GILFILLIAN ESTATE (KMHL) – House Ag Committee chairperson Rep. Collin Peterson and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue will hold a listening session at Farmfest on Wednesday. The session will be held on the second day of Farmfest at 10:30. Peterson says he believes many producers in the area are looking to hear updates from the secretary on the roll-out of trade aid and disaster payments. The forum will be held at 10:30 Wednesday morning.

GRANITE FALLS (KMHL) – A published report over the weekend on the State Highway 67 failure near Granite Falls says the highways failure could be linked to erosion and the abnormal rainfall that has been falling this spring. MnDOT engineer Cody Brand told MPR News over the weekend that movement has been slowing down. At one point, engineers estimated the road bed was moving about an inch a day. The highway has been closed since early April and a detour is in place. MnDOT is testing the soil beneath the road all the way down to about 100 feet.

WASHINGTON D.C. (LEARFIELD/KMHL) - U-S Senator Tina Smith is pushing for hearings on a new bill that aims to help schools and districts in Minnesota and across the country hit hard by teacher shortages. "This shortage looks even worse in rural areas and high poverty districts," said Smith. "I learned about this from talking with school districts and superintendents from all across Minnesota. They told me that more than 40 percent of our country's small and rural districts are struggling to find the teacher that they need." Smith held one of those conversations with officials at the Marshall School District back [...]

MARSHALL (KMHL) – United Community Action Partnership has received a major grant they say will help to expand Early Head Start programs in southwest Minnesota. UCAP says they have received a highly competitive grant totaling more than $2 million annually. "This has been a long and intensive process," said UCAP Head Start Director, Mary Lockhart-Findling. "We knew that this was going to be challenging since the entire nation was competing for the limited amount of expansion funding." The organization says the grant will allow them to expand Early Head Start programming to low-income pregnant women, infants and toddlers in Hutchinson, Marshall, [...]

WORTHINGTON (KMHL) – The Emerald Ash Borer’s discovery in Nobles County means everyone in southwest Minnesota will need to do a better job of not transporting firewood. It is the first time the tree-killing pest has been discovered in the region. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s Angie Amborne  says human transportation of firewood is the most common way it spreads. "The next closest county to Nobles County is Martin County along the I-90 corridor that is to be expected," said Amborne. "We have seen a fair bit of the insect spreading along the major roadways such as interstates." Amborne adds that [...]

ECHO (KMHL) – There are two more reports of small farm or yard tractors being stolen from rural residences around the area. The Yellow Medicine County Sheriff’s Office said yesterday they have received two separate reports from different locations in the last two days in the Echo area. Authorities say at one location a John Deere lawn tractor and trailer were stolen, while a Case Skid Loader with tracks and a fuel tank in the bucket was taken from a separate location. Authorities say the two incidents may be connected. Sheriff’s officials suspect the equipment may have been taken by a [...]