David Colburn

TWO HARBORS — NER/Ely senior Cylvia DeBeltz captured medalist honors at last Thursday’s East Range Conference Championship at Lakeview National Golf Course, finishing three strokes ahead of the field to claim the individual title. DeBeltz opened with a 46 on the front nine and followed with a 50 on the back for a winning 18-hole total of 96.

ELY — The Ely Timberwolves opened the Section 7A baseball playoffs in emphatic fashion on Tuesday, overwhelming the Cook County Vikings 23-1 in a game shortened by the mercy rule. As the tournament’s No. 2 seed, Ely earned the right to host its portion of the sectional bracket, and the Wolves quickly made themselves at home.

REGIONAL — The Ely girls track and field team will be well represented at the Class A state meet after standout performances at the Section 7A championships held May 27 at Griggs Field on the University of Minnesota Duluth campus. Sophomore sprint standout Violet Udovich led the charge in emphatic fashion, sweeping the 100-, 200-, and 400-meter dash titles to earn three individual berths in the state meet.

ORR — A 66-year-old Orr man was arrested Monday after authorities say he left the scene of a crash and was later found near a pickup truck that had caught fire. According to the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office, Randy Johnson, 66, of Orr, was booked into the Virginia jail on charges of driving under the influence and failure to stop after an accident.

REGIONAL — The St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office has completed its investigation into a fatal boating accident on Lake Vermilion that claimed the life of a fishing guide and resort owner in May.

REGIONAL — National reports detailing a decision by the National Park Service to redirect roughly $90 million in park fee revenue toward projects tied to the nation’s 250th anniversary celebration in Washington, D.C. are raising concerns about maintenance funding across the national park system, including at Voyageurs National Park.

REGIONAL- Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday launched Minnesota’s new Office of Public Service, a statewide initiative designed to expand volunteer opportunities while creating new pathways into public service careers.

REGIONAL- Several new Minnesota laws took effect Wednesday, including changes that will eventually require anonymous school threat reporting systems statewide, strengthen oversight of teachers charged with serious crimes, modernize decades-old human services computer systems, and expand early childhood mental health services.

VIRGINIA- Former Rock Ridge High School Dean of Students Christopher Chad now faces three felony criminal sexual conduct charges in St. Louis County involving a former student. The charges come more than a year after Chad was arrested in Eveleth and extradited to Georgia on unrelated child exploitation charges.

ELY- More than 350 people packed the Minnesota North-Vermilion auditorium Sunday evening for a community wildfire update, where incident officials stressed that while smoky skies had eased …