News

Want to play our game and get a chance to win a free one-year online subscription? This is week #2 of our game. Find our news boys. There are four hidden throughout our website -  he's hiding in NEW locations from last week. He is NOT hiding in the PDF editions. Find this guy... (don't count this one). Submit your answers here - https://www.star-herald.com/index.php/hiddenintheherald  Guesses…

Homecoming activities at Hills-Beaver Creek High School will be Monday, Sept. 25, through Friday, Sept. 29, and students will participate in various activities throughout the week. Public events include coronation at 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 25, in the high school gymnasium, and the homecoming parade at 2:45 p.m. Friday, Sept. 29, down Main Street Hills. The homecoming football game is at 7 p.m.…

Luverne High School varsity gymnastics coach Phoebe Flom, along with current and former high school gymnasts, opened a four-day fall gymnastics camp Monday through Luverne Community Education. Participants ranging in age from preschool through sixth grade were introduced to skills needed to do flips, cartwheels and jumps along with an introduction to the balance beam and uneven bars. The camp was…

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) is reminding farmers and commercial applicators that fall nitrogen fertilizer applications are restricted in some areas of the state. Under the MDA’s Groundwater Protection Rule, fall nitrogen fertilizer application is prohibited in vulnerable areas of Minnesota due to environmental concerns or risks. Areas with coarse-textured soils or areas above…

Five Rock County 4-H’ers competed at the 2023 Minnesota State Horse Show Sept. 15-18 in St. Paul. Two of the exhibitors placed in the top ten in their respective grade levels. •Morgan Bonnett, grade 11, finished fourth in key race, eighth in poles and eighth in ranch pleasure. •Blakely Fick, grade 6, earned a third-place ribbon in western showmanship. Bonnett was also the county’s…

USDA Rural Development has funding availabile for very low- and low-income individuals and families seeking to purchase or repair a home in a rural area. The Direct Home Loan program offers financing to qualified very-low and low-income applicants that are unable to qualify for traditional financing. No down payment is required, and the interest rate could be as low as one percent with a…

The Minnesota Housing Partnership 2023 County Profiles resource features data on different demographics of cost-burdened households paying at least 30 percent of their income for housing. It also highlights changes in rent and home prices, eviction filings compared to pre-pandemic rates, racial disparities in homeownership, a comparison of top in-demand wages compared to current housing costs…

Community Education will offer the following classes in the next few weeks. Call 507-283-4724 to register. DIY Floral Arranging at Harmony Gardens is Sept. 23. All materials are provided and you will get to take your arrangement home. Fee is $45. Students (grades 1-5) will follow along with the instructor for Paint & Snack class on Sept. 25. Fee is $35. Parents with children ages 0-5 will…

Hawkinson Park on Luverne’s west side is now connected to the Loop trail, thanks to a $50,000 grant from the Blandin Foundation. The park connection is an 8-foot-wide concrete trail that provides handicap access from Cottage Grove Avenue through Hawkinson Park and to the Luverne Loop Trail. The “Rural Leadership Boost Grant” is matched by $20,000 from the city to cover the project’s roughly $70…

Construction is underway on the Kwik Trip building on South Highway 75 in Luverne. The footprint will be 9,000 square feet located on 2.88 acres just south of the Econo Lodge Hotel near the intersection of Highway 75 and Gabrielson Road. The Luverne Kwik Trip will be open 24 hours per day, seven days a week, with 20 full-time employees. The newer “Gen 3” design will be similar to the Kwik Trip…

Keeping the Rock County Sheriff’s Office at full staff remains a struggle, according to Sheriff Evan Verbrugge. He shared his quarterly report with Luverne City Council members at their Tuesday, Sept. 12, meeting when he also reported difficulty keeping his department at full capacity. “We just hired a new individual who started yesterday, but in the meantime, we lost another deputy who went…

Luverne City Council members took action at their Sept. 12 meeting to begin the process of paying for the Kids Rock! community child care center. At Tuesday’s meeting they approved a resolution that sets a public hearing on proposed property tax abatements. The city will notify the school and county that tax abatement bonds will be issued for the child care building renovation project. The…

Public use of cannabis is prohibited in Rock County beginning Nov. 1, according to an ordinance adopted by county commissioners Tuesday morning. No members of the public attended to speak or nor did they provide written  public comment at Tuesday’s hearing. The ordinance prohibits cannabis or cannabis-derived product use in: •public parks, trails, streets or sidewalk. •any enclosed, indoor…

Nearly 400 people circled the Luverne City Park Saturday morning for the third annual Out of the Darkness Suicide Walk. “The walk was incredibly moving,” said Angela Nolz, who organized the event along with a team of volunteers and sponsors. The walk raises money for research to end and prevent suicide and to show community support for those who have lost loved ones to suicide or have struggled…

The newspaper printed its first edition in 1873, more than 150 years ago, and it’s today a thriving operation — and Rock County’s oldest business. The Star Herald online presence saw a major upgrade in the past week with the rollout of a new website. The site features easier navigation, bigger photographs, more content and a better mobile-friendly version for cell phones and other devices. “…

It’s been several weeks since Rock County received significant rain, and a dry harvest has local fire officials on alert. Luverne Fire Chief Dave Van Batavia and Hills Fire Chief Jared Rozeboom are urging farmers to take measures to prevent field and equipment fires. “The No. 1 preventive method is to keep machinery clean,” Van Batavia said. “Crop residue and chaff can find their ways into…