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To the 12 Albert Lea High School students who signed their intent to become educators.

Hats off to the Albert Lea High School students who on Wednesday signed their intent to pursue careers in education following graduation.

During a ceremony organized by the Albert Lea Education Association, the students took turns signing what has been deemed the Teachers Ledger and shared about their future college plans and reason for wanting to go into teaching.

We thank these students for their plans to become educators and we look forward to seeing what difference they make in the lives of other students in the future.

Educators have the opportunity to make a tremendous impact in the lives of those around them and can be role models to the youth they oversee.

Thank you to the Albert Lea Education Association for organizing the ceremony and recognizing these students.

To naming Albert Lea Mayor Rich Murray as grand marshal of the Third of July Parade.

We were pleased to hear the Albert Lea-Freeborn County Chamber of Commerce announce this week it has named Albert Lea Mayor Rich Murray as the grand marshal for the 2025 Third of July Parade.

Murray is an example of someone who is passionate about the community and who can be seen out and about supporting many residents, whether it be at business openings and events, youth sports or activities, or other events. He goes to so many events that we don’t know how he’s able to get to all that he does.

We thank him for inspiring all of us to be better stewards of our community and to go above and beyond in our calls to serve.

We thank him for being a great cheerleader of Albert Lea, both at City Hall and out in the community.

It’s great to see him be recognized for his efforts.

To the heavy winds that knocked out power to some.

Freeborn County was in a wind advisory through Friday evening, with southwest winds 20 to 30 mph and gusts up to 50 mph.

The heavy winds, which began on Thursday and continued into Friday, created some downed tree limbs and branches and power outages for about 1,700 customers in

Albert Lea on both days. They also contributed to reduced visibility as winds blew dust in the area.

While the outage is inconvenient for those who were affected, we are grateful there hasn’t been any major damage or injuries.

Thank you to the Freeborn Mower Electric Cooperative line workers who worked diligently to restore power.