Firefighters inspect the engine of an aircraft that made a forced landing in a field north of Houlton Wednesday, Dec. 1. A 70-year-old Minnesota man was uninjured in the incident.

A 70-year-old Mahtomedi, Minn., man walked away from his private plane Wednesday after he crash-landed it in a field north of Houlton.

The possibility of a casino in Hudson resurfaced last week when the federal government and three Bands of Chippewa Indians reached a settlement Dec. 1. Under the terms of the settlement the Department of Interior will again consider the Four Feathers' application for establishing a casino at St. Croix Meadows Greyhound Track in Hudson.

As expected, casino supporters were happy and opponents disappointed with the news that the Department of Interior will again review the Four Feathers' casino application.

The city of Hudson has been dropped as a defendant in a lawsuit arising out of a 1996 fistfight between two emergency medical technicians.

Ruth Kolerus wasn't comfortable with all the attention she was getting from newspaper reporters last week.

Heidi Doering, Roberts, is the operations manager/grower at Hermes Floral in the town of Hudson. This year Hermes started 40,000 poinsettia cuttings; one to eight cuttings are planted in a single pot. Red still remains the dominant color preferred by customers, but a new variety of the holiday favorite has emerged called Silver Bells. It features variegated leaves, green and white, and variegated bracts, pink and white, and is shown on Doering's right. The inset shows a close-up of the actual poinsettia flower surrounded by the colorful bracts. The plant is made up of leaves (green), bracts (colored) and tiny flowers nestled in the center of the bracts.

County Board Supervisor Darryl Standafer is a rare politician who may "wish" himself out of a job. Standafer, chair of the Administration Committee, is leading the charge to reduce the size of the St. Croix County Board from 31 to 21 members.