central minnesota

The Albany economy may take a negative hit with the announcement that their area hospital will be closing at the end of the year. City administrator Tom Schneider says the decision to close the hospital will likely cut some jobs in town. The hospital had an average amount of just one patient and four emergency department visits per day.

Conditons are expected to be perfect for Central Minnesota stargazers on Sunday night to watch a supermoon and total lunar eclipse at the same time. A supermoon is when a full moon is closest to Earth. Although still 222,000 miles away, this full moon will look slightly bigger than usual.

An icon in St. Joseph is closing its doors after 70 years in the community. El Paso Bar and Grill is well known for everything from fish fries to volleyball leagues but owner Carole Tamm says she’ll always remember it as one big family.

A Royalton woman is dead after a single vehicle crash in Benton County on Tuesday. The incident happened just after 4:30 p.m. in the 6000 block of Canary Road Northwest, north of Rice.

A man was arrested in Mille Lacs County Monday morning after leading police on a chase that started in Foley. The chase started at about 8:20 a.m. on Highway 23 in Foley. Police attempted to stop 31-year-old Derek Stirn of St. James for having a stolen truck from Dirtwoods 2000 of Sauk Rapids.

Two area schools have received "reward" status from the Minnesota Department of Education for being in the top 15 percent of schools that receive Title 1 funding, which is allocated to schools with high levels of students in poverty. The rankings come with the release of the multiple measurement ratings (MMR).

Benton County has approved a resolution to support a study to grow operations at the St. Cloud Regional Airport. The Greater St. Cloud Development Corporation has taken the lead in asking the three-county area to support a resolution seeking a grant to fund the study.

St. Joseph is expected to approve a final service agreement on Monday night to subscribe for a community solar garden. The city is being asked by SunShare to provide energy on a subscription basis. They would build the solar gardens and parter with Xcel Energy.

Three people were arrested in Litchfield on Thursday after a police chase and for alleged drug possession. Agents with the local drug and gang task force were in the 100 block of Park Village in Litchfield after receiving information that 29-year-old Amanda Rhode was hiding out in the area. Rhode had an arrest warrant for controlled substances.

St. Cloud Police are looking for a tractor that was stolen from a work site earlier this week. The incident happened in the 1300 Block of University Drive Southeast sometime between Monday (July 6th) and Tuesday (July 7th).