A law that was on the books in Minnesota since 1942 was repealed by the Minnesota State Legislature for 2026.

Minnesota Statute 97B.318, which stated “During the regular firearms season in the shotgun use area, only legal shotguns loaded with single-slug shotgun shells, legal muzzle-loading long guns, and legal handguns may be used for taking deer. Legal shotguns include those with rifled barrels,” was effectively repealed as of Jan. 1, 2026.

    The St. Patrick’s Day Festival and Parade in Le Center was largely unaffected by the historic March 14-15 blizzard until Saturday evening after about 5 p.m. when snow started falling, well after the parade.

    Child’s Play Theatre owner, and physical education teacher at Most Holy Redeemer Catholic School (MHRCS) and Holy Cross Catholic School in Webster, Andy Velishek, was honored this past week with receiving the Catholic Schools Center of Excellence’s (CSCOE) February Saintly Services Halo Award.

    Tri-City United Middle School’s 7th grade black boys traveling basketball team went 4-0 in Minneapolis on Saturday, March 14, beating Minneapolis Phelps by two. This gave them the Minnesota Youth Athletics Association’s (MYAS) title of being the 7th Grade Tier 3 Tournament State Champions.
    The team played in nine tournaments this year, competing in 29 games for the season where they ended up 20-9. Head Coach John Schmiesing said, “At the end of the season, MYAS has our team ranked 25th out of all 7th grade teams in Minnesota.”

    TCU Titans youth wrestling wrapped up its 2025–26 season with 17 wrestlers competing at the MN/USA State Folkstyle Tournament, marking the culmination of months of hard work on the mat.
    The Titans youth wrestling program, which serves wrestlers in grades PreK-6th from the Tri-City United communities, began its season in November with 94 registered wrestlers, the most in program history. 

    Minnesota Business Professionals of America (BPA) held their annual state leadership conference this past weekend, March 5-7, at the Minneapolis Hyatt Regency with more than 1,200 students competing in different categories. 
    Tri-City United High School’s BPA club had 10 students compete at state, of that were two that qualified for national competition to be held in Nashville, Tenn., from May 5-10. 

Le Center's Laynee Blashko was crowned Miss Shamrock for the 2026 St. Patrick's Day Festival at the coronation ceremony on Friday, March 13. Marissa Schroeder of Le Center was crowned Miss Irish Rose and Sierra McCabe of Cleveland was crowned Miss Leprechaun.

The parade and other festivities on Saturday afternoon went by without any issues from the impending blizzard. 

Look for the full story in the March 19, 2026, Montgomery Messenger.

In last year’s legislative session, the Minnesota Legislature passed a law ending the shotgun-only zone for deer hunting in the southern and west-central counties of the state.

The action leaves each county currently in the shotgun-only zone with the decision of whether to pass an ordinance to maintain the ban on rifle hunting.

Le Sueur County can either do nothing and allow the rifle hunting ban to lift, or it can pass an ordinance to uphold the current law.

    Sophie Smith, 20, of Montgomery, won this year’s 2026 Kolacky Days button design contest, chosen by the 248 members of the Montgomery Area Community Club (MACC) that runs Kolacky Days out of the 10 submitted designs.
    Smith is an emergency medical responder (EMR) working towards being an emergency medical technician (EMT) for Montgomery Area Emergency Medical Services. She is a 2024 graduate of Tri-City United High School with plans to continue her education to do something in the health care fields.

Saturday, March 14, 5 p.m. Update

The National Weather Services (NWS) in Chanhassen, Minn., has issued a Blizzard Warning for our greater area from 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 14, through 4 a.m. on Monday, March 16. They are calling this a "historic March winter storm on track to bring extreme snow accumulations and strong winds." 

The warning calls for a broad swath of 12 to 18 inches of snow over the region, with some area approaching two feet, with winds between 35 and 45 mph, with gusts to 55 mph, even after the snow starts to taper off.

    Music students from Tri-City United High School participated in the Section 2AA Solo and Ensemble Contest last Wednesday, March 4. 
    The school’s jazz band and the Encore choir both received the highest rating, a superior, at the contest.

While St. Patrick’s Day was still a week away, festivities kicked off Saturday at the Le Center American Legion Post 108 with the Miss Shamrock Talent Show.
            Three candidates are vying for the title of Miss Shamrock, Miss Leprechaun or Miss Irish Rose. The John Gregory O’Connell Scholarship will also be given to one of the candidates.

    In September 2025, Community Development Asset Group (CDAG) out of the the Twin Cities proposed a 43-unit market-rate apartment complex at the end of the dead end 7th Street Northeast off of Elm Avenue. The for-profit company has submitted another proposal for the City of Montgomery to consider an apartment complex of 56 units now.

    Business members and residents of the Lonsdale area were treated last Tuesday, Feb. 24, to the Lonsdale Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual State of the Community. This year it was held at the new Lonsdale City Hall, moving from the Lonsdale Public Library.
    About 50 invested people were present to hear Tri-City United Schools Superintendent Kevin Babcock, New Prague Area Schools Superintendent Dr. Andrew Vollmuth, and Lonsdale Mayor Tom Berg give updates in their respective areas.

    Outside of pageantry or large community event duties, it’s not every day that you get two Princess Kay of the Milky Way in the same room. 
    Last Thursday, Feb. 26, Tri-City United High School was paid a planned visit of the current and 72nd Princess Kay of the Milky Way Malorie Thorson from Wright County. Thorson was invited by 70th Princess Kay of the Milky Way Emma Kuball of Waterville.
    Both princesses come from long-standing farming families and ones that have supported the dairy industry for some time. 

    Mollie Remhof had a typical start to her day after work when she arrived home late afternoon of Monday, Feb. 16. “I’d gotten home from work, and let them outside,” she said. “Just cleaning and whatever. You check on them once in a while, and they generally don’t go anywhere.” 
    Remhof has two dogs, Roxie, an eight-year-old golden retriever, and Harley, Roxie’s seven-year-old mixed-breed. “Her (Roxie’s) daughter came back all wet, not muddy but wet,” said Remhof. “Around here, it was all muddy, so I was like ‘Where were they? What were they doing?’”