Dodge County News

MANTORVILLE -- Norma L. Kracht, 87, died Sunday, June 28, 2009, of ovarian cancer, at her daughter's home.

The door was open to Gary Thompson's office Tuesday afternoon, the last day he would be in the office of Dodge County sheriff.

WEST CONCORD -- Ruth Mildred Miller, 88, of Edina, Minn., died Saturday, June 20, 2009, at Fairview-Southdale Hospital.

A tornado with top wind speeds of more than 100 miles per hour cut a path through Mower County Wednesday night.

The Minnesota Court of Appeals has ruled there was insufficient evidence to prove criminal vehicular homicide in the case of a Hayfield woman now serving time in prison.

Battle lines seem to be hardening over a proposed Rochester rail bypass. An open forum, sponsored by an opposition group, Citizens Against Rochester's Bypass, filled a 525-seat auditorium at Stewartville High School on Thursday night.

The southern rail corridor that was recently proposed by officials in Olmsted County is now taking some heat from local farmers.

Freight hauling, not high-speed passenger service, is the main expressed purpose for a proposed Rochester-area railroad bypass.

Ewan Ferguson of Stewartville prefers to avoid attention, but that isn't easy when you wear a kilt and play the bagpipe.

ROCHESTER -- Irene V. Calhoun, 86, died Monday at Samaritan Bethany Heights. She was born April 14, 1923, to Willet C. and Margaret J. VanDusen, in Milton Township, Dodge County.

OSLO Anxious Dodge County residents sat and stood elbow-to-elbow in the Ashland Township Hall on Thursday morning to trade news and share fears about a railroad bypass plan that might greatly change their lives, but which they still know little about.

Officials in the Rochester area plan to seek federal and state funding to develop a $325 million high-speed passenger and freight rail line.

Trying to stay on the radar for the proposed high-speed train between the Twin Cities and Chicago, Rochester area officials have been quietly meeting and planning a route, the Rochester Post-Bulletin reported Thursday.

A Hayfield woman was seriously injured Wednesday in a broadside collision at Minnesota Highway 56 and Dodge County Road 34 near Dodge Center.

Stock car racing has been given the green flag once again at Dodge County Speedway, and its first lap of the 2009 season was a good one.

A structure fire in rural Mantorville this morning has been called suspicious by fire officials.

Two area race tracks with new names and new beginnings will try once again this weekend to get their seasons started.

Michael Johnson compares being at the top of a wind turbine to standing on the end of a fishing pole.

After 31-and-a-half years in law enforcement, Dodge County Sheriff Gary Thompson says, he's ready to retire.

In two days, Dodge County Speedway is back. The historic track on the Dodge County Fairgrounds in Kasson is back in name , and new track manager Mike Schubert is already doing his best to make sure it's back in its old form, too.