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Megan Buffington/KAXEThe library will have to raise its own $30,000 by Sept. 1, 2026, to receive the anonymous grant. The money will be used to increase public hours in 2027. -
Lorie Shaull/KAXEStudents in Deer River are tending to a "pizza garden" this summer, with the hopes of hosting a pizza party using ingredients from the garden in September 2026. -
Lorie Shaull/KAXEA Polk County district judge ordered the parties to return to arbitration in their yearslong dispute over Essentia's management of the local hospital. -
Contributed/Northern TownshipAfter a successful petition to incorporate as a brand new city, Northern Township announced candidate filing for its first-ever City Council and mayoral elections. -
He said the process in recent years has become so fraught with partisan approaches that smaller, independent operations like his are left fighting for scraps. -
Megan Buffington/KAXENorthern Minnesota has numerous ways to celebrate the Fourth of July 2026 with fireworks shows, local parades and festivals and more. Hang out with your neighbors or discover a new community. -
Lorie Shaull/KAXECouncilor proposing RFPs said Virginia needed to explore all options to address its budget. A standing-room crowd supported the departments’ current makeup. -
Plus: The state's soon-to-be new city of Northern will elect a mayor and Council in November; and aerial spongy moth treatments will take place in a couple of weeks in NE MN. -
Chelsey Perkins/KAXEMany were answering the call June 23, 2026, of the MN branch of the American Civil Liberties Union to pack the room in light of recent enforcement activity in the region. -
Contributed/Rock Ridge Public Schools via FacebookThe School Board unanimously passed its budget, leaving a little more than $136,000 of cash flow available in its general fund.
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.
Erin Bowman studies journalism and political science at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. Originally from East Grand Forks, she enjoys providing understandable and accessible information to communities.
