NEWS
--It was our largest turnout yet for a Ladies Night Out Pierz Style as 140 participated yesterday. Congratulations to all other winners. According to the Little Falls Radio Contest rules the grand prize winner was ineligible. Therefore, Little Falls Radio has decided to donate the $500 Pierz Foods Pierz Floral gift card to the Pierz Area Food Shelf to help support March is Food Shelf Month. Several thousand dollars worth of prizes were given away last night. We are planning another Ladies Night Out in Little Falls this fall and in Pierz next year in spring.
--The Morrison County Dairy Princess Banquet is Saturday, March 30th at the Falls Ballroom in Little Falls. This year there are six candidates. Candidates include 17-year old Whitney Woidyla-Wood of Swanville, the daughter of Robin and Melissa Woidyla-Wood; 17-year old Mara St. Onge of Fort Ripley, daughter of Gary St. Onge; 18-year old Alexis Krebs of Little Falls, daughter of Marsha and Donald Krebs; 17-year old Annika Gunderson of Upsala, daughter of Charlie and Beth Gunderson; 18-year old Megan Borash of Little Falls, daughter of Wayne and Joyce Borash; and 17-year old Emily Popp of Royalton, daughter of Doug and Jane Popp. The banquet on March 30th begins with a social at 7:30pm and dinner at 8:00pm. Tickets which include a meal are $15 at the door. Morrison County Dairy Princesses act as goodwill ambassadors for the local dairy farmers and dairy industry over the next calendar year.
--Major road construction projects that were delayed last summer will be the most significant project for Stearns County in 2019. The County Highway 75 project between Waite Park and St. Joseph is expected to get underway in earnest in mid-April and will take approximately three months to complete. The $10-million project will cause some major slowdowns as drivers will be shifted over to single-lane head-to-head traffic. The delays will be significant during the morning and evening commutes in western Stearns County. Highway 10 in Elk River, Highway 23 Foley to Milaca, Highway 23 from St Cloud through Benton County to Highway 95 are other major projects. There are also plans on Interstate 94 in Wright, Sherburne and Stearns County this summer and Highway 371 work north of Nisswa and work scheduled near Aitkin. The largest project in Morrison County is the Highway 27 projects beginning in April. There will be 2 meetings to discuss that project on April 4th at Little Falls City Hall. For information call the LF Chamber of Commerce at 632-5155. For the latest Minnesota travel conditions go to 511mn.org.
--Two people were hurt on Highway 23 in Minden Township of Benton County Thursday around 7:30am. 61-year-old Cheryl Storkamp of St. Cloud was turning onto 23 when her vehicle was struck by 38-year-old Jennifer Sand of St. Cloud. Both drivers sustained injuries that were ruled not life threatening in the accident.
--The next Pierz City Council meeting will be held Monday at 7:00pm at City Hall. Also the Public Works team of Pierz have been busy clearing snow these last couple weeks, and could use some of your help. If you have a fire hydrant close, please adopt a hydrant. Every second counts in an emergency, and we have lots of hydrants in town that could use some clearing. If you have a fire hydrant located on, or near, your property, please take some time to clear away the snow around it if you are able. This is so firefighters can act quickly in the case of an emergency with a better chance of saving a structure.
--Weekend events include fish fries tonight, Hands of Hope fundraiser with the Killer Vees Saturday night, Crow Wing County Dairy Banquet Saturday night in Pierz, Habitat Day on Saturday morning at Crane Meadows southeast of Little Falls, more details at fallsradio.com.
--The 20th Annual Kinship Soup and Chili Cookoff fundraiser will be Tuesday from 5-7pm at the Falls Ballroom in Little Falls. Come sample a number of soups and chili, breadstricks, ice cream from Crow Wing County Dairy Ambassadors, bluegrass music and more for $10 adults, $5 kids 5-16 and free for 4 and under and 80 and over on Tuesday in Little Falls. For more information call Aaron Olson at 632-8806.
--The 54-year-old Crosby man involved in a head on crash in Crow Wing County earlier this week has died from his injuries. Timothy Kruse died at HCMC on Thursday. The other driver, 70-year-old Barbara Jo Blood of Crosby died at the scene.
--A St. Cloud man is charged with physically abusing his infant daughter, leaving her with bruises and a fractured eye socket. 25-year-old Scott Stang is charged with felony malicious punishment of a child under 4-years-old, felony malicious punishment of a child, substantial bodily harm and felony domestic assault by strangulation. According to the charging complaint, the mother left the four-month-old child with Stang while she went out Tuesday morning. When she returned an hour later, the mother said Stang was clutching his head and the child was screaming. Records show the child had bruises on her cheeks, neck, arms, under her left eye, and on her back. According to the complaint, Stang told investigators he didn't mean to squeeze the girl that hard, admitted to causing the bruising by pushing his thumbs into her head and admitted to holding the girl so tightly that he heard the child gasp for air. Stang told investigators he did that two or three times to get the child to quit crying. There are no court dates currently scheduled.
--A Sauk Rapids woman has pleaded guilty to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from her employer through company credit cards. 37-year-old Tahnee Rudolph pleaded guilty to one felony count of theft-by-swindle and will be sentenced in June. According to the criminal complaint, the embezzlement was occurring at least as far back as 2014 when the current owner bought the business. Rudolph was in charge of payroll, paying credit card bills and issuing checks for a Rockville company. Records show Rudolph used two different credit cards to make personal purchases, cash withdrawals, hotel room reservations, pay utility bills and even to service her mom's pool. The owner of the business discovered the fraud in August of last year and fired Rudolph shortly afterward.
DEATH NOTICES
--Gary Okroi, age 67 of Pierz
--Ernest “Ernie” Johnson, age 87 of Motley.
WEATHER
TODAY= sunny skies, high 43.
TONIGHT= clear skies, cooler, low 18.
SATURDAY= sunny skies, high near 50, clouds increase, low 29.
SUNDAY= flurries early, then mostly cloudy, high 47, low 22.
MONDAY= sunny skies, cooler, high 37, low around 16.
SPORTS
NCAA= Gophers beat Louisville 86-76 Thursday to advance in the NCAA Tournament. Gophers will play Michigan State on Saturday.
TWINS= The Twins have Boston at 5pm today in spring training baseball, Baltimore tomorrow at 5pm and the Yankees at noon Sunday all from Florida and all live on Q92 WYRQ.