The Northfield Police Department announced on Friday afternoon that a St. Olaf Student has been taken into custody for making threats of 
A statement released by Northfield PD said Waylon Sieber Kurts, age 20, has been arrested on probable cause for making threats of violence.
According to the statement, after the college’s Public Safety Department received a report of suspicious items in Kurts’ residence hall room, a search was conducted. St. Olaf Public Safety officers found firearms magazines and “other items of concern.” Kurts was interviewed by the Public Safety Department and afterwards was suspended from school. He left campus shortly thereafter
The college contacted the Northfield Police Department, who then picked up the investigation. Police said they found additional items connected to “potential acts of violence” in Kurts’ room. Due to the nature of the items and potential for violence, the NPD requested assistance from various partner agencies including the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
A warrant was issued for Kurts’ arrest. He was located in his vehicle in Hennepin County and placed under arrest by the Northfield Police Department.
St. Olaf College Director of Public Safety Derek Kruse said in an email to the St. Olaf Community that he understands a situation like this is can be “unsettling,” and acknowledged that it raises more questions. The police department statement said, however, NPD believes this to be an isolated event and there is no ongoing threat to students or the campus.
The statement said there are no further details available about what was found in Kurts’ room as this is an active investigation. Kurts is currently being held in the Rice County jail.
Draper promotes 1% for the Arts, Summer Reading and Summer Page programs
The Northfield Director of Library Services, Natalie Draper, spent last week both reviewing events of 2022 and gearing up for a busy summer
Last week during the City Council meeting, Draper, who is the staff liaison for the Arts and Culture Commission gave the annual report on the 1% for the Arts Program, which stipulates that all city capital construction projects should set aside 1% of its budget for public art. Draper highlighted a pair of projects that were unveiled in 2022. The first was Wanbli Mitakuye Oyasin, the eagle statue at the intersection of Water Street and Highway 3, created by Lakota artist Joh Sterner. The other was the painted tile mosaic mural entitled The River Connects us by artist Lori Grene, which was installed last spring in the Council Chambers in City Hall.
Draper said there are more projects underway for 2023, including documentarian Cecilia Cornejo’s sonic archive The Wandering House, Arte En Accion, a project by an art collective designed to help the voice of the Latinx community reach the larger Northfield community, and the Artists on Mainstreet program, which is being revived by the Friends of Downtown Northfield.
Draper also said the Arts & Culture Commission conducted a survey asking what cultural elements Northfielders would like to see, and said the results played into the 1% for the Arts Program.
“The survey respondents indicated a strong desire to see artwork incorporated into the design of everyday objects such as lighting and street furniture, as well as more community public art events and more youth driven art. They also expressed interest in seeing more artwork in public buildings, such as schools, libraries, City Hall and around downtown.”
Meanwhile, the Northfield Public Library is readying the Summer Reading Program, the theme of which, Draper said, will be baseball. This year, she said, the annual program will be for both youth and adults. The stated goal for the program is to have 1000 participants, and Draper said, to that end the library will be sponsoring the Dundas Dukes game on June 18th.
“We are sponsoring the Dundas Dukes game on June 18th, so that will be Reading Day. I believe the library’s mascot, Sparkles the Unicorn, will be there to throw out the ceremonial first pitch, and the bookmobile will be there, and we will be signing folks up for summer reading too. So, June 18th, that’s actually also known as Father’s Day, but we’re going to call it Reading Day if that’s okay with the dads.”
The library is also now accepting applications for middle school kids who would like to join the summer page program. Pages, she said, will help with library collection tasks, and aid the summer reading program as well as programming for younger children. While this is a volunteer program, it is also designed to be an excellent first job opportunity, introducing kids to the types of responsibilities and time-management needs they will experience with future part-time jobs.
Applications for the program are due April 21st. For more information, visit the Northfield Public Library website at mynpl.org.
School Board will vote on budget cuts tonight
The Northfield School Board will meet tonight in the Northfield School District Office Boardroom, at the District Office building. 
The main agenda item tonight will be the approval of cuts to be made in the 2023-2024 budget. After trimming $4 million from the 2022-2023 budget last year, due mostly to declining enrollment and the way the state finances public education, the board is being asked to remove an additional $2.5 million from the budget next year. Many of the changes are expected to affect middle school activities and the middle school schedule, as well as the high school French Department.
The board will also discuss options to reduce the transportation budget but will not be asked to vote on any decision tonight.
The School Board will always invite public comment from those who live in the Northfield School District. Public comments for the regular school board meetings may be made in person at the beginning of the meeting. Those wishing to speak must sign up in person prior to the beginning of the meeting. The boardroom opens at 5:30 p.m.
Tonight’s meeting will begin at 6:00
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
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