NEWS
--Severe thunderstorms and many tornado warnings developed Friday afternoon and evening. Winds exceeded 70-75mph in Little Falls caused large trees to topple over in areas with a lot of cleanup on Saturday around Little Falls, a trailer toppled over near Randall, trees blown down over roadways northeast of Browerville toward the Motley area, reports of the wind being so strong that vehicles were pushed nearly off of roadways Friday coming into Little Falls. There were no reports of confirmed tornado touchdowns in Morrison County on Friday though funnel clouds were spotted in areas. The National Weather Service reported six touchdowns in Minnesota as of yesterday afternoon the strongest with winds nearly 100mph in McLeod County. Five smaller but still powerful tornadoes with winds in excess of 70mph were reported near Crystal, Waconia and in the Spicer/Green Lake area near Willmar. Though lots of debris and trees during damage there was no report of any injuries from the storms. --Morrison County now has over 100 positive cases of COVID-19 since testing was reported after 1 new case Saturday and 5 on Sunday to move to 103 positive cases, looking back 14 days, Morrison County on August 2nd had 82 cases of COVID-19 reported meaning 21 in the last 14 so days depending on isolation games. On Sunday there were 754 new cases in Minnesota with 7 new deaths.
--Little Falls Schools Superintendent Stephen Jones said Friday that the plan is still to have all students in school September 8th, and will be sending out information this week that will include kindergarten day, open houses, teacher information and other items to get students ready, this will also include the safety requirements that all must follow this year for the school year. Parents should be receiving these via e-mail, voice message and mailing which was was asked for on notifications during the recents surveys and messages sent out in the previous weeks by the school district. Pierz Schools has sent out and put on their website their reopening plan for schools this year and a survey that is being asked to be filled out by parents. Pierz Superintendent George Weber will be the guest on KLTF Wednesday at 8:30am. Upsala schools has sent a reentry letter Friday and put on their COVID-19 information link on their website to view also.
--Officer cadets from several Army ROTC organizations kicked off their Cadet Summer Training at Camp Ripley with medical tasks and land navigation on Tuesday. They had 8 medical tasks to complete from evaluating a casualty to a "call for fire" mission. This type of training is completed at the beginning of the cycle as a refresher and as a foundation to build to more complex tasks. Most of the cadets are in their junior year at an ROTC university. The Cadet Summer Training is a requirement for all cadets in order to receive their commission after graduation. Coming up, the cadets will have Field Training Exercises (FTX) for four days.
--Living Hope Church north of Little Falls is hosting a free grocery giveway on Wednesday 3-7pm at 17389 Haven Road. This is to help the community out during this time of need with COVID-19 and is open to anyone. Living Hope is partnering with Convoy of Hope (a disaster relief ministry) to given back during the time of the pandemic. If you would like to pick up a box or know someone who could benefit from the event, please call the church at 320-632-4365 to sign up for a window of time to pick up your groceries.
--The New Princess Kay of the Milky Way Brenna Connelly will be the guest on the KLTF Community program Tuesday at 8:30am.
--A list of those that files for non-primary offices was released by Morrison County on Friday morning. Those who filed to serve as township, city or school board officials and will be on the ballot in the November 3rd General Election include for their city, township or school district. Some that were not reported on other newsletters were Bowlus: Jake Wentland filed for one of two open council seats, Buckman: Incumbents Mayor Greg Gangl, Council Member Jeff Dingmann, Clerk Linda Brezinka and Treasurer Bobbi Brisk, Elmdale: Filing for mayor were Denis Carlson and John Kulla; for council seats, Incumbent Jim Solorz and Greg Larson filed, and Incumbent Treasurer Eva Maciej, Flensburg: James Gorka filed for mayor and for council seats expiring were Allison Potter and Rob Skiba. Genola: Incumbents Mayor Larry Korf and Council Members Charles Storkamp and Tim O’Neill filed for re-election. Harding: Incumbents Council Member David Hayes and Clerk Corey Hayes, Denise Young filed for a seat on the council. Motley: Incumbent Mayor Al Yoder filed for re-election and will be challenged by Robert L. Follis. Incumbent Council Members Steve Johnson and Pat O’Regan. Randall: Incumbents Mayor Dan Noss and Council Members James Chyba and Rick Turner filed for re-election. Mary Venske filed for a special election for an open seat. Royalton: Incumbent Ron Verley filed for re-election and Kurt Schott filed for another seat. Sobieski: Incumbents Mayor Tim Opatz, Council Member Robert Czech and Clerk Joyce Holtz filed for re-election and Jeffrey Borash filed for a council seat (four-year seats). Swanville: Incumbents Mayor Sandy Lange and Council Member Norman Carlson filed for re-election. Council Member Debra Wood did not file for re-election, so that seat will need to be filled. Upsala: Incumbents Mayor Rollie Johnson (two-year term) and Council Members Lana Bartells and Dennis Westrich filed for re-election and Seth Strassburg and Mitch Lange filed for a council seat. Township and School Board filings on tomorrow's newletter.
BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT
--Brayden and Brianna Brateng, a baby girl born August 13th.
DEATH NOTICES
--Marcella “Doucette” Barton, age 94 of Little Falls.
--Shirley Dorseth, age 80 of Little Falls.
--Stanley E. Holtslander Sr., age 89 of Little Falls.
WEATHER
TODAY= sunny skies, high 75, clear night, cool, low near 50.
TUESDAY= sunny skies, high near 80, storms late night, low 58.
WEDNESDAY= sunny and warmer, high 85, storms develop late.
SPORTS
TWINS= Twins rained out Friday night, spilit a double header Saturday winning 4-2 in game 1 and losing by the same score 4-2 in the 2nd game. Same score Sunday as Twins win 4-2 over KC. Twins wrap up series with Kansas City tonight at 6:30pm on Q92 WYRQ.
REGION 8C= Buckman beat Avon 4-3 Saturday to win Region 8C Championship game and be the top seed from the region in the state tournament receiving a bye this weekend. Ft. Ripley advanced to state by beating Nisswa 10-1, Randall shut out Upsala 4-0 also to advance to state. Randall won the final game 3-1 Saturday night. Buckman 1 seed, Avon 2 seed, Randall 3 seed and Ft. Ripley #4.
CLASS B= Brainerd Bees eliminated Sobieski Ski in the Regions leading to the Class B Tournament 6-4 on Saturday.