ORONO, Minn. — Orono is on track to replace four of their current five leaders next year, including their mayor. Challenger Bob Tunheim beat incumbent Denny Walsh with two-thirds of the votes this election. Tunheim has a background as an attorney and previously served as a school board chair during the pandemic. 

His top priorities? Rebuilding trust with residents and mending the relationship with neighboring city Long Lake. 

“I am eager to begin rebuilding trust and am confident that we can find a practical solution that benefits all parties while fully addressing Orono’s public safety needs,” Tunheim said.

Two new city council members were elected in Orono, too. Just last week, one city council member that wasn’t up for re-election resigned. 

“I think people are interested in being sleepy little Orono in the western suburbs again,” councilmember elect Steve Persian jokingly said.

Persian, who was once a fire chief of Long Lake, feels the residents have spoken and it’s time to move forward with more civility in the city. One of his goals is to re-unite the Orono Fire Department with Long Lake. Something the previous administration was against. 

In 2021, Orono Mayor Denny Walsh began taking steps to sever ties with Long Lake and build their own fire department. The two cities have shared a fire department together for 100 years. Walsh said at the time, Orono owned 85% of the service area and owned the majority of the equipment which led to them wanting to have control over their own department. 

The division not only was highly scrutinized by residents but led to a lawsuit filed by Long Lake. 

“We had to get an injunction, the City of Orono was held in contempt, twice. It’s been a lot of stress on our fire fighters most importantly,” Long Lake Mayor Charlie Miner. 

Miner says the current fire contract between the cities expires in 2025. He says the city of Long Lake is delaying their trial date with hopes the cities can reach an amicable agreement. 

NEW HOPE, Minn. — The Robbinsdale Area School District is facing major financial challenges, as budget shortfalls are expected to reach multiple millions of dollars for the 2025-2026 fiscal year. The district announced that for that fiscal year, they’re expecting a budget shortfall of $19-21 million. 

“Our financial situation is not as positive as we had planned,” district Chief Financial Officer Kristen Hoheisel said.

Hoheisel anticipates the district to enter Statutory Operating Debt at the end of the 2024-2025 fiscal year. That means the district will need to submit a corrective financial plan to the Minnesota Department of Education.

That status is triggered when the district’s year-end deficit is more than 2.5% of its annual operating expenses.

District Superintendent Teri Staloch says part of the shortfall comes from them not cutting enough. They were set to cut $17.4 million for the current fiscal year – instead cutting much less.

“The amount we are actualizing out of that reduction is actually $3.4 million,” Staloch said.

In addition to that, district leaders say their current situation comes from “an error in the implementation of the budget process.” They say nearly $20 million dollars, which comes from compensatory funding, was counted twice, leading the district to over-state their available resources.

Both Hoheisel and Staloch say they don’t know the reason why that money was counted twice, saying that happened before they were in the district.

Staloch says this will lead to more cuts and changes to the district.

“It’s going to be inevitable that staff reductions are made,” Staloch said.

She also says they’ll look at academic programs and potentially closing buildings.

There’s a town hall to address the state of the budget with district leaders Wednesday, November 20, at 6:30 p.m. That town hall will be held at Cooper High School.

ORONO, Minn — In a tight-knit town where pain reverberates, candles now light the way to the Knudson home—the same house 17-year-old Luke Knudson came home to every day.

The Orono High School senior died Sunday night after crashing into a traffic light off a Minnetonka highway. His vehicle burst into flames. Flowers and a letter of support for his family now sit at the same intersection.

Loved ones remember Luke as someone full of life and love.

“I think anybody that met Luke, the first thing [they’d] say is he was really full of energy,” his mother Renae Rhude-Knudson said on Tuesday. “He cared about other people.”

In some ways, Luke was an ordinary kid. “He loved dogs, he loved going to the cabin.” In other ways, Rhude-Knudson said her son was extraordinary. “He was just really, really kindhearted, really funny, really witty and really was happy for other people when good things happened to them.”

Funny, smart and compassionate, Rhude-Knudson said Luke was devoted to his family, friends and basketball. He was looking forward to his final high school basketball season alongside his best friends.

“We love Lucas with our whole heart, and he loved us back and he’s going to be dearly missed,” Orono High School head basketball coach Barry Wohler said. 

Wohler emphasized that this season will be dedicated to Luke. The first team practice is planned for Tuesday after being canceled Monday afternoon. 

“Yesterday was a really tough day,” Wohler added. “I was just meeting with some of the players now, and it’s been a tough day again today. A lot of tears.”

Wohler said he and the players are trying to heal together and be strong for one another. Rhude-Knudson said it’s what her son would want them and others to do. 

“Just like I told the boys last night: everybody’s going to be sad, and the sadness is going to come in waves. Just make sure that you keep going,” she said. “He’d want you to keep going.”

Rhude-Knudson said a family trip to Kenya and subsequent leadership class project inspired Luke to connect with the nonprofit the Samburu Project, which builds hand-pump wells for people in Samburu who do not have access to clean water. She said Luke was working on the project the night he passed away. His family plans to continue his work with the organization and make a difference in Luke’s honor.