Last Tuesday evening, a group of volunteers gathered with members of the local task force, Reaching Rural, working with a federal initiative to look at what can be done better in rural communities to help with opioid use issues. Not only to fill in gaps of services that are offered currently, but to figure out in the first place what those gaps are.

The public is invited to attend an in-person construction open house on Monday, April 3, to learn about the Highway 212 resurfacing and Sacred Heart reconstruction project. The open house will be held at Sacred Heart Community Center, 309 1st Ave., Sacred Heart, and run from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. There are no formal presentations and people are invited to stop by at their convenience during open house hours. MnDOT staff and the contractor will be available to answer questions about the construction phase of the project, including the timeline and detours.

The Minnesota State Climatology Office is looking for volunteer rainfall monitors for the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS). The network includes more than 20,000 volunteers nationwide who measure precipitation in their backyards using a standard 4-inch-diameter rain gauge.

At Tuesday morning’s meeting of the Chippewa County Board of Commissioners, County Highway Department Engineer Jeremy Gilb was in attendance to give a report on recent projects. In his report, Gilb noted that last week’s snow event proved challenging for the highway department’s equipment.