danbrookens

Fairmont High School's speech team can boast of two individual state champions and an overall 3rd Place Team Sweepstakes honor from the Class A State Speech Meet.   Fairmont took first and second place in the Original Oratory category, with Junior Alayna Haefner winning first and Sophomore Bel Lutterman sweeping the top honors. Freshman Leon Yang took first place overall in the highly competitive Humorous Interpretation category. Leon has also qualified for the upcoming National Speech Competition this summer.   Also scoring medals for Fairmont were Junior Dominick Lund-May, 2nd in Extemporaneous Speaking, Junior Kelsey Hunter, 3rd in Informative Speaking, and [...]

A St. James man has been arrested after a stabbing occurred Tuesday evening in the city. Authorities responded to a report of a man profusely bleeding in the lobby of the Watonwan County Sheriff's Dispatch Lobby at about 10:30 p.m. The victim received first aid and was able to name of the individual who stabbed him. The victim, a 30 year-old St. James man, was transported to the Mayo Health System St. James Hospital, and later airlifted to Rochester for further treatment. Officers executed two search warrants at local residences, ultimately resulting in the arrest of Antonio Trevino, 23, of St. [...]

A Blue Earth woman was injured early Tuesday morning in a one-car incident in Fairmont. Just after 6 a.m., emergency responders arrived at East Blue Earth Avenue and Home Street in Fairmont. A car driven by Marianna Grace Rincon, 20, of Blue Earth, went out of control, struck a light pole, and overturned. Rincon was taken by ambulance to Mayo Clinic Health System Fairmont for treatment of possible injuries. The driver was wearing a seat belt and alcohol was not involved according to the report from the Fairmont Police Department.

Monday night the Fairmont City Council voted unanimously to approve the hire of Matt Skaret as the new City Administrator.  Skaret has been serving as the City Administrator for the City of Jackson, Minnesota, where he has been in the position since 2018. Prior to this, he served as the City Manager/EDA Director for the City of Springfield, Minnesota, for nearly four years, as the City Clerk/Administrator for the City of Milford, Iowa for four and a half years, and as the City Manager for the City of Madison, Minnesota, for over three years. Skaret holds a bachelor's degree in Political [...]

The Martin County Sheriff's Office, in a press release, announced on Thursday that they have submitted evidence to the BCA Laboratory in St. Paul. Through the help of the BCA, they discovered an unknown DNA sample from the murder scene of Sherburn resident JoAnn Bontjes, which occurred on October 3, 1975. They are currently in the process of trying to determine whose DNA this is. Martin County Sheriff's Office has announced multiple DNA samples have been collected from various individuals, with none of their profiles matching the new DNA sample profile. If you have any information regarding the murder of JoAnn [...]