NEWS
--A Crow Wing County jury found 46-year-old Michael Lee LaFlex guilty of murdering his daughter’s boyfriend of first-degree murder Wednesday. After about two hours of deliberation, Michael Lee LaFlex was found guilty of premeditated murder in the first degree in the killing of Bryce Brogle in October of 2022 at a storage facility in Mission Township. Brogle was found with one gunshot to the back of the head. Hearing the verdict, LaFlex sat motionless in his chair as cries could be heard from both sides of the aisle. LaFlex will be sentenced on June 10th in Brainerd.
--Members of the Central Minnesota Violent Offender Task Force made a large drug bust in St. Cloud Wednesday. Officers used a knock and announce search warrant at a home in the 2000 block of 15th Street North. It was part of a larger investigation into the distribution of fentanyl-laced pills in central Minnesota. The pills, commonly called M-Box 30 pills have been linked to overdoses and overdose deaths in the St. Cloud metro area recently. Officers were able to confiscate 4,200 suspected fentanyl pills and ammunition.
Twenty-one-year-old Desean Ohman was booked into the Stearns County Jail on suspicion of 1st-degree drug possession and being a felon in possession of ammunition. He has a previous felony drug conviction which makes it illegal for him to have gun or ammunition.
--Two people escaped serious injuries after a two-vehicle crash Wednesday afternoon. It happened at the intersection of Stearns County Road 133 and 322nd Street northeast of St. Joseph. Stearns County Sheriff's deputies responded to the scene just before 5:30pm on a report of a T-Bone crash. The sheriff's office learned that the driver of a minivan, 30-year-old Sara Allen of St. Joseph, was traveling west on 322nd Street and had stopped at the intersection with County Road 133. While cars were in the turn lane of 133 to go east on 322nd Street, authorities say Allen turned onto County Road 133 and was struck by a northbound car. Allen and the driver of the car, 57-year-old Tim Elness of Sartell, were assessed for minor injuries and released at the scene.
--Orange barrels and lane closures are already affecting Highway 10 in east St. Cloud. On Monday, April 15th, the impact on motorists ramps up even more. The Minnesota Department of Transportation is spending $2.8 million to add high-tension median cables to reduce head-on collisions. The dividers would keep vehicles from crossing into oncoming traffic during an accident or medical emergency. While crews work on the project, expect lane closures, shifts, and reduced speeds. The cables will be in place between Clear Lake and St. Cloud.
Posts are installed and then connected by three to four steel cables. If a vehicle runs into the apparatus, the posts will break, and the cables flex, minimizing damage to the car and occupants inside as the energy from the crash is absorbed by the cables. MnDOT will continue to work on the Highway 10/Highway 23 interchange project. That snarled traffic last year and won’t be finished until this fall.
--Warmer weather means more animals are out and about again with an uptick in deer sightings and bear in the area. There have been numerous reports of bear activity within the last week in south St. Cloud. A resident in Bent Tree acres had evidence of bear claw scratches on the side of their garage. All of the bears in Minnesota are black bears. Bear are out looking for food from bird feeders and garbage cans. Bear do not usually harm humans but it can happen.
--In July of 2018, the Morrison County Sheriff’s Office and the Little Falls Police Department received several reports of brass vases, granite urns, bronze vases and copper urns being stolen from several local cemeteries around the Little Falls and Upsala areas in Morrison County. The flower vases are copper and were attached to the tombstones when the thefts occurred. Recently, the Morrison County Sheriff’s Office received an anonymous tip that some of these items may have been dumped in the Ann River-Fish Lake Public Water Access, south of Mora in Kanabec County. The Morrison County Dive Team responded to the Ann River-Fish Lake Public Access and later recovered over 40 brass and copper vases. The Morrison County Dive Team is comprised of members from the Morrison County Sheriff’s Office and the Little Falls Police Department. The Sheriff’s Office is asking for the public to contact their office at (320) 632-9233 if they have any information regarding these thefts.
--The Little Falls School Board meets Monday at 5pm at the Middle School Media Center. Numerous presentations on the agenda include Honor Band, Transportation Academy and American Indian Education Plan. Other items include a revised budget report, information on summer school plan, school make up date plans will be discussed where they are asking that students will not have to make up either day from the March 25th or 26th snow days. Staff will make up the dates from professional use/sick day leave. Information on the retirement receptions and awards ceremony, review the recent lists of 2024 policies and take board requests all at the meeting on Monday.
ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
--Football star turned actor O.J. Simpson has died from cancer. Simpson had a great NFL career with the Buffalo Bills, appeared in the Naked Gun movies but became more remembered for the 1994 murder charges against Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman which he was acquitted from. In 2007 he was arrested for burglary and kidnapping in Las Vegas and found guilty of those crimes. O.J. Simpson died on Wednesday at age 76.
BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT
--Michael Rush and Katarina Wolthuizen of Little Falls, boy on 4-8.
DEATH NOTICES
--Daniel “Pete” Mick Sr. age 75 of Royalton.
--Bonnie Snyder, age 74 of Little Falls.
WEATHER
TODAY= sunny skies, high 58, clear skies tonight, low 34.
SATURDAY= sunny and mild, high 74, low around 48.
SUNDAY= sunny skies, high 72, rain overnight, low near 46.
MONDAY= showers & t-storms possible, high 70, low near 54.
SPORTS
TWINS= Twins and Tigers rained out Thursday. They will try and get the game in tonight 5pm on Q92 WYRQ. A make up game on Saturday now as a double-header starting at 11:30am with game 1 and second to follow. Sunday Inside Twins at 11:30am with pregame at noon, all games live on Q92 WYRQ.