Tri-City United High School was host to the Big South Conference Championship last Thursday, Jan. 8. Six other teams from the conference convened at Montgomery competing in both jazz and kick.
TCU dancers ended up in the middle of the pack for both jazz and kick, and for junior varsity jazz as well.
Head Coach Katey Weiss said, “All three of our dances were our best performances and scores to date. We work every week to improve our routines. I'm very happy with how we finished.”
The Le Sueur County Sheriff’s Office and the Minnesota State Patrol (MSP) have released their incident report and crash reconstruction report regarding the fatal crash on Sept. 11, 2025, at the intersection of Country State Aide Highway (CSAH) 28/320th Street and CSAH 32/211th Avenue, a few miles north of Clear Lake in Derrynane Township.
Belle Plaine mother Mackenzie Jo Glaser, 23, perished in the incident. She was a new mother carrying her one-year-old daughter in the vehicle, who survived without injury. Glaser was on the way to drop off her daughter at daycare at the time.
When Tri-City United (TCU) senior Ella Schmiesing grabbed her 1,000th career rebound Tuesday, Dec. 30 at Waterville, she became one of the select few in state history to have both 1,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds.
The St. Catherine basketball commit is one of only 267 players in Minnesota history to record the milestone.
As a freshman Schmiesing played in all 26 games, recording 219 rebounds in 610 minutes of action.
Montgomery City Administrator Brian Heck formally announced to city council his retirement plans, which has a somewhat flexible target date of June of this year. This was announced at the Monday, Jan. 5, special city council meeting.
“What I told Tom (Mayor Thomas Eisert) and what I put in my notes to council is that my target is June. June is what I’m looking at, and I will commit to hanging around until someone is brought on,” said Heck.
Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation (SMIF) recently approved $300,000 to support 14 capital projects in small towns under 10,000 through the Taylor Rural Improvements Grant. Each project provides services to underserved populations in the community. This grant round considered projects involving food, clothing, shelter, transportation and internet accessibility. An additional $100,000 was dispersed for food and direct assistance through a Good Neighbor Grant from The McKnight Foundation.
The Rice County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday, Dec. 9, approved the county’s 2026 budget and property tax levy, which increased by 8.51% over 2025. That’s slightly less than the preliminary figure approved in September.
While the $103 million budget is about $12 million lower than the current budget, the levy increase is largely due to cost shifts from the state, reductions in state grants and county program aid, the 2026 elections and higher personnel costs laid out in negotiated collective bargaining agreements.
Tri-City United High School Assistant Principal David Reuhs was surprised when he walked into the school's media center on Monday, Jan. 5, for what he thought was a staff meeting.
Ruehs was met by the Minnesota Association of Secondary School Principals (MASSP) Executive Director Bob Driver, his family, much of the staff of the school, and media, where he was presented the honor of being the chosen the 2026 Minnesota High School Assistant Principal of the Year award.
He will be put up against others across the nation in April for the national award.
The Tri-City United School District School Board voted on Monday, Dec. 22, to ask voters in the district again to pass the same $39.99 million bond that was proposed at the November 2025 single vote election. In November, the tax base that showed up to vote voted 926 in approval and 1,088 in opposition.
Eleven members of Tri-City United High School’s FFA chapter spend Dec. 14 and Dec. 15 in St. Cloud competing and learning at the Minnesota FFA Winter Leadership Summit at St. Cloud State University.
The first day of the summit included an lengthy agriculture discussion session and a party. The second day of the summit included preliminary rounds for the seven Leadership Development Event (LDE) categories student competition, employment skills, leadership workshops, final rounds of competition, and an awards ceremony.
Montgomery’s Sharing Tree Coordinator Eileen Segna wants everyone to know they are more than just offering gifts during the holidays, although it’s a big part of their efforts, and that everything given goes directly back to our community.
“This year I think we had 129 (Sharing Tree) tags and there was 19 left over, so we went last Saturday to buy gifts for those 19 people. So, tomorrow when we deliver, everyone will have gifts that otherwise would have been left out,” said Segna.
Saturday’s home weightlifting duo with the Burnsville Blaze yielded three individuals qualifying for state and slug of first place finishes.
Morgan Meier qualified for varsity state competition with an automatic qualifying total (AQT) greater than 95 KG of 100 KG in the varsity girls’s 58 KG category.
Much of Minnesota is feeling the effects of a large winter storm currently with Tri-City United Schools cancelling all afternoon and evening activities, rescheduling the music concert from tonight at the same time tomorrow night, Friday, Dec. 18.
Before you entered the doors to the Revival on Main, you were greeted with the clanking sounds of the horse-drawn carriage rides for Svatý Mikuláš on Sunday.
Stepping inside, you were greeted with a formal Slavic tradition of bread dipping in salt. Sounds of merriment filled the air with people conversing and various entertainment between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. that included music by Colton Tupy, and traditional dances by both the St. Paul Czech and Slovak Adult Folk Dancers and the Sokol MN Children Dancers.
The 33rd Annual Torchlight Parade and Fireworks in downtown Montgomery on Thursday, Dec. 4, was definitely another bundle-up affair this year.
Temperatures hovered just barely above zero and all the hot foods and drinks along 1st Street were welcomed. As time progressed, the wind also picked up.
Santa Claus was there with his live reindeer again, letting all ages hop on the sleigh for a photo. The Amazing Hoopsters were back dazzling with fire and light-up hola-hoops before the parade in front of Frandsen Bank & Trust and in the parade.
The Tri-City United (TCU) boys basketball team opened its 2025-26 season with three losses.
St. Peter handed the Titans a 113-36 loss Monday, Dec. 1. Three days later St. Claire defeated TCU, 86-61. Friday Worthington traveled to Montgomery and handed the Titans a 78-40 loss.
In the loss to St. Peter, the Saints have a majority of their players returning from last year and they looked to be in mid-season form from the tip.
