Highway 4 resurfacing to begin

MANKATO — Motorists are advised to be alert and expect brief delays as the resurfacing of Highway 4 from Martin County Road 10 to the Iowa line is expected to begin Monday and take about two weeks, weather permitting.

Where the milling operation is taking place, motorists should expect intermittent delays, as traffic will be managed with flaggers and pilot cars. Motorists are asked to drive with caution and watch for workers, traffic control and equipment.

The Highway 4 project includes resurfacing 10 miles of Highway 4 (mill and overlay) from the Iowa state line to Martin County Road 26 west of Sherburn; replacing two bridges between Dunnell and the Iowa line with box culverts; and repairing drainage pipes that cross the highway.

More information can be found at www.dot.state.mn.us/d7/projects/hwy4sherburn

Pork queen lends sow a hand

DES MOINES (AP) — A piglet born at the Iowa State Fair has been touched by royalty.

The 2019 pork queen for the Iowa Pork Producers Association, Gracie Greiner, kept her tiara atop her head as she reached inside a laboring sow Tuesday and removed the piglet at the fair’s Animal Learning Center.

The 18-year-old lives a few miles outside Washington, a small eastern Iowa town, where her family breeds pigs to show at the county and state levels. She told The Des Moines Register that “helping pull pigs has come to be one of my favorite parts of the process.”

This piglet was big and one of the last ones the sow delivered, which Greiner says meant the sow already was pretty tired.

Her dad, Shaun Greiner, told The Associated Press on Friday that his daughter is about to start classes at Iowa State University in Ames and intends to major in animal science, with an eye toward going to veterinary school someday.