City administrator candidates narrowed down The Columbus City Council is back to the permit drawing board with the apartment building slated for the land east of Hornsby Street NE and I-35 after dissolving the agreement with the previous developer. In June 2022, the council approved the construction of a 150-unit apartment complex by Apollo Development & Co. Construction. This project hasn’t moved forward and the council approved another buyer and...

Times columnist publishes travel book about St. Croix Watershed Like many who live here, Angie Hong has grown attached to the St. Croix Valley. The water education senior specialist at the Washington Conservation District brought her to the area in 2006, and it was then she “fell in love with” the area. She had followed her now-husband to Minnesota after graduating from University of Wisconsin-Madison, and was immediately smitten. Though...

Boys volleyball set to become an MSHSL sport in 2025 A new activity for Forest Lake Area High School has risen just in time for the 2024 spring sports season: boys volleyball. Once only considered as a high school “club” team under head coach Butch Bethke, the squad has been around since 2019 – and has since then been pushing to make boys volleyball an officially sanctioned high school sport...

The Rochon Construction crew broke ground between the Speedway and Huntington Bank on Broadway Avenue on Tuesday, March 19, to make way for the new Mister Car Wash location. “We had some additional parking lot and some trees and shrubs that needed to be removed for the arrival and the installation of the new car wash,” said Garry Habisch, Rochon construction superintendent of the job site. Crews started their work...

Starting a seed library at Hardwood Creek Library had been something that Christina de Sobrino had thought about for some time. Yet, it wasn’t until a community member inquired if there was a seed library that she saw the opportunity present itself. “I forwarded that (inquiry) to one of my supervisors and said, ‘If this is something that library administration is interested in, I’d be interested in helping to develop it,’” said de Sobrino, an adult services librarian at the Hardwood Creek Library. ...

Basketball star readies for University of Concordia Forest Lake’s boys basketball star Owen Waldoch started keeping track of his points on the refrigerator during his freshman year. “I had a sheet on my fridge and I scored 9 points in that first game. I made a road to 1,000 points type of thing,” he said. He stopped updating it over time, and largely forgot about it until the beginning of...

A school bus carrying Scandia Elementary students was involved in an accident with the bus tipping over onto its side this afternoon. Six students were on the bus at the time when the bus rolled over at the 13000 block of 188th Street North. According to the district, the six students were all evaluated by EMS and released to their parents, and no injuries were reported. The school district said in a statement, "Student safety is always a high priority and we continually review our practices and procedures to help keep our students as safe as possible."

“This is truly a new era,” said Donny Skow, past commander of the Post, as he surveyed the construction site that’s occupying the main bar area of American Legion Post 225 right now. He believes the long-awaited and discussed remodel marks a new chapter for the Legion to get an upgrade to its middle bar as it prepares to host its 100th Fourth of July parade this summer. “I think...

When Dave Bakke moved to a home on the shores of Bone Lake in 2012, he’d often wake up and hear the serene sound of carp spawning along the shoreline. Accompanying that, the lake was often murky and prone to producing blue green algae plumes in the summer. “It was in really poor shape. During the month of July, you would see blue green algae blooms and so there were a lot of issues with water clarity. I would go to the end of my...

Beltz Park to get court updates after big project halted After aiming for a fast-track process in interviewing interim City Administrator Kristina Handt for the position, the council backtracked its timeline during the council’s Monday, March 11, meeting. The council had initially agreed to an expedited process to interview Handt for the administrator job. DDA HR, Inc. was hired by the council in February to begin a search for a...

Despite leading in the first half, turnovers and missed shots fed loss It was a tough loss to Coon Rapids in the Section 7AAAA championship game for the Forest Lake boys basketball team last Thursday, March 14. Forest Lake head coach Kyle McDonald knew the Rangers’ section championship game matchup, held at Princeton High School, was going to be tough. Forest Lake had narrowly eclipsed the Cardinals during the team’s...

APG-ECM, the company that owns the Forest Lake Times, will provide subscribers with livestream coverage of the Twins game vs. the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday, March 16. The game, which will be played at 3:05 p.m., is part of MLB’s Spring Training schedule. Click HERE to watch the game.

Primary voter turnout lower than 2020 Fewer overall area voters marked their ballots for the 2024 primary race last Tuesday, March 5 in what has been a markedly uncompetitive race for both Democrats and Republicans, as incumbent President Joe Biden seeks re-election, and former President Donald Trump has blown out his competition in the primary races so far as he seeks to win back the presidency after his loss in 2020 to Biden. ...

Parents of students fundraise to support inaugural trip Some kids enjoy sports camps, others enjoy music camps. For 17 Forest Lake area students, their camp of choice is a little different. Students from the Forest Lake Area School District, Lakes International Language Academy, North Lakes Academy, and St. Peter Catholic School, are all preparing to go to space – or the closest thing to it, at Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama this May. ...

The interview date has been confirmed for interim city administrator Kristina Handt for the city administrator position this Thursday, March 14 at 3:30 p.m. at the city center in council chambers. The council will interview Handt until 4:15 p.m., when a community stakeholder panel will also interview Handt. It’s estimated the interview, moderated by Bart Fischer of DDA HR, Inc., will wrap up at 5 p.m. At that time there will be an informal reception from 5 to 6 p.m. when members of the community can engage with Handt. All interviews are open to the public, which is encouraged to...

Disputes over paid holidays led to January strike authorization; final vote scheduled for March 20 The Washington County probation officer union averted a strike by accepting the county’s tentative contract for 2024 and 2025 during its mediation session on Tuesday, March 5. The union will vote to accept or reject the contract at its meeting on Wednesday, March 20. ...

Boys basketball defeats Duluth East, Andover en route to championship game against Coon Rapids On Feb. 6, the Andover Huskies stormed back to clinch a one-point victory over the Rangers, ending a score of 66-67. When the Rangers faced the Huskies once more in the Section 7AAAA semi-final game on Saturday, March 9, they put together another 66 points, but this time ended the game 10 points ahead of the Huskies. That sweet revenge now sends the Rangers on to the section championship game against...

Area students’ mental health better than state average; students still struggling In light of a mental health crisis, some Forest Lake Area High School students have rallied to help students feel more open, connected and safe when talking about mental health, especially following the pandemic when the situation plummeted to new depths. “I think it was probably just as important before, but I don’t think people took action as much...

City street projects chosen for this year The city is in discussion with its fire and police chiefs about the use of about $918,000 of state dollars after last legislative season’s bill that gave cities funding amidst the first-responder hiring crisis. The city initially heard proposals from the two chiefs that included items to help the departments. After hearing the proposal, the council discussed how else the funds could be used, such as financial incentives for officers or firefighters or the hiring of a community...

After finishing the regular season on a high note by winning nine of its last 12 games, the Forest Lake girls basketball team saw its season end on Wednesday, Feb. 28. The No. 5-seeded Rangers went on the road for its Section 7AAAA quarterfinals matchup against the No. 4-seeded Blaine Bengals and ultimately fell just short of advancing to the Section 7AAAA semifinals round, narrowly losing 49-43. Senior guard Cassidy Pitzl led the Rangers in scoring with 15 points, while sophomore Kendal Damon added the next-highest scoring output for her squad on 14 total points. As its season concluded, Forest Lake put together a 14-12 overall record on the 2023-24 campaign after finishing 10-17 the previous season.