NEWS
--On Thursday morning a groundbreaking ceremony was held for a new housing project at 777 14th Street Southeast in Little Falls. City Administrator Jon Radermacher said that the city needs housing after a recent study shows that hundreds of units of housing were needed in the city. The market rate apartment 50 unit complex broke ground yesterday to get this going in Little Falls. With a boom in population coming to the area and seeking employment in the Little Falls area the means of housing also had to improve. Community Asset Development Group stated that the project should be completed in about 10 months. Website materials and building teams are in place to begin the full run on the project right after the first of the year. Mayor Greg Zylka also spoke yesterday and said that the benefit of the new housing in the area with the manufacturing jobs going up in the area and more people into the towns means more children in schools and people shopping and bringing more revenue to the city. If you have questions on the new housing apartment complex in southeast Little Falls call City Hall at 320-616-5500.
--A Paynesville woman charged in the death of her disabled daughter has pleaded guilty to murder 38-year-old Elise Nelson pleaded guilty to 2nd-degree intentional murder. A manslaughter charge will be dismissed at her sentencing in January. Court records show the child had chronic respiratory failure and severe developmental delay from the loss of oxygen at birth. According to the charges filed in Stearns County District Court, Nelson was alone with her daughter over four days in June 2020 disabled an oxygen monitoring device, and deprived her of medical care. During that time, she was accused of silencing the alarm on a pulse oximeter device and manipulating the machine's settings multiple times before ultimately shutting it off. On the morning of June 21st, 2020, the family friend tried to reach Nelson through phone calls and text messages that she was going to drop off Nelson's other daughter at home. The calls and text messages went unanswered. The friend then drove to Nelson's home to drop the child off but the doors were locked and the shades were pulled. Later that afternoon, Nelson allegedly returned a text that she had just finished performing CPR and was waiting for the police. Court records show Nelson didn't call 911 until approximately 20 minutes after that text message was sent. Police arrived to find the child on the living room floor and cold to the touch. She was brought to Paynesville Hospital where she was pronounced dead. An autopsy later determined Nelson deprived the child of care resulting in death and the manner of death was homicide. Nelson told police she had performed CPR on the child for an hour but officers noted her story was inconsistent with a person exerting herself for 60 minutes while performing CPR. Nelson will be sentenced on January 8th.
--A Stearns County jury has found an Eden Valley man guilty of sexually assaulting a teenage boy. After a two-day jury trial this week, 35-year-old Jessee Kuhns was convicted on one count of 3rd-degree criminal sexual conduct with a victim between 16-17-years-old while being more than three years older than the victim. According to the criminal complaint, Kuhns was a registered predatory offender who was in a position of power over the 16-year-old boy and used that power to manipulate the boy into agreeing to sex acts with him. The boy said if he did not comply, Kuhns would hurt him. The sexual assault occurred in April 2022 at Kuhns's home. Kuhns is being held without bail until sentencing on January 23rd.
--A 25-year-old Buffalo man was sentenced in Aitkin County District Court for the 2022 murder of his father. Ronald Joseph Bzdok pleaded guilty to a felony second-degree murder for the death of his father, Daniel Bzdok, 62, at a cabin near Palisade. According to court records, Bzdok appeared with his attorney before Judge David F. Hermerding in Aitkin County District Court. After family members read their victim impact statements to the court and Bzdok apologized for his actions, Hermerding sentenced Bzdok to 25 years and six months confinement. Bzdok was also fined $7,712. In Minnesota, a sentence consists of a minimum term of imprisonment equal to two-thirds of the total sentence, and supervised release equal to one-third of the total sentence. Bzdok will serve his prison sentence at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in St. Cloud.
--Two men were injured Monday after their vehicles collided at the intersection of Minnesota Highway 6 and County Highway 30 in Crow Wing County. The Minnesota State Patrol responded to the crash, reported at 2:41pm in Wolford Township, north of Crosby. The drivers Emmet Wayne Smith, 43, of Brainerd and Dante Antonio Irizarry, 26, of Aitkin, both suffered non-life-threatening injuries and were transported to St. Cloud Hospital for treatment.
--Weekend events include the Pine Grove Zoo Boo Fest Saturday with games, trick or treating, animals, haunted house and so much more, tickets are $7 and can be pre-ordered at 616-5595 or at the event on Saturday at the zoo and Ron Specker from KLTF will be there live. Also Darling Church Memorial Inc. will have musician Bill Johnson perform Saturday at 2pm with social at 1pm at Bethel Lutheran Church in Little Falls come purchase CDs for $10 and that all goes to the building of a memorial on the Darling Church site between Little Falls and Randall. The Brainerd Lakes Curling Club is hosting a free open house event Saturday from 5-8pm at the curling club site inside the Crow Wing County Fairgrounds with mini lessons for those coming to the event ages 6 and up. There will be a cancer benefit for Jeff Joslin Saturday at the Little Falls VFW. There are about 30 tickets left for the Polish Dinner on Sunday serving at 5pm at St. Stanislaus Church in Sobieski, tickets must be sold in advance by end of today by calling Michael Retka at 232-5898. More event details can be found at fallsradio.com and then community calendar.
DEATH NOTICES
--Dennis Pekarek, age 68 of Foley.
WEATHER
TODAY= AM fog, then sunny skies, mild, high 68.
TONIGHT= partly cloudy skies, windy, low near 40.
SATURDAY= partly sunny and very breezy, high 57, low 38.
SUNDAY= partly sunny, not as windy, high 56, low 46.
MONDAY= sunny and mild, high 63, rain late, low near 45.
SPORTS
COL FB= Gophers at Iowa Saturday at 2:30pm
NFL= Vikings host San Francisco Monday at 6:30pm on KLTF.
HS FB= Little Falls at Princeton playoffs Tuesday 7pm on KLTF.
HS FB= Proctor at Pierz playoffs Tuesday at 6pm on 94ROCKS.
MLB= Houston tied their series with Texas at 2 each with a 10-4 win on Thursday while Arizona beat Philadelphia in the NLCS, though the Phillies still lead the series 2-1 with game 4 tonight.