Author: admin

The Forest Lake City Council is now scheduled to hold a special meeting at 7 p.m. Oct. 2 regarding the possibility of declaring a vacancy on the council. The news comes after additional allegations earlier this week that Forest Lake Councilman Michael Freer now lives in Maple Grove, not Forest Lake. Those who believe Freer is in violation of residency rules point to the fact that the address on his Forest Lake driver’s license is that of an empty, currently uninhabitable home, and to local media reports that appear to show Freer’s family living in a Maple Grove home. Freer’s landlord, former Mayor Stev Stegner, has said that Freer’s current residence is only temporary and that the councilman will be moving into the Forest Lake house following a remodel. Read more about the current round of allegations in this story.
The council does not usually hold a regular meeting on the

See Full Post >>

Next month, you will notice some exciting changes with our websites, and we hope you like what you see.
In an effort to update our sites and organize stories, videos, photos and all other content in a way that makes more sense for our readers, we have made some changes that will soon go into effect.
In October, you will notice that our sites are more dynamic, providing you with the categories that you’ve asked for and presented in a logical format that makes them easily accessible. You will still access the site using the familiar URL that you already have bookmarked in your favorites, but you will also be able to access our other sites that are part of our larger ECM Publishers family. In fact, once we launch the new sites, you can view all those various sites under an umbrella site known as hometownsource.com. It gives you a glimpse

See Full Post >>

Passionate responses from parents help explain why the number of Minnesota students attending charter public schools has grown from fewer than 100 in 1992 to more than 50,000 this year, the 25th anniversary of the first charter opening. Their views, plus constructive responses from some districts, help demonstrate why this growing movement has bipartisan state and national support.
Referring to the PiM Arts Charter in Eden Prairie, Ed Wilms pointed out that, “The transformation we saw in him from a kid who ate his lunch in the bathroom stall so he didn’t have to talk with anyone to having the lead role in the school musical his senior year was incredible.” Though his three sons are “dramatically different,” Wilms said the school served each of them well.broadstreet.zone(48036);
Kelley Zender, a parent of three children at DaVinci Charter in Ham Lake wrote, “From the moment my children and I walked into DaVinci, we

See Full Post >>

Photo by Noelle OlsonJoe and Lynn Zerwas stand in front of the Corn Lady stand in Rush City.
Noelle Olson
ECM Post Review
There are a lot of corn stands around, but not many have been around for 30 years.broadstreet.zone(48036);
Wyoming resident Lynn Zerwas, known as “The Corn Lady,” started her stand in Pine City during the Reagan Administration and currently is selling corn, fresh fruit and vegetables at the Dollar General store parking lot in Rush City.
The stand offers corn, peaches, potatoes, onions, beets, cucumbers, carrots and other fresh produce from The Green Barn in Isanti.
“The earliest that I’ve sold corn during the season was July 9,” Lynn said. “But I usually start around the 18th. It depends on when it’s ready, and I don’t want the corn until it is the way people like it.”
This is the first year Lynn has put her stand in Rush City. Her husband Joe comes with

See Full Post >>

Wyoming Elementary, in an effort to let each student and staff member know how important they are, welcomed back students with a red carpet event on Aug. 21. A “Wildcat” greeting was waiting for each student as they pulled into the parking lot with teachers holding up welcome back signs.
The main entrance to the school held a balloon arch, a red carpet walk-way was rolled out, and lots of music was played as each family entered the building. As part of the event, a ROAR pep-fest was hosted the same day with a slide show presenting all the students and staff with summer photos.

See Full Post >>

Wyoming Elementary was selected and recognized as a 2017 Sustained Exemplar Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports School at the State of Minnesota Summer Institute. Wyoming Elementary presented at the State of Minnesota Summer Institute around their journey and work with PBIS and have diligently been implementing the PBIS structure the past three years.
This recognition, according to the Minnesota PBIS website, “is to identify and recognize exemplar schools that have completed the PBIS implementation and are continuing to achieving positive student outcomes by sustaining school-wide PBIS with fidelity.” The PBIS system helps schools change their environment and climate to a more positive and uplifting tone, demonstrating and educating students on what is expected of them in each situation they encounter. These include interactions between students and their peers, students and staff members, and many other situational encounters they will have throughout the day. It is the staff’s responsibility to clearly identify

See Full Post >>