Newsletter: Monday, April 8th, 2024
NEWS
--The Morrison County Sheriff’s Office reports that on Thursday their office received a report of a theft of wire from an irrigation pivot at Royal Farms, located approximately one mile west of Royalton, MN in Bellevue Township. According to the Sheriff’s Office, it is believed the theft occurred approximately one week ago around March 28, 2024. The suspect(s) drove a vehicle into the field next to the pivot to commit the theft. Approximately $10,000 worth of copper wire was taken. If you have any information regarding this theft or if you saw anything suspicious, you are asked to call the Morrison County Sheriff’s Office at 320-632-9233.
--A Stearns County judge has sentenced the second of three men charged in a south St. Cloud shooting. Twenty-one-year-old Jamarcus Morris was sentenced to 72 years in prison. A jury previously found Morris guilty on four counts of aiding and abetting attempted 1st-degree murder and four counts of aiding and abetting 2nd-degree assault with a dangerous weapon. The shooting happened near the intersection of 11th Avenue South and 6th Street South in July 2022 and injured four people. According to the criminal complaint, Morris and two other suspects, 28-year-old Bryant Garth II and 29-year-old Daquan Ledbetter, pulled up to a group of people and fired multiple gunshots into the crowd. In all, 33 shots were fired in the incident, and three men, between 19-21-years-old, and a 15-year-old boy were taken to the hospital. Ledbetter was found guilty on the same charges and was sentenced to 63 years in prison. Garth is scheduled to go on trial starting today.
--A Stearns County judge has sentenced 29-year-old Fardoussa Abdillahi to 21 years and nine months in prison for killing her son. She gets credit for having served just over two years and four months of the sentence. Abdillahi pleaded guilty to one count of 2nd-degree murder last August. Records show Abdillahi stabbed the 3 1/2-month-old boy before putting him in a plastic garbage bag and throwing the bag in the dumpster in November 2021. According to the complaint, officers spoke with Abdillahi who was crying and saying she stabbed the boy before putting his body in the dumpster. Officers were able to find the boy's body and arrested his mother. An autopsy determined the boy died from sharp force injuries to his neck and the manner of death was ruled a homicide.
--One person is dead and another is seriously hurt after the vehicle they were in collided with a semi. The Minnesota State Patrol says the incident happened at about 8am Thursday north of Mora in Kanabec County. A vehicle driven by 35-year-old Candace Berglund of Ogilvie was going east on Highway 27 at Highway 65 when it made contact with the semi which was going south on Highway 65. Berglund died in the crash. Her passenger, 16-year-old Robert Berglund of Ogilvie, was taken to Children's Hospital with life-threatening injuries. The two people in the semi, 49-year-old Craig Stern of Cedar and 39-year-old Daniel Dami of St. Francis were both taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
--Join Little Falls Community Schools for Jazz Night tonight at 7pm at the Little Falls Community High School. Jazz Night includes the Middle School Jazz, Jazz II, and Jazz I. Jazz I will feature the world premiere of a piece dedicated to the Little Falls Jazz I entitled "The Spirit of Hope," composed by Brian Pearson. Admission is FREE.
--The Pierz City Council meets tonight at 7pm at Pierz City Hall.
--The Brainerd Police Department reported a threat was made Friday to Central Lakes College causing them to cancel a drag show Friday night at Central Lakes College after someone threatened to bring a gun to the event. CLC officials reported the threat, which was received by phone, to the Brainerd Police Department at 4:41pm Wednesday. On Thursday the college announced the cancellation of the Rainbow Coalition Club Drag Show in a post on its Facebook page. The Brainerd Police Department reported a suspect had been identified and the case was being forwarded to the Crow Wing County Attorney’s Office for consideration of a threat of violence criminal charges and other possible charges for making the threat. The Club would not state if the event plans to be rescheduled.
--The Legacy Chorale will present their spring concert ‘The Hills Are Alive With the Sound of Music’ Sunday afternoon at 2pm at the Sacred Heart Chapel at the Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls. The choir is part of the Legacy Chorale of Greater Minnesota, a nonprofit organization which supports adult and youth choirs in the Brainerd lakes area. Visit legacychorale.org/events for additional concert information. Tickets are available to all by free will donation and may be reserved online or picked up at the door.
SOLAR ECLIPSE NEWS
--Thousands are finding spots today to view the solar eclipse, the first to be seen across most of the United States since 2015. The eclipse is scheduled to start across the sun just after noon central daylight time and last until after 3pm with peak time around 2pm. The best area to see 100% totality of the eclipse is across the central region of the United States to the northeast through Illinois and up to Buffalo, New York. Parts of central Minnesota will see some of the eclipse take shape this afternoon, but clouds and rain today will hamper that.