NEWS
--Minneapolis police are asking for your help as they continue to search for a murder suspect. They say they are looking for Erica Roberts who they believe is living in the St. Cloud area. She has been charged with murder for the fatal shooting of Tanasha Austin back on March 18th. The shooting happened during an argument in front of 1907 Colfax Avenue South in Minneapolis. There is a warrant for Roberts from Hennepin County. She is considered to be armed and dangerous. Anyone who knows her location, or sees her, should not approach her but immediately call 911.
--A service outage affecting about 155,000 AT&T customers Tuesday, October 11th was caused by a repair crew working in Minneapolis, company officials reported. Most of the service to the state was restored Wednesday. The outages started happening around 7:50am but it was around 1pm when company officials got notified that they figured out the cause of the incident. There was a third-party utility company going to do service on a tower in Minneapolis and they had cut two fiber lines, which shut down service to. Around 124 towers from Minneapolis to Detroit Lakes were knocked out. The Crow Wing County Sheriff’s Office notified residents, through social media and its website, of the outage and asked them to use a landline or the emergency SOS feature on the phone if anyone needed to call 911.
--The update Thursday from the U.S. Drought Monitor says 79 percent of the state is now abnormally dry, up from 77 percent last week. The Moderate Drought area is now at 36 percent, compared to 35 percent a week ago. The Severe Drought is up to 12 percent from 11 percent last week. The Extreme Drought area remains at four percent of the state. The National Weather Service says in St. Cloud 2.43 inches of rain so far since September 1st, which is 1.71 inches below normal. Where the southern half of the state is in extreme drought and high and moderate drought is mostly the western and northwestern corners. However, Morrison County has shown no drought or very low on the monitor along with Mille Lacs, Crow Wing and most of Northern Cass County where the most rainfall has fallen from August 28th through October 10th but that is still much less than the summer months where more than average rain fell in the areas.
--There are numerous events tonight and this weekend to take in. A trunk or treat event at the Fairgrounds begins at 5pm today, the event is free but donations are excepted to help our schools. The White Sidewalls Concert tonight 7:30pm at Falls Ballroom for St. Gabriel's Hospital Advocates, Charles Kapsner hosting his annual salon at Great River Arts tonight 6-9pm music, wine tasting and art. Immanuel Lutheran Church of Hillman has a harvest festival tonight at the church with music, food and silent auction from 4:30-8pm. There is a potato pancake supper at Bethany Lutheran Church of Ramey tonight from 4-7:30pm at the church. Saturday a benefit for Nick Lanners at Pierz Ballroom, Heartland Symphony Concert Saturday night 7:30pm in Little Falls and Sunday 2:30pm in Brainerd. Memorial Mass for those who have died will be at 10:45am Sunday at St. John's in Lastrup with a meal to follow at parish center. There is a quilt bingo Sunday at St. Elizabeth's Catholic Church in Brennyville Sunday at 1pm with lunch to follow the bingo. Monday night is the meet the candidates in Royalton at the high school starting at 7pm. Get details on events at fallsradio.com.
--A reminder that the Darling Cemetery cleanup day is Saturday at the Cemetery located at 10815 190th Street starting at 9am. Please bring your own yard tools to help in the cleanup at the cemetery.
--The City of Little Falls announced their leaf pickup will be held on Saturday, October 29th starting at 6am. Leaves must be put in bags with a rock placed nearby, do not tie the bags. Leave them on the curb on boulevard of your street or avenue for pickup. Questions call the City of Little Falls at (320) 616-5500.
--Kinship's Annual Soup & Chili Cook-off for Kids is on October 24th from 5-7 PM at the Falls Ballroom. Tickets at the door are $18 for adults (age 16-79), $10 for youth (age 5-15) and a "free will offering" for kids age 4 & under and seniors age 80 & over. Help us pack the Ballroom to enjoy the fun, food & fellowship & more importantly to raise needed funds for Kinship's youth mentoring program. For more information contact Kinship at 320-632-8806.
--A brief police chase on I-94 recovered a stolen semi-truck and trailer Thursday afternoon. Avon police officials say a semi-truck and trailer were reported stolen from Fridley and located on I-94 near Avon a short time later. Officers used spike strips and the truck went into the ditch. The driver was taken into custody without incident, no other vehicles were damaged. This incident is under investigation.
--One person was hurt following a crash in Kandiyohi County Wednesday night. The incident happened after 9:30pm near the intersection of the Kandi-Chippewa Line Road and 75th Avenue Southwest in Edwards Township, near Raymond. Authorities say a semi hauling a trailer of sugar beats was heading east on 75th avenue, when the vehicle went off the road, hit a field approach and flipped onto its side. The driver of the semi, 47-year-old Michael Weber of Pennock received non-life threatening injuries.
--Fire crews responded to a barn fire near Alexandria. The Douglas County Sheriff's Office says they got a call at about 7pm Monday for a fire on East Lake Victoria Road Southeast. When deputies arrived they learned a dairy barn was on fire with cows still inside. They were able to evacuate most of the cows before the roof collapsed.
Other structures on the farm site sustained substantial damage. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
--The Little Falls School Board meets Monday at 5pm at the middle school and the Little Falls City Council meets at 7:30pm at City Hall.
NATIONAL NEWS
--Millions of Social Security recipients will get an 8.7% boost in their benefits in 2023. However, the reasons behind the boost could be by the fact that it’s fueled by high inflation that’s raised the cost of everyday living. The cost-of living adjustment means the average recipient will receive more than $140 extra a month beginning in January to help cost of living expenses likely continue going up.
WEATHER
TODAY= rain or snow showers, windy, high 39, clearing late, low 28.
SATURDAY= partly cloudy and warmer, high 50, cloudy night, low 33.
SUNDAY= mostly cloudy and windy, colder, high 41, low near 23.
MONDAY= snow showers early, then cloudy and cold, high 37, low 18
SPORTS
HS FB= Upsala-Swanville vs. Long Prairie-Grey Eagle today, kickoff begins at 1:30pm on Q92 WYRQ and fallsradio.com.
HS FB= Little Falls vs. St. Cloud Cathedral tonight at 7pm, the game will be played at St. Johns University on AM960 KLTF.
HF FB= Eden Valley Watkins at Pierz tonight 7pm on 94ROCKS.
COL FB= Gophers at Illinois Saturday at 11am.
NFL= Vikings at Miami Sunday at noon.