Anne Polta

OLIVIA -- A woman charged with stabbing a friend during a dispute will avoid prison time and spend five years on supervised probation instead. Jessica June Ritchie, 38, was sentenced last week at the Renville County Courthouse in Olivia. At the r...

WILLMAR — In Myanmar, the Karen carved gardens out of the mountainous green landscape. They planted thick patchworks of vegetables, greens and herbs and harvested them to feed their villages.

LITCHFIELD -- A prison sentence was handed down Thursday to a 23-year-old woman convicted on three assault charges for deliberately ramming her truck into an ex-boyfriend's vehicle. Desirae Margaret Nelson, formerly of Litchfield, faces almost th...

WILLMAR -- When the Willmar Interfaith Network gets together, at least three religious faiths are represented at the table. There’s Christianity, the dominant faith for most of Willmar’s history. There’s Islam, which has been growing with the est...

WILLMAR -- There's a saying that law enforcement is a calling rather than a job, and Dan Hartog felt the call when he was still a teenager. "It's something I always wanted to do," he said. Fast-forward 38 years to this week as Hartog retires from...

WILLMAR -- A Pennock woman accused of financially exploiting a relative with dementia has entered an Alford plea to the crime and will be sentenced next month. Melissa Gay Bengtson, 52, faced three felony counts of financial exploitation of a vul...

WILLMAR -- From the control room in the heart of the Kandiyohi County Jail, correctional officer Alii Holt has a video's-eye view of of the facility: corridors, cell blocks and the outside perimeter. An array of screens allows Holt and the rest o...

WILLMAR -- During a state inspection this month, the Kandiyohi County Jail was found to be 99 to 100 percent in compliance with regulations. Records of past inspections by the Minnesota Department of Corrections show similar levels of compliance....

WILLMAR -- A recently awarded state grant will help accomplish a longtime Kandiyohi County goal: enhancing the water quality of Lake Wakanda. The County Board of Commissioners recently signed an agreement for a $921,000 one-time grant from the Mi...

BENSON -- A former professional football player pleaded guilty in Swift County District Court last week to felony insurance fraud involving a championship ring he had allegedly reported as stolen. Brent Dwayne Griffith, 51, of Sartell, formerly o...