NEWS
--Slippery roads made for a number of accidents on Wednesday. An Elk River boy was killed and two people were hurt in a two-vehicle crash on Highway 169 at225th Avenue Northwest in Elk River just after 8am. The Minnesota State Patrol says a car driven by 43-year-old Erin Cooney of Elk River was westbound on 225th Avenue while a small SUV driven by 38-year-old Ryan McGrath was northbound on Highway 169. The patrol says Cooney was attempting to cross the northbound lanes of the highway when the vehicles collided. Cooney was brought to Mercy Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. An 8-year-old boy, identified as Joseph Fisher of Elk River, who was a passenger in the car was killed. One person was hurt in a head-on crash south of Freeport just after 3pm on County Road 11 in Oak Township. The Stearns County Sheriff's Office says a van driven by 35-year-old Tatum Holdvogt of Melrose was heading north on County Road 11 when she lost control and crossed over the center line. The van collided head-on with a car driven by 72-year-old Gerald Dobmeier of Freeport. Dobmeier was taken to St. Cloud Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Holdvogt and her three young passengers, ages 3, 2, and 1 were not hurt. Three people were hurt in a two-vehicle crash at about 8pm on Highway 55 near Rockford in Wright County. Forty-two-year-old Alicia Varner of Watkins was taken to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The driver of the second vehicle and her passenger, 18-year-old Hilary Hoey of Andover, and 19-year-old Emma Donovan of Coon Rapids were also taken to the hospital in Buffalo with non-life-threatening injuries. Two people were hurt in a crash involving a pickup and a semi in Kandiyohi County just after 4:30pm Wednesday about three miles north of New London. The pickup was driven by a 15-year-old boy from New London. The semi was driven by 32-year-old Dean Beyer from Washington state. The pickup hit the rear axle of the semi-trailer. A passenger in the pickup, 45-year-old Rick Messer of New London, suffered minor injuries and the 15 year old driver were both taken by ambulance to the hospital in Paynesville.
--The Crow Wing County Sheriff’s Office is looking for help identifying two individuals who broke into Crow Wing Recycling, 19586 County Road 102, in Ironton. The sheriff’s office said individuals broke into and vandalized the facility at around 7:41pm back on February 9th. Anyone with information on the two individuals is asked to call the Crow Wing County Sheriff’s Office at 218-829-4749.
--Weekend events include a lot of fish fries today including the 40 and 8 nurses training scholarship fish fry is at the American Legion in Little Falls and the Lindbergh Lions at the VFW in Little Falls with many more around the area tonight for a first Friday in Lent. St. Rita's in Hillman has Prime Rib Dinner at the church 5-7:30pm Saturday, Sunday there are breakfasts at Royalton High School by FFA from 8am-12pm, The Buckman Lions with Father Pierz School of Religion as a breakfast at the Buckman Parish Center Sunday 8-12, you can also drop off used eyeglasses at that event. The first of 5 Lenten series on Mental Illness begins Sunday at 1pm at the St. Francis Convent in Little Falls and of course this weekend is Ice Fest now on Land at the Darling Green Prairie Township Park and landing area near the ice northwest of Little Falls all are welcome to come and see the event this weekend. Full details and more info on events at fallsradio.com community calendar.
--A Crow Wing County Deputy was injured and a 37-year-old Brainerd man was arrested Tuesday after the man fought and tried to disarm two deputies at Wild Rice Depot in Brainerd. Crow Wing County Sheriff’s Lt. Craig Katzenberger said deputies Jacob Revering and Morgan Schultz responded around 12:30pm to Wild Rice Depot after learning a man had made concerning comments to the staff and then left. While the deputies were talking with staff, the man returned to Wild Rice Depot. Talking with the man, deputies learned he had a warrant and told him he was under arrest. At that time the man began resisting arrest and attempted to disarm the deputies. Katzenberger said Revering was able to hold the man down until backup arrived. In total, 18 law enforcement officers responded to Wild Rice Depot. Revering was taken to Essentia Health-St. Joseph’s Medical Center and received care for lacerations to the face and a bite to the hand. The man, Paul Justin, was booked into Crow Wing County Jail and charged Thursday with multiple felonies.
--The Minnesota DNR reported that during the hunting season last year there were 11 incidents of a hunter being injured. Six were self-inflicted gunshot wounds, the other 5 were not firearm related injuries. There were not fatalities from the incidents.
--Anglers heading to Mille Lacs Lake will likely face tighter fishing restrictions after the Department of Natural Resources got its latest population estimates. Officials say it is in response to a downturn in the lake’s walleye population due to a lower-than-expected perch count, a key food source for the fish. DNR fisheries biologists stated walleye numbers have dropped by about 9%. That will cause the total pounds harvested from the lake to go from 100,300 in 2023 to 91,550 pounds this year. The number was recently negotiated between the DNR and Ojibwe bands, who maintain treaty rights. Last year, anglers were allowed to keep one walleye between 21 and 23 inches. This year’s regulation is yet to be decided but will be more stringent. The open water season regulations should be released in March. In the past, the DNR has only allowed catch and release on the lake or shut down the harvest season during the warmest part of the year when hooking mortality becomes a problem. Zebra mussels were first found in the lake in 2005 and have been blamed by officials for causing the population to drop.
WEATHER
TODAY= sunny skies, chilly, high 16, wind chills around zero.
TONIGHT= increasing clouds, low 7 early then rising overnight.
SATURDAY= partly cloudy, gusty winds, high 31, low near 22.
SUNDAY= sunny skies, breezy, high 37, low near 25.
MONDAY= cloudy skies, warmer, high 41, low near 30.
SPORTS
HS GBB= Pierz at Little Falls tonight at 5:30pm on Q92 WYRQ.
HS BBB= Pierz at Little Falls tonight after the girls game on Q92.
HS WRE= Section Wrestling coverage of matches for Little and Pierz in Mora on Saturday, hear the action live throughout the afternoon and if need be into the evening Saturday on Q92 WYRQ.
SKI= Congratulations to Little Falls Nordic Ski members Eddie Sobiech and Elliot Oberton at the State Tournament Wednesday in Biwabik. Sobiech finished 34th (41st in classic and 25th in pursuit), Oberton was 66th overall (70th in classic and 58th in pursuit) there will over 100 skiers participating at the event that past 3 days.