A Winter Storm Warning has been issued for much of Southern Minnesota until 6am tomorrow morning. The National Weather Service is predicting heavy snow will continue all day with accumulations of 5″-9″ this afternoon, and 6″-10″ overnight.
Northfield, Faribault, Cannon Falls and Kenyon-Wanamingo Schools are closed today. Farmington and Lakeville Public Schools are scheduled for a two hour early release.
As this is the first snow day of the year, it is not an e-learning day for Northfield Schools.
The Northfield Varsity and JV wrestling matches scheduled for this evening against Rochester Mayo have been postponed and will be re-scheduled, along with the Girls Varsity Gymnastics meet against Owatonna. Additionally, the starting times of the girls’ basketball games scheduled for tomorrow against New Prague have changed. The 9A game will now begin at 4:15, the JV game will begin at 6:00, and the Varsity game will begin at 7:30.
NH+C seeing unprecedented increase in Covid-19 cases
Northfield Hospital + Clinics president and CEO Steve Underdahl said Northfield Hospital has seen an enormous increase in Covid-19
patients over the last few weeks, matching a trend in hospitals around the country.
Over the last two weeks, the number of Covid cases brought to NH+C has been higher than the number of cases a year ago, when the pandemic was reaching the peak of the second wave. In fact, Underdahl said, just earlier this week the Covid wing of Northfield Hospital was caring for twice as many patients as there were regular medical/surgical patients in the rest of the hospital.
The majority of the Covid patients being treated at the hospital are unvaccinated, he said, but they have seen some breakthrough cases as well. They are also seeing younger and younger people coming in with the virus.
The burden being felt by hospitals across the area is only compounding the problem. Underdahl said under normal circumstances NH+C would not have any difficulty transferring patients requiring a higher level of care to a bigger facility.
“Those organizations on any given day are just getting crushed, and there may or may not be a bed available in an ICU,” he said. “We always get people in, but the amount of energy that goes into that, and the delay that can be associated with that is really concerning.”
As has been the case throughout the pandemic, there are precautions that can be taken to help mitigate the issue as it grows. Vaccination, he said, is the best tool to fight the virus, and Underdahl suggested to anyone that has not been vaccinated to consider it. He also said those who have been fully vaccinated for at least six months should get a booster shot. There are other precautions that can be taken as well.
“The other things you can do is things like get your flu shot. And think about precautions during the holidays. So, if you’re feeling crummy, get a Covid test to make sure that you aren’t spreading Covid to others.”
Finally, Underdahl said, they are also seeing issues with people who have chronic illnesses as well. In the face of the pandemic, it has become very easy for people to lose track of the care they need for other things, he said. He implored people with chronic issues to keep in touch with their doctors and receive the treatment they require.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Northfield Hospital + Clinics President and CEO Steve Underdahl can be heard here
State Supreme Court upholds Fugalli’s guilty plea
Last week the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that Anthony Fugalli is indeed guilty of a First-Degree Drug Sale and will not receive a new trial.
In September of 2018, Fugalli, who lived in Faribault at the time, pled guilty to selling heroin to Jason Ervin Madow, also of Faribault, in June of that year. Madow died after using the drugs he purchased, and was found to have heroin, fentanyl and methamphetamine in his blood. According to court documents, Fugalli confessed that he had cut the heroin he sold with fentanyl and knew of the danger that fentanyl posed. However, prior to his sentencing, he asked the district court to allow him to change his guilty plea, which the court denied. Fugalli appealed his case to the District Court of Appeals. After that appeal was denied, Fugalli took his case to the Minnesota Supreme Court.
At issue, was the amount of heroin Fugalli sold to Madow. The plea Fugalli entered said he had agreed to selling 13 grams of heroin. However, after weighing the drugs, the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension found that Fugalli had delivered 8.9 grams of the drug. Minnesota State Statute says that selling any amount over 10 grams is a first-degree offense. With the weight reduced to a smaller amount, Fugalli and his lawyer argued that he could not be convicted of a first-degree crime.
The State Supreme Court did not agree, citing the definition of the crime in the state statute as “sale, agreement to sell, or possession with intent to distribute.”
Rice County Attorney John Fossum, who argued the case before the court in September said he was pleased with the court’s decision.
“It only took three years, but Mr. Fugalli’s guilty plea was determined valid by the trial court, the Minnesota Court of Appeals, and the Minnesota Supreme Court. And so, now we can move on with that.”
Fugalli was sentenced to 78 months in prison in late 2018. Fossum said he expects he will remain in prison well into 2022.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Rice County Attorney John Fossum can be heard here
Temple sees expansion of NPB in the coming year
And among the provisions in the 2022 budget is an expansion of the funding to Northfield Public Broadcasting.
Station Manager Sam Temple said NPB has built a good foundation over the last two years, but there is more that they can be doing. He said with the resources they have, NPB has been able to produce, on average, one video each week, and deliver what he considers to be the “bare minimum” in communicating what is happening in the City of Northfield.
By expanding their resources, though, they can expand staff hours which will allow them to produce more videos covering the arts and the entertainment around town. They can cover the bare bones of the city, he said, but not the things that enrich the lives of Northfielders.
More money also means more promotion for NPB. Temple said they have shown good organic growth over the past two years, and he is eager to see what can happen when more people hear about what it is they do.
“People are tuning in naturally and finding it for themselves, and that’s really exciting. So, when we look at that as staff members, when the council sees that, when we see that the community is ready to embrace what we’re doing and ready to make use of this resource, and with more staff time, with more resources, we’ll be able to make it more and more of a community resource.”
Temple’s position becomes a full-time job with the passage of the new budget, and he said having more time in the week will allow for exciting growth in the next year.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Northfield Public Broadcasting Station Manager Sam Temple can be heard here
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
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