To Albert Lea High School ninth-graders who visited the Tribune this week.

Two groups of ninth-graders stopped in for a tour of the Tribune on Wednesday as part of the ninth-grade Business and Career Tour. During the tour, students got the opportunity to visit two businesses in the area and learn the ins and outs of those companies.

The hope was to give the students exposure to different types of careers.

Here at the Tribune, our employees talked to the students about everything from selling advertisements, designing advertisements and writing stories, to making the newspaper on the printing press.

Thanks for coming, and we hope you enjoyed your tour.

 

To postponing the Tyrone Washington murder trial yet again.

We were disappointed to hear this week that the trial was postponed again in the case of Tyrone Washington Jr. of Northwood.

Washington is on trial in Webster County District Court in Fort Dodge for the 2013 stabbing death of his ex-girlfriend Justina Smith in Swensrud Park. Smith’s body was found near a tree in Northwood’s Swensrud Park on Aug. 5, 2013.

The trial had been moved to Webster County on a change of venue because of a lack of African-Americans in Worth County. Washington is African-American.

As jury selection was scheduled to begin on Tuesday, the judge dismissed the panel of potential jurors summoned for the case saying the nearly all-white panel prejudiced Washington’s possibility of a fair trial. The trial was postponed to July.

Washington has raised these concerns before, and we wish that they could have been resolved before calling in the jury, lawyers, witnesses and others to be there. It has been almost two years since Smith’s murder, and this trial has been postponed previously.

We hope that the concerns about the racial makeup of the jury can be resolved soon before all the parties travel down to Fort Dodge again. It is unfortunate that these issues could not have been resolved prior.

 

To the Albert Lea boys’ golf team’s success this season.

On Day 1 of the Albert Lea Invitational, the Tigers are hanging with some of the top teams in the state.

Albert Lea entered Day 2 tied for third place out of 16 teams, and we wish them the best for the second half of the invite.

In the May 10 edition of the Minnesota Golf Coaches Association polls, the Tigers are ranked No. 6 in Class AA. At the invite, Albert Lea has seen some of the best competition in the state. Some of the noteworthy opponents are No. 1 Class AAA Edina, the defending state champ, and No. 4 Class AAA Wayzata, the defending state runner-up.

According to Tigers coach Casey McIntyre, Albert Lea’s main section opponent is Mankato East, the No. 1-ranked team in Class AA and the fourth-place state finisher last year. Through the first half of the tournament, the Tigers lead the Cougars by seven strokes.