn’t include township roads or state roads, just the county roads, the board approved a blanket permit for landowners to go back and reclaim their black soil,” says Sanders. “They will have to call into my office and let us know that they are going to be doing the cleaning, who is going to be doing the cleaning, so that we can control and approve verbally the permit to work within our right away, but they have the ability to just go out there and do it, there won’t be any fee from us to work within the right of way like our normal right of way process.”

Sanders says that if you are going to be doing a ditch cleaning that is more than just the blow soil, like removing sod and deepening a ditch, then the landowner will have to go through the normal permitting process.  The only obstacle Sanders met with the first part of this item was originally calling it dirt. Commissioner Gary Wilhite asked if it would be ok to change the wording to black soil, and with that change, the board approved the blanket permit. “You have the county drainage systems that are out there, basically the same thing,” says Sanders. “ You will call into the office, request that you want to clean a certain stretch of county drainage ditch, and I’ll send you a petition. You fill out the area that you are going to clean and send it back to me. If you are going to be cleaning in front of a neighbor’s property or more than just your property, then everybody’s property that the blow soil is going to be piled on will need to sign, and then I have the ability to approve that petition right away instead of having to bring it up to the county board during a county board meeting” The board approved unanimously of Sanders being able to approve such drainage system cleanings without going to the board.

PLANNING AND ZONING
The Commissioners heard from Jake Snyder of the Planning & Zoning Department. Snyder brought a resolution to the board to rezone 12 acres of Agricultural land to Industrial Zoning District for RZS Holdings LLP. “We had a couple of action items. One of those was a rezone for RZS Holdings LLP, they are looking at establishing, what I would call, more of a contractor yard, and large truck storage building in the future,” says Snyder. “That’s not what we had action today. It was actually to rezone from our Agricultural District to our Industrial Zoning District.” The board approved the rezoning unanimously.

Snyder then brought to the board a resolution for a Conditional Use Permit for Dragseth Farms, Inc. for the Operation of a Custom Animal Butcher Business. “They are looking at establishing livestock butchering and doing some custom work for people that need animals butchered,” says Snyder. “They are not looking to operate a sell by the cut business, it would be very much taking animals, butchering them and preparing them so they can have packages of meat.” The board unanimously approved the conditional use for a butcher business.

Snyder’s final item was a resolution for termination of recorded resolution (2020-60) and the document that was recorded on July 9, 2020. “The last action item I had today was termination of a conditional use that was not acted on in 2020.”The board unanimously approved terminating the document.

PUBLIC HEALTH
Public Health Director Sarah Reese brought to the board a motion to approve the advertisement and hiring of a Wellness Coordinator and Public Health Nurse or Registered Nurse within Polk County Public Health. “I proposed a Wellness Coordinator, due to a recent retirement, as well as either a Public Health Nurse or Registered Nurse, and that is related to a promotion of one of our current staff,” said Reese. The board unanimously approved of filling these positions as well as any subsequent vacancies that may happen.

Reese updated the commissioners on the cutting of COVID-19 funding. “Last week, we received notice from the Minnesota Department of Health that they received Federal notice that the COVID funding that they had federally received was being terminated, effective immediately, which was, of course, a surprise to everyone,” says Reese. “So, subsequently, the Minnesota Department of Health provided a termination letter to us locally about our COVID funding, which is pass-through funding, meaning essentially it’s federal funding that went to the state and then came to our local health departments.” The letter, Reese says, told Polk County Health Department to stop utilizing the COVID-19 funds effective March 24, 2025. “So, we are in the process of submitting the invoices and doing the procedural requirements to be reimbursed for the expenses that we have had thus far,” said Reese. “In our 2025 budget, we had budgeted very conservatively because the eligible expenses were limited, and so we are going to be able to capitalize on the budgeted amount, and so our budget impact will be fairly insignificant.”

PROPERTY RECORDS
Sam Melbye from Polk County Property Records brought a resolution sponsoring the Crookston Driftbusters and the Sandhill Snowcruisers Snowmobile Clubs. The board unanimously approved the clubs’ continued sponsorship.

Melbye also spoke with the board about the Department of Public Safety’s desire to exercise its option to renew the lease for the License Center. If the board approves of the lease renewal, it will be for a two-year period with all the same terms, conditions, and rental rates and will be effective from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2027. This was a discussion item for Tuesday’s meeting.

ADMINISTRATOR CHUCK WHITING
Last up for the Polk County Board of Commissioners was Polk County Administrator Chuck Whiting. Whiting was looking for authorization from the board to purchase Budgeting Software, which Abdo Financial recommended. The board approved purchasing the software with a few conditions that Whiting will put in place and report back at the April 15 meeting. Whiting also brought a request for approval of a payment to Tri-County Community Corrections for Legal Expenses pertaining to the Juvenile Center Roof litigation. The legal expenses were to be split between Polk County and Tri-County Community Corrections, and the board approved the payment to TCCC for half of the legal costs.

The post Polk County Commissioners approve several Highway Department contracts first appeared on KROX.

Rydell is announcing a change in its brand lineup. As part of General Motors’ strategic decision to scale back the number of Buick dealerships nationwide, Rydell has decided to act as a good business partner with General Motors to help them with this initiative. This means that Rydell in Grand Forks will no longer be selling new Buick vehicles as of April 1, 2025.

While this marks a transition in our brand offerings, we remain committed to supporting our loyal Buick guests with the same trusted service and care we have always provided. Rydell will continue to provide Buick warranty and non-warranty service for all Buick vehicles using genuine OEM parts, ensuring that owners receive the highest-quality maintenance and repairs. Additionally, going forward, guests will still find a selection of Certified Pre-Owned Buick models available for purchase on our lot.

“Our dedication to our guests remains unchanged,” said Ben Cahalan, General Manager. “While we will no longer sell new Buick vehicles, our expert service team will continue to provide top-tier maintenance, repairs and warranty service for all Buick owners. Plus, those looking for a quality pre-owned Buick will still have options through our Certified Pre-Owned inventory.” We thank our community for their continued support and look forward to serving you with our exceptional lineup of Chevy, GMC, Cadillac, Honda, Nissan, and Toyota vehicles.

The post Starting April 1, 2025, Rydell in Grand Forks will no longer sell new Buick vehicles first appeared on KROX.

Camp Good Mourning, a day camp sponsored by Altru, will be held Saturday, June 14, 2025, from 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. at Turtle River State Park. This camp is available for children 5-18 years old who have experienced the loss of a loved one. Children will have the opportunity to learn new coping skills, which can help their development and adjustment during this time of grief. They will use creativity, movement, music and other avenues to express feelings of loss and grief.

Pre-registration for the camp is required at altru.org/cgm. Registration deadline: June 1, 2025. For information on the camp, reach out to Courtney Caron, camp coordinator, at ccaron@altru.org. For information on how to support Camp Good Mourning, please contact the Altru Health Foundation at 701.780.5000.

The post This years “Camp Good Mourning” for children mourning the loss of a loved one is June 14 first appeared on KROX.

Did you know that April is National STI Awareness Month? Polk-Norman-Mahnomen Community Health Services is taking this opportunity to highlight the importance of STI prevention, testing, and education as part of your overall health.

We offer comprehensive STI testing at all locations in Polk, Norman, and Mahnomen counties. Anyone who is sexually active can get an STI. Learning more about STIs, and how to prevent them, is an important step toward protecting your health and your partner’s health. STIs (sexually transmitted infections) are passed from one person to another through vaginal, oral, or anal sex. They are very common, and many people who have an STI don’t experience any symptoms. Without treatment, STIs can lead to serious health complications—but the good news is that most are easy to test for and treat.

There are more than 30 types of bacteria, viruses, and parasites that can be transmitted through sexual contact. Some STIs can also be passed from mother to child during pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding. Eight pathogens account for the majority of STIs. Four of them are currently curable—syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, and trichomoniasis—and can be treated with antibiotics. The other four are viral infections—hepatitis B, herpes simplex virus (HSV), HIV, and human papillomavirus (HPV)—which can be managed with treatment, though not cured.

Prevention is key. When used correctly and consistently, condoms are one of the most effective methods to protect against STIs, including HIV. We recommend using dual protection: a barrier method like condoms, along with another effective contraceptive method (such as the pill, Depo shot, patch, ring, IUD, or Nexplanon) to help prevent both unintended pregnancy and STIs. Getting tested is simple, fast, and confidential. Some STI tests require just a urine sample or a quick finger poke. Cost should never be a barrier—our services are low-cost or no-cost, and no one is turned away for inability to pay. Take charge of your sexual health. Get tested. Stay informed. Stay safe.

If you have questions or would like more information, please contact Polk County Public Health at 218-281-3385 or text 218-280-1117 to make an appointment.

The post April is National STI Awareness month. Get tested, stay informed and be safe first appeared on KROX.