On this day in music, June 8, 1996, The Fugees scored their first No.1 single in the UK with “Killing Me Softly.” Featured on the hip-hop group’s debut album, The Score, the track was an inspired cover of Roberta Flack’s 1973 hit, “Killing Me Softly with His Song,” incorporating samples from A Tribe Called Quest and 60s psych-soul band Rotary Connection. The song became Britain’s best-selling single of the year and catapulted the trio to international stardom, topping the charts in more than 20 countries, including the US. In addition to earning a Grammy in 1997, “Killing Me Softly” has since appeared on numerous rankings, including Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” list.
In 1985, Tears for Fears began a two-week run at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 with their new wave classic, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.” The poignant track earned the British duo an award for Best Single at the 1986 BRITs.
In 1974, Dolly Parton went to No.1 on the Billboard country chart with “I Will Always Love You.” The ballad would return to the charts nearly two decades later when Whitney Houston covered it for the 1992 film, The Bodyguard, making it her signature hit.
In 1974, Bill Wyman became the first member of The Rolling Stones to release a solo album. The star-studded Monkey Grip featured contributions from Dr. John, Leon Russell, and Lowell George.
In 1991, new jack swing group Color Me Badd scored their sole UK No.1 hit with “I Wanna Sex You Up.” Despite controversy over its suggestive lyrics, the song peaked at No.2 in the US.
BORN ON JUNE 8
1940: Nancy Sinatra
1942: Chuck Negron (Three Dog Night)
1944: Boz Scaggs
1953: Bonnie Tyler
1960: Mick Hucknall (Simply Red)
1962: Nick Rhodes (Duran Duran)
1965: Rob Pilatus (Milli Vanilli)
The Chamber Serving the Meeker County Area is hosting a Legislative Lunch tomorrow (June 9) at the Meeker Memorial Hospital Conference Center from 11-to-1:30. The 4 local Legislators from the area will be there to recap the 2026 Legislative Session and answer questions.
Chamber Executive Director Deana Wheeler says Representatives Dawn Gillman and Scott Van Binsbergen and Senators Andrew Lang and Glenn Gruenhagen will be there to mainly address topics of concern for local businesses. She says the Chamber does not attempt to be political, but they want to be an advocate for business interests.
Wheeler says the event is not an open mic forum and they have gathered some questions from local businesses in the areas of health care, energy & technology, the paid family leave act, barriers to rural agricultural funding and manufacturing challenges. She says there was a pre-registration period to get signed up, but they can still make room for more so call the Chamber office at 693-8184 or email litch.com for more details about the June 9th event.
A 65-year-old rural Bird Island man was seriously injured in a two-vehicle crash on Saturday afternoon in Renville County. The crash occurred at 2:11 p.m. at the intersection of County Road 3 and 830th Avenue in Melville Township, about two mile northwest of Bird Island.
A preliminary investigation revealed an M.J. Electric water truck, driven by 55-year-old Matthew Tucker of North Branch, was traveling north-bound on County Road 3. A side-by-side, driven by 65-year-old Paul Marxen of rural Bird Island, was traveling west-bound on 830th Avenue when he entered the intersection, and collided with the side of the water truck.
Marxen sustained serious injuries, and was transported to the Olivia Hospital and Clinic via private party. Tucker reported no injuries. The incident remains under investigation by the Renville County Sheriff’s Office.
Life is coming full circle for the new chief financial officer of Mankato Clinic, as he was delivered by one of the clinic’s obstetricians and saw a pediatrician at Mankato Clinic as a child.
Brandon Janike, 32, returned to the Mankato area last week to help lead one of southern Minnesota’s largest independent, physician-owned healthcare clinics. He was raised on his family’s dairy farm in rural Waldorf in Waseca County.
Janike was delivered by Dr. Mark Taylor, a Mankato Clinic obstetrician who has since retired, at Immanuel-St. Joseph’s Hospital in Mankato. Mayo Clinic Health System bought Immanuel-St. Joseph’s in March of 1996 and renamed the hospital In 2011, but Mankato clinic’s obstetricians still deliver babies there today.
As a child, Janike continued receiving care at Mankato Clinic from his pediatrician, Dr. Donald Putzier, who also is now retired.
Janike earned a bachelor’s degree in athletic training from Minnesota State University, Mankato in 2016. He then worked as an intern under current Mankato Clinic CEO Aaron Johnson. Janike went on to work at Twin Cities Orthopedics and then for seven years at Revo Health in the Twin Cities, where he most recently was the vice president of revenue cycle.
Even though he never strayed too far from his Mankato and his nearby hometown in his decade away, Janike said he didn’t think an opportunity to return to the area would ever come to be.
“I never thought I would have the opportunity to come back,” Janike told MPR News. “When this [position] became available, it’s pretty much a no-brainer, because now I get to help a community. I get to help a clinic that raised me. The opportunity to strengthen rural healthcare in the place that raised me is incredibly meaningful.”
Janike said he’s interested in serving patients in rural communities and making sure they’re able to receive vital medical care. He said he’s troubled by the growing number of rural hospitals that have been closing in recent years, and the dwindling number of physicians willing to come to work in these smaller communities.
It’s important to keep healthcare close to home and that it stays accessible, he added.
“I want to make sure that we’re in a position that we can be around for the next 110 years, and the 110 years after that,” Janike said. “We have a good opportunity to set the footing for that and ground level for that right now.”
Mankato Clinic CEO Johnson praised his former intern, saying in a news release that he’s excited to have Janike join the team.
“Over the years I’ve watched him earn the trust of the people around him, navigate complex challenges, and lead with a steady approach that puts relationships first,” Johnson said. “Bringing someone like Brandon back to southern Minnesota and to Mankato Clinic is incredibly meaningful for our organization, our staff, and the future of local healthcare in this region.”
It can be difficult for food pantries to offer fresh produce, which is more expensive to buy than canned goods. It’s a problem that Churches United, a Moorhead-based nonprofit that runs a local food pantry, has run into.
“Most food pantries run on donations, so, when you start looking at where you’re going to spend your funds, obviously spending them on those processed foods, those shelf stable foods, your bang for your buck just goes farther,” Churches United CEO and Pastor Devlyn Brooks said.
Brooks added that when their pantry, named Dorothy Day Food Pantry, does get produce donations, it’s usually from big box stores that are donating food close to its expiration. In other cases, donations come from people who just grew the produce in their own garden.
Leadership at Grand Farm, a Fargo-based ag research center, heard about the pantry’s plight last Fall and decided to grow half an acre of sweet corn for the pantry. It used a plot of sweet corn it had available in its nearby Wheatland, N.D., campus.
“So this was a good opportunity for us to find a key partner that would put this nutritious sweet corn to good use,” Grand Farm ecosystem director Andrew Jason said.
The half-acre could yield anywhere from 7,000 to 10,000 ears of sweet corn. Brooks said the gift is well appreciated, especially as the group expects more people to use food pantry services this year.
“In May alone, we also distributed just under 50,000 pounds of food in one month, and that number already is looking to be trending higher in June,” Brooks said.
The corn will be ready for harvest in August. The harvested food will help feed the nearly 1,500 households the Dorothy Day Food Pantry serves each month, according to Brooks.
“We never get the opportunity to provide produce on that scale,” Brooks said. “This is an amazing gift.”