Benjamin "Ben" James Krenik, age 45, of Montgomery, passed away peacefully surrounded by family on August 13, 2026, at Mayo Clinic Health Systems in Rochester.

Ben was born on January 25, 1981, in New Prague, to Nick and Teri (Nelson) Krenik. He graduated from Montgomery-Lonsdale High School with the Class of 1999.

    After conducting interviews last Wednesday, Aug. 12, Montgomery City Council chose Jesse Johnson of Cannon Falls, Minn., as their new city administrator at Monday’s council meeting.
    Retired Lieutenant Colonel Johnson is a 20-year veteran of the United States Army and Bronze Star Medal recipient. The 49-year-old lives in Cannon Falls with his wife of 24 years, Teresa, and has four kids — two boys and two girls, with three of them being in college.

    A new school year always brings change for students and staff, but this year proves to be a big one for a few locations.
    
TCU High School
    TCU’s school board chose Dr. Melissa Cournia as the replacement for Alan Fitterer as the high school principal, a role that Fitterer fulfilled for 20 years in the district.

    The City of Montgomery recently updated its website and, in the process of doing so, people subscribed to its notifications system were not transferred. This left people who normally were signed up to receive alerts via text and/or email for things like snow emergencies and other important city notices, in the dark.

    Nearly three of four educators in Education Minnesota said in a new poll they were directly or indirectly affected by Operation Metro Surge, suggesting a massive disruption in learning for tens of thousands of Minnesota students in the middle of the 2025-26 school year. 

Update: Fifteen-year-old Levi Schelhaas of rural New Prague passed away Friday, Aug. 21,  from injuries suffered during a crash while riding his dirt bike Tuesday, Aug. 18.

His obituary appears on The New Prague Times' website and will be in the Aug. 27 print edition of The New Prague Times.

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    Beginning Sept. 1, Mayo Clinic Health System patients in New Prague who have urgent health concerns that are not life-threatening will continue to have access to care through primary care on demand 24/7 virtual visits as well as in-person primary care appointments.

    As more local patients use primary care on demand virtual visits and increasingly fewer patients seek walk-in services through urgent care located next to the emergency department, Mayo Clinic Health System made the determination to transition urgent care.

    The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) is planning a larger-scale improvement project along Highway 13 north of Waterville and Montgomery in 2029. The project includes a 3- to 4-inch pavement reclamation, plus culvert repair and water drainage pipework along the highway between the two cities. It is currently estimated to cost about $15 million, said Forrest Hasty, MnDOT’s District 7 assistant engineer for highway delivery projects.

Michael “Mick” Patrick McGuire, age 73, of Montgomery, passed away on Sunday, August 16, 2026, at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis.

Jane Mary (Malecha) Pesta/Shriver, age 83, of Montgomery, MN, passed away peacefully at her home, surrounded by the love of her family.