Hoffman Tribune office closing at 11:00am on Tuesday, March 10

Due to the weather forecast, I will be closing up shop on Tuesday at 11:00am. We will re-open for regular hours on Wednesday.

The National Weather Service this afternoon issued a blizzard warning beginning Tuesday for portions of west central Minnesota.

Heavy snow and strong winds will affect west central Minnesota and much of central Minnesota on Tuesday.

The Willmar area is in a winter storm warning; areas including Benson, Glenwood, Granite Falls, Madison, Montevideo and Morris are now in a blizzard warning.

The Weather Service says accumulating snow will begin by daybreak Tuesday in west central Minnesota and expand across the state during the day.

Central Minnesota could see a mix of rain and snow in the morning, changing to snow.

Heavy snow will continue through Tuesday evening. Northwest winds will develop in the afternoon, reducing visibility and making travel dangerous.

Blizzard conditions are forecast in west central Minnesota, and the blizzard warning is in effect from Tuesday morning through Wednesday morning. Low visibility in blowing and drifting snow is expected to last into Wednesday morning.

Snowfall amounts are expected to range from 5 to 10 inches across much of west central and central Minnesota. Higher snowfall amounts up to a foot are possible from Morris to Alexandria to Little Falls to Onamia.

West Central Area's Jake Long wins 140-pound division at Class A State Wrestling tournament on Saturday, exciting 10-6 decision in title bout

Jake Long improved to 42-1 for the season with a state championship effort.

More will be posted on Monday, and a full writeup will be published in the March 12 issue of the Hoffman Tribune.

WCA Alumni basketball tournament being held tomorrow (Saturday) at the WCA High School

The WCA Alumni basketball tournament is coming up on March 7, 2009 at the WCA High School. Contact Kraig Hunter for more information.

WCA Choir concert coming on March 9

The West Central Area High School Choir Concert will be held Monday March 9th at 7:30PM at the secondary school in Barrett.

All six WCA choirs will be performing. Choir and Band students will also be out fundraising this week for the last time in preperation for their upcoming trip to New York City. The choir recently found out they will be performing at St. John's the Divine Cathedral and the band will be on stage at Lincoln Center. The students would like to thank the community for all the support!

Special school board meeting scheduled for Monday, March 9 at WCA Secondary School Media Center

The meeting will begin at 6:30pm.

More snow photos from last week

Republicans, are you insane? Calls for complete abolishment of Local Government Aid proposed - Small town taxpayers, hang onto your wallets!

I just heard on Sunday morning, a Republican was talking on "At Issue" on KSTP Channel 5, and they called for a complete abolishment of Local Government Aid (LGA) to help close the state's budget deficit.

Do you realize what would happen?

A large number of rural towns, like Kensington and Hoffman, depend heavily on LGA in their annual budgets.

Losing parts or all of their LGA would result in gigantic property tax increases. Either that, or they could cut fire and police protection, or stop plowing their streets after snowstorms.

Are we going to sit on our hands and just take it?