Forest Lake rolled to an easy opening round win in the Section 7AAAA boy's basketball playoffs Thursday night, slamming the door on visiting Blaine, 84-71. Doug Sewall, Forest Lake's 6-foot-5 senior center, led a balanced Ranger scoring attack with 24 points. Phil Hegseth, Sam Miller and Zach Riedeman all hit for 13 points. The Rangers (22-5), the No. 2 seed in the tournament, will now take on Anoka, the No. 3 seed, on Tuesday, March 16 in Elk River.

The Tornadoes took care of Cambridge-Isanti, 76-61 in the quarterfinals on Thursday night. In the other bracket, No. 1 seed Duluth East routed St. Francis, 84-44 while Coon Rapids knocked off Andover, 78-68. Duluth East and Coon Rapids will now meet in the semifinals. The Section 7AAAA title game will be played in Elk River on Friday, March 19

With the mandatory 24-hour rest behind him, Ken Anderson and his team of 14 dogs are off and running Thursday morning. The crew left Takotna at 4 a.m. Alaska time, headed for Ophir, the 10th checkpoint of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. The former Forest Lake resident took his 24-hour break in Takotna and left the checkpoint in 21st place. Only seven of the 20 mushers ahead of him have taken their 24-hour break, so Anderson may move up as teams rest. Dallas Seavey is the new leader, having checked in at Cripple at 1:26 a.m. The 38th annual race started in Anchorage on Saturday and will end in Nome after covering more than 1100 miles over the northern route in Alaska. Check back for more details or see www.windycreekkennel.com for updates from Anderson's wife, Gwen Holdmann.

As of 8 a.m. Wednesday (Alaska time), Ken Anderson is resting at Takotna, the ninth checkpoint of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. The Forest Lake native was the 20th musher to arrive to Takotna, where he arrived at 3:18 this morning. It appears he is taking his mandatory 24-hour break there. Five mushers have left that checkpoint and will take their big break later on the course. Leader Hans Gatt and Cim Smythe have reached the next checkpoint in Ophir. Anderson is racing with 14 dogs, having dropped two three stops ago in Rohn. The sled dog race started in Anchorage on Saturday and will end in Nome after covering more than 1100 miles over the northern route in Alaska. Check back for more details or see www.windycreekkennel.com for updates from Anderson's wife, Gwen Holdmann.

The second annual Celebrate Youth Art! art show is now on in Forest Lake.

The annual show of art work produced by students in all four Forest Lake secondary schools opened on Thursday, March 4 at the Hardwood Creek Branch Library in Forest Lake.

Century Junior High School art teacher Susan Mitchelson places art on the wall at the Hardwood Creek Library. An art show of student work will be on display through April 24. (Photo By Cliff Buchan) 

Apologies considered and mandates explained, a number of Forest Lake residents went before the city council Monday night to vent their frustrations over utility fees they say don’t benefit them.

Nearly a dozen city residents expressed their frustration and anger with the bills they received from the city this winter. Others in the overflow crowd at city hall were in agreement.

There were new faces at the podium during the public forum of the March 3 Chisago County board meeting. More than three dozen speakers filled a solid hour - most in support of the proposed power plant - asking the commissioners to reconsider their vote of Feb. 17, an act they would complete..

On Feb. 17, by 3-2, the commissioners said no to the development agreement, the host fee agreement and the distribution of the host fee funds in connection with the LS Power electric-generating power plant proposal. Most in this group of pro power plant supporters had not spoken to the commissioners before.