The News Leaders

The Sartell High School swim and dive team finished in first place, set four new section and three new pool records at the Section 6A meet on Saturday, Nov. 10, at Sartell High School. The state meet is Nov. 14-16 at the University of Minnesota. The Sabres qualified 17 swimmers for the state meet with at least one entry per

Steve Soyka will be Stearns County’s new sheriff. Soyka, a Stearns County Sheriff’s Office sergeant, beat Waite Park Police Chief Dave Bentrud. Soyka won 56 percent of the vote. He collected 34,771 votes while Bentrud picked p 26,309 votes. Soyka will replace Sheriff Don Gudmundson, who was appointed in May 2017 after John Sanner retired midway through his term. The

The state Senate will remain in Republican control after Jeff Howe beat Joe Perske in the Senate District 13 special election. Howe, who currently represents District 13A in the state House, collected 57 percent of the vote. Perske, a current Stearns County commissioner and former Sartell mayor, received 16,108 votes to Howe’s 21,714 votes. The special election was needed when

Rocori school board member Lisa Demuth is the new representative from House District 13A. Republican Demuth won with 61 percent of the votes over Democrat Jim Read. Demuth collected 11,348 votes compared with Read’s 7,243. Demuth will replace Jeff Howe in the state House. Howe won the Senate District 13 race. House District 13A runs from St. Joseph southeast to

Sartell-St. Stephen voters overwhelmingly rejected an operating levy. There were 3,230 yes votes and 4,924 no votes. The levy would have raised $1.8 million to fund operations that were part of the district’s master plan.  Incumbents Jeremy Snoberger and Patrick Marushin along with newcomer Amanda Byrd were elected to the Sartell-St. Stephen school board. They will serve four-year terms. In

Ryan Fitzthum will be Sartell’s new mayor. He defeated fellow Sartell City Council member David Peterson. Fitzthum won 53 percent of the vote. Fitzthum collected 3,886 votes compared with Peterson’s 3,402 votes. Fitzthum replaces current Mayor Sarah Jane Nicoll who did not seek re-election. The mayor serves a four-year term. Peterson’s term on the council ends this year. Timothy Elness

Incumbent St. Joseph City Council member Dale Wick lost his bid for re-election in a three-way race for two seats. Voters re-elected Anne Buckvold and elected Brian Theisen to four-terms on the City Council Buckvold received 1,555 votes, Theisen won 1,381 votes and Wick collected 1,013 votes. Buckvold was appointed to the council in May to fill a vacancy created

Zachary Dorholt, Natalie Ringsmuth and Les Green were elected to the St. Cloud school board in a six-candidate race. They will serve four-year terms. The vote totals: Dorholt            15,702 Ringsmuth       15,273 Green              14,271 Beth Schlangen           13,616 Larry Hosch                 13,194 Peter Hamerlinck        10,924