Friday, August 14, 2026
In less than a month the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum will have their grand opening at the intersection of Highway 115 and 371 north of Little Falls. Last weekend the Minnesota Military Museum at Camp Ripley officially closed its doors permanently. The archives can still be views by appointment only but they no longer have regular hours of operation. The new facility plans to open to the public September 12th and 13th. There will also be a special invitation only September 11th event to remember 25th years on that Friday at the Museum with a special 1 hour program views on their website and also on networks across the United States on September 11th. For a virtual look at the museum and some of the items outside and inside go to https://www.mnvetmuseum.org/.
The Cass, Crow Wing and Hubbard County Sheriff's Office sent out reminders that trail cameras have picked up black bear in the area. The majority of the black bears in the state of Minnesota live in the northern 1/3 of the state. The Minnesota DNR says the state has between 12,000 and 18,000 American black bears. Though recently the bear have been spotted south of the Twin Cities Metro Area, in the past two weeks north central Minnesota has seen more bear on the loose. The DNR believes that the bear population is growing after the hunting numbers being down in previous year. The hope is the lack of rain in the area have more bear moving around and the means with bear baiting that opens Friday August 14th for the upcoming bear season, the hopes are to have good hunting season approaching.
A man from the north Twin Cities metro faces a felony charge after a road rage incident in St. Cloud. According to the criminal complaint filed in Stearns County District Court, 28-year-old Zacharie Ziniel of Ham Lake pointed a handgun at the occupants of another vehicle. St. Cloud Police were dispatched to a gun call for an incident at the intersection of Highway 15 and 3rd Street North at around 8:40 p.m. Tuesday. Two men told police they had inadvertently cut off a pickup truck, and when they came up to the intersection, a passenger in the truck had his window rolled down, was yelling at them, and pointed a handgun at them. The victims got cell phone video of the truck's license plate and submitted it to police along with a description of the man. Court records show the pickup is registered to Ziniel, and the description matched the victims' account. Officers eventually made contact with Ziniel, who admitted to getting into an altercation with the victims for driving erratically. Ziniel allegedly claimed he did have his pistol out, but was just showing the gun to the driver of his truck and denied pointing it at the men. Ziniel is charged in Stearns County District Court with one felony count of threats of violence with reckless disregard.
A one-car crash in Stearns County sent a woman to the hospital Thursday morning. The incident happened on Interstate 94 in St. Joseph Township at around 5:15 a.m. The Minnesota State Patrol says 64-year-old Mary Strenglein of Alexandria was westbound on I-94 when she left the road and rolled. Strenglein was taken to St. Cloud Hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.
New, disturbing details were unsealed from a search warrant Thursday in the deaths of a couple and their 7-year-old daughter at their home-based daycare in Hopkins the day prior. According to court documents, Hopkins police arrived to Brown Bear Childcare on the 200 block of Tyler Avenue North just after 9 a.m. Wednesday, when a parent dropping their child off at the facility reported a stabbing. The warrant said that when officers arrived and entered the home, they immediately discovered the bodies of a woman, later identified as Kristen Brown, 41 — the daycare owner — and her young daughter lying on the kitchen floor covered in what appeared to be blood. The officers also reported seeing a black-and-yellow-handled screwdriver laid on top of the child's body. Continuing their search of the home, the warrant said officers made their way to a closet on the top level of the home, where they reportedly found the body of 41-year-old Nathan Brown, who appeared to have died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound. In an interview with the 911 caller, police learned that shortly after they arrived at the home, they heard the sound of children screaming. The parent went on to say that when they entered the home with their children, they claimed they saw Nathan Brown stabbing his wife with a screwdriver before turning on their daughter. That's when the parent said they gathered their two children and two others to flee before calling 911. The parent also revealed they had received a newsletter from Kristen about two weeks before the killings, notifying the family that she planned to close the daycare over "relationship issues" with her husband. In the hours following their deaths, police in Burnsville discovered the body of a 78-year-old woman, who authorities later determined was Nathan Brown's mother, Alice.
An officer-involved shooting in Red Lake that happened Thursday morning is currently under investigation. According to a release from the Red Lake Nation Department of Public Safety, they are currently working with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. The statement adds there is no immediate threat to the public, but that no further details regarding the incident are being released at this time to protect the integrity of the investigation.
The Little Falls Knights of Columbus Council #1804 is having their Alter Server appreciation night on Friday, August 21st from 5-7pm at Holy Family Fellowship Hall in Belle Prairie with hamburgers, hot dogs, corn on the cob, mac and cheese, baked beans, fruit, dessert and lemonade. All servers eat free, the rest is a free will offering.
The American Red Cross Bloodmobile will be at the St. Francis Convent on Monday August 17th from 1-7pm and Tuesday August 18th from 12-6pm. Please call Sister Julien to make an appointment today at 320-632-0663 or go online to redcrossblood.org.
Weather: mostly sunny and warm today, high 86. increasing clouds, scattered rain showers after midnight, low 63. Isolated showers and thunderstorms are possible Saturday through the day, high 81, still some spotty showers Saturday night low around 59. Sunny skies Sunday, high near 80, low around 52. Monday sunny and mild, high near 80, showers and storms Monday night low near 60. Tuesday showers and storms are possible, high 81, low around 58.
Sports: Phillies beat the Twins 7-1 last night at the Field of Dreams Field in Iowa. Luke Keaschall's home run was the only Twins run. Twins will have today off, then resume the series now at Target Field Saturday at 6:10pm and Sunday at 1:10pm against Philadelphia. Minnesota Lynx are at Las Vegas 7pm on Saturday. The Vikings open the preseason Saturday at noon at the Meadowlands against the New York Giants in the NFL. Region 9C Championship Game tonight at 6pm Pierz Brewers vs. Aitkin Steam from Pierz on AM960 KLTF then Randall vs. Opole elimination game to follow later tonight in Pierz. Also in Avon at 6pm will be 4B seeding games, Avon vs. Nisswa tonight then it will be Pierz Lakers vs. Foley around 8:30pm which will be live after the 9C Championship game also on AM960 KLTF. Paul and Jerome will update on the other games tonight also on KLTF. The Region 4B Championship Buckman vs. Sobieski is at 10:30am Saturday in Pierz also live on AM960 KLTF with three more games scheduled in Pierz on Saturday to decide the 5 teams going to Class B State Tournament and 2 teams to Class C Tournament which begins on August 21st this year in Chaska, Jordan, Shakopee and New Prague.