Parent/guardian help needed Parents and guardians, please do everything you can to limit your child[ren]’s in-person social interactions with friends and acquaintances over the coming days. Although this may not be easy to do; it’s for the health and safety of everyone to have students physically apart and avoid meeting in groups. Please encourage phone calls, video chats, social messaging or other non-physical contact.   We all need to do our part in preventing the spread of COVID-19.

Mankato Area Public Schools say Breakfast and lunch will be available in two additional locations beginning March 23: Eagle Elementary School, 500 Le Sueur Ave, Eagle Lake, (door 2r in front of school) All Saints Church, 605 Fourth St, Madison Lake (north parking lot across street from church, just off of Highway 60).   Any families that have students 18-years-old and under are welcome to participate in this service through Friday, March 27. All drive through pick-up services are from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday. Registration is not required.

View this as a webpage March 19, 2020 Situation in Minnesota Total lab-confirmed positive tests as of March 19, 2020: 89 The number of lab-confirmed positive tests among Minnesota residents will be updated daily on Situation Update for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) with test results from the previous day. The total number of cases is likely an underestimate, as we know the the virus is circulating in communities. It is important for everyone to follow advice on community mitigation and social distancing to help us flatten the case curve. Minnesota News and Outreach Today, Governor Tim Walz announced that no later than 5 p.m. [...]

Staff members from Minnesota State University, Mankato’s Diversity and Inclusion division and Career Development Center have been providing free frozen meals and meal vouchers this week to students with food insecurities as well as to the Campus Kitchen at Minnesota State Mankato. The frozen food donations included approximately 40 chicken pot pie meals and 25 prepared chicken alfredo meals.

Mankato Area Public Schools Latest information related to COVID-19 (coronavirus) March 19 update from Superintendent Paul Peterson: Our goal is to assure learning excellence and readiness for all students. Finding ways to reach students to help ensure their needs--educational, health, emotional and social--are met through equitable distance learning is an opportunity Mankato Area Public Schools’ staff are focused on through next week. Plans are under development, and we look forward to sharing them with our students, families and communities. Since in-class education has been put on hold, it’s important to reach out to those you know--students, parents, families, friends, the elderly and vulnerable adults. [...]

State health officials say they're continuing to ask daycare facilities in Minnesota to remain open amid the COVID-19 pandemic.   State Health Department's Kris Ehresmann (AIRZ-man) notes the guidance on staying home if you're sick, applies to all ages: "As a parent, if you have a child who's sick, they should not be sent to daycare, but we are not asking childcare to close." Ehresmann says Minnesota does not have any coronavirus cases in children at this point.

Effective March 20, 2020, the UHD Clinics in both Fairmont and Wells will be closed.  Winnebago Clinic also remains closed.    United Hospital District  515 S. Moore Street Blue Earth, MN 56013 (507) 526-3273 fax (507) 526-3621 www.uhd.org

Governor Tim Walz stood alongside Nicollet County first responders, bipartisan legislators, community leaders, and his neighbors from Mankato to announce a funding plan to complete the final expansion of Highway 14—the 12 miles of two-lane traffic between Nicollet and New Ulm.   The legislation would update state law to allow the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) to apply for a federal Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan, administered through the Rural Project Initiative and Build America Bureau of the U.S. Department of Transportation. The loan application will ask the federal government for an estimated $36 million for Highway 14. [...]

The North Mankato City Council is still dealing with the issue of off-street parking regulations. Councilperson Sandy Oaks was asked what's prompting the discussion. "Things are getting more congested," said Oaks. "So we need to take a look at how we're monitoring our streets and keeping them safe for emergency vehicles and residents." Oaks says it's a difficult discussion because of the different parts of the community. "When you're trying to make a decision on changing something you have to take a look at the geographic diversity of the community and how best does it work for everyone," said Oaks. The [...]