Ray of Hope tonight

B-B-E schools will turn on the stadium lights at the Jaguar football field and the Elrosa Saints baseball park tonight (April 6) from 9 to 9:20 p.m. as a “Ray of Hope” for the class of 2020.

This also serves as a Community Ray of Hope for our local health workers, businesses, fire fighters/first responders and police officers.

My take: enough of the doomsday talk. Let's look forward. Let's live without fear for a change. That can be done in a responsible manner.

Here's a website that I've been studying for the last five days...it breaks down needs of each state in the union. The website was updated on April 1 and then again yesterday. In Minnesota, "invasive ventilators needed" was over 600. The need was significantly higher than the 235 figure that Minnesota started this fight with (according to Governor Walz)...today I looked and see that "ventilators needed" stands at 192.

More hope, less fear please!

Clowns

They are clowns. So many clowns.

At tonight's COVID-19 press briefing at the White House, a reporter actually questioned President Trump as to why he hasn't closed all businesses in America - including grocery stores.

I have watched the video FIVE TIMES and have came away absolutely stunned every time. I can't figure out the motives behind the bat s*** crazy reporters that major media conglomerates send to these very important press briefings.

Only a mad man would suggest we close grocery stores in America...even a temporary closure. Talking that way borders on treason, because it would cause a panic like this country has never seen. Is that their goal? What other reasons are there? I'm listening.

Can anyone out there explain to me why reporters in the media would advocate for closing grocery stores?

Dystopian — a word describing an imaginary society that is as dehumanizing and as unpleasant as possible. Is that where we're headed?

/end rant.

Side note: these figures are approximate, but out of every 26 people tested in Minnesota for COVID-19, just one comes back positive...while the other 25 do not have COVID-19. I learned this after reading through the latest information released by the Minnesota Department of Health.

Website has been updated

The Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website has been updated with a new batch of stories, including video of the Padua Saint Patrick's Day parade from March 17. Also included is video of Palm Sunday worship at East Norway Lake Lutheran church.

http://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com.

I hope you and your family and the neighborhood you live in are all doing as well as can be managed.

Some bad news

Good grief!!

The Minnesota Hospital Association says that hospitals in our state are losing $31 million a day because they are drastically reducing the amount of foot traffic in their facilities. The goal is to minimize the chance of spreading COVID-19 further than it is.

And some good news...
Rochester Mayo is working on a blood test that can reliably detect if a person can show an immune response to COVID-19. This is widely known as an antibody test.

The hope is to have this antibody test available for clinical use next week.

Some good news

The state trooper with the Minnesota State Patrol who was diagnosed with COVID-19 last week has been released from quarantine. He is clear of infection. This is good news!

I'm on the statewide conference call with Governor Tim Walz right now. He just reported that to the media.

Emergency meeting in Brooten

For the citizens of Brooten:

Due to town home developer Cody Nelson not being able to procure funds until the Quit Claim Deed is in place, Mayor Larry Putz has called for an emergency meeting of the Brooten City Council for the following discussion.

AGENDA
Brooten City Council
Special Emergency Meeting
Thursday, April 2, 2020
at 4:00 p.m.

4:00 - Quit Claim Deed for Land Transfer
         Cody C. Nelson – Old High School Lots
         Metes and Bounds - Lots 1 Thru 3 & Lots 11 Thru 16
         Blk 3 and Vac E/W Alley Adj to Lots 11-16
        Plat – Lots 001 Block 003 of Anderson’s & Roe’s Add

4:15 - approve Building Permit – Cody Nelson Duplexes

ALSO

The American Red Cross will be hosting a spring blood drive on Wednesday, April 22 at the Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa high school. This event will take place with extra precautions due to the COVID-19 virus, so donors and volunteers will be safe with specific protocols in place. This event will run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Time slots are every 15 minutes. Specific appointments can be set up with B-B-E senior Jacqueline Gossen at < gossejac000@bbejaguars.org > or blood donors can go into the Red Cross website (short link) https://rcblood.org/2X2AMGr, then type in the Belgrade zip coder 56312, and set up an appointment themselves. Blood drives are an essential gathering and can have more than 10 attendees.

ALSO

The District VIII court case (restitution hearing stage) in Glenwood involving Brooten business owner Jana Zenner and an elderly senior citizen in Pope County has been postponed indefinitely. The court case had a hearing set for March 31, 2020.

Once the District VIII judicial court can resume operations, a new date will be selected and released to the public.

The same is true for the District VII court case in St. Cloud involving the Brooten Commercial Club.

That's all I know. As always, if I know something and I know it can be released to the public, I will always do that as soon as possible either online or in print (or both).

Statistics

Just saw this.

California's population is around 40 million.

The population of the country of Spain is about 47 million (2018).

As of this evening, the country of Spain has 9,387 COVID-19 related deaths. Meanwhile, California has 9,807 COVID-19 confirmed cases in a state whose population isn't much smaller than Spain.

The death toll from COVID-19 stands at 210 in California.

Looking out for small business

It's no secret right now what COVID-19 is doing to many small businesses across America. The federal government has responded with what I consider a very robust set of programs to help out.

Here's a summary... https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/paycheck-protection-program-ppp.

• Page one of this week's Bonanza Valley Voice will include this notice...please share as you are able to:

By now everyone is feeling the pain to various degrees brought on by the the COVID-19 virus. Now more than ever we need to rally around one another, reach out for help when it’s needed and also be willing to lend help when asked. We ask our faithful readers to continue supporting the missions of our local churches. We are all in this together.

Elrosa baseball raffle

The Elrosa Baseball Club's spring raffle is postponed from April 10 until Friday, May 22. The tentative location for May 22 is Bucky's Bar.

Really sad

It's really sad what the left and mainstream media talking heads are doing to the "My Pillow" guy, who also happens to be from Minnesota.

They are having one of the most epic meltdowns today over what he is doing right now for America's first responders.

His name is Mike Lindell, by the way.