NEWS
--On Thursday afternoon, Little Falls Radio was notified we were nominated and selected as the Little Falls Area Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year Award. Little Falls Radio will be acknowledged and officially awarded the honor at the Little Falls Area Chamber Banquet February 27th at the Falls Ballroom. On behalf of Little Falls Radio we would like to thank those who nominated and selected us for this prestigious honor.
--Over 600 students from central and northern Minnesota competed at the District 5 DECA Conference in St. Cloud on Wednesday. Little Falls had 30 students competing with the following students qualifying for the state conference in Minneapolis in March. Going to the State Conference Trent Krupke took 1st place in Advanced Employment Interview; Mason Petrowitz- 2nd place in Integrated Marketing Plan; Gabe Nagel- 4th place in Sports & Entertainment Marketing, Brock Lutzke and George Moore- 4th place in Integrated Marketing Plan; Elizabeth Olson and Ava Filippi- 5th place in Hospitality Services; Jon Archer- 6th place in Food Marketing, Max Dempsey- 7th place in Personal Financial Literacy, Sam Gold and Dane Couture- 7th place in Buying and Merchandising. Good Luck at State.
--Royalton Public Schools is proud to announce that Christopher Borash, a Royalton High School Senior, has been selected as the male MSHSL Region 5A ‘Triple A’ award winner. The selection had been paired down from ten males and ten females on January 22nd to four males and four females from the week prior and on January 29th, those selected students were invited to a banquet where each sub-region winner would make a five-minute speech about how arts, athletics, and academics have made an impact on their lives to the judges panel. The next step in the ‘Triple A’ award process takes place during the 2020 Boys’ State Basketball Tournament in mid-March where Christopher, along with the other finalists, will be introduced and a banquet will follow where the winner of the ‘Triple A’ award will be announced. Christopher is the latest Male Representative for the ‘Triple A’ award with the last nomination from Royalton coming in 1997 in Matthew Epsky.
--On Wednesday afternoon, a wreath and poster marked the spot on Stearns County Road 75 where Officer Brian Klinefelter was killed 24 years ago. Members of the Stearns County Sheriff's Office honor guard presented the wreath in front of a small group near the site where the St. Joseph police officer was killed. On January 29, 1996, Klinefelter was shot five times on County Road 75 and County Road 133 after he stopped a suspicious vehicle carrying three suspects in an Albany liquor store robbery. Stearns County Sheriff's Office honor guard member Brian Theisen stands watch Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020, near a wreath and memorial placed at the location where officer Brian Klinefelter was killed 24 years ago in St. Joseph. Honor guard members stood watch at the location for one hour following the noon ceremony Wednesday. Klinefelter was shot by the driver Thomas Kantor. Kantor was later killed by a Benton County deputy. Kenneth Roering and Brian Ederhoff, the other two men involved —were arrested and later convicted of various crimes.
--A reminder from Morrison County Sheriff Shawn Larsen and Chuck Zwilling that cutting of the ice on Green Prairie/Fish Lake has begun for the ICE Fest next weekend. Signs have been posted asking that motorists do not drive any motorized vehicles through the coned off areas on the lake while the cutting process is being done.
--It was reported yesterday morning that the internet issue reported on yesterday's newsletter at the Morrison County Government Center has been resolved and internet access was operating correctly again.
--Three people were hurt in a two-vehicle crash in Benton County yesterday Thursday afternoon. The incident happened around 3pm on Highway 23 at Highway 25 near Foley. The Minnesota State Patrol says a pick-up driven by 79-year-old Joseph Tracy of Waite Park was headed east on Highway 23 and turning onto northbound Highway 25 when it collided with a westbound pick-up driven by 16-year-old Tyler Brambrink of St. Cloud. Tyler Brambrink was not hurt, but his passenger, 14-year-old Patrick Brambrink of St. Cloud, along with Tracy's passenger, 75-year-old Alvina Krocak of South Haven, were taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
--Slippery roads made for a slow commute Thursday in many counties. The State Patrol reported over 100 accidents combined in Stearns, Todd, Kandiyohi and Meeker Countie sfrom 4am-9am. This included two injury accidents and a jack knifed semi-truck.
--The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the eight Chippewa bands with fishing rights on Lake Mille Lacs have set the 2020 walleye harvest. Once again this year, the safe harvest limit has been set at 150,000 pounds. Licensed anglers will be able to take 87,800 pounds while tribal fishing will be allowed 62,200 pounds of walleye. The open water regulations may be adjusted depending on the success of the ice fishing season's harvest. The DNR will announce open-water fishing regulations for Mille Lacs in late March.
--Early indications are we could be in for another bad spring for flooding. The National Weather Service says we had well above normal rain and snow throughout 2019. The Upper Mississippi River Basin and Red River Basin had their wettest year in 125 years of modern record-keeping. Meanwhile, there's a lot of snow on the ground, between 10 and 25 inches of snow depth across the region. This snow is holding anywhere from 2 to 8 inches of water within it.
NATIONAL NEWS
--Sunday in Ground Hog Day. As history states a Ground Hog will come out of his hole and sees his shadow then it will be 6 more weeks of winter, if not then spring is on the way. Considered the most famous Ground Hog Punxsutawney Phil in Pennsylvania has been doing the prediction for what will be year number 134 on Sunday.
WEATHER
TODAY= freezing fog early, cloudy, high near 30.
TONIGHT= cloudy skies, steady temps around 26.
SATURDAY= partial sun, mild, high 36, low around 33.
SUNDAY= sunny and mild, high 41, cloudy late, low 28.
MONDAY= cloudy, snow develops, temps drop from 28 to 14 late.
SPORTS
HS BASK= Pierz at Little Falls in a double header, beginning with the boys game at 5:45pm and the girls game to follow around 7:30pm at the Little Falls Community High School. Both games on Q92 WYRQ.
COL HK= Gopher Hockey at Wisconsin tonight at 6:30pm then tomorrow night at 7:30pm on AM960 KLTF.
NFL= Super Bowl 54 is Sunday between San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs in Miami, Florida to finish the NFL Season. The festivities begin in the morning with the actual kickoff at 5:30pm, full coverage on Super Bowl 54 starts Sunday at 1pm on AM960 KLTF.