Star Tribune
Sherburne County’s partial recount of 14B House race begins Monday
County officials identified three close races — the 14B House seat, two Elk River school board seats and two Baldwin City Council seats — and offered to pay for hand recounts even though the results were outside the threshold for automatic recounts.
The vote count changes prompted state Republican Party Chair David Hann to call on the Secretary of State’s office to investigate the District 14B results and pay for a recount.
“We have now learned that additional ballots have been ‘found,’” Hann said Nov. 8. “These discrepancies are not only suspect but need to be investigated and explained to Minnesotans immediately.”
The following day, Messelt said: “Contrary to circulating rumors, no votes were ‘lost’ and none were ‘found.’” He said all ballots cast were properly received, documented and counted, “and chain of custody maintained.”
Sherburne County Board Member Andrew Hulse said Wednesday that he has “never been more disappointed with my party than I was over their behaviors with respect to this issue.”
Hulse said before being elected to the board, he was party chair of a Republican Senate district for a decade and is currently a Republican delegate. Despite this, he said, no one from the GOP reached out to him “before they started sending out press releases that had wildly inaccurate information.”
Bremer Financial and Old National Bank are joining forces and will create the third-largest bank in the Twin Cities, the companies announced Monday.
Old National is acquiring Bremer in a deal worth $1.4 billion. Bremer Financial is the company that operates Bremer Bank.
When the merger is complete, the new corporation will have more than $70 billion in assets and expand Old National’s footprint with 70 more banking centers throughout Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin.
“This partnership represents an outstanding fit between two highly compatible, relationship- and community-focused banks,” said Old National Chairman and CEO Jim Ryan in a statement Monday. “When you look at what has made Bremer Bank a leading institution since 1943, what you quickly find are the same strategic priorities and cultural principles that have guided Old National’s success for 190 years: a strong deposit franchise, a diversified loan portfolio accentuated by exceptional credit quality, and a passion for investing in and strengthening communities. I am incredibly confident that, through this partnership, Bremer and Old National will be even better together.”
As of September, Bremer had 16.2 billion in assets, $11.5 billion in total loans and $13.2 billion in deposits.
The news comes months after Bremer, one of Minnesota’s largest banks, which is owned by the Otto Bremer Trust, came to a legal settlement. The trust wanted to sell the bank, saying it would be more profitable while Bremer Financial looked to merge with Great Western Bancshares.
The two sides reached an agreement in July paving the way for Monday’s announcement.
“For more than 80 years, we’ve been honored to carry out the legacy of our founder Otto Bremer,” said Jeanne Crain, president and CEO of Bremer. “When our majority shareholder, the Otto Bremer Trust, reaffirmed its interest in selling Bremer Bank, we appreciated the opportunity to identify a partner through a collaborative process to ensure the best possible outcome for our customers, employees, and our communities. With Old National, we have confidence we found a great fit.”
Students at two elementary schools in White Bear Lake will have lessons in a mix of English and Spanish next school year.
The district is the latest to launch a Spanish dual immersion program, designed to help students become bilingual by offering opportunities to read, write, listen and speak in two languages. Starting next fall, Otter Lake and Matoska International elementary schools in White Bear Lake will each host up to three immersion kindergarten classes. Transportation for the program will be offered to families throughout the district.
The model is a popular draw at other schools across the metro area. Some districts, like Richfield, are seeing boosts in the number of families open enrolling there so they can get their child into Spanish dual-language immersion classes. In the face of enrollment declines and budget woes, Minneapolis Public Schools has discussed expanding dual-language immersion programming to try to draw families to the city’s schools.
Some, but not all, of the school districts surrounding White Bear Lake Area Schools have similar programs, said Alison Gillespie, the district’s assistant superintendent for teaching and learning.
“We have families that have younger children in immersion daycares that are close to us who were really wondering what type of programming that we were going to offer,” she said. “We’re getting continuous feedback from people that they were excited about the potential of this.”
The White Bear Lake program is designed to serve both Spanish-speaking families and families that don’t speak Spanish at home. Discussions about adding such a program in the district have been ongoing for more than a decade, Superintendent Wayne Kazmierczak said.
“We were poised to move ahead,” he said, adding that district leaders felt the addition aligned with the district’s strategic plan while addressing families’ desires and student need.
School Board Chair Angela Thompson agreed. “This is forward-thinking education,” she said in a statement. “When I look at the job market, almost all of our employers want you to have a second language.”
An 8-year-old girl has died from injuries suffered in a head-on crash of SUVs last week on a snowy southern Minnesota highway, officials said.
The collision occurred about 6 p.m. Wednesday on Hwy. 14 just east of Rochester and left three other people injured, the State Patrol said over the weekend.
Family identified the girl on Caringbridge.org as Kambrynn Ronningen, of Rochester. In the SUV with her was 12-year-old sister Kinsley Ronningen, the family’s posting on he medical update site read.
A GMC Yukon driven by 43-year-old Colleen Jennifer Ronningen was heading west on Hwy. 14 and collided head-on with a Nissan Murano with 36-year-old Kevin Douangmychit behind the wheel.
The patrol did not say which vehicle crossed the center line or what role the snowy conditions might have played.
Ronningen and daughter Kinsley suffered non-critical injuries, but Kambrynn did not survive.
Douangmychit was last reported to be critically injured.
