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To all of the area wrestlers competing at the state tournament.

Congratulations to the wrestlers from Albert Lea, NRHEG and Maple River/United South Central, who are competing this week at the Minnesota state wrestling tournament in St. Paul.

Some are attending the tournament for the very first time, while others have participated previously.

Whatever the case, your talent and hard work have paid off, and you deserve to be recognized.

We look forward to seeing the outcome of the tournament and are cheering everyone on!

To Albert Lea educator Burke Egner.

The Minnesota Teacher of the Year semifinalists were announced this week, and much to the excitement of everyone in Albert Lea, the list included Burke Egner, who works in technology integration for the Albert Lea school district.

Egner was named Albert Lea Teacher of the Year in 2022 and made a name for himself as a teacher at Southwest Middle School and as the coach of the middle and high school robotics teams.

The semifinalists were selected by an independent panel of 21 community leaders across the state out of an initial field of 132 candidates.

We look forward to hearing when the finalists are named, and wish Egner the best of luck in the process.

To the approval of a second school resource officer by the Albert Lea City Council.

Thank you to the Albert Lea City Council, who this week approved an agreement with the Albert Lea school district to add a second school resource officer.

With increased calls amongst the youth in the community — as well as increased complexity of the cases there are — we think this decision was the right one, and we applaud the city for supporting it.

The school board will vote on the issue in an upcoming meeting, and we are confident they will support the measure.