Things you can still do at Mag
It may be a few months before you can have dinner and a drink at the Magnolia Steak House, but donÕt cancel all of your Mag plans.
While the plans go on for fixing and cleaning after the March 19 fire, so do the plans for other Mag events.
According to Amy Dispanet-VerSteeg, plans for the sand volleyball league and the Cruise-in for Buffalo Days are proceeding along with the clean-up.
A captains' meeting for the volleyball league is scheduled for April 22, with a start date for the league set for June 4.
Contact Amy with questions.
Kennedy plans to run in different district
Second District Congressman Mark Kennedy has decided to stay a little closer to the metro area for his second run for Congress, or the courts decided it for him.
Kennedy, whose home is in rural Watertown, south of the metro area, found himself in the newly redesigned 6th District, about 100 yards from his old 2nd District territory, which used to run from Rock County to Chaska.
One option was to move a short distance and take up residence in the newly created 2nd District, where no incumbent exists.
But on Monday, Kennedy decided to stay where he is, which means he will have to take on four-term DFL incumbent Bill Luther.
Although Luther has always won his district, he has never won by a large margin.
Some analysts think the slightly reconfigured 2nd District could have changed to enough of a Republican edge for Kennedy to continue on for a second term.
Meanwhile the newly created 1st District, also known as the I-90 district, is what we will be a part of starting next year.
So who will run in the 1st, our new district?
If the incumbent wins, our new congressman will be Republican Gil Gutknecht.
Gutknecht has been elected four times, starting in 1994.
On the DFL side, Todd Rasmussen, a banker from Winona, has shown some interest in the position as has Steve Andreasen , currently a Rochester resident, but originally from Adrian.
Both candidates recently made appearances at the Rock County DFL Convention.
Anytime a district changes as much as the new 1st did, the opposition gets interested, so the new 1st could get some national attention as well as national money.
Is your wading pool a swimming pool
Should Minnesota set the same standards for wading pools that it does for swimming pools?
Rep. Mulder thinks that is a little excessive.
Mulder recently introduced legislation that would prevent certain wading pools from being held to the same standards as public swimming pools.
Mulder's bill defines wading pools located at family day-care homes as private residential pools, providing they have a maximum depth of 24 inches and can be manually emptied and moved.
At the end of the last session, a wading pool exemption expired which forced day-care providers to follow rules intended for Minnesota public swimming pools.
Some of those rules would include having a certified lifeguard on site, providing toilets, showers and dressing rooms, and installing ladders in the "deep end" of the pool.
According to Mulder state records indicate a poorly maintained wading pool has never caused a death, disability or illness in Minnesota.
Publisher Roger Tollefson can be contacted by e-mail at
tolly@star-herald.com