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This month at the Hospital Board:

• Northfield Hospital ahead of many small hospitals in implementation of Electronic Medical Records
• Strategic planning to include more community and employee stakeholders, but does the group reflect the full diversity of the community?
• Safety Committee dissolved; reporting structure to administration and board to become more direct

This week at the City Council:

• 17 Safety Center sites visited and evaluated; Central Valley Coop and Cowles Property get the most points
• Laurel Court Transit Hub planning moves ahead, with Northfield Depot discussed as a future alternative
• Council discusses goals (and methods of establishing goals) for 2011-12 term
• Local legislators to meet with Council on Tuesday

Update - Photo Gallery posted!

Last Saturday morning, leaders at the Key invited a group of retired Northfield women to tour their new building and learn more about Key programs and needs. Two members of the Adult board, Zach Pruitt and Missy Donkers, and Dan Dobrow, Youth Board President, greeted visitors.  For most of the guests, this was their first chance to see the transformation of the building, which had been in commercial use for decades, into a welcoming, bright, comfortable space.  It was hard to believe the new owners, the Union of Youth, had only been in the building since September!

Established in 1993 by a small group of area youth, the Union of Youth raised funds to purchase a building on Water Street, which, along with space owned by the city, became The Key, a center for gathering and activities for the next 15 years.  When it was obvious the space no longer was adequate to the evolving programs and growing participation, in spring 2010, NUY purchased the present 6th Street location.  The new building has more than twice the space, and a floor plan uniquely accommodating to meetings, movies, concerts, and just sitting around.  Key members’ artistic talents are in evidence everywhere, as murals and paintings lend color and energy to the rooms, which had once been offices and places of commerce. 

Do you know an individual or group who is working to make Northfield a better place for youth?

If so, take 3 minutes and nominate them for HCI's "Making a Difference Award."

You can find the application HERE -- it's designed to be really easy to complete!

A new winner is selected each month.   Recipients are recognized in the Northfield News and receive a framed certificate.

Click HERE to read descriptions of the fantastic recent recipients.

Gathered at the Contented Cow on Wednesday, members of Northfield Citizens Online elected Kathy Ness and Amy Acheson to the board, discussed the year’s activities and brainstormed new ideas for 2011.

NCO Board Chair Nate White said ”During the flood we demonstrated our ability to quickly utilize technology for community good and showed why Northfield.org is a valuable community asset.” White reported to the membership at the 2011 Annual Meeting that traffic to Northfield.org peaked in 2010 during the Cannon River flood when the site provided up to the minutes news, photos and video to the community during the flood.

Tim Freeland of KYMN radio took a minute out this morning to test the urban legend of boiling water freezing instantly in weather such as this. Check it out - it's only a minute long!

RENew Northfield, a nonprofit organization concerned with energy issues in Northfield, has donated five Kill A Watt meters to the Northfield Public Library for public use.

How much energy does your refrigerator, freezer, computer, home entertainment system, or clothes dryer use when it is operations or “asleep?” Check out a meter and find out.

The meter is inserted into an electrical outlet and the appliance is plugged directly into the meter. The meter will display an average cost for each appliance tested: hourly to annually. Easy to use instructions are included with the meter. After using the meter, you may decide to unplug the device when not in use, or purchase a power strip with an on/off strip.

The meters are currently available and can be checked out for one week.  Please ask for the meters at the circulation desk downstairs.

1080 KYMN and the Northfield Historical Society have teamed up to bring a live stream of Bridge Square from Northfield. The camera is attached to the outside of the NHS building and views BS from the southeast side. (Video feed after the break.)

Leading climate change expert Richard Moss spoke at Carleton College's weekly convocation last Friday, advocating a new way of thinking about climate change science and its implications for public policy.  Moss, a class of 1977 Carleton graduate who has served in various leadership positions at the WWF, the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), and the UN Foundation Energy and Climate Program, among others, also argued that there is already enough scientific information for policy makers to begin putting climate change prevention measures in place.  

In the 2010-11 school year, 16 recently graduated high school students from the Northfield area will be traveling abroad through the Rotary Club's Youth Exchange Program.  This is the largest number of participating students from Northfield ever, an increase of six students from last year's record ten students, which Rotary Youth Officer Vicki Dilley attributes in part to parents and students becoming more open-minded about taking a "gap year" before going on to college.  In addition, there will be five exchange students living with host families in Northfield next year, hailing from France, Germany, Denmark, Spain and Brazil.  The sixteen Northfield students will be traveling to a wide variety of countries, including Thailand, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, Argentina, Brazil, and Columbia. 

Nepal’s civil war (1996-2006) left an overwhelming number of children physically and psychologically scarred, and deprived them of one of their most basic rights to learn. I am working on building the first Peace School in Arupokhari, my village in Western Nepal, to help more than 250 children aged 4-15 years, affected by the violence of civil war, reclaim their passion and joy, experience the power of learning, and lead whole and healed lives.

Bring a comfortable chair or blanket and settle in for fun, free family entertainment. Check out and/or return library materials on Booker!

Monday morning update: 3 new videos added, 1 video link fixed. :)

(If you've got Cannon River spring melt video(s) somewhere on the internet, please let us know and we'll add it to this post!)

 The Big Melt of 2010 has begun and crowds have been forming downtown to watch ice, logs, and flotsam go crashing over.   This post will have a lot of embedded video, so we've put everything 'below the fold'.  Click on 'Read more..' to see them all!