By Rich Larson, News Director
An early morning two-vehicle crash on County Road 46 sent drivers of both vehicles to the hospital.
Authorities said that the accident occurred around 6:00 this morning near the 5000 block of Hazelwood Ave, or County Road 46. One driver was airlifted to a metro hospital in serious condition, and another was taken via ambulance to Northfield Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The county Sheriff’s department has wrapped up the investigation, and the road is once again open.
Draheim outlines priorities
State Senator Rich Draheim is preparing for the special session of the legislature that is expected next week. The Senator has been working with
members of the house and commissioners talking about a Covid-19 relief package for small businesses.
“People are hurting right now from the Covid shutdowns. We need to be mindful of them and how to get our small businesses on Main Street back open safely.”
Draheim said that the news of a projected budget surplus was surprising, and he cautioned that budget forecasts in November are, as he put it, “historically off.” However, he said that the news is positive and that he is cautiously optimistic.
He also spoke on the Emergency Powers that Governor Walz has used since the beginning of the pandemic in March. He sees bi-partisan support for limiting the governor’s use of executive orders and expects to see a “flurry of bills” regarding that topic during the special session.
“We have 201 elected officials representing the whole state. Every corner of the state is different. Even parts of my district are vastly different. And everybody should be heard, and they’re not being heard when one person is making all of the decisions.”
Another thing people should be thinking about, he said, is the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine that could begin by the end of the month. Last week Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka had suggested that members of the legislature should have priority for the vaccine before most Minnesotans. Without calling the leader of his caucus out by name, Draheim put a little distance between himself and Gazelka in stating his priorities for who should receive the vaccine first.
“The next thing everyone should focus on is the rollout of the vaccines; if people want to participate in that, how that’s going to be done. Hopefully we’ll do the health care people, first responders, long term care facilities, teachers, etc., first. I do not think politicians or people at the capitol should have preference over anybody else. It’s most important to get those people with pre-existing conditions probably before politicians.”
Distance Learning presses on at Northfield Schools
Northfield Superintendent of Schools Matt Hillmann said that the distance learning program has been working smoothly. The district is now in the second full week of distance learning and Hillmann said that with the lessons learned from the emergency shutdown last spring, and with the help of parents, whom he called “essential partners in this,” there is a much better understanding of how to go about things and how to make distance learning effective.
With that said, however, Dr. Hillmann also said that the preference is, of course, for students to be in school. The district plans to be in distance learning until the end of winter break, he said. After that, they will begin to re-evaluate the situation. He said there are three criteria that are critical to returning to in-person learning.
“What the department of health is saying, we have to go back to using the county metric, so that county infection rate per 10,000 people. Right now, that number is 159. In order to be able to bring any kids back on campus, according to the state guidelines, we’d have to get under 50 per 10,000. We also have to look at our staffing. Do we have staff who are well enough to be able to affectively run the schools? And the third piece is implementing all of the health protocols, which we’ve shown we can do.”
Hillmann also anticipates that the School Board will vote next week in favor of his motion to redesign the Northfield High School Mascot.
“I’ve been talking to a number of people who are quite excited about the opportunity and have already started creating potential designs. Tio be clear, we’re not talking about changing the name Raiders, we’re simply talking about changing the mascot. We’ve had the same mascot for 64 years and I know there’s a lot of good, steep local history, and it was locally designed. It is time to update that, for sure. It’s time to have a refresh. So, if the board approves that motion, that would direct the High School to get that process started.”
The current mascot has been in use since 1956.
Local carolers find a way
And a group of local music enthusiasts has found an innovative way to spread some holiday cheer in the age of Covid-19.
A few regular attendees of the Second Saturday Open Mic Nights at The Hot Spot thought it might be a nice thing to go caroling together at the Northfield Retirement Community, and Three Links Care Center. However, due to Covid-19 restrictions, and really, just the nature of the virus, that didn’t seem to be a practical idea.
So instead of ringing a doorbell to sing for whoever happens to be at home, the group will gather outside of The Hot Spot on Saturday night and film themselves singing Christmas Carols, and then deliver the video to the Northfield Retirement Community where it will be played over the NRC’s closed-circuit television system. They are hoping to deliver it to Three Links as well.
Wendy Placko, one of the organizers of the event said that in any other year, anyone who wanted to join in the festivities would be welcome. However, due to public health concerns, they have decided to keep the chorus small. The group does hope, however, that people will seek the video out on social media when it is done and released sometime next week.
