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Contributed/Ruby's Pantry - BemidjiRuby's Pantry, a faith-based nonprofit coordinating monthly pop-up food events with local churches, including 11 in Northern Minnesota, closed its operations as of March 31, 2026. -
Contributed/NWSHeavy and wet snow, freezing rain and mixed precipitation are possible. Highest snowfall rates of around one-quarter to a half-inch per hour are expected during the daytime April 2, 2026. -
Flooding in June 2024 closed the underground mine to tours for nearly two years, following another two-year closure in 2022 for restoration. -
Contributed/Minnesota Chippewa TribeCandidates who receive more than 50% of the vote in the primary win their elections; otherwise, the top two vote-getters face off in a general election June 9, 2026. -
Plus: Two local elementary schools meet their fates, with Bemidji's J.W. Smith set to remain open for at least a year, while Greenhaven in Hibbing will close. -
Contributed/Meal Train for the Rife Family Adult Foster CareKimberly Soon Jim Rife, 39, died, and her 13-year-old daughter suffered life-threatening injuries. Rife ran an adult foster care and coordinated a program to help hungry students. -
Contributed/Nicole Neri / Minnesota ReformerEven during the most intense immigration enforcement in Minnesota, however, immigration authorities were arresting nearly triple the number of immigrants in Texas. -
Larissa Donovan/KAXEA motion to close and consolidate the Bemidji school, dispersing students to other area elementaries serving kindergarten through third grade, failed to pass on a 3-3 vote. -
Contributed/City of HermantownThe city and Google jointly agreed to an updated alternative urban areawide review study with a smaller geographic footprint than last fall’s study. -
Contributed/Becker County Sheriff's OfficeThe Becker County Sheriff's Office received a call March 30, 2026, from a man who went to check on his brother because he hadn't shown up at work.
Chelsey Perkins became the News Director in early 2023 and was tasked with building a new local newsroom at the station. She is based in Brainerd and leads a team of two reporters covering communities across Northern Minnesota from the KAXE studio in Grand Rapids and the KBXE studio in Bemidji.
Megan Buffington joined the KAXE newsroom in 2024 after graduating from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Originally from Pequot Lakes, she is passionate about educating and empowering communities through local reporting.
Larissa Donovan has been in the Bemidji area's local news scene since 2016, joining the KAXE newsroom in 2023 after several years as the News Director for the stations of Paul Bunyan Broadcasting.
