A Paul Bunyan statue in Akeley has been damaged by vandals, but repairs have been put on hold until the city council hears from the League of Minnesota Cities regarding who holds proprietary rights to its upgrades. The Krotzer family, who built the 63-foot high statue in 1984, alleges that hiring another source to complete work on it is a copyright infringement.

Crews have completed repairing city streets that sustained damage in the May storm. Around 1,600 sidewalk panels and 600 feet of street curb were replaced. In total, the repairs cost a little over $2 million.

State farmers will benefit in two ways: drought has helped to drive corn prices higher, and Minnesota farms are producing high yields compared to farms in other states, where dry conditions have shriveled crops, WCCO reports.

Minnesota's cornfields will average 168 bushels an acre this year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Pioneer Press reports this would be Minnesota's largest corn crop in state history and make the state the second largest corn producer in the country -- only trailing Iowa.

Workers installed a retrofitted diaphragm plate on the Sabo pedestrian bridge this week and the bridge reopened Friday morning, at least until more repairs are done to finish the project. Engineers will then plan and schedule repairs to the rest of the bridge’s diaphragm plates later this year.

Last July, a Burlington Northern Santa Fe train derailed and more than a dozen railcars carrying corn spilled into Locke Lake. Ten months later, neighbors tell KARE 11 the corn is causing foul odors and attracting more geese to the area. A railroad spokesperson says crews have already removed about 25 tons of corn, but aren't able to remove it all. A bike path that runs underneath the rail line also remains closed, but is supposed to reopen in July.

A recent surge of Goss's leaf blight has been wilting corn across the Midwest -- prompting researchers to try to find a treatment. The bacterial disease was first found in Minnesota in 2009. Last year there were 40 infected fields.