To NRHEG students and community members fixing up a downtown New Richland building.

It was great to see students from NRHEG’s construction trade class using their class time for work at the former Hotel Washburn in New Richland.

The building, previously owned by the State Bank of New Richland, was donated to the Area Food Shelf of New Richland and the New Richland Area Historical Society.

The students — and other community volunteers — are literally gutting the building and then renovating it with new insulation, drywall, plumbing and other improvements.

When completed, the food shelf has hopes of going in the back of the building, while the Historical Society is planning a museum for the front. Both organizations are worthwhile causes, and we commend the efforts of all who may be involved.

 

To efforts to fight cancer at the Freeborn County Bike-A-Thon.

Year after year, the Freeborn County Bike-A-Thon raises thousands of dollars in the effort to fight cancer.

The annual 100-mile bike ride starts in Albert Lea and goes throughout Freeborn County before ending back in the city.

We applaud both those who made the effort to ride in this year’s Bike-A-Thon and those who donated.

One dollar at a time, we can make a difference in fighting cancer.

 

To rising avian flu cases in Minnesota and Iowa.

The Minnesota Board of Animal Health and the U.S. Department of Agriculture this week confirmed the presence of avian influenza in almost 97,000 turkeys in Steele County.

Steele is one of our neighboring counties and becomes one of 19 counties in the state where the virus has been detected.

The affected flock accounts for about 23 percent of the county’s turkey population.

As part of the response, commercial flocks within a 10-kilometer area are under surveillance.

As more and more turkeys are affected by the virus across the state, we are afraid it is only a matter of time until the virus makes its way into Freeborn County.

Midwest bird losses top 20 million turkeys and chickens, including 15 million of Iowa’s egg-laying chicken flock, or about a quarter of the state’s 60 million hens. In Minnesota, almost four million birds have been killed or euthanized.

We hope something can be done to curb the spread of this outbreak.