WILLMAR (LEARFIELD)   --   Authorities in west-central Minnesota are releasing the name of the woman struck and killed by a train Wednesday afternoon. The Kandiyohi County Sheriff's Department says 68-year-old Marcy Swanson of Willmar was walking on the tracks near Kandiyohi when she was hit by an eastbound B-N-S-F train. Swanson died at the scene.

LYND (KMHL) – A positive test for COVID-19 has officials in the Lynd School District shifting 6th through 8th grade students to distance learning. According to a post on social media, Lynd students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grade will not have class today, and will begin distance learning on Monday. The district says the move is being made out of an abundance of caution because of a positive COVID-19 test. According to the post, students in kindergarten through 5th grade will be in-person learning under hybrid guidelines.

MOORHEAD (LEARFIELD) - Gov. Tim Walz said yesterday the spreading COVID pandemic could make things difficult over the next six to 12 weeks for parts of Greater Minnesota. Walz, while talking in Moorhead Wednesday, said marshalling medical resources won't make dealing with the challenge any easier in parts of the state. "That poses problems because the workforce is much narrower, and in some of these cases we don't even have hotels nearby to the facilities," said Walz. "If we're bringing in teams to work, they may have to drive a considerable distance each and every day." "That poses problems because the [...]

HERON LAKE (KMHL) – Two Waite Park men were killed when a semi collided with a Ford Focus west of Windom Monday. The Minnesota State Patrol says Hussen Noor, 30, of Waite Park, and Abdiqadar Abdi, 25,  of Waite Park were in the Focus that was involved in an accident with a semi along State Highway 62 west of Windom. Authorities say the Focus was southbound on Cottonwood County road 5 when it collided at the intersection with the semi which was traveling on Highway 62. According to the State Patrol, the semi-truck driver was not injured.  

MARSHALL (KMHL) – Lyon County has already broken its all-time record for early voting. County Auditor/Treasurer E.J. Moberg through a press release reported that more than 5,218 absentee and mail ballots had already been accepted so far. Moberg notes that Lyon County sent a total of 8,207 absentee and mail ballots to Lyon County voters this year. Some of the higher turnout for early voting comes from having an increased number of mail ballot precincts in the county. A total of 26 of the county’s 33 voting precincts have switched to using mail ballots only this year.

MINNEOTA (KMHL) – It’s a return to school today for 7th through 12th grade students in the Minneota School District. It has been a week of continual change in the district. Minneota Schools Superintendent Dan Deitte (Dee-ette) gave a lot of credit to staff that he says stepped up to help students return to school this week. "You know you don't go into it expecting that, but when they stepped up and they are volunteering their hours to help out, it really shows the power of a small town, said Deitte. Earlier this week, the district thought all students would be [...]