The Region 4B Boys Basketball Tournament bracket is set and Freeman Academy/Marion will host Freeman Public Tuesday night, Feb. 28 in Sterling Hall at 6 p.m. FAM is 12-8 and the region's No. 2 seed while Freeman is 5-15 and the No. 7 seed. The tournament begins Monday night with No. 8 Menno (3-17) hosting No. 9 Gayville-Volin (3-17) at 6 p.m.

City workers clear a windrow of snow from Main Street Friday morning following the latest round of winter weather. And it's cold, with the air temperature below zero and a high today expected to be in the single digits. 

Region 4B girls basketball action will begin Monday night, Feb. 20 with No. 8 Freeman Academy/Marion (6-14) facing No. 9 Gayville-Volin (5-15) at 6 p.m. in Marion. Action will continue with four games on Tuesday and two games Thursday.

JEREMY WALTNER - PUBLISHER Just a few Sundays ago, as the church service at the Freeman Missionary Church was drawing to a close, a couple from Illinois showed. They were having car trouble and wondered if there was anybody in town that could offer some assistance. So the church’s longtime pastor, Stephen Roussos, made a call to Blaine Saarie, owner of Saarie Auto Body, on behalf of the Freeman Ministerial Association.

A proposal that would have expanded an athletic partnership between Menno and Scotland to include boys and girls basketball, track and field and wrestling gained approval from the Menno Board of Education on a 3-2 vote, but the Scotland School Board failed to pass it 3-4. Both boards were in regular session Monday night, Feb. 13.

Click here for images from the 68th 2023 Olivet United Methodist Church Sausage and Pancake Feed

JEREMY WALTNER - EDITOR & PUBLISHER Students from Menno received high marks for their presentation of “Dark Road” at the 67th annual South Dakota High School Activities Association State One-Act Play Festival in Sioux Falls last week.

JEREMY WALTNER - PUBLISHER The tiny town of Olivet nestled in the James River Valley 5 miles west of Menno doesn’t experience much hustle and bustle. Sure, it’s home to the offices, chambers and courtroom for Hutchinson County — has been since 1871 — but other than those coming and going with county business, Olivet doesn’t have a lot to say for itself. And the population of 64 (2020 census) and outlying area probably prefer it that way.

JEREMY WALTNER - PUBLISHER Ever since her freshman season, when the points really started pouring in, Jada Koerner has wondered if she would reach a milestone that doesn’t happen to most basketball players — the 1,000-point mark. Fast-forward through her sophomore and junior seasons and into her senior year and, sure enough, the scoring she had done in those high school years had her on the brink of 1,000 points by the second week of January.

JEREMY WALTNER - EDITOR & PUBLISHER The one-act team from Menno is taking its spellbinding story of Nazi Germany and the Jewish persecution told through the eyes of two sisters to O’Gorman High School this week after qualifying “Dark Road” for the state festival at the region competition last week. The 13-member cast was scheduled to present its short play Thursday, Feb. 2 at 1:45 p.m. as part of the three-day festival.