Meet the Fall Storm Teachers Sports Preview Section B
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2 Second Ave. S., Suite 135, Sauk Rapids, MN 56379 R35_1B_WS
Saturday, August 29, 2020
Council enacts restrictions to food trucks within city limits Permit allows 14 days of business per year aside from special events BY NATASHA BARBER STAFF WRITER
SAUK RAPIDS – Your favorite food truck may be coming to town. And, after the Sauk Rapids City Council’s split vote Aug. 24, it will be allowed to be there – if it has a permit. On Monday, the Sauk Rapids City Council approved 3-2 an amendment to city code as it relates to mobile food units within city limits. Vehiclemounted food and beverage services that store, cook and prepare items for direct sale will be allowed in Sauk Rapids if they purchase a permit. The amendment does not put limits on “ice cream trucks” that sell pre-packaged frozen dessert items.
Vol. 166, No. 21
A go for
School bus safety amid a pandemic
Same Local Coverage Since 1854.
transport
BY NATASHA BARBER STAFF WRITER
SAUK RAPIDS – The onset of the 2020-21 school year is only 10 days away for some Sauk Rapids-Rice Public School students, and soon glossy yellow passenger vehicles will materialize on the roads and streets of area neighborhoods. School buses will be the first change students notice when heading back to school buildings. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected nearly every aspect of public education PHOTO BY NATASHA BARBER since the first Minnesota Tom Thoemke, safety manager for Voigt’s Bus Companies, inspects a bus Aug. 19 in St. Augusta. Voigt’s Bus case was detected March 1. Companies is fulfilling the Sauk Rapids-Rice High School bus service contract for the 2020-21 school year and has
Busing page 4
increased screening, cleaning and training protocols for its drivers due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
County’s auditor-treasurer has full confidence in absentee voting 2,500 mail-in ballots requested for general election so far BY JAKOB KOUNKEL STAFF WRITER
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FOLEY – Despite sporadic messaging from federal and state legislators regarding absentee voting, Benton County Auditor-Treasurer Nadean Inman said she is fully confident in the legitimacy and accuracy PHOTO BY NATASHA BARBER of the county’s elections, Materials for a mail in ballot rest on a desk Aug. 27 in Sauk even with a vast influx in Rapids. Over 2,500 of these ballots were tallied by the county for the Aug. 11 primary election.
PUBLIC NOTICES • City of Sauk Rapids Ord. No. 2020-789 - pg. 15 • City of Sauk Rapids Reg. Meeting - pg. 14 • Benton County Planning Commission Public Hearings - pg. 14 • Assumed Name - Legacy House of Catering - pg. 14
absentee ballots so far requested for the 2020 general election. “We have a lot of confused voters, I think,” said Inman, adding her office has fielded many phone calls on the topic. At the heart of the debate locally is Langola Township, which three years ago transitioned its general and primary elections to absentee ballots
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Publications
only. Chairperson of the township board, Mark Petron, said the decision came after the city of Rice transitioned the room where Langola Township residents used to vote into an evidence room for the city’s police department. Petron said the township had to change procedures, and mail-in voting would result in a less expensive Election Day for taxpayers and better voter turnout.
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