Thursday, August 7, 2025

The Morrison County Administration Office announced that the community is invited to attend a Patriot Day of Remembrance Ceremony on September 11th, 2025. The ceremony will take place at the Law Enforcement Memorial site, located on the southwest corner of the Government Center parking lot. The start time is promptly at 8:00 am and the service will be brief. This ceremony is being held to remember and reflect on the events of September 11th. Everyone is invited to attend.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has granted the Stearns County Sheriff's Office an extension of the No Wake ordinance. The No Wake ordinance of 300 feet from shore will be in effect until September 30th or until the sheriff's office rescinds the restriction. The sheriff's office says the ordinance covers the following lakes...Two Rivers Lake - Holding Twp. Rice Lake - Eden Lake Twp. North Brown's Lake - Eden Lake Twp. Big Lake - Munson Twp. Entire Sauk River chain of lakes - Eden Lake, Munson and Wakefield Twps. Middle Spunk Lake and Lake Koronis has been added to the 300 feet from shore restriction and will remain in effect for 30 days. The sheriff's office says some of the water levels are at all-time highs and the ordinance will be enforced by sheriff's deputies.

On Wednesday afternoon, Metropolitan Council members reviewed plans to transition Northstar Commuter Rail service to enhanced coach bus service. Officials say it costs more to provide 40 weekly trips in 2025 than it did to provide 72 weekly trips in 2019, with an operating budget of $18.6 million this year compared to $17.5 million in 2019. Northstar's average weekly ridership numbers were just 435 passengers in 2024, compared to 2,660 average weekday riders before the pandemic. The Metropolitan Council says the timing for the transition from rail to bus will be on January 5th. The last train will roll down the tracks on Saturday, January 3rd, or Sunday, January 4th, after the final Minnesota Vikings game. The last weekday commuter rail service will be January 2nd. As of right now, the planned Northstar Bus Service will travel as far north as Ramsey, with no planned stops in either Elk River or Big Lake after the first of the year change. 

Benton County is moving ahead with the building of a new government center in Foley after a 4-1 vote at Tuesday’s Board of Commissioners meeting. The low bid came in roughly $5 million below what was expected, and the commissioners accepted the $24.5 million proposal at a special meeting on June 23rd. That did not stop opposition to the project from mounting, though. A petition, known as a reverse referendum, that would force the issue to go to a vote during the general election garnered 1,900 signatures. On Tuesday, many of those signees crammed into the current facility to demand the vote be authorized. The public hearing and board discussion on the issue ran approximately two hours. Officials had already come up with a workaround to avoid the dictates of a reverse referendum, though. Benton County will borrow for the project through the Housing and Redevelopment Authority, rather than traditional Capital Improvement Program bonds. An owner of a median-priced home in Benton County will pay roughly $85 per year to finance the project.

The Veterans town hall meeting scheduled on August 12th at 2pm, at the VA Clinic in Montevideo, has been changed to a virtual meeting due to construction activities at the clinic. The meeting is open to all Veterans served by the St. Cloud VA and provides Veterans the chance to hear from and have concerns addressed by St. Cloud VA officials. Veterans can attend virtually by joining the meeting on a computer or mobile device at https://tinyurl.com/3dwu4wrn. Veterans may also call in (audio only) to listen to the meeting at 1-872-701-0185 and use access code 274 541 028#.

Road construction projects continue this summer. The Highway 81/3rd Street North project in Waite Park and St. Cloud continues. Commissioner Tarryl Clark says crews are working on the outside lanes between Waite Avenue and trunk Highway 15. She says this Friday there will be a lane closure on southbound Highway 15 for about 6 hours. Clark says all the resurfacing projects should done by September. The County Road 137 project continues between County Road 74 and Waite Avenue in Waite Park.  Clark says progress continues on the overpass near Bethlehem Lutheran.  She says the county has had a problem with speeding on that county road in front of Discovery School. Stearns County 133 improvements are making progress in St. Joe.  Clark says crews have been working on concrete medians and sidewalks with plans to start pavement next week.  She says they expect to move to phase II of the project by the end of this month which will include work south of the new round-a-bout. Preparation for the new Stearns County Justice Center continues.  Clark says County Commissioner will see cost estimates on the building and design.  She is optimistic the bids will come in under budget.   Clark says the city of St. Cloud will also need to purchase 2 plots of land from land owners west of Modern Barnyard.

Catholic Charities of the Diocese of St. Cloud has a new tool in its mission to help feed needy families. The food rescue truck is able to travel between restaurants and grocery stores that have partnered with Catholic Charities, picking up surplus supplies before they go bad. That food then gets packaged and delivered to people enrolled with Catholic Charities who need help putting meals on the table. The truck was paid for in part thanks to grants from Hunger Solutions, also known as The Food Group, the Minnesota Food Shelf Program, and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. Catholic Charities says that by tapping into excess food supplies, it will become more efficient in providing nutritious meals.

The next Rock Roll and Stroll of the summer in Pierz is tonight from 5-8pm. Classic Car Show, poker walk, businesses open late, food and more that is tonight 5-8pm through the city of Pierz. 

Death Notices- Donald "Donnie" Boser, age 82 of Hillman 

Weather- morning fog, then sunny and warm today, high of 86. Clear and humid tonight low around 70. Friday increasing clouds, hot and humid, high near 90, isolated afternoon and evening thunderstorms, then storms likely before 10pm Friday night some severe storms are possible, low around 63. Saturday isolated showers and storms before noon, then sunny, high 83, Saturday night partly cloudy low around 62. Sunday sunny and a bit less humid, high near 80 low around 60. 

Sports- Twins win with names you may not know as Keaschell, Martin, Lee, Roden and Gasper have big game in a 9-4 win over Detroit Wednesday to win two of three in the series. Twins have today off and host Kansas City on Friday night. Listen to District 4B Baseball on Saturday from Sobieski as Avon vs. Buckman at noon followed by Foley vs. Sobieski 2:30pm both are elimination games on Saturday live on AM960 KLTF. Sunday listen to the Region 9C Championship game from Opole pitting Pierz Lakers vs. Randall at 10am followed by a 3rd place game that afternoon from either 4B or 9C live on AM960 KLTF and fallsradio.com. High School sports practices begin Monday for most schools with some girls tennis matches already schedule by end of next week. A reminder to school coaches and activities directors to get scores and highlights from your matches to ads@fallsradio.com for local sportscasts on LF Radio.