Once the calendar is flipped to July, it is time to celebrate National Disability Pride Month. This year, residents in the Rochester area are invited to a free, community-wide celebration that you won’t want to miss…and the first 100 people even get free food!
READ MORE: The Viral ChatGPT Color Analysis Trend You Need To Try
Celebrate Disability Pride Month At This Free Celebration In Rochester On July 9th, 2026
The Arc Minnesota, Self-Advocates Minnesota Southeast, and the Region 10 Quality Council are hosting a Disability Pride Celebration on Thursday, July 9th from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm at Cascade Lake Park in Rochester.
This event is all about honoring disability identity, culture, and joy. Here’s a few of the fun activities hpening that day:
Live music from a local DJ
Disability pride open mic
Adtive bikes and games
Disability pride bingo
and more
Free Food for the First 100 Guests At The Disability Pride Celebration in Rochester
Stop by the welcome table when you arrive on July 9th at the Disability Pride Celebration – the first 100 guests will score a free food truck meal.
Find more details about the Disability Pride Celebration in Rochester at their Facebook event page here.
Do you have an event hpening soon in Southeast Minnesota?
Townsquare Media cares about the community and we love working with nonprofits in our community to highlight their events and causes.
From on-air public service announcements, Reels on our social media platforms, on-air segments with our amazingly talented team, to emceeing your events, our Townsquare Cares promotions for nonprofits help elevate your cause to the most people.

A new lawsuit alleges recalled pet food caused bone disorders in five Oregon puppies and seeks damages to pay for their medical treatment.
Hazel’s House Animal Rescue, a Newberg-based foster shelter, filed a lawsuit in Multnomah County Circuit Court on Monday asking for $150,000 from Revival Animal Health, the Iowa-based company it accuses of causing the puppies’ sickness. That money would help pay for orthopedic surgeries and other medical treatment, the animal shelter said.
We’ve put a lot of trust into a lot of different companies, said Brittany Hazel, the rescue’s founder and president. And it’s sad when things like this hpen, and it’s something that we entrusted would never hpen.
Revival takes complaints like this seriously, a spokesperson said, and was working toward a settlement with Hazel’s House before the lawsuit was filed.
The litter of nine newborn puppies — named Carol, Mike, Alice, Peter, Greg, Bobby, Jan, Cindy and Marcia, after TV’s The Brady Bunch — arrived at Hazel’s House in January after being found in a box next to a dumpster in Portland. They were exclusively fed Breeder’s Edge Foster Care puppy formula, a Revival product, according to the complaint. The formula was typically considered top of the line, Hazel said, and the rescue group had used that brand several times before.
Five of the puppies began struggling to walk when they were around 4 weeks old. According to the complaint, tests showed poor nutrition caused rickets, a disease in which dogs’ bones collse under their weight.
Hazel’s House stopped feeding the puppies the formula and filed complaints with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Revival. Meanwhile, vets ruled out other causes for the sickness, such as genetic diseases, according to the complaint.
FDA testing of the formula showed it contained variable levels of Vitamin D, which affects bone strength. Too much Vitamin D can also cause serious health issues, according to the FDA notice.
Revival voluntarily recalled the product in ril, citing the vitamin irregularity and two complaints of rickets.
Now, the 6-month-old puppies walk irregularly and have deformities on their legs that require surgery, Hazel said. But the animal rescue can’t afford extensive medical treatment on its own, she said.
A Revival spokesperson said the company takes the health and safety of animals seriously and that it started an investigation as soon as the rescue group informed it of the concerns. The company then initiated a voluntary recall, the spokesperson said, offering refunds or replacement products for any affected.
While testing has not linked our product to the puppies’ reported health issues, we were working with Hazel’s House and believed we were close to reaching an agreement that would provide immediate care for the puppies, and it is unfortunate that Hazel’s House ended our discussions despite our continued attempts to engage, spokesperson Nick Leasure said.
The animal rescue and Revival began negotiating in ril, Hazel’s attorney said. After several weeks without a satisfactory resolution, Hazel said, her shelter decided to file a formal lawsuit. The longer they wait, the more difficult and painful the surgeries will become, she added.
The rescue group also started a GoFundMe page, hoping to receive $100,000 in donations toward medical treatment. It’s collected about $4,400 as of Friday.

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Bella Vista Community Church, 75 E. Lancashire Blvd., is an evangelical interdenominational church.
The Bella Vista Christian Women’s Connection, a ministry of Stonecroft Ministries, invites women from throughout the community to enjoy a monthly brunch gathering from 9-10:45 a.m. on the second Wednesday of each month at Bella Vista Community Church. For just $10, guests enjoy a catered brunch, special program features and inspiring speakers who share practical, encouraging insights for everyday life. Reservations are required. For additional details and upcoming event information, visit their Facebook page. These events are open to all ladies in the community.

BOSTON () — A federal judge on Friday sided with 20 Democratic states and halted an effort by the Trump administration to force states to comply with a range of conditions to get billions of dollars from the federal food aid program.
U.S. District Judge Myong Joun granted a preliminary injunction in the lawsuit challenging the conditions for getting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funding. Among them are restrictions related to gender ideology, immigration, and fair athletic opportunities for women and girls.
The judge said he would issue a memorandum later explaining his decision.
In their lawsuit, the states argued the Agriculture Department has thrown unconstitutional and unlawful roadblocks between the programs created by Congress and the States that rely on them, threatening critical nutrition support, vital agricultural research, and the safety of our national food chain and communities.
Lawyers for the government opposed the preliminary injunction, arguing in their court filing that these new requirements would help promote the sound stewardship of taxpayer dollars, strengthen USDA’s control and oversight of obligated funds, and ensure that grant recipients comply with federal laws, regulations, and policies.

Gov. Greg Abbott told Texans on Friday there is “no food safety issue” tied to the first U.S. detection of the New World screwworm in decades, signing an expanded statewide disaster declaration that pulls every arm of state government into the fight against a parasite threatening the country’s largest cattle industry.
As of Friday evening, the only confirmed case remains a three-week-old calf in Zavala County, near the Mexican border.
At a news conference in Austin, Abbott drew a clean line between contamination and supply.
“What we’re dealing with is an infestation of animals; however, there is no food safety issue,” he said.
“There’s a food production issue, but not a food safety issue.”
The screwworm fly does not infect meat, and federal inspectors keep affected animals out of the food chain, but a sustained outbreak would cut into herds and push beef prices higher.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service confirmed the detection June 3 after testing a sample from La Pryor at the agency’s National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa.
Larvae were found in the calf’s umbilical area.
USDA has drawn a 20-kilometer quarantine zone around the site, barring movement of warm-blooded animals without inspection, while the Texas Animal Health Commission set an infested zone covering parts of Zavala and Uvalde counties.
Abbott’s Friday order expands a January declaration that had covered only the two affected counties, reassigning resources statewide and making university personnel available to accelerate sterile fly shipments and speed construction of a federal production plant in Edinburg, Texas.
Funded by a $750 million USDA investment and built with the Army Corps of Engineers at Moore Air Force Base, the facility is designed to release up to 300 million sterile flies per week, but is not scheduled to open until fall 2027.
Abbott said he had offered Texas A&M and state agencies to run construction “24 hours a day, seven days a week” to move that timeline up.
The governor told ranchers the parasite is manageable if caught early.
“This is a highly treatable condition if acted on quickly, whether it be for someone’s pets or someone’s cattle,” Abbott said.
“Constant contact with your veterinarian is very important.”
He urged pet owners with outdoor animals to watch for untreated wounds, and closed with a confidence note: “The bottom line is Texas is resilient, and our producers, veterinarians, and state officials are among the very best in the United States.”
During the public portion of his briefing, Abbott also called the broader response inadequate and said the pest can spread like wildfire, though he offered no specifics afterward.
The economic stakes are concentrated in South Texas but national in reach.
Texas anchors a $15 billion state cattle industry, and a USDA estimate cited by the Texas Tribune puts potential economic damage from a potential outbreak at $1.8 billion.