Beltrami County Historical Society to host Women of Local Government program

Jun. 17—BEMIDJI — The
Beltrami County Historical Society
will host a public panel titled "Women Elected to Lead: Voices from Local Government" at 10 a.m. on Saturday, June 21, at the Beltrami County History Center.
As part of an ongoing series recognizing the significant impact of women in shaping Beltrami County, this panel will feature three women with firsthand experience in public office.
Local historian Lois Jenkins will moderate the discussion and offer historical context about women who have served in elected office throughout the region.
Panelists include:
* Rita Albrecht, who served four terms as mayor of Bemidji following her election in 2012. She previously served on the Bemidji City Council and has been a longtime advocate for sustainable land use and public engagement. In 2021, she was appointed co-chair of the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources.
* Gwenia Fiskevold-Gould, current Bemidji City Council representative, who has been active in discussions surrounding community infrastructure, business development and neighborhood engagement.
* Elaine Fleming, who made history in 2003 when she was elected the first female and first Ojibwe mayor of Cass Lake. She served two terms and has remained active as a professor at Leech Lake Tribal College and host of the radio program "History of Leech Lake." She is also known for her environmental advocacy and oral history work.
Panelists will explore the challenges, responsibilities and rewards of local leadership and the importance of civic participation and representation, a release said.
The event is free and open to the public. Seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.
For more information about this event, visit
beltramihistory.org
or contact the Historical Society at
(218) 444-3376
or via email at
depot@beltramihistory.org.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Yahoo

16 minutes ago

• Yahoo

Suspect in Minnesota lawmaker's killing was ‘prepper' preparing ‘for war'

The man charged in connection with the recent shootings of two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses was a doomsday 'prepper' who instructed his family to 'prepare for war' as he tried to evade capture, according to new court filings. Vance Boelter, 57, faces multiple federal and state murder charges after allegedly shooting dead the Democratic Minnesota state house speaker emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in the early hours of 14 June. Boelter is also accused of shooting and seriously wounding the Democratic state senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, about 90 minutes earlier. In a newly unsealed affidavit first reported by the local news station WCCO and seen by the Guardian, law enforcement pulled over Boelter's wife and four children hours after the shootings near Lake Mille Lacs, about 75 miles (120km) north of the Twin Cities, apparently en route to Wisconsin. Boelter's wife consented to a search of her vehicle, where law enforcement located a revolver in the glove box and a semi-automatic pistol in a cooler. Police also found a safe, Boelter's and the children's passports, and at least $10,000 in cash, according to the affidavit by FBI agent Terry Getsch. Boelter's wife told investigators that her husband had recently sent a message to a group text thread with their children, which 'stated something to the effect of they should prepare for war, they needed to get out of the house and people with guns may be showing up to the house', wrote Getsch. According to the affidavit dated 14 June, Boelter and his wife were preppers – a term which refers to people who stockpile materials such as weapons, food and gasoline. Preppers' purpose for doing that is to survive a future major disaster or catastrophe such as war or economic or political collapse. At some point earlier, Boelter had given his wife a 'bailout plan' – instructions of what to do and where to go in case of 'exigent circumstances'. The plan specified that the family go to her mother's residence in Spring Brook, Wisconsin. She also told investigators that her husband 'has a business partner from Worthington' who lives in the state of Washington. The two were 'partners … in Red Lion, a security company and fishing outfit in Congo, Africa', the affidavit states. The deadly shootings took place as millions of people prepared to take to the streets to protest against the Trump administration and its assault on free speech, peaceful assembly and due process rights embedded in the US constitution. Getsch wrote the affidavit during what became the largest ever manhunt in Minnesota state history, when he believed the gunman may have fled state lines. Boelter was eventually captured two days later while trying to evade arrest by fleeing into a wooded area close to his home. The affidavit does not imply that Boelter's wife knew about her husband's alleged plans to attack the lawmakers. She has not been charged with any crime. Boelter was disguised as a police officer and drove a black SUV with a license plate that said 'police'. He allegedly ambushed the lawmakers at home in the middle of the night, banging on their front doors armed with a 9mm handgun, and wearing a black tactical vest and silicone mask. He exchanged fire with police at about 3.30am on Saturday outside the Hortmans' home but managed to flee the scene, according to a federal criminal complaint. According to separate court documents obtained by WCCO on Friday, law enforcement found a storage locker rented by Boelter in Minneapolis on 10 June. He had last 'used his access code' for the locker the day before the shootings. Investigators later found empty rifle cases, gun-cleaning supplies and a bike inside the locker. Law enforcement found a 'hit list' of individuals inside what they believe was Boelter's vehicle. It included Hortman, Hoffman and several other Democratic lawmakers, as well as reproductive rights advocates. In a statement released on Thursday, the Hoffman family recounted the terrifying attack. The statement said: 'We are grappling with the reality that we live in a world where public service carries such risks as being targeted because someone disagrees with you or doesn't like what you stand for.'

CBS News

33 minutes ago

• CBS News

Minnesota's connection to the "fathers of Juneteenth"

Long celebrated by African Americans, Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021, and a Minnesota state holiday two years later. Parades, concerts, informal and formal gatherings are just some of the ways families and communities honor what's also called Freedom Day. But it's much more than just a party, says Lee Henry Jordan, National Juneteenth's Midwest and state director. "You need to know the history of what you're commemorating and celebrating," Jordan said. "The 13th Amendment, the Emancipation Proclamation and General Order No. 3, we call those some of the 'Freedom Documents.'" Jordan believes all who take part in celebrations should know that in 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation freed enslaved people in states that tried to secede from the United States. Two years later, in June 1865, about 2,000 Colored troops marched into Galveston Bay in Texas to enforce General Order No. 3, which formally freed about 250,000 enslaved people who were being held illegally. Jordan calls members of four regiments — the 20th, 28th, 29th and 31st United States Colored Troops — the "fathers of Juneteenth." "The history of the United States Colored Troops, that should be a part of the celebration," Jordan said. Members of the United States Colored Troops. He hopes people look to uncover the freedom story of their own family, diving deep into history. "There were people that didn't get press but still did the work, and those people are in your family," he said. Jordan truly believes someone in his family wore the Union uniform and was in Galveston Bay in 1865. Through his research, he found at least one Minnesotan there. "William Crosley, and the fact that he's buried in Rochester, Minnesota," he said. "He was at Galveston, Texas, when the United States Colored Troops were there. So if he was there, who else was there?" He believes following a trail of history can unlock your family's freedom story. "There is a continuing story, energy, power, whatever you want to call it, that's connected to freedom," he said. "Find whatever that is for you, bring that to a Juneteenth celebration, and trust me, you will find a kindred spirit." Kindred spirits with shared history — American history — that should be celebrated by all. "If you don't leave there with a little bit more knowledge of who you are and where you come from and what can be done, then, now I think you're missing a little something," he said. Click here for a list of Juneteenth events this weekend in the Twin Cities, including the Great Minnesota Cookout on the lawn of the Minnesota State Capitol.

Yahoo

2 hours ago

• Yahoo

Accused assassin Vance Boelter claims plot by Gov. Walz in confession letter to FBI

The man accused of assassinating one Minnesota lawmaker and critically wounding another allegedly wrote that Gov. Tim Walz instructed him to also kill Sen. Amy Klobuchar in a rambling, conspiracy-laden letter he addressed to the FBI. Vance Boelter, 57, is facing multiple state and federal murder charges following what authorities have called a 'targeted political' attack, which left Democratic House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, dead. Boelter is also accused of gunning down Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, both of whom continue to recover. In a letter authorities discovered in a Buick abandoned near Boelter's home, he allegedly claimed the killings were part of a larger scheme orchestrated to boost the governor's political career, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported, citing unnamed sources. The plot also called for him to kill Klobuchar, clearing the way for Walz to run for Senate, Boelter wrote in the letter, which is said to be nearly two pages in length. It also included his confession for shooting Hoffman and Hortman, as well as both of their spouses. Boelter was pretending to be a police officer when he knocked on the door of Hoffman's home in Champlin in the early hours of Saturday, June 14, investigators said. When the senator opened the door, the gunman opened fire, striking Hoffman nine times. Police said Hoffman's wife was also hit eight times in the flurry of gunfire. Some 90 minutes later, Boelter pulled the same stunt at Hortman's home in Brooklyn Park about 8 miles away. She and her husband were both pronounced dead at the scene. The Hoffmans, meanwhile, were rushed to an area hospital, where they've since undergone surgery. Sen. Hoffman remains hospitalized in critical condition, while his wife was released to recover at home on Thursday. Following the shooting at the Hoffmans, authorities were proactively checking on Hortman when they crossed paths with the gunman for the first time. They arrived on the scene around 3:35 a.m. and approached the suspect — sporting a black tactical vest and badge at the time — as he exited the residence. He 'immediately' opened fire and then fled the scene, police said. Boelter was arrested last Sunday night following nearly two days of what Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley called 'the largest manhunt in state history.' Police have said they're still investigating a motive for the attacks. A 'manifesto,' recovered from a phony police vehicle investigators believe Boelter used during the shootings, included an apparent hit list with dozens of names, including Hoffman and Hortman, Bruley said. The others on the list, obtained by CNN, were largely Democratic politicians or abortion rights advocates.