New Prague swimmers Taylor Bassett and Aspen Schieffer will join diver Maddyn Anderson in the Minnesota Class AA Swimming & Diving meet Nov. 13-15 at the University of Minnesota.

The Scott County Sheriff’s Office is opening its ninth annual greeting card design contest.

New Prague sophomore Maddyn Anderson overcame a big deficit heading into the Section 1AA diving competition's final round and earned a fourth-place finish and a berth in next week’s state diving competition at the University of Minnesota.

John “Jack” Frank Vlasak, age 85, of Montogomery, MN, passed away peacefully on November 5, 2025, at Mala Strana Assisted Living – Rehabilitation Center in New Prague, with his loving family by his side.

Ralph M. Wagner, age 91, of New Market, passed away November 5, 2025, at his home peacefully surrounded by family.

Voters in the New Prague Area School District approved the school district’s request for additional local revenue by a wide margin.

The New Prague Fire Department aided a farmer whose arm became caught in a corn picker Tuesday evening, Nov. 4, along the 23000 block of Helena Boulevard.

New Prague Fire Chief Steve Rynda said the call came in at 8:25 p.m. The farmer, a male in his early 60s, was working on the machine out in a field when his hand and arm became stuck in the machine, said Rynda, adding the farmer was the one who called the fire department.

After arriving on the scene, firefighters were able to free the farmer’s arm and hand.

Mary E. Thera, age 87, of New Prague, formerly of Inver Grove Heights and West St. Paul, died peacefully on Sunday, November 2, 2025, at Mala Strana Health and Rehabilitation Center.  Mary was born on Aprill 16, 1938, in St. Paul, to Henry and Helen (Smith) Thera.  She graduated from Our Lady of Peace High School in St. Paul and went on to receive a bachelor’s degree from Viterbo College.  She worked as a medical technologist and Supervisor of Hematology at St. Joseph Hospital in St. Paul.

Sharon Ann (Hillesheim) Malecha, age 84, of Lonsdale, passed away peacefully on Friday, October 31, 2025, at United Hospital in St. Paul, surrounded by her children.

Sharon was born on May 10, 1941, in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, to Nicholas B. and Veronica T. (Marz) Hillesheim. She graduated from St. Mary’s Catholic School in 1959. After high school, she attended secretarial school in Minneapolis and worked at Maico and Bell Telephone Security Systems.

Geraldine “Gerry” Mary Pany, age 90, of New Prague, died in the early morning hours of Friday, October 31, 2025, at Praha Village Senior Living in New Prague.

Irene Rose Scheffler, age 100, of Benson, passed away Monday, October 27, 2025, in Benson, Minnesota.

Irene was born October 9, 1925, on the family farm in Rice County near Veseli, Minnesota, to Bohumil and Ludmilla (Kalina) Simon. She was the fifth of nine children.

Jean D. Jirik , age 90, of Webster, passed away Oct. 29, 2025, at Three Links Care Center in
Northfield, MN.
 

Jean was born on Sept. 27, 1935, in Northfield to Francis "Buck" and Chiquita "Doll" Palan. She
attended elementary school in Dundas and graduated from Northfield High School. She married
Raymond W. Jirik on Sept. 8, 1955, at St. Dominic’s Catholic Church in Northfield and together
they raised five children on a family farm near Lonsdale.
 

Lorraine L.

The small yellow signs do exactly what any good piece of advertising ought to do – catch your attention and encourage you to learn the rest of the story.

Found at many intersections, the signs state, “We love Our City.”

Maybe young eyes can read the fine print. From the driver’s seat, the small print at the base of the sign is illegible. At first, one might assume they were created and placed by a business, perhaps the New Prague Chamber of Commerce. Might one of the community’s outstanding service clubs be behind them?

Falcon Ridge Elementary School’s multipurpose gym was extremely quiet Friday, Oct. 24, as students participated in the school’s Read-A-Thon.

During the day each grade at the school, which has 500 students, had a designated time to read and celebrate the day in the gym, said Greta Deutsch of the Parent Advisory Committee (PAC).

Besides reading in the gym, students were also reading in their classrooms for the event, said Deutsch. The event has two purposes, to encourage reading and raise funds for the school.

When word that Scott, Le Sueur and Rice counties could no longer process applications for assistance under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Rita Goggins knew more people would be looking for assistance.

The counties are expecting additional pressure on the food shelf created by the federal government shutdown.