NEWS
--There were 27 new cases of COVID-19 in Morrison County on Sunday's report from the Minnesota Department of Health. Total of cases in Morrison County since testing began is now at 434 cases with the three confirmed deaths. 1,450 new cases on Sunday with 10 more deaths linked to the virus. On Friday Morrison County reported 129 active cases with nearly 70 of those in the Little Falls Zip Code. For Morrison County 18 new cases Friday and 10 on Saturday.
--A message was sent out by the Little Falls Community Schools District nurse Johanna Lichte, that if your student is experiencing any type of illness especially fever, chills, coughing and shortness of breath, they MUST not come to school and MUST not take part in after school activies if they are sick, please keep them home. Also if your students or youself are waiting for COVID-19 tests to come back and you have shown symptoms of COVID-19 please do not come the school during that period of time to help stop the spread of the virus and continue to keep the school's learning practices in place.
--Little Falls Community Schools Friday night reported a confirmed case of COVID-19 at the Little Falls Community High School. The exposure date was Tuesday, October 6th. Then on Sunday another report of a case of COVID-19 also at the High School. Superintendent Stephen Jones last week stated that Morrison County Public Health informed them that none of the cases of COVID-19 in the county have originated from any of the school facilities. These cases mentioned by the district on a legal basis to the community are students or faculty that contracted the virus from family members, social gatherings or public entities and not from school. The Community Middle School and High School started hybrid learning last week and Pierz Healy High School begins hybrid today.
--The Morrison County Sheriff’s Office wants residents to be aware of a scam that has been circulating. According to the Sheriff’s Office, residents have been receiving phone calls from a male party with a foreign accent claiming he is from MN Power. The caller states that they are going to shut off the power unless they pay an outstanding bill. The caller gives a short time frame, 30 minutes to one hour for the bill to be paid. In one instance, the resident called MN Power and confirmed it was a scam and did not release any information. Sheriff Larsen urges residents to use caution and never send or give out personal information in response to an unexpected request. It is common for scammers to use fear and sometimes threaten people, to gather the personal information they are after. Scammers will use some of your public information to appear legitimate, however new scams are continuously being reported, so stay vigilant and don’t release personal information unless you have verified who you are speaking with. Visit the MN Attorney General’s Office website and click on the scams tab to learn more about recent scams occurring.
--Upsala High School wishes Congratulations to the 2020 Senior Homecoming Court! Boys are Zach Bartkowicz, Tommaso Filagrana, Carter Johnson, Wil Leners, and Johnny Mayer. The girls are Paige Binek, Shanna Dobmeier, Emma Kremers, Olivia Peterson, and Audrey Thomas. The coronation will be Sunday, October 18th at 4 pm in the school auditorium. Only the homecoming court and parents of the court will be permitted and parents must wear masks. The event will be streamed live on the school's Facebook page. Due to the pandemic, this year's homecoming is limited to only Seniors, and there will not be a dance this year in Upsala.
--Today is Columbus Day which is still a National/Legal/Federal Holiday in the United States though many have either changed the name or reason behind the holiday in previous years. The federal holiday still means that there will be no regular mail delivery today and some U.S. Post Offices are closed today. However it was reported parcel services and priority mail services will run on time today. Schools, city and county offices decided some time ago not to take Columbus Day off and use it as a floating holiday for later in the years, banks and financial institutions again some are open and some are closed today so best to call your bank ahead of time before you venture out and that may go for any federal or government agencies.
--On Friday at 7:41pm the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office received the report of a crash, with injuries, at the intersection of County Road 17 and 165th Avenue about 1 mile from Holdingford. When deputies arrived at the crash scene, they found two vehicles in the ditch. The investigation found that 16-year-old Daniel Walz of Holdingford failed ot stop at the intersection with the stop sign and struck a vehicle driven by 46-year-old Richard Block of Little Falls. Block was taken to th St. Cloud Hospital by private vehicle. Walz and his passenger 16-year-old Alex Fussy of Little Falls were injured and taken by ambulance to the St. Cloud Hospital.
--The West Side Improvement Association announced last week that with a heavy heart they have decided to cancel this years Santa Parade on November 27th in Little Falls the day after Thanksgiving this year due to the safety of those involved. Hopefully back in 2021.
--The Pierz City Council will meet tonight at 7pm at Pierz City Hall.
BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT
--Jeremy and Kristie Virnig of Pierz, a boy born October 8th
--Matt and Cassie Woitalla of Hillman, a boy born October 9th.
DEATH NOTICES
--Donald R. Marshik, age 84 of Pierz
--Robert E. Holmgren, age 79 of Little Falls formerly Randall.
--Timothy Sczublewski, age 53 of Little Falls.
--Leander I. Bieniek, age 87 of Holdingford.
--Loretta E. Dobis, age 93 of Little Falls.
--Steven Schoen, age 64 of Little Falls.
--Sister Mary “Blaze” Kulzer, age 89 of Little Falls.
WEATHER
TODAY= morning shower, then sunny in PM hours, high 60.
TONIGHT= partly cloudy, low 43.
TUESDAY= partly cloudy and windy, high 58, rain late, low 40.
WEDNESDAY= rain showers likely and windy, high 55, low 30.
SPORTS
NFL= Seattle scores 27 in the 2nd half to come back and beat the Vikings last night 27-26 on Sunday Night Football. Vikings are 1-4.
HS VB= Foley at Little Falls tonight 7pm on Q92 WYRQ. The Minnesota State High School League announced last week that students can have 2 parents/guests for each player at the game.
HS FB= Friday night was opening night for high school football teams, and Little Falls won 23-21 over Milaca, Pierz wins 20-8 over Royalton, Upsala-Swanville 44-42 overtime win over Howard Lake Waverly, Holdingford beat Sauk Centre 30-8 on Friday night.
NBA= Lakers win NBA Championship in 6 games over Miami Heat.