Waylon Sieber Kurts was back in Rice County Court on Friday. Kurts is the former St. Olaf student who is charged with Second Degree Conspiracy to Commit Assault 
with a Dangerous Weapon, Conspiracy to Commit Threats of Violence, Terroristic Threats, and Conspiracy to Commit Theft after a St. Olaf custodian found empty packaging with Kurts’ name on it in a dumpster outside of the residence hall where Kurts lived. That discovery led to a search of Kurts’ room by St. Olaf Public Safety personnel which turned up several items of concern including knives, and high-capacity magazines for both a pistol and a rifle.
Also found in Kurts’ room were several notebooks filled with notes and ideas he had written down, including a hand drawn map of the Skoglund-Tostrud Athletic Facility. Another notebook found inside of his vehicle had notes for combat in it, describing the deadliest place on a person’s body to shoot them, how many times to shoot to ensure the victim’s death, how to kick in a door, and other notes on “Things to be good at.”
Northfield Chief of Police Mark Elliott said any single item found in Kurts’ room might not have been overly concerning. It was the combination of everything that was so troubling.
“I heard his defense attorney make a comment about things being taken out of context, or something like that. And I can see that being able to explain any one of these things. But when you put all of this together, it’s pretty easy for anybody that looks at an article or the charging documents to be concerned and say, ‘it looks like someone is planning an attack.’”
Elloitt praised both the St. Olaf Public Safety Staff and the custodian who recognized the packaging and reported it. He said vigilance is incredibly important when it comes to public safety, and a simple lesson we were all taught many years ago remains an important one.
“We talk about it all the time, the old campaign that started with the TSA of ‘See something, say something’ and we continue to use that today. It’s very, very appropriate to continue to use that just about any time. If you see something, say something to someone and let us go check it out. Maybe it checks out and it’s nothing but reporting it to authorities is certainly how we can prevent some of these bad things from happening.”
Kurts remains in the Rice County jail on $100,000 conditional or $200,000 non-conditional bail. Assistant Rice County Attorney Kathryn Burbank, the lead prosecutor on this case, had requested that one of the conditions for bail be that Kurts remain in Minnesota. That request was not granted.
Kurts’ next hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Northfield Chief of Police Mark Elliott can be heard here
Pursell hoping for Ag Conference Committee Assignment
Representative Kristi Pursell said that the omnibus bills from each of the committees that she sits on has been passed off of the floor of the House of 
Last week, in fact, Pursell made her first speech on the House floor in favor of the Agriculture Finance and Policy Omnibus Bill. The Ag bill, she said, was among the least contentious bills to come to a vote in the House, but it was important, she said, for her colleagues to hear a member of the DFL talk about some of the bill’s provisions.
She said funding more farm-to-school programs is very important, as is investing in soil health and incentivizing more climate friendly farming practices. She also spoke very passionately about creating a Grain Indemnity fund, that would protect farmers from losing their major investments if the elevator to whom they have sold their grain goes bankrupt before the farmer gets paid.
Overall, she said, she wanted people to hear about the positive things her committee has been doing.
“I got to talk passionately about how excited I am for a lot of the things that are in our Ag bill because as the vice chair, I’ve carried a lot of the bills and just have intimate knowledge and really think a lot of the things we’re doing are going to help agriculture. And you know, there’s not too many Democrats who might be as excited as I am about Agriculture Finance and Policy.”
With the bill passed, it now must be fine-tuned in a conference committee with members of the Senate Ag Committee and have the differences between the two bills ironed out. Pursell said she is hopeful that, as Vice Chair of the House Committee, she will be assigned by Speaker Melissa Hortmann to that committee. However, she said Conferees cannot be assigned until the Senate Refuses to Concur with the House bill. While it is a foregone conclusion that a conference committee will be necessary, the sooner the formalities are handled, the sooner assignments can be made, and the committee can get to work.
The Representative said she had a rather tongue-in-cheek conversation with the Chair of the Senate Ag Committee
“I’m hoping that I will make the cut as one of the three conferees from the house as soon as they Refuse to Concur our bill. Then those assignments can get made. So, I was asking Senator Aric Putnam, the Chair of the Senate Ag Committee if he could quick reject our bill so that I could find out if I’m on conference or not.”
Pursell said she expects to hear about conferee assignments this week.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Representative Kristi Pursell can be heard here
School Board expected to approve final 2023-’24 budget this evening
The Northfield School Board will meet tonight in the Northfield School District Office Boardroom, at the District Office building. 
The board is expected to approve the final budget for the 2023-2024 school year this evening, which will include $2.5 million in reductions that have already been recommended and approved by the board. Among the budget cuts are reductions in teaching positions, elimination of the online Portage programs at both the elementary and secondary levels, an increase to Middle School and High School activity fees, and a restructuring of the Middle School schedule to a six-period day, down from seven periods, a change that would be put into effect for the 2024-2025 school year.
The Board will also receive a recommendation on changes to the transportation budget from Finance Director Val Mertesdorf. No board action on the recommendation is expected 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
