Borderland Humane Society, 6 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 18, River's Edge Villa.

A contract that changes Superintendent Don Langan’s position to part-time was approved after questions were raised during a heated discussion Monday.

The Falls School Board approved in a 4-2 vote Langan’s revised contract, which decreases his hours from full time to 0.6 hours. Board members Roger Jerome and Willi Kostiuk voted against the motion.

Board members agreed that while Langan has done good things for the district, board members were concerned about several paragraphs in the contract about life and health insurance.

Unknowns in the 2009 revenue side of Koochiching County’s economic development agency have some board members concerned.

The Koochiching Economic Development Authority Board reviewed a draft of its 2009 budget Tuesday, but KEDA Director Paul Nevanen noted that there were several unknown numbers in the agency’s revenue due to decisions made by Koochiching County and International Falls in the past year.

The KEDA’s funding comes from the city, county and Iron Range Resources.

International Falls City Council adopted its 2009 budget, but councilors made clear that action taken in St. Paul to resolve a huge state budget deficit could bring changes to the city’s budget.

Councilors adopted a $1.7 million property tax levy and a $12.4 million budget.

City Administrator Rod Otterness told the council that should the governor withdraw the city’s anticipated local government aid and market value homestead credit reimbursements totaling about $1.8 million, the council will be forced to reconsider some expenditures in the 2009 budget quickly.

The December meeting of the Littlefork-Big Falls school board will be held in Big Falls. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Big Falls City Clerk’s office.
On the agenda is a review of the printed survey results that were sent to the Independent School District 362 community regarding the continuance of a pursuit of a four-day week for L-BF.

Ranier City Council approved a water rate increase during a brief meeting Monday.
Trustees adopted an ordinance that increases the water rates based on a water rate study conducted in 2006. The action increases the minimum water rate from $76.45 to $79.22 — a $2.77 increase, according to Clerk Kim Nuthak.
The council conducted it Truth-In-Taxation hearing and later certified the 2009 levy at $30,850, which represents an increase of $1,520 over the amount collected in 2008.

Bemidji State to hold onto men’s track and field after all

Winter break just got a lot less complicated for former Broncos Rhegy (’06) and Raph Gelo (’08).

The siblings were ready to transfer out of Bemidji State University over break after a proposal threatened to cut men’s track and field at the school, but news broke late last week that the men’s track program will be sticking around for at least two more seasons.

Rainy River’s two close losses over the weekend dropped them to 1-6 overall — a far cry from the 2-3 record they thought they had after crushing Minnesota West on Dec. 6.

The Voyageurs lost Friday to Rochester 77-70 and Saturday to Riverland 77-74.

As for the 101-66 victory over Minnesota West on Dec. 6, it turns out that’s a loss, too, as RRCC had to forfeit after playing with an ineligible player.

Rainy River coach Tim Myles is hoping his team continues to learn from its mistakes.

In a tough weekend of action — the Voyageurs lost Friday to Rochester 95-37, and again Saturday to Riverland 66-37 — Myles noticed his squad continues to play hard in the face of large defeats.

Due to poor market conditions for both kraft and paper products, all production at AbitibiBowater’s Fort Frances operations will be shut down for one week, starting Dec. 24, the company reported last week.

Operations will resume Jan. 2, according to a news story by the Fort Frances Times.

Mill manager John Harrison told The Times the downtime will affect about 500 mill workers, with essential services continuing.