Category Archives: Local News

MnDOT Reaches an Agreement With FEMA to Send Major Road Alerts Directly to Mobile Phones

The Minnesota Department of Transportation has made an agreement with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to begin using Wireless Emergency Alerts through the Integrated Public Alert & Warning System, FEMA’s national system for local alerting that share emergency information to the public. Wireless Emergency Alerts use the same system that share critical notifications like AMBER…read more »

UHD Welcomes Winnebago Native David Franta to Staff

United Hospital District recently introduced the addition of Physician Assistant David Franta to the UHD Staff.  Franta grew up in Winnebago and graduated from Blue Earth Area, then went to St. John’s University and received his nursing degree.  He then continued on to the University of North Dakota to become a Physician Assistant. Franta says…read more »

Minnesota’s Unemployment Rate Rises One-Tenth of a Point to 3% in July

Minnesota’s labor force increased by more than 3,900 people in July, the fifth month in a row of growth, bumping the state’s labor force participation rate up one-tenth of a point to 68.5%, compared to 62.6% nationally. Minnesota’s labor force has grown by more than 26,000 over the last five months, helping the state recover…read more »

Iowa’s Unemployment Rate Holds Steady in July for the Third Straight Month

Iowa’s unemployment rate held steady at 2.7% for the third straight month in July.  Iowa’s Workforce Development says the number of people entering the workforce continues to increase. It went up for the fifth straight month to 68.8% and equals the same participation rate as in March 2020.  The workforce participation rate has steadily worked…read more »

Latest Drought Monitor Shows Improvements in the Area, but the Region as a Whole is Generally Unchanged

Drought conditions have remained largely unchanged in the region. The latest Drought Monitor released Thursday morning shows the biggest improvement in Minnesota’s drought of the summer so far.  Two of three areas of extreme drought in central Minnesota have disappeared, although portions of southeast Minnesota continue to be classified as in extreme drought.  The Twin…read more »