NEWS
--Around 12:20pm on Thursday the Morrison County Sheriff's Office received a report of a two vehicle accident at the intersection of Hawthorn Road and 235th Avenue, approximately 4 miles northwest of Pierz in Buh Township. According to the Sheriff’s Office, 24-year old Pacer Demo of Pierz, was traveling north on 235th Avenue as 56-year old Ronald Stuckmayer of Pierz was traveling west on Hawthorn Road. Demo failed to yield at the stop sign and struck Stuckmayer’s vehicle in the intersection. Demo was taken to St. Gabriel’s Hospital by ambulance with unknown injuries. Stuckmayer was not injured.
--Motorists who travel Highway 27 in Little Falls will encounter delays while the Highway 27 bridge spanning the Mississippi River is closed for close to two weeks from Monday, April 29 through Saturday, May 11th. Motorists should plan for the following beginning Monday, April 29: Highway 27 will close between Front Street and Lindbergh Drive. The Highway 27/Front Street intersection, and Highway 27/Lindbergh Drive intersection, will close. Motorists should follow the signed detour along County Road 214 and Highway 10, or plan their own alternate routes. Commercial trucks must use the detour listed above through October 2019. Pedestrians will be able to cross the Highway 27 bridge spanning the Mississippi River using temporary walkways. All lanes of Highway 27 between Front Street and Lindbergh Drive, including the Highway 27 bridge spanning the Mississippi River, will open in mid-May. The closure is needed as part of a major project that will improve Highway 27 and other infrastructure through downtown Little Falls in 2019. All businesses in downtown Little Falls will remain open and accessible throughout the project, although routes will occasionally change. For real-time travel information anywhere in Minnesota, check www.511mn.org.
--A Merrifield deer farm that's repeatedly tested positive for chronic wasting disease is now closed following the euthanization of its herd. The Minnesota Board of Animal Health announced Wednesday, the "depopulation" of deer from the 112-acre Trophy Woods Ranch, which was first known to be infected by CWD in 2016 and has since registered numerous positive tests. The board is coordinating with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to collect tissue samples from the herd for CWD testing and stated in a news release it will report results as soon as they become available. CWD is a disease of the deer and elk family caused by an abnormally shaped protein called a prion, which can damage brain and nerve tissue. The disease is most likely transmitted when infected deer and elk shed prions in saliva, feces, urine and other fluids or tissues. CWD is not known to naturally occur in other animals. The disease is fatal in deer and elk, and there are no known treatments or vaccines. Consuming infected meat is not advised. This Crow Wing County deer herd was the only CWD positive farm in the state operating under a herd plan with live animals. As of this depopulation, all CWD positive deer farms in the state are empty. The USDA is providing indemnity to the owner Kevin Schmidt for the animals as part of its overall disease control effort.
--A level 3 Predatory Offender is moving to St. Cloud. 30-year old Devito Lenow will move to a home in the 1500 block of 2nd Street North in St. Cloud on April 29th. Police say Lenow has a history of sexual conduct and contact with children. He has served his sentence and is not wanted by police. If you have any questions or concerns you're asked to contact St. Cloud Police at (320) 345-4148.
--Little Falls Community Schools Superintendent Stephen Jones stated that the morning bus route schedule will remain at the same when the road construction begins on Highway 27 next week, with buses arriving from the west side a little later than normal for those two weeks. For the trip home, students at Lincoln Elementary will be picked up five to seven minutes earlier. This will help alleviate how much later students at the middle school and Lindbergh Elementary will be picked up. Jones said a change was made a couple of months ago in how students board the buses on the east side. Middle school students board the bus first, while Lindbergh Elementary students wait in the gym. During the two weeks the buses will be arriving later at the end of the day, the elementary students will simply stay in the gym a bit longer. This is for now to the end of this school year. Jones stated that with construction still expected to possibly October 1st, some changes may still need to be made in the fall.
--The missing Foley 16-year old Randall Weisser who left his home on Saturday, April 13th in Alberta Township was located safe at about 9:00am on Friday in St. Cloud. Randall is in good health and has been cooperative with law enforcement. The Benton County Sheriffs Office would like to thank all the concerned individuals who shared information about Randall and helped look for him.
--A teenager from St. Augusta was hurt in a two-vehicle crash Thursday morning. The Minnesota State Patrol says it happened just before 8:00am at the intersection of Highway 15 and County Road 142 north of Kimball. Seventeen-year-old Aryahna Schwinghammer of St. Augusta was going west on the county road when she entered the intersection to go south on the highway and struck another car, which was going north on the highway. Schwinghammer was taken to St. Cloud Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The driver of the second vehicle, a 35-year-old man from San Antonio, Texas, and his two passengers were not hurt.
--Another road project begins on April 29th as Highway 169 from Garrison to Crow Wing County 26 will be reduced to single lane while road work is being done. The work is to restore the bridge on the north side of Highway 169 so the two lanes of southbound 169 will now serve as single lanes until the work is completed by mid-June.
--The Pierz City Council meets tonight at 7pm at Pierz City Hall.
DEATH NOTICES
--Eugene Roman, age 62 of North Las Vegas, NV died in Hillman.
--Deloris Westre, age 93 of Little Falls.
WEATHER
TODAY= rain showers at times, cloudy and breezy, high 52.
TONIGHT= becoming mostly clear, low near 30.
TUESDAY= sunny and warmer, high 63, clear night, low 47.
WEDNESDAY= sunny and warm, high 72, low around 42.
SPORTS
TWINS= Twins and Orioles postponed Friday, Twins won both games Saturday 6-5 and then 16-7 over the Orioles hitting 11 homeruns between the two games. Then on Sunday Twins held on to a 4-3 win to sweep the series. Twins open series tonight at Houston against the Astros, pregame begins at 6:30pm on Q92 WYRQ.
LYNX= Minnesota Lynx will retire #13 of Lindsay Whalen at their June 8th game against Los Angeles. First Lynx player for this honor.