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Linda Vanderwerf

Reporter

In 42 years in the newspaper industry, Linda Vanderwerf has worked at several daily newspapers in Minnesota, including the Mesabi Daily News, now called the Mesabi Tribune in Virginia. Previously, she worked for the Las Cruces Sun-News in New Mexico and the Rapid City Journal in the Black Hills of South Dakota. She has been a reporter at the West Central Tribune for nearly 27 years.

Vanderwerf can be reached at email: lvanderwerf@wctrib.com or phone 320-214-4340

She graduated from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities in 1980 with a bachelor's degree in journalism. She spent her first two years of college at the University of Minnesota - Morris.

In her career, she has covered politics, city and county governments, business, public safety, health care and a wide range of feature stories. She currently covers education and health for the West Central Tribune.

Vanderwerf grew up on a farm between Redwood Falls and Morgan in Redwood County and graduated from Redwood Falls High School, now called Redwood Valley High School.

She speaks English.

The Minnesota Legislature OK'd $6.5 million to transfer Upper Sioux Agency State Park land to the Upper Sioux Community, but no timeline is set for the transfer. The park is still open to the public.
Sacred, ancestral lands could be returned to the Upper Sioux Community under legislation heard Wednesday in a committee. The transfer would close the Upper Sioux Agency State Park near Granite Falls.
Bills will be discussed in a Minnesota House committee hearing Wednesday afternoon
Prosecution errors freed Thomas Rhodes from prison and overturned his murder convictions Friday. A memo found in the prosecution's files last year contributed to his release.
As one generation prepares to retire, there's a need for younger people to learn the trade of meat processing and fill their shoes. Ridgewater College has stepped in to provide the training.
Willmar Public Schools has worked with an Arizona company to hire experienced teachers from other countries to fill teaching openings. The district still seeks more teachers and has job openings in many other areas, too.
With the Minnesota Supreme Court declining to review a lower court opinion, the ruling of state courts that Algene Vossen is not competent to go to trial will stand. Vossen is charged with murder in the 1974 stabbing death of Mabel "Mae" Herman in Willmar.
Minnesota's Migrant Education Program works with students whose families are migrant farm workers. The program helps students avoid falling behind as they travel with their families and stay on track to graduate.
The family of 2nd Lt. William J. McGowan was able to lay him to rest Saturday, 78 years after the 23-year-old pilot's plane was shot down on D-Day. His remains were recovered in France in 2018 and identified in 2019.
Dr. Mark Eakes of Granite Falls now faces a total of seven felony charges of criminal sexual conduct for related to pelvic, rectal or breast exams on four patients from 2019 to 2021.