NEWS
--Another night of strong thunderstorms through central and north central Minnesota. Heavy rains, gusty winds, hail moved through causing downed trees and power lines again with numbers of people without power early Friday. Another round of heavy rains and strong thunderstorms are in the forecast starting this afternoon through tonight and into Saturday afternoon before things start to dry out by late Saturday and cooler conditions on Sunday.
--A two-vehicle accident happened Thursday at 9:23am on Highway 210 in Cass County in Sylvan Township between Motley and Pillager. A 39-year-old from Motley was on eastbound on Highway 210 when the vehicle crossed the center-line and collided with a semi-truck driven by 52-year-old Michael Richardson of Oakdale. Richardson was treated for injuries at Brainerd Hospital. The State Patrol did not release any other information on the 39 year old from Motley and said that will be released at noon today.
--One person was killed and one person injured in a two-vehicle accident Wednesday at 1:11pm on Highway 65 in Kanabec County. 58-year-old Gerald Villella of Brainerd was on Highway 65 when a car driven by 29-year-old Rachel Johnson of Willow River crossed the center line and struck Villella head-on. Villella was taken to a hospital and treated for non life threatening injuries. Johnson was pronounced dead at the scene when authorities arrived at the accident.
--The Minnesota DNR released a draft of its wolf management plan last week. The first update since the initial plan was enacted in 2001. The plan does include options for hunting and trapping if certain benchmarks are met. The wolf population has to exceed 3,000 animals. The current estimate in Minnesota is at 2,700. The DNR at this time does not anticipate a wolf hunt anytime soon based on those numbers. The DNR says there are folks in northern Minnesota that were hoping for a hunting season soon. That may be in the future as the DNR says contacts in northern Minnesota have indicated that the wolf population is growing while the deer population is decreasing. The latest info is on the DNR website.
--The Morrison County United Way announced that the bean bag tournament they did at the County Fair last year was a big success that they will be bringing back again this year on July 22nd. The event will start at 6pm with prizes for the top finishers. They are asking for 2 person teams of 14 years of age and up, $40 for preregistration and then $50 at the event on the 22nd. All bean bags and items for the event are provided. Register online at unitedwayofmc.org then click on events or contact the United Way at 320-632-5102.
--Weekend events include Lakes Jams tonight and tomorrow at the Brainerd International Raceway, the Great American Race Saturday also at BIR to check out the antique cars and their race continuing to Fargo. St. Mathias Church near Ft. Ripley on County Road 121 has their bazaar Sunday, mass at 10am, chicken and ham dinner will all trimmings starts at 11am, events this year are all on the church grounds through afternoon and the raffle at 4pm. Also on Sunday is St. Stanislaus Church in Sobieski hosting a festival on Sunday, Mass at 10am, this year the meal with consists of burgers, country sausage and hot dogs that will starts to be served at 10:45am there are also homemade pies, coffee cakes, live music with Gene Retka and Main Squeeze Lite, quilt bingo style at 1pm to try and win one of the beautiful quilts, there will be number of kids games, cake walk and a cash raffle Sunday in Sobieski with top prize of $500. All of the proceeds of the event goes to the work in the renovated basement.
--The Brainerd City Council designated $80,000 of its American Rescue Plan Act funds to be used as matching funds for Main Street Revitalization Program grants. The grant program, administered by the Department of Employment and Economic Development, awarded $4.5 million to the Initiative Foundation in Little Falls to fund development projects in downtown areas and select corridors in Little Falls, Brainerd, Cold Spring, Long Prairie, Pine River and St. Cloud. Brainerd’s allocation is about $765,000, available for projects aimed at housing, child care, small business support and landscaping in the River to Rail corridor, which includes the area between the Mississippi River and the Northern Pacific Center, and from Washington Street to Oak Street. The grants are 30% matching grants, essentially a 2-to-1 match, meaning for every $1 of grant, the applicant would need $2 in matching funds, which cannot come from state or federal sources. While the relief funds came from the federal government, the city intends to use them under the revenue loss provision allowed for allotments of less than $10 million. Those funds can be spent on government services. A subcommittee of city officials and community members formed to develop applications for the grants and review them once submitted. The Economic Development Authority will have the final say on who gets the grants. The Housing and Redevelopment Authority will also consider allocating $20,000 toward a matching grant program, and the EDA will create guidelines for the program at its next meeting July 7th.
--A special thank you for all you came last night to Markets and Music on the Mississippi. Another one is set for July 28th and also Aug. 25th.
NATIONAL NEWS
--It is reported that drivers will be facing the most expensive July 4th at the pump ever this year. However, gas prices are expected to fall between 10 and 20 cents by Independence day. With President Biden announcing his desire to halt the federal gas tax for three months, which could potentially lead to an additional 18.4 cent decline in gas prices withing the next 8-10 days. That could save American drivers collectively about $70 million per day.
--The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a restrictive New York gun law in a major ruling for gun rights. The justices’ 6-3 decision is expected to ultimately allow more people to legally carry guns on the streets of the nation’s largest cities, including New York, Los Angeles and Boston and elsewhere. About a quarter of the U.S. population lives in states expected to be affected by the ruling, the high court’s first major gun decision in more than a decade.
WEATHER
TODAY= partly sunny, humid, high 89, strong storms late in the day.
TONIGHT= strong to severe storms, heavy rains, low 66.
SATURDAY= strong storms in morning, then clearing, high 80, low 50
SUNDAY= sunny and cooler, high 72, clear night, cool, low near 50.
MONDAY= sunny skies, high 78, partly cloudy night, low 58.
SPORTS
TWINS= Devin Smeltzer shuts out the Guardians Thursday with six strong innings, the relief did the rest as the Twins win 1-0. The Twins host Colorado Rockies in inter-league series this weekend, pregame tonight at 6:30pm, Saturday at 5:30pm and Sunday afternoon begins with Inside Twins at noon on Q92 WYRQ.
NBA= Timberwolves select Walker Kessler of Auburn and Wendell Moore of Duke in the first round last night of the NBA Draft.