Minnesota briefs: Granite Falls rodeo champ returns home for Western Fest

The Western Fest in Granite Falls is set for June 23-26 and will feature an appearance by Granite Falls native Tanner Aus. Aus will ride in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association event on June 25, beginning at 7:30 p.m. at Lee Mar Ranch.

More than 400 riders from 26 states will ride in the three-day rodeo, including 49 other Minnesotans, according to John McCosh, a member of the event committee. Other community events will take place, as well.

Aus was the Minnesota high school bareback champion at Yellow Medicine East High School and has gone on to a long pro career as a bareback rider, winning more than 80 pro events and racking up more than $1.1 million in winnings.

He's finished as high as third place in the world standings and is currently the eighth-ranked bareback rider.

For schedule and tickets, visit granitefallsprcarodeo.org.

john reinan

Marion Ross, who grew up in Albert Lea and went on to a long acting career, most notably in the hit TV show "Happy Days," will be honored with a statue in her hometown.

Albert Lea already has a street and a theater named after Ross, but the community raised $95,000 and commissioned sculptors Chad and Fran Fisher to create a bronze sculpture, which will stand outside the downtown theater bearing her name. The statue will be unveiled July 2, and Ross will appear at a press event July 1.

"I will forever be looking out across the lake at the old beach where I was a lifeguard and to my old home on High Street just over the hill from the beach," Ross said in a statement. "I couldn't be happier!"

john reinan

Bemidji will receive about $1.7 million in federal relief under the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan passed by Congress in March.

The funds provide support to state, local and tribal governments in responding to COVID-19. The money will be disbursed by the state, which is handling about $2.8 billion allocated to it under the plan.