TOP 10 IN 2025
Year-end stories force us to do two things: Look back – and look ahead.
Never is that more obvious than when the Steele County Times compiles its top 10 stories of the past year.
From changes in leadership to changes in health care to changes in education, covering the more than 37,000 residents and what affects them most has kept us busy.
There were hundreds of important stories that appeared in our pages over the past 52 weeks, so you’ll find a more comprehensive list of our work on the inside pages of this edition.
Our choices for the top stories of 2025 are:
No. 1 – MNPRAIRIE
This time next year, Steele County will stand ready to open its own human services department.
Citing concerns over sharing of data and financial information, commissioners in early March took their first step away from Minnesota Prairie County Alliance (MNPrairie), a three-county human services agency formed in 2014.
In May, officials signed on with Health Management Associates (HMA), whose consultants have been working with staff through the year on structure, staffing, and other aspects of the new department. On the governmental side, Steele, Waseca, and Dodge officials and attorneys wrangled over the details of an exit agreement ultimately approved in late November. Steele will receive about $4 million for its share of MNPrairie, along with some of the agency’s physical assets.
Dodge and Waseca counties will reconstitute MNPrairie as a two-county human services agency. Steele’s Department of Human Services will open Jan. 1, 2027.
No. 2 – LEADERSHIP CHANGES
The county’s two largest cities are settling into new leadership, with Jenna Tuma assuming the role of Owatonna city administrator and Anthony Martens stepping into that role for Blooming Prairie. Both took the reins in August.
Tuma was selected by the Owatonna City Council after the retirement of longtime administrator Kris Busse. Tuma had served as director of Owatonna Parks and Recreation since 2021. Martens was given the nod after the city lost what amounted to a bidding war with Freeborn County for former administrator Melanie Aeschliman. Martens had been the New Richland City Administrator since 2022.
The Owatonna School District hired what is believed to be its first female superintendent with the unanimous approval of Dr. Tammy Champa at the March school board meeting. Champa, who previously served as superintendent of Hastings and Pine Island public schools, assumed the local role on July 1. She succeeds Jeff Elstad, who was superintendent of OPS for eight years, highlighted by the construction of the new Owatonna High School and the creation of the Owatonna Opportunity Scholarship program.
No. 3 – HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS
During a year fraught with closures of rural health care options, Owatonna got not one, but two expansions.
After decades of Mayo dominance in local health care providers, Rochester-based Olmsted Medical Center opened a clinic in June and an ambulatory surgery center in August. Owatonna’s OMC offers family medicine, acute care, cardiology, OB-GYN, diagnostic imaging, psychiatry, podiatry and other visiting specialties.
Mayo had some changes of its own, announcing in October that it would end on-call labor and delivery coverage at Owatonna Hospital. The news seemed to come as a surprise to nearly everyone and left the hospital without doctors to handle births. Allina Health owns and operates the hospital – and wasted little time in stepping in to provide obstetricians so local births could continue. Additionally, Allina Health announced plans to open a dedicated Women’s Health clinic in Owatonna; it remains a work in progress.
No. 4 – OPS LEVY FAILS
It was too much, too soon. That’s the message Owatonna voters sent to the school district, which had the only question on the Nov. 4 ballot. The request to raise the operating levy by $700 per pupil failed by more than 20 percentage points. Though unrelated to the operating levy, voters had approved a bond vote in 2019 to build a new high school. Tax-weary residents were also facing a proposed city levy hike of 13% and a potential county hike of 5.1%. Those eventually dropped to 9.9% and 4.6%, respectively.
No. 5 – WWTP
It’s not an … appealing topic, but there’s no denying the necessity. The Medford-Owatonna wastewater treatment plant connection project that will regionalize wastewater treatment for the two cities is just weeks away from completion. The upgrade and expansion project nearly doubled the current plant’s capacity and will serve Owatonna’s expected growth over the next 25 years. It also allows Medford to decommission its current wastewater treatment facility and pump the wastewater to Owatonna for processing.
No. 6 – SCHS STRUGGLES
What seemed to start with a public dispute about a 1940s gas station has turned into a wide-ranging assessment of the Steele County Historical Society’s internal operations. In November, the organization lost its fifth executive director in 10 years over “a lack of clarity (about) organizational decisions,” the latest director wrote. Since Jennifer Thiele’s resignation, four board members have also stepped down.
The issues came to light when two longtime volunteers were permanently banned from the SCHS grounds after accusations of theft and misrepresentation of the organization’s goals. No criminal charges have been filed; the volunteers claim the initial incidents were simple miscommunication. A former employee, however, said it was part of a pattern, and urged the current board to make drastic changes to turn things around.
No. 7 – EAST SIDE CORRIDOR
A Steele County project that has been in the works for more than 30 years ramped up in 2025, leading a group of residents to accuse county leaders of violating state law – and prevailing in court. The Minnesota Court of Administrative Hearings agreed with the residents’ claim that officials – including the county attorney and the county administrator – violated the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act.
The residents took issue with the lack of transparency and accountability about the East Side Corridor project, a proposal to build a new road along the eastern edge of Owatonna. In her ruling, the judge agreed, issuing a $300 civil penalty against the county and ordering it to reimburse the court costs, up to $1,000. The residents claim the planned route jeopardizes the safety of the neighborhood, among other concerns.
The county board may make a final decision about the project’s future within weeks.
No. 8 – HORNER CONVICTED
A jury found Jason Lee Horner, 41, guilty of second-degree murder without intent in the death of Sabrina Lee Schnoor, 25. The Nov. 20 verdict came after a week of testimony about the events of May 29, 2023. That night, Horner and Schnoor are seen together on surveillance video; Schnoor’s body was discovered 24 hours later under the Interstate 35 overpass near the Steele County Administration Building. She had been shot in the mouth at close range; authorities tracked Horner down three days later and arrested him. He claimed Schnoor accidentally shot herself. Horner was sentenced Dec. 22 to 216 months in prison; he is required to serve at least two-thirds of the that, or 11.8 years. With credit for 932 days already served, Horner could be released in just over nine years.
No. 9 – BP vs PETERSON
In a case that drew comparisons to “The Sandlot,” Blooming Prairie found itself in the spotlight after a resident was accused of keeping errant baseballs that landed on his son’s property, across Steele County Road 46 from the BPHS ball diamonds. Tom Peterson claimed the stories of coaches, parents and players were not true – that he “guarded” them while on the property to prevent trespassers, then returned them when people left. According to Peterson, the accusations stemmed from people who were angry about another topic: The county road.
The BP native appealed to law enforcement, the school board and, finally, the county board to prohibit parking along the road during ballgames. Peterson cited safety issues of people walking from between cars, as well as a significant narrowing of the lane of travel. On a split vote, county commissioners voted in April to ban parking on both sides of CR46. Residents disputed Peterson’s claim of retaliation, saying he’d been swiping baseballs for more than a year.
In August, the school district installed more than 150 linear feet of 20-foot-tall chain link fencing, with a six-foot angled “hood” at the top of the backstop. The previous fence was 6 to 12 feet tall. Peterson’s son sold his property in September.
No. 10 – LACA CLOSES
Three years after Leo Augusta Children’s Academy opened in Blooming Prairie to help address a need for rural childcare, it announced its closing in June. The board said it operated the facility at a loss of $72,000 in the last fiscal year and faced a persistent negative cash flow. The facility opened in June 2022 after BP businessman Craig Kruckeberg’s family donated money and the property.
Former Board Chair Amy Hinzmann said in addition to finances, LACA didn’t receive local or political backing. The nonprofit never picked up the momentum it needed to be successful, she said, adding that the highest enrollment was 86. LACA was capable of serving 144 children, from infants through age 12. The closure affected 15 full- and part-time employees.