A young woman has died in a house explosion, Saturday, Feb. 26, according to Le Sueur Count Sheriff, Brett Mason.
While the woman’s identity has not been officially released, Facebook posts have indicated it was Kailey Mach.

The Minnesota State High School League and other organizations are launching an initiative in light of recent events. In a statement released today:

It’s 7:30 a.m.—almost an hour before school starts— but 10 brainy Buccaneers are already seated in desks, deep in thought.
They are the members of Waterville-Elysian-Morristown High School’s Knowledge Bowl Team.
A few students munch their breakfasts.
Many down caffeinated drinks.
All are focused on solving the question at hand, a brand-named brainteaser that Knowledge Bowl Advisor (and Spanish teacher) Tom Walker has posed: resonating percussion instruments of a political faction.

FFA Week has a new title at WEM High School, FFA/ Snow Week.
The WEM FFA will run daily activities as they have for years, with the addition of coronation.
Three males and three females in each of the high school grades were chosen as royalty. They were voted on by WEM staff based on their PBIS traits. Grade level students will then vote for their king and queen of the court. The royalty includes:

Rep. Jim Hagedorn, R-Minn. of Blue Earth, died Thursday night at age 59 of kidney cancer, his wife said in a Facebook post.
Hagedorn represented the Minnesota’s First Congressional District, that includes 21 counties from South Dakota to Wisconsin, along the Iowa border. The district covers much of the southern third of the state and includes Rochester, Austin and Mankato.

With one Gopher Conference game to play, the WEM girls basketball team has a chance to finish in second place after two more conference wins last week.
The Bucs defeated JWP (50-32) and Faribault BA (64-50) to improve to 11-4 in the conference, one half game in front of Maple River and a game behind NRHEG. The Bucs will play at NRHEG Friday, Feb. 18.
The week opened with the 18 point win over JWP. The Bulldogs managed only nine first half points, seven by Claire Adams who finished with 12 points. WEM held an 18-9 halftime lead and never trailed.

Paul Thomas Brekke, age 79 of rural Waterville, passed away at his home on the evening of Wednesday, February 2, 2022.

Tom died peacefully at the Northfield Care Center surrounded by loved ones on Thursday, February 10, 2022 at the age of 87.

The work of former Le Sueur County resident Edward S. Curtis, a world renowned photographer of Native Americans during the late 1800s and early 1900s, is being celebrated in the form of a free exhibit in the lower-level of the Elysian Area Library and Heritage Center, now through mid-March.
With more than 85 large prints on display and indigenous artifacts, the exhibit is the largest of its kind to be featured in the area—a salute to Curtis’s ties to Elysian Township.

If gratitude can seep into your blood, my February blood donations are brimming with it.
My daughter Anna required multiple blood transfusions during her open heart surgery, a a procedure she underwent when she was just seven months old.
So, if my blood donation day happens to fall in February (the month her surgery took place), I dedicate my donation to my now 12-year-old daughter, her skilled surgeon, and those amazing anonymous people who donated the blood that saved her life.
I became a regular blood donor last year.

It was -13ºF outside, but things were heating up inside the Waterville Area Senior Center, Thursday morning, February 3.
There’s music. There’s laughter. And, there’s exercise.
There’s also a handmade sign taped in the front of the room that reads: Stop if you get tired. Sit and rest or sway side to side instead of marching. It’s Okay!
It’s the local S.A.I.L. (Stay Active and Independent for Life) exercise program.

Informational meeting to be February 13
The Miss Czech Slovak MN Program is seeking participants for its pageant in April and younger girls for its Junior Ambassador Program. An informational meeting for both groups will be held on Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022, at 1 p.m. at Montgomery Oil Company and David's Diner, 200 Fourth Street NW.
Miss Czech Slovak Minnesota Pageant

The WEM boys basketball team split four Gopher Conference games over the course of the last two weeks. During those games a pair of players scored their career-highs.
Senior Jonathan Remme hit four three pointers and four free throws on his way to a career-high 16 points in a 53-50 win over United South Central January 25. This avenged a 59-52 loss to the rebels earlier in the season.

John (Jake) “Pops” Keohen, age 83, of Montgomery, beloved husband, brother, father, grandfather, and great grandfather left this earth to join his heavenly Father on February 8th, 2022.
He is survived by his wife of 32 years, Kay; his sons, John “Jake”, Pete, Matt, Tim’s widow, Diana; stepchildren, Scott (Diane), Craig (Carolyn), Pam (Larry), Faith (Randy) and sister, Kathryn (Tatty); 9 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, Helen and Jerry; sisters, Mary Hennes and Patricia Rynda; brother, Jerry and son, Tim “Wally”.

WEM//JWP freshman Keegan Kuball had an outstanding week of wrestling for the Grizzlies.
Kuball improved his team-leading record to 31-2 and his team-leading pin total to 22 with three falls in a pair of events last week.
WEM/JWP faced Medford (11-2 overall) Thursday, Feb. 3 in a Gopher Conference dual in Waterville. Kuball earned the only victory for the Grizzlies in matches wrestled, pinning Kamilo Gonzales in 3:02.

John (Jake) “Pops” Keohen, age 83, of Montgomery, beloved husband, brother, father, grandfather, and great grandfather left this earth to join his heavenly Father on February 8th, 2022.
He is survived by his wife of 32 years, Kay; his sons, John “Jake”, Pete, Matt, Tim’s widow, Diana; stepchildren, Scott (Diane), Craig (Carolyn), Pam (Larry), Faith (Randy) and sister, Kathryn (Tatty); 9 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, Helen and Jerry; sisters, Mary Hennes and Patricia Rynda; brother, Jerry and son, Tim “Wally”.