The “Butt Kickers” from John Adams are at it again! The “Butt Kickers” will spend the day picking up cigarette butts from Downtown Rochester on Tuesday, June 4th. The Rochester Downtown Alliance, Mayor Ardell Brede, Rochester Park and Recreation, and the Make Rochester A Litter Butt Better! Program have offered a bounty on cigarette butts and the “Butt Kickers” have answered the call yet again. In 2012, this group picked up 24,811 cigarette butts in one day and their $1240.55 bounty went to John Adam’s Science Alive Lab. (Photo: 2012 “Butt Kickers” with Mayor Ardell Brede)

(ABC 6 NEWS) -- Local Government Aid has become a vital part of the budget for cities around Minnesota.  In recent years, it's also been a way for lawmakers to help balance the state budget.

But now, cities leaders are cautiously optimistic that the trend is about to change.

"local government aid is huge," said Austin city administrator Jim Hurm.

And because it's a huge cost to the state, it's seen its share of cuts as lawmakers worked to cut the state's budget.

"In the past ten years we've been somewhat in a budget crisis mode every year," said Rochester city administrator Steven Kvenvold. “Basically the city made up a loss of local government aid with increases in property taxes."

But when lawmakers approved the newest edition of the state budget, it included reinstating some of the LGA.

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Mayo Clinic today announced an expansion to its sports medicine practice to meet the growing regional, national and international demand for its expertise. The expansion is part of the 100,000-square-foot Mayo Clinic Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center building project, and is scheduled to open in spring of 2014. The Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine Center is a global leader in sports and musculoskeletal injury prevention and rehabilitation, concussion research, diagnostic and interventional ultrasound, and surgical and nonsurgical management of sports-related injuries.