Ellendale evacuated after derailment
School bus drivers are helping with the evacuation of the southern Minnesota town of Ellendale following a train derailment early this morning on the community’s south side. WCCO reports that 4 cars came off the track and one was carrying liquid petroleum gas, which is flammable. Highway 30 is closed at Interstate 35 west of Ellendale. It will remain closed until the area is cleared. I spoke with Ellendale Police dispatch who have no media release at this time. There are no injuries reported at this time.
Nfld HRA focuses dollars for downtown affordable housing
The City of Northfield’s HRA is working on a new initiative for affordable housing in downtown Northfield. Housing Coordinator Janine Atchison said they have designated part of their Community Development Block Grant funds for the project which includes maintaining the rental units that exist. The program will focus on rehabilitation of downtown rental units. It’s not cheap to rehabilitate older buildings which makes it tough for building owners to recoup their money. The Historic downtown rehab project is a grant program, that Atchison says, “provides matching dollars, dollar for dollar up to $10,000 per building to assist owners with making needed repairs”. Atchison said we have a large workplace here where employees need affordable housing. Building owners can apply for the grants. Atchison said, they will inspect the buildings to assure that they’re spending the money wisely, they also must be in the historic district. The dollars are provided after the work is completed. This is a pilot program that has enough dollars for 4 to 5 buildings. If it goes well, Atchison said they’ll continue the program. There is a kickoff meeting to introduce the property owners to the program at the Northfield Public Library on November 16th beginning at 5 with a brief presentation at 6. Atchison’s full interview is on kymn.net.
Nisbit will plead but to what?
There was a settlement hearing yesterday in the First Degree murder case of Jason Nisbit. He’s the 40 year old Faribault man accused of killing 26 year old Chelsea Martinez in August of 2015. According to the criminal complaint, the pair met online. He eventually led them to her body and reportedly told police how he did it. Rice County Attorney John Fossum said there will be a plea hearing coming up and a sentencing at that time. However, he would not say what the plea is and no date has been set. Nisbit has been jailed in Rice County since early August of 2015 on a $1 million bail.
Veterans Day celebrations
A Veterans Day ceremony took place at Bridgewater Elementary School this morning. A citizen called to report what a wonderful job the children did in honoring our veterans. Northfield’s Beyond the Yellow Ribbon committee were on hand as well. We’ll hear more from Mayor Dana Graham on later newscasts. A celebration was held at Northfield Veterans Memorial Park late this morning. KYMN would like to thank those who have served our country. We are grateful.
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