A Shoreview man, a passenger in a 2011 Hyundai, was killed Thursday afternoon, May 9, in a crash on Le Sueur County Road 3, just north of its intersection with County Road 29 in Lanesburgh Township.

“The Enchanted Bookshop,” by Todd Wallinger, will have performances at the high school’s performing arts center at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 2, and Friday, May 3.
A well-rehearsed cast of 4th through 6th grade children are ready to make the bookstore characters of Robin Hood, Sherlock Holmes, Dorothy Gale, Pollyanna, Tom Sawyer and more come to life — at least while the bookstore keeper is not around.

“We talked about putting together an event like this,” Montgomery Community Foundation Chair Mick McGuire explained in his opening comments to a small crowd at Hilltop Hall on Saturday morning. “Everybody has a State of the Union, State of State, State of the City programs. Our thought was to do a State of the Community.”
Speaking at the event were Montgomery Mayor Tom Eisert, Tri-City United Superintendent Kevin Babcock, Montgomery Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Caitlin Huiras and Montgomery Area Community Club (MACC) Executive Director Jessica Westerman.

Austyn Menk, a 2016 graduate of Tri-City United High School and Le Center native, is releasing a jazz album with some of his colleagues on May 3.
The self-titled album, “IRIS,” is the first release of the professional jazz quintet out of the Chicago area. If the band’s name sounds familiar, it may be because the past two years of TCU’s Jazz Fest, they have been the featured professional group that played and also did workshops with the TCU High School students.

Crews will begin work on the Highway 169 Jordan-Shakopee improvement project at 7 a.m. Wednesday, May 1, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
Workers will reduce Highway 169 to one northbound and one southbound lane between Highway 21 in Jordan and Highway 41 in Jackson Township through mid-August. Lane closures will not be allowed weekends beginning Aug. 9.
Also starting May 1, through late-June, drivers will be limited to right-in, right-out access to Highway 69 in the project area, except at these intersections:

Submitted by: Sarah Stultz, Managing Editor, Albert Lea Tribune
A significant discussion is taking place at the state Legislature in reaction to the recent announcement that eight community newspapers will close at the end of the month.
Under a proposal in the Senate Education Policy Omnibus bill (SF 3567), school districts would no longer be required to publish their proceedings in newspapers and could instead move them to their own websites.

First boy Junior Ambassador entered into program
Saturday evening was a gathering from around the state at the Montgomery American Legion for the 35th Annual Miss Czech Slovak Minnesota Pageant.
Festivities started with an authentic Czech meal, prepared by board member and Head Chef Josh Gare and his volunteer crew. Gare was recognized for his work in the organization, with special attention for the meals, by the Minneapolis Aquatennial Ambassadors with the Honorary Commodore’s Award.

TCU High School Principal Alan Fitterer says that 201 out of about 600 Tri-City United High School students received academic letters and were celebrated the school’s Academic Letter Breakfast and Program on Thursday, March 21.
In order to qualify for an academic letter, students must earn at least six credits per semester (five credits for seniors) and no grade must be lower than a B-. Additionally, a students grade point average must be maintained above 3.67 for grade 9, 3.6 for grade 10, 3.5 for grade 11, and 3.3 for grade 12.

Elizabeth “Izzi” Kotek, 11, was crowned as the Montgomery American Legion Auxiliary Unit 79’s 2024 Poppy Princesses at the April 10th monthly American Legion Auxiliary meeting.
Izzi is the daughter of Corey and Bobbi Kotek of Montgomery. Corey is the the Post 79 Commander.
Poppy Princesses are American Legion Auxiliary Junior Members between the ages of 6 to 12. Each contestant is required to research and create a 30 to 50 word essay about the red poppy or the Poppy Princess program.

Carrie Simon, of Montgomery, went to the doctor in early 2022 thinking it would be a typical doctor visit. In February of 2022, she went through surgery. She and her husband, Russ, believed it was just an ovarian cyst. The doctors thought it was about 18 centimeters, and it ended up being 35 centimeters in diameter and had ruptured.
“Russ knew it was cancer already from the doctors while I was under, but they told me when I woke up. It was pretty gut-wrenching,” she said.

Ambassadors looking for candidates
The Lonsdale Ambassadors annual Easter Egg Hunt once again drew hundreds of area families to Lonsdale’s Jaycee Park on Saturday, March 30.
Miss Lonsdale Ambassador royalty facilitating the three age group-separated hunts were Miss Lonsdale Alli Simon, Miss Ambassadors Khloe Flicek and Avery Lerfald, Junior Ambassadors Payton Fischer and Paige Miller, and Little Ambassador Kyrie Smisek.

Next Fools in the Alley event won't happen for 63 years
Those who missed Monday’s Fools in the Alley Parade and Celebration will have a long wait until the next event.
In what was only the fourth time being held in Its 33-year history, the irregular event occurs only when April Fools Day follows the Monday after Easter, which until this year was every 11 years. However, the alignment after this year shifts causing the next occurrence not to take place again until 2086.

While it won’t be open for public use, a new recycling facility will be bringing benefits to Montgomery starting next month.
Cosmic Recycling has plans to open a facility that focuses on recycling solar panels and electronic waste, dubbed e-waste. The waste items will be shipped in from outside sources rather than collected from the community.
The facility will be located at 513 1st St. South in Montgomery in a facility owned by Hruby Rentals.

Families packed the hall at the American Legion Post 586 this past Saturday for the Son’s of the American Legion’s (SAL) for Kids Bingo.
SAL started in 1932 for males of all ages whose parents or grandparents served in the United States Military to become members of the American Legion. Although the group has its own membership, it is not a separate entity.

A total of 28 students from Tri-City United High School’s Business Professionals of America (BPA) club participated in the annual Minnesota BPA State Leadership Conference held March 14-16 at the Minneapolis Hyatt Regency.
More than 1,100 members from across the state of Minnesota competed at the conference.

Last spring, blizzard conditions hampered an otherwise pleasant evening of jazz music that is Tri-City United High School’s Jazz Fest, which kept Cleveland High School away from performing for the event.
This year’s Jazz Fest, held Thursday, March 14 in the high school performing arts center, was host to five acts — up from last year’s two acts.