The Tigers varsity baseball game with Shakopee scheduled for 4:15 p.m. today has been pushed back to Wednesday because of rain.

The Sabers defeated the Tigers, 10-9, in the first meeting.

Hutchinson fell in a doubleheader to Red Wing Monday, 6-4 and 7-5. The Tigers are 5-10 on the season.

Eric Kraushar is the sports editor at the Hutchinson Leader. He can be reached at sports@hutchinsonleader.com.

3M continues to inspire and encourage innovation and creativity to accelerate growth and deliver excellent financial results, 3M chairman, president and CEO George W. Buckley told stockholders today at the company’s annual meeting in St. Paul.

“The people of 3M are once again driving innovation through their energy and imagination,” Buckley said. “At its core, 3M remains an idea company that prospers best when we commit ourselves to invest in ideas, technology development and new products.”

Following a team score of 366 Monday at a conference quad at Crow River Golf Club, which matched the score of New Prague, both the Trojans and Hutchinson girls' golf team have 16 1/2 points entering Monday’s double-point championships in Shakopee.

“The team was thrilled with their play and yet they all know that we can go lower. I couldn’t have been more happy for them,” Tigers coach Tim Ellefson said. “We stay tied with New Prague and it will all come down to the Conference Championship next week. We could get as high as third and as low as fifth depending on how we finish.”

All members of Luce Line Railroad Club Inc. should plan to attend a special meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 22, to discuss the club possibly hosting the 2009 convention of the Thousand Lakes Region of the National Model Railroad Association. The meeting takes place at the club's Hutchinson Mall room.

Cheers to all who visited our “Pastries for Parents and Pals” in March and also to grandparents who visited for lunch in April. The children were so excited.

West Elementary School kitchen staff
Hutchinson

Cheers to the gentleman who helped us unload our “freight” during our garage sale Friday, May 2, on Connecticut Street. We did not get your name and wanted to say thank you again. It was very much appreciated!

Mike and Wendy Sonnek
Hutchinson

Doug Peterson
President, Minnesota Farmers Union, Madison

In a world of finger pointing, farmers have had to shoulder the blame for the increased costs of food, when in reality, the facts point to other influences that contribute to the rising costs. I would like to share some statistics with you:
• The biofuels industry is reducing gas prices by 15 percent per gallon today. So, if the cost of gas is currently $3.39 per gallon, it would be up to $3.89 today without the use of biofuels;

• The average food item travels more than 1,500 miles before reaching the final consumer;

By Ronald K.L. Collins
First Amendment scholar

Venture down Pennsylvania Avenue toward the Capitol and you will see a 74-foot marble tablet affixed to the Newseum, which opens today. On that stone tablet are the 45 words of the First Amendment. It took more than two centuries to bring that public-service message to our nation’s capitol in a bold way. Now, at long last, the message is there for everyone to see and reflect upon the meaning of the five freedoms — freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly and petition.

Alvin Bertram loves the feel of the open road, but one thing really irritates him when he rides his motorcycle.

“The thing that gets me worked-up the fastest is when motorists tailgate us,” said the owner of Fun Sports of Hutchinson.

Motorcyclists have good reason to be worried about tailgaters. They are more likely to become the victim of a rear-end collision if they have to brake quickly.

“The bottom line is we can stop in half the distance that a car can,” Mr. Bertram said. “Most drivers don’t understand how quickly motorcycles can stop.”

Spring is here, time to check out your yard!

This is the time of year to evaluate what winter damage has been done. Check all of your shrubs and perennials. Some plants may look dead, but give them time to rejuvenate with the warmer temperatures coming. Some are slow to come around after a long winter’s nap.

Birthright open house
When: 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 20
Where: Hope Center, 218 Main St., Hutchinson
Admission: There’s no charge to attend, the public is welcome
Call: Carolyn Pohlen at (320) 587-6342

When Birthright of Hutchinson was established in 1981, no one expected that the first call would come from a 16-year-old boy who thought his girlfriend was pregnant.

Are you interested in reading the public notices published in the May 13, 2008 print edition of the Hutchinson Leader newspaper? The page or pages on which those notices were printed are attached.

Van Karg has attended numerous state conventions in his 24 years as a member of the Disabled American Veterans, but he was caught off guard at this year’s gathering in Rochester May 2.

That was when he was named the state Adjutant of the Year. In the DAV, an adjutant is a chapter’s secretary and treasurer, charged with keeping meeting minutes as well as correspondence between chapters, members and with the department.

ST. PAUL (AP) — The proposed Big Stone II power plant suffered a major setback Friday when two administrative law judges recommended against allowing transmission lines from the plant to be built across west-central Minnesota.

If the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission accepts that recommendation, the project could be doomed, said Dan Sharp, a spokesman for the five utilities that are seeking to build the plant.

“The transmission lines are critical and unless we can build the transmission lines in Minnesota, the project can’t go,” Sharp said.

April marked the first month since August 2007 that the Hutchinson Building Department issued more than one housing permit in a month. Permits for four units, with an estimated construction value of $495,000, were issued last month.

If you are in the approximately 25 percent of Minnesotans still getting television program through a roof antenna connected to a television with an analog tuner, you could be looking at a blank screen on Feb. 18, 2009.

Congress has mandated Feb. 17, 2009, as last day for the full-power television stations to broadcast in analog. After that, over-the-air TV broadcasts will only be in digital.

Streets projects involving a roundabout and frost boils are parked on the agenda of the Hutchinson City Council’s meeting Tuesday night, May 13.

City Engineer Kent Exner will present information on the upcoming construction of a roundabout at the State Highway 15/North High Drive intersection. The council will have a public hearing on the project, but the Minnesota Department of Transportation is actually administering the work and is expected to open bids Friday.

His candidacy was at one time something of an afterthought in the eyes of most Minnesotans and political observers, but Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer is now viewed as something of a second-coming of another college professor-turned-politician: Paul Wellstone. He didn’t run from the comparison Thursday during a two-hour stop in Hutchinson.

McLeod County Republican Women will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 20, at 1315 E. 11th St., Glencoe. All interested Republican women are invited to attend. For more information, call (320) 864-4162.

Crow River Quilters will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 15, in the public meeting room at Hutchinson Public Library, 50 Hassan St. S.E., Hutchinson.