After 22 years in the Minnesota House of Representatives, Dean Urdahl will be officially retired on January 5th. His eleven terms in the State Legislature have resulted in numerous local and state projects being accomplished.
Urdahl says he served on the Capital Investment Committee for 20 years – two of those years as chair when Republicans were in the majority – and he was able to get many projects included in the bonding bills – mainly for water and wastewater projects – for the small towns he represented, but also big projects such as $6-million for the Litchfield Area Recreation Center, and $10-million for the wastewater expansion project at First District Association which did not get signed into law this past session as the Senate did not get it passed in time for the midnight deadline, but he’s confident it will pass in the 2025 session. He says he was also instrumental in the huge preservation project for the State Capitol Building.
Urdahl says he worked for 7 years on a bill to get civics as a requirement for course credit for high school juniors and seniors and it finally passed, so it will be a requirement for graduation as of 2026. He says he also tried to get a state park located in his district, and eventually Green Leaf – in southern Meeker County – was designated as a state recreation area. He says he’d like to thank the people in this area for the opportunity he’s had to represent them these past 22 years.
Urdahl says his wife, Karen, encouraged him to retire at the end of his current term, and he agreed that it was time. He says they will spend time traveling and attending the events of their grandchildren, and he will also continue writing and hopes to produce another film this summer.
On Wednesday morning at 8:53, the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office received a call regarding an over-turned semi and trailer on Mapleview Road, just north of the T-intersection of County Road 40. Upon arrival, deputies located a 2018 Kenworth semi-truck with a tanker trailer tipped on its passenger side in the west ditch of Mapleview Road.
The truck was registered to Krain Transportation of Freeport. Approximately 55,000 pounds, or 6400 gallons of milk, were loaded in the tanker trailer, some of which were leaking out the top hatch. Deputies identified and spoke to the driver – 24-year-old Joshua Kulzer of Melrose. Kulzer said he was driving southbound on Mapleview Road when the tires of the tanker trailer got too close to the shoulder of the road. The tires caught the softer portion of the shoulder and pulled the rest of the truck off the roadway and it eventually over-turned. Kulzer was not injured. Albany Fire & Rescue assisted at the scene.
State Senator Andrew Lang of Olivia has announced the disbursement of $1.5 million in aid to ambulance service providers serving Senate District 16 by the Minnesota Department of Revenue. The funds are the result of the bipartisan $30-million rural EMS aid package passed in 2024, championed by Senator Lang.
The package includes $24-million in aid to extend a critical lifeline to ambulance service providers across the state as well as a $6-million sprint medic pilot program, authorizing trained medical staff to be the first response and determining if an ambulance is necessary.
Lang says he’s witnessed the challenges our rural EMS providers are facing and it’s been a long road. He says with these funds going out the door, they’re extending a lifeline to help them recruit and retain professionals as well as update their equipment.
The funds include: Atwater fire department ambulance ($57,296), Buffalo lake ambulance ($68,250), CCM health ($150,360), Centracare emergency medical services – Paynesville ($149,572), Centracare emergency medical services – Willmar ($94,517), Clara city ambulance ($69,629), Cosmos ambulance service ($49,488), Fairfax ambulance ($96,270), Granite falls ambulance ($144,584), Hector ambulance ($59,350), Kerkhoven ambulance ($59,953), Lake Lillian ambulance service ($56,147), New London ambulance service ($112,231), Olivia ambulance service, Inc. ($145,077), Raymond ambulance service ($69,851), Sunburg ambulance ($51,756) and Watkins ambulance service ($107,455).