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Cottonwood P.O. project comes to halt

COTTONWOOD — After about four years without one, the city of Cottonwood was set to have a post office again. But now, construction of a new post office building could face delays over a lack of payments from the U.S. Postal Service, City Administrator Teather Bliss said this week. Bliss said ...

Finstad requests recount

GOP Candidate Brad Finstad formally requested a recount following Tuesday night’s election where he came up short by 323 votes to DFL Candidate Jake Johnson. “Thank you to the 326,000 of my fellow southern Minnesotans who turn out to vote on Tuesday,” Finstad said. “We will work to ...

Exit poll shows political divides in Lyon Co.

MARSHALL — Political divides showed among Lyon County voters in this year’s elections, according to an exit poll conducted by Southwest Minnesota State University students. Exit poll results released Tuesday said party loyalty was a strong predictor of which candidates voters supported. Political polarization also showed in voters’ top issues and whether they thought the country was on the right track, the poll said. SMSU political science students have conducted exit polls in Lyon County for every general election since 1996. This year, students collected a total of 436 exit ...

Narrow victories for Democrats in MHS mock election

MARSHALL — A mock election held at Marshall High School this week showed close races for U.S. House and Senate, Minnesota governor and Minnesota Legislature. However, the mock election results showed Democratic candidates had the lead in several races. The MHS Honor Society has conducted ...

Changes ahead for MN deer opener

MARSHALL — The firearms deer hunting season opens in Minnesota this weekend. However, this year there will be some important changes for the deer opener, including sampling for chronic wasting disease (CWD) in southwest Minnesota and the end of shotgun-only hunting in many Minnesota counties. More than 400,000 hunters are anticipated to participate in the 2026 deer opener on Saturday, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said. In southern Minnesota, deer populations are stable or increasing, largely due to a series of mild winters that have helped more deer survive, the DNR ...

Celebrating ‘First Gen’ students

MARSHALL — Many students at Southwest Minnesota State University are part of the first generation in their families to attend college. In addition to pursuing new opportunities, first-generation students at SMSU say they’ve found community at the university. On Thursday, SMSU celebrated First Gen Student Day with activities, links to university clubs and resources, and poster presentations from first-generation college students. “It’s a wonderful way to celebrate all of our students, and the work they did to get here,” said Erin Kline, assistant vice president for equity and ...