There’s another scam making the rounds.  Ziggy’s gas station was called earlier today and told that their electricity would be shut down for 45 minutes to an hour if they didn’t pay their electric bill.  The phone number was listed as private and the man identified himself as David Waters and said he was representing Xcel Energy.  He told Pat Zieglar that they were 2 months behind on their payment.  When Zieglar told him to hold on, he would check his bill, the man waited a few moments and then hung up.  Zieglar called Xcel who told him to call police.  They also said they would never call from a “private number” and that, if they come to your home or business, they carry an identifying badge.  The police, unfortunately, can’t do anything about these types of scams.  The number was 818-666-1672.  Although these numbers change constantly.

The Northfield Council voted 6 to 1 on accepting the feasibility study and calling for an improvement hearing on the 2018 street projects.  They also Ordered Preparation of Plans and Specs for one of 3 options that included a raised intersection at 7th and Division and less parking.  The $4.2 million project will create headaches for the downtown but right now, it has business and building owners speaking out.  Dan Christopherson of NAPA and Chris Kennelly, who co-owns the building on the southwest corner of 7th, have repeatedly expressed concerns over the loss of parking.  Christopherson added,“the concept has been approved and nothing has changed there but I do believe that, (more…)

38 year old Demarcus Barker has a checkered history with Rice County law enforcement. In March of 2016 he was charged with 9 felonies in connection to drug dealing and a police chase.  He’d crashed the car in a field.  He and his cousin then fled on foot.  Inside the vehicle, police found  they found 250 grams of marijuana.  The next day, in the light, law enforcement searched the area in and around the path of the car chase, they found cocaine, crack and methamphetamine in the ditch along the roadside.  Rice County attorney John Fossum said the charges were contested and a judge dismissed the case.  Fossum’s office appealed and the Court of Appeals overturned the (more…)

After replacing the tiling in his farm field, Dakota County farmer Dave Legvold wanted to try something different with his buffer zone.  Normally the tile water goes into the nearest tributary or ditch.  Legvold is testing a technique  called a “saturated” buffer.  The idea is to push some of the water taken from the field and push it into the zone to grow grass, trees, shrubs or whatever.  Through a system of gates water level is regulated to hold it or let it loose.  Legvold calls it crop insurance for drought.  It also allows for too much water to be released.  He’s also researching the best plants to put in the saturated buffer zone.  Working with St. Olaf student, Claire Hinther, they’re looking to see what happens with the nitrogen and phosphorus content when water is forced (more…)

The Northfield Heritage Preservation Commission would like to expand the City’s historic downtown district.  Administrator Ben Martig commented on what the HPC does, “it protects with design controls as well as demolition.  But they don’t restrict property owners by requiring them to make improvements to their property, so I would say it’s more a guideline that but in some cases they do need that certificate of appropriateness for approval”.  It’s a balancing (more…)