News

School board makes final referendum decision

Local News November 11, 2026

FAIRMONT – At Tuesday’s Fairmont School Board meeting, board members had to make a choice about whether or not to go out for a referendum on building fixes, updates and changes. The vote will happen in less than three months, on Feb. 9, 2027. Board Member Michael Edman said this has been talked about at every operations committee meeting for as long as he can remember. “We looked at the needs of both our buildings, at the high school in particular, and our programmatic needs with our arts department,” he said. “We put it on the ballot, if you all recall, a question to the ...

Ground broken on female veterans' sober living house

Local News November 11, 2026

MANKATO – Bravo Zulu House, based in Southern Minnesota with their male veterans' sober living house in Martin County, has taken the next step with a groundbreaking of their female veteran’s sober living house in Mankato on Wednesday. This step has been planned since Bravo Zulu House was ...

Courts

Courts November 10, 2026

MARTIN COUNTY DISTRICT COURT Driving after revocation — Juan M. Us Perez, 21, of Fairmont; Janette S. Escalera, 32, of Madelia; fined $285. Speeding — James M. Dunaway, 58, of Ankeny, Iowa; fined $125; Peter H. Taylor, 55, of Irvington, N.Y.; fined $135. FARIBAULT COUNTY DISTRICT COURT Move over-passing parked auth veh -2 lanes in same direction — Scott A. Gengler, 60, of Waukesha, Wis.; fined $135. Speeding — Albert W. Miller, 73, of Parkton, Md.; Teresa L. Schimek, 54, of Easton; fined $125; Jens Pfeifer, 37, of Libertyville, Ill.; Ryan P. Stinnett, 27, of ...

Measles spike highlights vaccination shortfalls

Local News November 10, 2026

FAIRMONT – With measles hitting its largest number of total cases in Minnesota in 36 years, local health officials are hoping to see more people be safe and get vaccinated. So far, there have been 80 total cases of measles in Minnesota, including an outbreak of 63 since mid-September in Fillmore and Todd counties. No cases have been reported in Martin County or the surrounding counties. Faribault Martin County Health and Human Services (FMCHS) Public Health Sanitarian Tim Langer said measles is a virus that can spread very easily through breathing. “If we had a meeting in our ...

Councilors call for tree dump fix

Local News November 10, 2026

FAIRMONT—The Fairmont City Council once again discussed the state of the tree dump at its meeting on Monday. The discussion item was added at the request of Council Member Randy Lubenow who said it was a mess over the weekend. “I think the tree dump is really in disrepair right now,” ...

Fairmont HRA gets $200k boost

Local News November 10, 2026

FAIRMONT – The Public Owned Housing Program (POHP) Grant Fairmont Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA) is set to receive was re-approved at Monday’s brief board meeting, with a welcome addition. HRA Director Gail Diede laid out the details to begin the meeting. “They swapped people on us at Minnesota Housing, and the guy had messed up in the figures,” she said. The funding was initially approved at $1.9 million. Somewhere along the line a piece of the project, which is to cover plumbing, sewer lines and patio replacement across all 115 units at Friendship Village, as ...