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Thumbs up for another Riverland honor. Thumbs up for Riverland automotive instructor Carl Morsching who this week was named Outstanding New Educator of the Year by the Minnesota State Transportation Center of Excellence. It’s another notch in the school’s belt and is another in a series of accolades that have recently come to students, teachers and administrators alike.

Thumbs up for grad rates. As graduation numbers across the state dropped in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was nice this week to see the Minnesota Department of Education’s announcement that these graduation rates are rising and reaching a point of notoriety as being the highest ever recorded. There’s still room to improve, but even in schools like Austin, where grad numbers remained largely plateaued and staying even with previous years, it’s a step forward and something to build on.

Thumbs up for young entrepreneurs. Lyle’s Mac Nelson, along with his cousin Foster Achenbach, are bringing Mac Shack Good Eats to life, dropping its offering of smashburger tacos into the continually growing trend of food trucks. What makes it especially notable is that Nelson is just two years removed from graduating from Lyle High School and Achenbach three years. It’s incredibly promising to see this kind of initiative  at such a young age.

Thumbs up for National Nurses Week and National Skilled Nurses Week. This past week nurses around the nation, in the state and right here in Austin were honored for National Nurses Week while next week we’ll honor National Skilled Nurses Week. Those who work in these two areas take on an incredibly difficult job with warmth, compassion and dedication and we ask that all of you who interact when these souls take time to appreciate the work they undertake on a daily basis.

Thumbs down to delay. A longer review process at the state and federal levels have delayed the start of the city’s three-year reconstruction project of Oakland Avenue West and First Avenue SW until most likely July. This project has already drawn a lot of attention in Austin and the hope was construction would be started already. It’s unlikely to cause any larger delay in the overall project as City Engineer Steven Lang and his department have a good plan in place to adjust for this, but still it’s disappointing that the delay is because of something out of the city’s hands.