Local Sports Schedule — Tuesday 2/11/25

Iowa Boys & Girls Basketball

North Union at Lake Mills (On 98.1 FM & kbew98country.com, 6:15pm)
North Iowa at Bishop Garrigan

Minnesota Boys Basketball

BEA at Redwood Valley
Maple River at W-E-M
Fairmont at Pipestone

Minnesota Girls Basketball

Redwood Valley at BEA
Fairmont at Pipestone

Local Sports Schedule — Monday 2/10/25

Girls Basketball

USC at GHEC/ML-Truman (On 98.1 FM & kbew98country.com, 7pm)
Martin Co. West at Maple River

Boys Basketball

GHEC/ML-Truman at USC

Boys Hockey

MN River at Fairmont

Local Sports Results from Saturday 2/8/25

Boys Basketball

Martin Co. West 59, Mankato Loyola 43

Girls Basketball

Martin Co. West 53, Mankato Loyola 40

Girls Hockey

Section 3A Playoffs
Luverne 6, Fairmont 1

Local Sports Results from Friday 2/7/25

Minnesota Boys Basketball

Belle Plaine 90, Blue Earth Area 86 (Overtime)
Waterville-Elysian-Morristown 71, United South Central 39
Maple River 72, Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial 58
Fairmont 76, Tri-City United 32

Minnesota Girls Basketball

Belle Plaine 66, Blue Earth Area 46
Waterville-Elysian-Morristown 62, United South Central 43
Tri-City United 61, Fairmont 45

Iowa Boys Basketball

Eagle Grove 68, North Iowa 44
North Union 56, Garner-Hayfield/Ventura 49

Iowa Girls Basketball

North Iowa 58, Eagle Grove 42
North Union 46, Garner-Hayfield/Ventura 32

Gymnastics

Big South Conference Championship
Worthington 138.875, Martin Co. Area 138.225

Bonnie Gartzke

Funeral Services Bonnie Gartzke, 82, of Blue Earth, will be held Tuesday, February 11th, at 10am, at Trinity Lutheran Church in Blue Earth.  Visitation will be Monday from 5-7pm, at Patton Funeral Home in Blue Earth.  Bonnie Gartzke passed away Thursday, February 6th, at Mapleton Community Home.

Mapleton EDA Receives Just Over $175,000 in Grant Money for Child Care

Four Southern Minnesota organizations are among those receiving grant money from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development for child care.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz announced $6.1 million in grants to expand access to child care across the state to 25 different organizations.  DEED says the Child Care Economic Development Grants are expected to expand child care capacity by 1,400 slots statewide.

In Southern Minnesota, organizations in Mapleton, Hutchinson, Renville County and Nobles County received grant funding.  Mapleton Economic Development Authority will receive $175,120.

DEED says its Child Care Economic Development Grant programs provides funding to communities to invest in new or expanding child care businesses, including facility improvements, worker training, attraction, retention and licensing and other strategies to reduce the child care shortage.

Since the inception of the office in July 2023, DEED has awarded $12 million in grants to 45 organizations to fund child care startups or business expansions, resulting in over 3,500 new child care slots.

Local Sports Results from Thursday 2/6/25

Minnesota Boys Basketball

BEA 86, Martin Co. West 57
AC/GE 65, USC 64 (OT)
Waseca 88, GHEC/ML-Truman 58

Minnesota Girls Basketball

USC 65, AC/GE 51
Maple River 58, St. Clair 53
Fairmont 65, Redwood Valley 40
Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s 98, GHEC/ML-Truman 44

Wrestling

Maple River/USC 51, Medford 22

Boys Hockey

Waseca 10, Fairmont 0

Girls Hockey

Section 3A Playoffs
Fairmont 7, Windom 2

Gymnastics

Martin Co. Area 132.75, Pipestone 131.325

Faribault County Board Agrees to Purchase Old Blue Earth City Hall Building

The Faribault County Board of Commissioners met Tuesday where they agreed to purchase the old Blue Earth City Hall property.

Commissioner Bill Groskreutz says the property will be put to good use for storage and maintenance of Faribault County’s Prairie Transit buses that are currently being stored at the Public Works Facility. 

Groskreutz says the County plans to make use of the old city hall building as well to possibly move some of the offices currently at the courthouse.  Public Health and Human Services will be requiring more office space in the future but Groskreutz wasn’t sure which offices would be moved to the building.


The County will pay the City of Blue Earth $283,100 for the property, with the possibility of the majority of the purchase being covered by a grant from the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

Demolition Crews Take Down County 9 Bridge Near the Rapidan Dam

A demolition crew, with the use of explosives, took down several 140 to 160 foot long steel beams that rested atop the pillars of the three center spans of the Blue Earth County 9 bridge, just upstream from the Rapidan Dam on Wednesday.

Once the beams, which dropped to the Blue Earth River bed, are cut up and removed, crews will bring in heavy equipment to manually remove the piers.

The contractor is working to have most of the bridge removed before spring when the Blue Earth River rises.

The $1.16 million project is being paid for by the Federal Highway Administration’s emergency funding program.

Blue Earth County is in the early stages of awarding contracts for environmental and design work on a new bridge, which will also be funded by the federal government.

Work on the replacement bridge won’t happen until later 2026 or 2027.

The new bridge is expected to be built exactly, or very close to, where the original bridge is.

Local Sports Schedule — Friday 2/7/25

Minnesota Boys Basketball

Maple River at LCWM (On 98.1 FM & kbew98country.com, 7pm)
Belle Plaine at BEA
USC at W-E-M
Fairmont at Tri-City United

Minnesota Girls Basketball

BEA at Belle Plaine
W-E-M at USC
Tri-City United at Fairmont

Iowa Boys & Girls Basketball

North Iowa at Eagle Grove
North Union at Garner-Hayfield/Ventura

Gymnastics

Big South Conference Championship
Worthington at Fairmont