REGIONAL — From flood-damaged homes and farm fields to a devastating business fire, lots of people are likely ready to put 2024 in the rearview mirror. But just as bad news captures the headlines, so too does the good news, and there was a lot of good news flowing from the pages of The Globe this year.
Here are some of the highlights from our Wednesday print and Saturday e-edition newspapers, organized by month:
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January
- Worthington’s Karen community rang in the New Year with a celebration at St. Mary’s School.
- Aaron Isaac Lopez Lopez, weighing in at 8 pounds, 10 ounces, was the first baby of 2024 born at Sanford Worthington Medical Center. He arrived at 3:15 p.m. Jan. 2.
- More than 8 inches of snow blanketed the greater Worthington area in the first major snowstorm of the season Jan. 6. Several more bouts of snow hit in the coming days, followed by blizzard warnings and dangerous wind chills.
- District 518 discusses a potential new ice arena in Worthington as well as high school improvements.
- A dozen students from Southwest Minnesota Christian High School in Edgerton traveled to Nairobi, Kenya over winter break to volunteer at En-Gedi Children’s Home. They returned home Jan. 10.
- New business openings include Jebena Ethiopian Cuisine, North Star Martial Arts and Inner Beauty in Worthington. Also, Tanner Rogers is named new Worthington HRA director.
- ISD 518’s board of education voted 4-1 to remove an “Everyone is Welcome Here” banner and Puerto Rican flag from a teacher’s classroom at Worthington High School.
- The ISD 518 board approved an agricultural land lab in collaboration with Minnesota West Community & Technical College on district-owned land near the Community Education building.
- Worthington native Cheniqua Johnson makes history with her election to an all-female St. Paul City Council.
- Nobles County commissioners adopted a resolution disapproving of the new Minnesota state flag and seal, citing the costs for changing out flags, seals and patches on law enforcement uniforms.
- Robert Strouth of Billion Automotive received the Hospitality Award, while Robyn Moser and Lon Lien received Community Service awards at the 94th annual Extravaganza hosted by Forward Worthington. Bonnie Beman received the Friend of Education honor.
- Minnesota West Community & Technical College students participating in Plant the Moon Challenge earned Best in Show for experimental design from the Institute of Competition Sciences Advisory Board. A second team from Minnesota West earned Best in Show for evaluation of results.
- Dylan Dykstra and Karen Chantharath were crowned Snowcoming royalty at Worthington High School.
- Demolition of the former West Elementary building in Worthington began Jan. 31.
February
- A devastating fire that broke out Feb. 6 in the Worthington Chiropractic Clinic on Oxford Street resulted in the total loss of the clinic and adjacent business, Crafty Corner Quilt & Sewing Shoppe. Both businesses eventually reopened in the community.
Worthington Chiropractic Clinic's Oxford Street location has been deemed unsafe due to the extensive fire damage it suffered in a Feb. 5 blaze. Samuel Martin / The Globe - The Globe brought the Mills Trophy home to Worthington after being recognized as Minnesota’s top weekly newspaper during the Minnesota Newspaper Association convention.
- Rev. David Hahn is the new pastor at St. Matthew Lutheran Church, Worthington. He was installed Jan. 7.
- ISD 518 discusses $35 million in high school improvements during a work session with ICS.
- The Worthington City Council discussed contributing $10 million toward a new ice arena, if ISD 518 would match that amount. Later in the month, the city voted to take the lead on the project.
- The Friends of the Nobles County Library issued an ultimatum — either hire a new architectural firm or they will not contribute financially to a remodel of the Nobles County Library in Worthington. The county continued its work with Koch Hazard, and renovations began in December.
- ISD 518 commits $5 million toward a new ice arena in Worthington.
- Nobles Cooperative Electric announces it will move to Slayton.
- Nobles County commissioners approve spending $2 million to renovate the Nobles County Library in Worthington.
- Worthington’s Buffalo Billfold Co. begins selling its products at the Smithsonian Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.
- A reproductive health clinic opens on the Worthington campus of Minnesota West thanks to a partnership with Southwest Minnesota Opportunity Council’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Services.
March
- Nobles County receives $85,000 in opioid settlement, and commissioners hear from local Emergency Manager Tawn Hall on how the money might be used to combat the drug.
- St. Mary’s Catholic School announces plans to begin an all day, every day preschool program at the start of the coming school year.
- Darci Goedtke was appointed executive director of the Southwestern Minnesota Opportunity Council in late February.
- Melanie Cerda is named the 2024-25 Worthington exchange student to Crailsheim, Germany. Cerda is a sophomore at Worthington High School.
- Bill Slater is recognized for 39 years on the Larkin Township Board, including 37 years as its clerk.
- Scott Rall, Worthington, is honored as Pheasants Forever’s National Volunteer of the Year.
- Wesley Widboom was named Star Entrepreneur and Vince VanderKooi was presented the Star in Ag Placement during the Worthington FFA Chapter’s annual banquet. Madison Sieve received the Star Greenhand award.
- Two new K-9s are in training to serve Worthington and Nobles County. Odin joins Nobles County Sheriff’s Deputy Mike Schei, while Skol was partnered with Worthington Police Officer Bryant Schroeder.
- Worthington’s Elks Lodge received a $4,000 grant to do a Suds & Stories program. They used the funds to pay for people’s laundry loads at Laundry on 10th, and purchased an interactive, portable Infinity table.
- Four Worthington High School Business Professionals of America team members earn a chance to compete in nationals in Chicago, Illinois.
- Nobles County commissioners discuss cannabis licensing and ordinances in preparation for cannabis dispensaries to begin operating in Minnesota in January 2025.
April
- Retired Heron Lake-Okabena agriculture teacher and FFA advisor Keith Place was inducted into the Minnesota FFA Hall of Fame.
- The Adrian Police Department added its first K-9, Ghost, to the police force.
Adrian Police Officer Ashley Kane with her K9, Ghost. Samuel Martin / The Globe - District 518 announces plans for a $15.3 million bond referendum. Voters will go to the polls in August.
- Worthington City Councilwoman Alaina Kolpin resigns after she and her family move outside the city limits.
- Worthington’s King Turkey Day Race Team is announced. Members are Holly Sieve, Juan Palma, Darcy Poppema and Josh Noble.
- Joyful Eyes Optometry opens in the former Johnson Eye Clinic in downtown Worthington.
- Cho’s Food-n-Fuel sold a nearly $2 million winning Gopher 5 lottery ticket at its Diagonal Road store in Worthington.
- Sharon Johnson was honored with the Inspirational Woman award during the Salute to Women Banquet at the Worthington Events Center.
- Ellsworth’s Public School is asking voters to support a $5 million bond referendum, with the funds used to convert the heating system from boilers to forced air furnaces, install new roofs and update the electrical system. Voters approved the referendum on May 14.
May
- Murray County Central FFA member Lauren Stoel was elected president of the Minnesota FFA Association during the state convention in late April.
- Prairie Elementary Interventionist Melissa Jensen was named Education Minnesota-Worthington’s Teacher of the Year during the annual recognition banquet.
- The Worthington Garden Club celebrated the 85th anniversary of its founding.
- More than 580 students graduated from Minnesota West Community & Technical College within a span of a week.
- More than $540,000 in scholarships were awarded to 69 Luverne High School seniors during its Dollars for Scholars program.
- Worthington High School graduate Ahmitara Alwal was crowned Miss South Dakota on May 12 in Watertown, S.D.
- Nobles County Police K-9 Boriz retires to life as a pampered pooch.
- Tortilleria El Mana opens on Worthington’s Oxford Street, making fresh tortillas for sale, along with tacos. Also opening on Oxford Street is For Camila Clothing Boutique.
- Several residents of Sunshine Apartments were displaced following afire in a second-floor unit of the three-story building.
Worthington Public Works Director Todd Wietzema shows the different tools available for people to use to clean their watercraft, including an air compressor, vacuum and brush. Julie Buntjer / The Globe - A boat cleaning station, as well as a fish cleaning station are new amenities in the boat trailer parking lot at Sunset Park.
- Burdell and Jolene Kuhl were honored with a Minnesota Century Farm designation this year on their 130-year-old, fourth generation family farm. Burdell’s great-grandfather settled the farm in 1894.
June
- More than 220 Worthington High School seniors graduated in a May 31 ceremony, while 42 students graduated from the Learning Center earlier in the week.
- After 40 years in business, Ken and Zuby Jansen announce the sale of Crafty Corner Quilt & Sewing Shoppe to Jordan and Kelli Brake. The shop relocated to a space in Worthington’s Ace Hardware building after a devastating fire in early February.
- A small explosion at Son-D Farms’ grain mill south of Adrian on June 1 drew responders from five area fire departments. Minimal damage was done to the mill and there were no injuries reported.
- U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) visited the site of the future Kids Rock child care center in Luverne to view progress of the building renovation.
- Holland Vogel, an eighth grader from Murray County Central in Slayton, competed in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Oxon Hill, Maryland.
- Rain dampened opening night of the Windsurfing Regatta & Music Festival on Worthington’s Lake Okabena, but races and music filled the day on Saturday.
- The Minnesota Veterans Home in Luverne celebrated its 30th anniversary with a special program.
- Sanford Worthington Medical Center debuts its new MRI suite.
- Wilmont celebrates its 125th birthday, or quasquicentennial, June 28-30 with lots of family festivities and fun for all ages.
Blast from the Past race team members are all smiles as they dig in to catch up with the Chips Off The Old Block team during the bed races Saturday afternoon at Wilmont's 125th anniversary celebration. Tim Middagh / The Globe - Several area counties and the city of Worthington declared states of emergency due to flooding. The greater Heron Lake area was among the hardest hit with nearly 20 inches of rain sending water into homes and businesses and flooding crop fields. In Worthington, 28 tenants were displaced from the Inn Town Apartments after flood waters seeped into lower level units. In Windom, several residents around Cottonwood Lake and along the Des Moines River also dealt with flooding of homes and property.
July
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- Worthington’s International Festival celebrated its 30th year in Worthington with more music and more food vendors — and a new location on Sailboard Beach.
- The Worthington City Council approved a jet ski rental business on Lake Okabena. Kiana Palma, 19, said she’d eventually like to expand the business to include rentals of fat tire bikes and possibly electric scooters.
- Two Gals and a Garage, which later grew into Neighbors Helping Neighbors, took up a collection of cleaning supplies for flood victims in Heron Lake, Windom, Worthington, and the Iowa communities of Rock Valley and Spencer.
Lisa Schutte and Susanne Murphy stand with a table filled with donated clothing that will be available for purchase at a rummage sale on the Nobles County Fairgrounds later this week. Two Gals and a Garage outgrew the garage due to an outpouring of donated items for area flood victims. Money raised went to support people who experienced damage. Contributed / Susanne Murphy - The Center for Active Living began collecting books for the Rock Valley Library, which lost most of its collection due to flooding in late June and early July.
- The Mark and Deb Hodapp family of rural Adrian were named Nobles County’s Farm Family of the Year. They were recognized at the Nobles County Fair and Farmfest, both in early August.
- Rock, Pipestone, Murray and Nobles counties are seeing an uptick in the number of rabies cases in livestock. The livestock were believed to have been bitten by rabid skunks, leading the Minnesota Department of Health to urge area residents to vaccinate their pets, horses and cattle against rabies.
- The Lewis & Clark Regional Water System hosted a Golden Spike celebration in Sibley, Iowa, marking the last piece of pipe going into the ground to connect Sibley with the regional water system. Water was turned on for the community — the last of 20 members to be added to the system — on Oct. 16.
August
- Lucas Strassburg, 37, of Kenneth, entered a guilty plea to vehicular homicide related to a December 2023 hit and run in rural Rock County that resulted in the death of William Krotzer, Luverne.
- Superior Healthcare announced it would close Crossroads Care Center in Worthington by Sept. 20. Residents would be moved to South Shore Care Center, also operated by Superior Healthcare.
- Sunny & Sprout Children’s Boutique opens in downtown Worthington.
- Tammy Makram, director of Worthington’s Memorial Auditorium Performing Arts Center was honored with the Advocate for Choral Excellence award from the American Choral Directors Association of Minnesota.
- Teams with the Federal Emergency Management Agency are in several southwest Minnesota counties to help flood victims apply for financial assistance.
Children look at the water surrounding the Inn Town Apartment building at 802 10th St., Worthington. The lower level units of the apartment building flooded in late June 2024 after more than 5 inches of rain fell in Worthington. Tim Middagh / The Globe - Individuals with the Minnesota Department of Transportation presented a timeline for the reconstruction of U.S. 59 (North Humiston Avenue) to the Worthington City Council. The project is slated to take place in 2027-28.
- Lilli Gebert is the newest exchange student from Crailsheim, Germany, to arrive in Worthington for a year-long stay with host families and to be immersed in American culture.
- Rev. John Mitchem is the new pastor at First United Methodist Church in Worthington. He replaces Rev. Darin Flinck, who retired earlier this year.
- The Worthington City Council approved a joint powers agreement to annex the former Vogt farm into the city limits.
September
- Pioneer Village in Worthington celebrates the opening of the Farm Heritage Center, dedicated in memory of Robert and Jean Dieter, Brewster. The couple helped finance the construction of the building before their deaths.
- The ISD 518 Board of Education begins discussion on the search for a new school superintendent with the upcoming retirement of John Landgaard.
- Luverne welcomed a 1942 Willys Jeep found in France and restored to running order in a celebration that included a parade.
Jerry Reu drives the 1942 Willys Jeep down Main Street in Luverne Saturday, Sept. 7, during the Operation Homecoming parade. Seated in front is Renae Reu, and behind her his Jerry Aanenson. She and Jerry traveled to France for the 80th anniversary of D-Day commemoration event. Tim Middagh / The Globe - Ruby Begonia, the racing turkey from Cuero, Texas, bests Worthington’s Paycheck in the first heat of the Great Gobbler Gallop. Ruby went on to win in Cuero in October, earning bragging rights for the year.
- Six individuals are vying for one of four seats on the ISD 518 Board of Education in November’s election. The candidates include incumbents Stephen Schnieder and Matt Widboom, as well as Darla Talsma-Agard, Ann Mills, Eric Parrish and Kristin Walerius. Elected on Nov. 5 were Widboom, Agard, Mills and Parrish.
- The Worthington City Council will also have contested races. Mike Kuhle, Michelle Ebbers and Eugenio Lopez took part in a candidate forum as they sought votes in the Ward 2 Special council race. Amy Ernst was unopposed for her Ward 2 seat, Chris Kielblock was unopposed for his Ward 1 seat, and Dennis Weber sought the at-large council seat after filling in as a Ward 2 appointee. On Nov. 5, voters elected Kuhle, Ernst, Kielblock and Weber.
- The Worthington Police Department was awarded a $10,000 grant from the Worthington Regional Health Care Foundation to purchase drones and related equipment.
- The Historic Dayton House celebrates its 20th anniversary since its restoration with tours, a social and musical entertainment.
October
- Nobles County has one contested race in Commissioner District 3, with Jean Johnson running against incumbent Bob Paplow. Unopposed are District 1 Commissioner Justin Ahlers and District 4 Commissioner Bob Demuth Jr. On Nov. 5, voters re-elected Paplow, Ahlers and Demuth to their seats.
- Ocheda Orchard of rural Worthington donated about 3,600 pounds of Honeycrisp apples to deliver to flood victims in southwest Minnesota and northwest Iowa through the Neighbors Helping Neighbors program.
- Rae Johnson was awarded Minnesota Correctional Nurse of the Year by the Minnesota Sheriff’s Association.
- Paul Summers LaRoche was honored with the Midwest Culture Bearers Award, which recognizes artists across the Midwest. He was one of nine recipients of the award, selected from 250 nominees.
- Worthington Public Utilities has added two new wells to its seven well system that draws water from the Lake Bella aquifer. At this time, Manager Scott Hain said they weren’t planning to abandon any of the existing wells.
- U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar visits Worthington to discuss proposed U.S. 59 project in city limits, and to also hear about the community’s biggest challenge — housing.
- Liv Vander Kooi of rural Worthington was named a Minnesota 4-H Agricultural Ambassador.
- Area farmers harvested disappointing yields in both corn and soybeans as extreme weather challenged producers this growing season.
- The Lismore Telephone Co. received a $209,598 grant from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development’s Border to Border Broadband Program to build a broadband network in and around Bigelow.
- Several members of the Nobles County Sheriff’s Office and jail were recognized with Lifesaving Awards for administering care to an inmate who stopped breathing after suffering a seizure.
November
- The Pipestone County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the death of a Sioux Falls, South Dakota woman following a domestic assault in Edgerton. An adult male was arrested.
- ISD 518 Community Education is celebrating 50 years in Worthington with open houses.
- Juno’s Tree Farm, rural Rushmore, is opening to the public, though it won’t have Christmas trees of its own ready to sell yet this season. The farm is owned by Jesse and Andrea Walker.
- Books collected by the Center for Active Living will be delivered to Rock Valley, Iowa, to replace some of the collection the library lost due to flooding in late June and early July.
- In the first part of a four-part series, The Globe reports on the high rate of sexual assaults among Nobles County children.
- The Community Thanksgiving Dinner tradition returns to First Lutheran Church after some uncertainty with the death earlier this year of its organizer, Terry Morrison. More than 200 people attended.
- Nicholas Raymo, owner of Southwest Hearing Technologies, received the national Heart and Spirit award from Starkey Hearing Alliance.
- The Worthington City Council adopted a new comprehensive plan that outlines progress areas for the next 20 years. The adoption comes after nearly two years of discussion.
December
- Greg and Cindy DeGroot, Worthington, gifted $500,000 to the Worthington Regional Health Care Foundation for future senior programs or projects.
Cindy and Greg DeGroot, Worthington, have become the first legacy partners of the Worthington Regional Health Care Foundation, providing a $500,000 gift to the foundation to target senior programs or projects in the community. Contributed / Jeff Rotert - Cambridge Technologies talks about the vaccine developed in Worthington that’s helping to prevent the spread of avian metapneumovirus in turkey flocks across the country. The vaccine was the first to receive USDA approval, and is marketed in partnership with Merck Animal Health.
- Michelle Ebbers, Worthington, received the Emerging Leaders award at the Minnesota Department of Health and Local Public Health Association.
- Diane Kruger, Windom, traveled to North Carolina to help victims of Hurricane Helene recover. She even donated the car she drove there to help a family in need.
- More than 1,300 children will receive Christmas gifts through the Nobles County Toys for Tots program this month.
- Worthington’s Aida Simon is honored with the McKnight Foundation’s Heart of Community honor for her contributions to her community.
- The Adrian and Melissa Gonzalez family of Worthington was showered with gifts through the Astrup Family Foundation’s Best Christmas Ever program.
- The Nobles County Library reopens in a temporary space in the SMOC building in downtown Worthington as renovations to the War Memorial Building begin.
- The Dakota Exiles rode through northwest Iowa and southwest Minnesota the week before Christmas as they made their way to Mankato to mark the 1862 uprising and massacre.
The online survey is available for people, organizations and businesses to complete in either English or Spanish.
City of Worthington traditionally pays for half of maintenance costs and filter strips in Lake Okabena management.
Nobles County Sheriff's Office has offered the event for eight years
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Nobles County Planning Commission grants preliminary approval of plans
Managers also hear updates on Lake Ocheda, ISD 518 property projects
Four vehicles involved; multiple agencies responded.
Dec. 21 program is open to all who are struggling this holiday season.
The statewide award was presented at Minnesota Department of Health/Local Public Health Association annual conference.
Company is third business established by local veterinarians
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