Robb Murray

6 days ago | mankatofreepress.com | Robb Murray

Sarah Sifers’s son was struggling. A junior high school student in the Mankato Area Public Schools, he was missing so much school he was in danger of being labeled a chronic truant. His mental health was suffering. He was on an Individualized Education Program. “He was so anxious. He couldn’t order food in a restaurant, wouldn’t talk in school or in classes. He was so depressed,” Sifers says.

1 week ago | mankatofreepress.com | Robb Murray

Ahhh, spring. The time of year when plants begin to grow, days get warmer and the sun starts to hang out with us a little longer in the evening. But if you work for an animal shelter, springtime means one thing: cats. Lots and lots of cats. Springtime is a big time in the cat multiplication world. Which also makes it a big time in the animal shelter world. This year, however, the Blue Earth Nicollet County Humane Society got hit with more meows than you can shake a litter box at.

3 weeks ago | mankatofreepress.com | Robb Murray

Sindi Jensen has a secret. It’s nothing scandalous, nothing that would change the way her friends think about her. In fact, it’s the kind of secret that, once revealed, would tell you everything you need to know about her — including her cool personality and impeccable taste in music. Jensen, who spent a formidable four years as a college student in Mankato a few decades back, keeps a strong box in a closet in her Plymouth home.

1 month ago | mankatofreepress.com | Robb Murray

Fifteen years ago, Justin Fasnacht launched an internet radio station that boldly played local music, eschewed any kind of advertising, refused to include anyone credibly accused of mistreating women, and insisted on spanning myriad genres. It was called FuzzTalk Radio, a hip DIY radio venture well known by anyone who has spent any time in the Mankato music scene. And by the time you read this, FuzzTalk radio will be gone, the last local song having sounded off at midnight.

Jan 19, 2025 | mankatofreepress.com | Robb Murray

If you saw the listing for “The Folsom Prison Experience” and thought to yourself, “Eh, sounds like another tribute band,” you would have thought wrong. Very wrong. When you come to this show, you’re not walking in as a mere concert-goer. You’re walking in a hardened criminal. You’re doing hard time. Maybe you held up a liquor store or broke a man’s jaw in a bar fight.