AGRICULTURE

Donavon Stromberg

The Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation announced Donavon Stromberg from Mora received the organization’s Honorary Life recognition for his service to Minnesota agriculture. He will be recognized alongside Greg and Mary Bartz of Sleepy Eye and Roger and Linda Sauerbrey of Mayer.

ADVERTISING/PUBLIC RELATIONS

Rise and Shine and Partners, a Minneapolis independent brand navigation agency, announced Angey Iazzetta, partner and director of Brand Integration, will add president to her title, and Seth Thompson, previously partner and director of finance, has been promoted to partner and chief financial officer. Kevin DiLorenzo remains the agency’s chief executive officer.

ARCHITECTURE/ENGINEERING

WSB, a Golden Valley-based design and consulting firm specializing in engineering, environmental, and construction services, announced the hiring of Randy Hebb as director of financial planning and analysis, a newly created role. Hebb previously spent 22 years in executive roles at Lifetouch.

FINANCIAL SERVICES

Merchants Bank, Winona, announced that Brian Hokanson has been named market president in Cannon Falls. Hokanson previously was a senior vice president and ag/commercial banker at Merchants Bank from 2008-2023. He and his family have owned and operated Hokanson Family Farms in Cannon Falls since 1967. … Ameriprise Financial, Minneapolis, announced that Liane J. Pelletier has been appointed to its board of directors, effective Nov. 12. Pelletier previously served as chairwoman, chief executive officer and president of Alaska Communications Systems Group and also served as senior vice president for corporate strategy and business development for Sprint Corp.

GOVERNMENT

Ramsey County announced the appointment of Jaime Wilkins as director of Housing Stability. Wilkins most recently was associate vice president of Economic Opportunity & Youth Support at Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota and also served as the senior director of Housing Services for LSS.

HEALTH CARE

Allina Health, a Minneapolis-based metrowide chain of hospitals and clinics, announced that Dr. Ram Sankaraneni has been named president of the Allina Health Neuroscience, Spine and Pain Institute. Sankaraneni joined Allina Health in October 2023, most recently serving as director of the Abbott Northwestern Hospital Adult Neurology Residency Program.

HONORS

Hormel Foods Corp., Austin, Minn., announced it has been named on Military Times’ Best for Vets employer list for the 13th consecutive year. … Deluxe, a Minneapolis-based financial services and data company, announced that President and CEO Barry C. McCarthy has received the Technology Association of Georgia Lifetime Achievement Award. Deluxe’s Technology Center is in Atlanta.

LAW

Nationwide employment law firm Jackson Lewis announced Paul J. Lukas has joined the firm’s Minneapolis office as a principal. Lukas previously was with Nichols Kaster, where he served as co-leader of the ERISA Class Action Litigation Team. … Fredrikson, Minneapolis, announced the addition of the following  associates: Danielle F. Heine, Mallory M. Marolt, Taryn M. Reichow Kriese, Ian Y. Sheppard, Ellen T. Stojak, Jacob G. Vander Weit, Monica Villanueva-Nelson, Frederick A. Yates and Hannah M. Zimmerman. Marolt is based in Mankato.

MANUFACTURING

Niron Magnetics, a Minneapolis developer of rare earth-free permanent magnets for industry, announced the appointment of Jon Olson and Eric Stang to its board of directors. Olson serves on the boards of Advanced Micro Devices, Rocket Lab and Kulicke & Soffa and previously held senior executive roles at Xilinx and Intel; Stang serves as chairman and CEO of Ooma and previously served as CEO of Reliant Technologies and Lexar Media.

MILESTONES

IN Food Marketing & Design, a Minneapolis-based food marketing communications agency, announced it is celebrating its 30th anniversary.

OPENINGS

New Hope-based Taco Bell franchisee Border Foods announced the opening of its 100th Minnesota location at 14751 Armstrong Blvd. NW, Ramsey; it is the company’s 254th location in the Upper Midwest.

ORGANIZATIONS

GF Building Flow Solutions Americas, an Apple Valley-based manufacturer of Uponor-branded indoor plumbing products, announced that Chrissie Walsh, its regional head of Environmental Sustainability, at has been named to the Minnesota Chamber Environmental Sustainability Foundation board of directors.

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EMAIL ITEMS to businessnews@pioneerpress.com.

SUPERIOR, Wis. — A police officer was shot Sunday during what authorities described as “a multi-jurisdictional response to an active incident.”

The Superior Police Department confirmed in a Sunday morning news release that one Superior officer is in stable condition at Essentia-Health in Duluth after the incident at the Superior Middle School, North 37th Street and Tower Avenue.

One person is in custody. Authorities did not identify the suspect early Sunday.

“We are asking residents to avoid the area while we resolve this situation,” Police Chief Paul Winterscheidt said in a statement. “We appreciate your patience and support during these critical hours.”

Superior Mayor Jim Paine said in a social media post that the officer, who was first on the scene, showed “tremendous valor” and wished them a speedy recovery.

In an email to parents, the School District of Superior said the incident was not related to school operations or students. “However, we have confirmed that the incident resulted in significant damage to the Superior Middle School building,” the district reported.

The district will communicate directly with families and staff with plans for the Monday school day.

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By RADAL NIEDZIELSKI

CZĘSTOCHOWA, Poland (AP) — If you could design a bauble for your own Christmas tree, what would it be — a teddy bear dressed as a ballerina, a hummingbird, or a crimson phoenix?

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The workers at GlitterLab, a company producing Christmas decorations in southern Poland, vow to turn those fantasies into reality.

Calling themselves “the magicians of glass,” their clients have included Swarovski, the French chain Galeries Lafayette, and Harrods, the iconic London department store.

“We have the ability to create shapes and designs that glass will not normally take,” the company promises on its website.

And the whole production process, “our closely guarded trade secret,” is manual, making each product unique, it says.

“In an age when you can buy anything anywhere for next to nothing, something made from scratch here in a European country, with honest work and thoughtfulness, is truly valued by customers,” company owner Barbara Mostowska told The Associated Press.

‘In our DNA’

Despite its modest appearance, GlitterLab’s workshop has been operating for more than 80 years in Częstochowa, a town of 200,000 in southern Poland.

It was founded by Mostowska’s grandparents in the aftermath of World War II, making her the third generation in the family to manage the business.

Workers prepare the hand-made Christmas baubles at GlitterLab in Czestochowa, southern Poland, on Nov. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

“They produced glass cigarette holders, then ‘eprouvettes’ — I think that’s the word — tiny bottles for cake flavors,” Barbara Mostowska said, fondly reminiscing about how the workshop operated when she was a child.

“And then tiny baubles, then slow-blown baubles, the ones we all know from childhood, some swans, mushrooms, pine cones, that sort of thing,” she recalled.

When the company accessed the U.S. market, it started producing more molded ornaments, such as angels or Santa Claus.

On its website, the firm also draws from the history of the town, where a local monastery holds the icon of the Black Madonna, an important object of Catholic devotion since the 14th century. Pilgrims visiting the icon would come back home with souvenirs made by local artisans.

“We are their heirs,” the owners of GlitterLab claim. “The techniques we’re using can’t simply be learned. They need to run in your DNA.”

The company’s mix of artisanal methods, new technologies and savvy marketing is very lucrative. One of their exclusive designs for Harrods, the “Yellow Floral Bauble,” is priced at 125 pounds (around $168).

It is Mostowska’s dream that the ornaments won’t just be displayed on the Christmas, but instead “our customers have them in their homes, whether on hangers or in display cases, year-round.”

The hand-made Christmas baubles are prepared at GlitterLab in Czestochowa, southern Poland, on Nov. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

The company’s products are “jewelry for the home,” she said.

Happy work

To create a unique design, GlitterLab workers take a client’s drawing on paper and turn it at first into a soft clay sculpture, which can be modified until the client’s vision is accurately represented.

Only then do they choose the unique combination of materials that transforms a particular shape into a bauble.

Mariola Koła, the company’s most seasoned designer, has been working for 42 years at GlitterLab. She says the most satisfying moment in her day comes when a client approves a design with “no corrections.”

“It means I’ve met their expectations, their taste,” she says. “That’s the greatest joy for me. I couldn’t ask for a greater reward.”

A worker prepares a hand-made Christmas bauble at GlitterLab in Czestochowa, southern Poland, on Nov. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

The designers work not only with glass but with materials like resin, wood, crystals, and metal, enabling them to craft shapes that go beyond conventional baubles.

But the products also tell a story, often invoking childhood nostalgia.

“Hungry for sweets and play,” says the description of a teddy bear holding a gulf club, part of a series of similar figures in different poses. “These Teddy Bears are a time machine to a happy childhood when nothing tasted as sweet as candy floss licked straight from sticky fingers.”

Amid a heavy reality, a return to childhood and the joy of play may be precisely what Christmas calls for.

A worker prepares the hand-made Christmas baubles at GlitterLab in Czestochowa, southern Poland, on Nov. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

“The customers are nice, because how can people get upset and be angry or mean when we’re talking about Christmas baubles?” Magdalena Kucharska, the company’s customer service representative, wonders.

“The fact that we produce a product that brings happiness means these customers are nice too, and it’s a very pleasant job.”

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced Friday that his office reached a settlement that will allow people who were harmed by Woodbury Dental Arts to ask for refunds.

The settlement with Ellison’s office and the Chapter 7 Trustee for the Bankruptcy Estate of Woodbury Dental Arts, formerly owned and operated by Marko Kamel.

“All too often, when we catch scammers, they don’t have money left to pay back the people they cheated,” Ellison said in an announcement about the settlement. “That almost happened when Woodbury Dental Arts abruptly closed up shop and declared bankruptcy after accepting down payments for costly dental procedures they would never provide.”

The state Board of Dentistry suspended Kamel, who was accused of incompetence after putting two patients through elaborate implant surgeries that failed, leading to painful infections.

In the course of two years, Kamel placed at least 12 traditional and deep-set dental implants into a woman’s jawline and cheekbone, only to have at least seven of them fail, according to the board. That’s a failure rate of nearly 60%, compared to the industry average of 1% to 2%. The woman returned repeatedly for care for loose teeth, sinus concerns, gum and jaw soreness, as well as a screw that had fallen out, according to the judicial record.

Experts later determined that Kamel repeatedly inserted implants into spaces where the previous ones had failed, without allowing proper time for the tissue to heal.

A second patient went to the University of Minnesota — despite Kamel encouraging her not to — complaining of unmanageable pain after his treatments. Surgeons there again discovered evidence he had added a number of implants into infected tissue, and the infections were rapidly progressing toward sepsis and tissue necrosis, or localized tissue death.

The judicial records show that Kamel, in a voicemail, encouraged the patient not to seek their help: “I see that … there is some complications going on, but I definitely do not recommend going to the University of Minnesota, ah, E.R. … We can take care of it. The way that the University of Minnesota is dealing with … any complications … is not something that I would approve … they are not qualified to take care of such a case.”

Both patients later filed complaints with the Minnesota Board of Dentistry, which accused Kamel of “gross ignorance or incompetence in the practice of dentistry” and “personal conduct that brings discredit to the profession of dentistry.”

The settlement permits consumers to obtain refunds from the newly created Consumer Protection Restitution Account in the Attorney General’s Office, which lawmakers created earlier this year. The fund, among other things, is available to refund consumers who were harmed by companies that have gone bankrupt or for some other reason are unable to provide refunds.

The Attorney General’s Office encourages any former patient who believes they may be entitled to a refund under the settlement with Woodbury Dental Arts to contact the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office by calling 612-429-7130 or by emailing woodburydental@ag.state.mn.us.

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