Construction of the roundabout on Highway 13/Le Sueur County Road 28 is nearly complete and expected to partially open to traffic Friday evening, September 1, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
The south segment of the roundabout will remain closed to traffic as Highway 13 south of County Road 28 remains under construction.
Paving on Highway 13 from Lexington Avenue to Tri-City United High School is expected to be complete Saturday evening, September 2. Lexington Avenue is open to motorists for crossing.

It will be a fun-filled weekend in Kilkenny Sept. 9 and 10.
The annual Half-Way to St. Paddy’s Day Celebration has been extended to a two-day event this year.
The events start Saturday, Sept. 9 with a Shamwalk 5K Fun Run/Walk at 10 a.m. There will be prizes for the first place finisher 13 and younger and 14 and older. There will also be a prize for the male and female with the most Irish spirit.

New WEM football coach Sam Stier will be starting the 2023 season with a number of returning players from the Buccaneers team which finished 1-8 last season.
With a new coaching staff and more than 15 players returning with varsity experience, the Bucs should be able to show some improvement.
Stier has nine seniors, nine juniors, and 16 sophomores on his varsity team. A number of freshmen will also get a chance to see some action this season.

I walked by a long-time friend of mine Sunday afternoon and he asked me if I had always had a beard.
I said yes, for many, many years, only this version of my beard has a different color to it….gray.
I guess he didn’t recognize the new, older, more gray Jay.
I am becoming relegated to the fact that sooner or later my head of hair will turn from dark brown to gray.
It was approximately 10 years ago when my then 13-year-old son Jayson and wife Jayne decided they were going to make me aware of the impending gray hair scenario.

19-year-old Emma Kuball of rural Morristown has had a lot of experience speaking in front of crowds. Whether it be as an officer in the FFA organization or as Miss Morristown 2021, Kuball is an outstanding, outgoing, accomplished speaker.
Her personality and knowledge of the dairy industry has led to her achieving a life-long goal…becoming Princess Kay of the Milky Way.

The Le Sueur County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously August 15 to discontinue the county’s Home Health Care, citing a number of issues. The program will be phased out and is scheduled to end by November 1.
Home Care Supervisor Laura Guddal said, “Our commissioners decided that it’s time to close. There are six counties offering home care practitioners in the state now and there were nine at the beginning of the year.”

This year is the 31st year of Ahlman's Shooter's Round Up, one of the nation's top events for outdoor and gun enthusiasts.
This year's two-day event is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 26 and Sunday, Aug. 27 on the Ahlman's Gun Shop site north of Morristown.
The Round-Up is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. There is an admission fee for this event, which is billed as the Greatest Shooting Show on Earth.

Jeff and Sue Stangler of rural Waterville have a safe full of interesting paperwork which go back more than 150 years.
The papers include the original deeds of their current farm, which was recently recognized as a Century Farm and a Sesquicentennial Farm by Farm Bureau and the Minnesota State Fair.

With three returning All-Gopher Conference players returning and only one play gone from last year’s team, the WEM volleyball team should be a contender for the Conference, Sub-Section, and Section titles in 2023.
WEM finished third in the conference with a 9-2 record and was 18-14 overall, winning the Sub-Section Championship and losing in the Section 2A title game.
Seniors Claire Bohlen (1st Team All Gopher), Alayna Atherton (2nd Team), and Josie Volkmann (3rd Team) will be the team leaders for a squad which graduated only Jordan Green (Honorable Mention All-Gopher).

Ruth Lavonne (Wagner) Stavenau, age 83, of Elysian passed away at her home on Sunday, August 20, 2023. 

St. Patrick topped St. Paul while Veseli, Union Hill and Waterville suffered season-ending losses in the opening round of the Minnesota Baseball Association’s state tournament this weekend.
After defeating the St. Paul Capitols, 7-1, Saturday, Aug. 19, the Class B Irish will face Baseball 365 Saturday, Aug. 26, 11 a.m., at Delano. If the Irish win, St. Patrick will face the winner of the Metro Knights vs. Minnetonka Millers game Saturday, Sept. 2, 11 a.m., in Litchfield. A loss would be season-ending.

New Prague, Montgomery, Waterville, Scott and Le Sueur counties and the area are under an excessive heat warning during the coming week.
The National Weather Service says the area will be subject to "dangerously hot conditions with heat index values up to 110 (degrees) possible."

From the archives 25 years ago…
We here up in da nort had a conversation da udder day bout da food we eat and what we’all call it.
Hot dish of course was the first of many discussions around the dinner, or supper table, whichever you prefer, but we’ll discuss that later.
It is hard for me to believe that many people don’t know what hot dish is.
Hot dish, of course, is a combination of all the leftovers from the past four days, all mixed together in a cake pan, along with hamburger and some sort of potatoes, whether it be hashbrowns or tater tots.

The story about the Waterville Indians amateur baseball team advancing to the 2022 Class C State Tournament could be written almost exactly the same this year.
The Indians did it the hard way, but in the end it really doesn’t matter how it was accomplished. The Waterville Indians won two straight elimination games Saturday, Aug. 12 to punch their ticket to the 2023 Class C State Tournament.

With nothing in the city policy book governing cannabis, the Elysian City Council took action to make sure they have plenty of time to make sure there is ordinances in place when it comes to the sale and other items dealing with the drug.
The council approved an interim ordinance prohibiting the sale, testing, manufacturing, cultivating, growing, transporting, delivery, and distribution of cannabis products in the City of Elysian.
The moratorium will be in effect until January 1, 2025, but the city can cancel this moratorium at any time before the January 1 date.

The Waterville Lakes Association will be hosting Pontoberfest Saturday, Aug. 19.
After a number of years off, the event returned to the Waterville lakes last year with a number of fun activities associated with this year’s beach party and picnic.
The event will start with a parade line-up at the Waterville Swimming Beach at 2 p.m.
At 3 p.m. music begins, there will be a dance party, and yard games. At 3:15 p.m. minnow races will be held.