By Lisa Kelly

We had a great experience at the State Fair this year. We had several interactive activities at the booth that included a trivia spinning wheel, a headphone/noise activity, and our videos on loop. We had many of our flyers available and trinkets for prizes.

Our booth was always busy as the fair was the 6^th most attended in history with just over 1.8 million people. Day two of the fair even broke an attendance record of more than 164,000 people that came through. Governor Walz and Lt. Governor Flanagan stopped by the booth, as well as many current and former staff.

The final weekend was extremely hot, some of the hottest days we saw this summer. Minnesota continues to rank in the top two in the country of State Fairs. We are the most popular Fair on social media in the country! We have over 172 million views on Tiktok and nearly 300,000 Instagram posts, just ahead of the Texas State Fair which runs for 24 days.

Despite the heat, the constant flow of traffic, and parking challenges our staff did an amazing job! They were engaging, had a lot of fun with the visitors, and were able to pivot with a few last-minute changes very easily.

Thank you to everyone who signed up to work a shift, you helped make this an amazing event!

By Ian Heaslip

MCF- Moose Lake staff helped contribute to a beautiful memorial bench to honor a coworker's family loss. Brandon Hennager and the Carpentry Program at MCF- Moose Lake did a phenomenal job with this heartfelt project!

By Carla Pocket

Travis Hanson, Food Service Supervisor and New Hire CO Blake Toldo completed Academy in July. Congratulations!

(L-R) Lt. Brandon McComas, CO1 Blake Toldo, FS Supervisor Travis Hanson, Warden Gino Anselmo

New Hire CO Tayea Wheeler completed Academy on August 15th.

(L-R) Lt. Brandon McComas, CO 1 Tayea Wheeler, Captain RJ Kruse

By Danelle Gorra

John Law's technical support of Field Services delivers a distinct level of customer service from the rapid responsiveness, to the depth of troubleshooting to the care and communication in follow-up. We are so grateful to be in partnership with him and want to celebrate not only the work but the demeanor with which he does his work.

THANK YOU JOHN LAW!

By Anonymous

Huge Shout Out to CO1 Ivan Cortes Roque. He worked day one of the State Fair booth. Despite being new to the agency he approached the day with excitement! He drew people into the booth, answered questions, and engaged with the visitors. He did a great job!

By Melissa Paquette

Congratulations to Sgt. Jesse Mowers for his nomination in the category of "Above & Beyond the Call of Duty". Below is his anonymous nomination submission.

Jesse "The Detective" Mowers possesses and extraordinary ability. He reports for duty and the population deeply declines their deviant behavior. The IP population know they'll be caught tattooing, smoking, cheeking medication, transferring property, fighting, gambling, extorting, destroying property and treating each other badly.

During his detail, Sgt. Mowers provides a predictable, decent environment where IP's can prosper. I really want to show my personal appreciation for his work ethic. Sgt. Mowers provides leadership as a member of the MCF-FRB Sergeant Committee. He provides consistency in operations through proven strategies. He is streamlining regulations for staff and the IP's for a predictable, safe environment.

Sgt. Mowers was also assigned to assist with the MCF-FRB PREA audit. Sgt. Mowers ensured consistency in all areas of the facility. He worked hard to ensure PREA stood out in word and practice. I was taken aback by how quickly and precisely he achieved every assignment given. During his time, he also found IPs smoking, misusing medication and prevented many situations from arising into emergencies.

I am proud to have such an extraordinary person and professional at MCF-FRB. I look forward to the continued success of Jesse "The Detective" Mowers.

(L-R) Capt. Marty Dahlen, Sgt. Jesse Mowers & Lt. Tom Wagner

By Melissa Paquette

Thank you to the MCF-Faribault staff who assisted with the recruitment booth at the Steele County Fair!

(L-R) Lt. Matt Frantesl, Capt. Melissa Paquette, Capt. Chris Mitchell, Sgt. Joe Ernste & Sgt. Evan McColley (L-R) CO2 Austin Dalland & Capt. Marty Dahlen

(L-R) Sgt. Jesse Mowers, Capt. Arti Cunningham, Capt. Melissa Paquette, CO1 Ethan Muell & Capt. Marty Dahlen (L-R) Capt. Melissa Paquette, CO2 Ethan Muell, Records Supv. Tina Bokman, Sgt. Joe Ernste, Records Director Matt Zehoski & Capt. Chris Mitchell

By Jacob McLellan

Staff from the Moorhead, Detroit Lakes and ISR districts attended Tribal State Relations Training at Shooting Start Casino at the White Earth Tribal Nation August 9th and 10th. The mission of TSRT is t o provide training and education for Minnesota state employees about American Indian tribal governments, histories, cultures, and traditions, in order to empower state employees to work effectively with American Indians and promote authentic and respectful relationships between state agencies and American Indian tribes.

Chad Christianson, Janelle Cheney, Taylor Erickson, Cameron Behm, Alex Boyd, Justin Ball, Erik Ness, Heidi Erickson, Erin Rundle, Nick Kaml, Todd Erickson
Jennifer Johnsgaard, Charity Reese, Steve Vilhauer, Johanna Jones, Breanna Warren
Jodi Kulik and Wendy Spry

By Jacob McLellan

Moorhead ISR (Justin Ball, Erik Ness and Alex Boyd) and Moorhead probation/SR received a thank you from Crossing Homes for their continued collaboration and dedication to client care.

"Thank you for all you do! Our definition of a hero is someone who protects our world and continues to make it a better place, despite having to see it's darkest aspects every day. Our hero courageously puts on his or her badge each day and sacrifices more daily than most do in an entire lifetime."

Crossing Homes is a local resource in Moorhead that helps solidify housing, support and guidance for high-risk individuals within the Moorhead and Clay County communities.

By Jay S. Olson

The annual Emergency Response Team training was conducted at Camp Ripley the week of August 21. According to OSI Director John Melvin “this annual training event is vital to ensure operational readiness and cross-functional interoperability. This year we focused on negotiation and diffusion."

On Tuesday afternoon, Special Agent Michelle Frascone presented on the role and responsibilities of the BCA during the investigative process of critical incidents.

For the first time, the Incident Management Team was incorporated into the training to ensure concept of operations, and to ensure that the IMT is better positioned to provide support to the ERT during extended activations.

The Ohio DOC had two of their Special Tactics and Response Team (STAR) members present the entire week to observe our practices. The Ohio STAR members repeatedly commented on how impressed they were with the capabilities of our ERT, and the hospitality provided by the MN DOC. They also commented on how well designed and managed our training activities were.