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To law enforcement, EMTs and tow companies.

Wednesday’s blizzard brought back winter to Minnesota and reminded us of what’s to come in the next few months.

Snow combined with wind gusts of over 50 mph made for difficult driving conditions and numerous cars in the ditches. We thank those who venture out to help those people who get stuck or crash in this type of weather and who risk their own safety to help others.

We hope as we continue through the winter, we all remember to thank these groups and to heed the recommendations of authorities and stay off the roads when possible during these types of storms.

To the city being awarded $1.4 million to help clean up contaminated soil at the Blazing Star Landing.

We were pleased to hear news this week that the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development awarded the city a $1.4 million grant to assist in the remediation of contaminated soils at the Blazing Star Landing, site of the former Farmstead Foods.

A Fergus Falls developer plans to build a 48-unit apartment complex on the area south of the railroad tracks, and this cleanup will help make that project a reality.

Cleanup is expected to start in spring and continue through mid-summer.

The grant covers two-thirds of the expected cost.

We hope this will be the beginning of the interest in the Blazing Star site, which has sat unused since a fire destroyed the former packing plant in 2001.

To Freeborn-Mower Cooperative Services collaborating with 28 other electric cooperatives to create a regional electric vehicle charging network.

Hats off to Freeborn-Mower Cooperative Services for partnering with a group of other electric cooperatives in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota to create a regional electric vehicle charging network.

The CHARGE EV network will include over 30 Level 2 and Level 3 charging stations, and will help ensure that electric vehicle owners have a place to charge their vehicles while traveling in the region.

In addition to this benefit, the additional charging stations will give people an additional reason to stop in our community and will hopefully lead them to support local businesses while they are here.

We look forward to hearing more as this network is developed and are interested in seeing where the new charging stations will end up in the community.