NEWS
--Little Falls Communuity High School Principal Tim Bjorge spoke on Little Falls Radio Friday and said that transportation and lunches will be different this year when school begins September 8th. The schools are asking as many who can to be dropped off or picked up at school to not crowd the buses, this also goes for student parking at the high school so that proper safety procedures are maintained. Lunches they will be dropping the buffet style of lunches and going from 2 to 3 lunch times to keep the number of students lower, there will be one hot lunch item and one cold lunch item to choose from daily. Bjorge wants to thank the community support in the returning of students this year, if you have questions for the High School call 616-2200.
--Foley students are returning to the classroom this fall – with conditions. The I.S.D. 51 School Board approved starting the school year with in-person learning for all grade levels. Superintendent Paul Neubauer says in-person learning is the recommended model based on Benton County’s current 14-day COVID-19 case numbers. Neubauer says a wide range of measures will be taken to keep school facilities clean and encourage social distancing: All students and staff will wear masks and remain six feet apart from one another. Classrooms will be reconfigured so all students will face the same direction. Teachers will be able to rotate small groups of students into temporary “satellite areas” in the event a classroom isn’t able to offer adequate social distancing. Students will also outside when possible. Neubauer says school officials will try to give families as much lead time as possible should the district switch to distance learning due to a spike in Benton County COVID-19 cases. School starts on Sept 8th.
--Holdingford Schools announced last week that they plan to have all students in classrooms on September 8th, Swanville school board also stated that all students will return to school on September 8th.
--Faculty at the University of Minnesota-Duluth's largest college are threatening to put all their courses online if administrators don't meet their demands to make better preparations to handle COVID-19 infections when classes resume this fall. Swesnson College of Science and Engineering department heads sent a letter to Chancellor Lendley Black on Monday demanding an on-campus testing site, daily updates on positive cases, notifications if students test positive and clear online options for students. The letter demands administrators implement the changes before classes resume August 31st. The University of Minnesota announced over the weekend that they will announce that classes will be postponed two weeks to be more prepared on possible online classes taking more priority this year.
--On August 19th at approximately 7:33pm, the Stearns County communications center received a 911 call regarding a garage fire. The address of the fire was given as 301 Birch Street in the city of Rockville. The Stearns County Sheriff’s office, as well as the Rockville Fire Department, responded to the scene. Upon arrival deputies found the fire involved a structure containing multiple garages at an apartment complex. The fire was discovered by another renter who had been walking by and noticed smoke coming from the garage. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. The Minnesota State Fire Marshall’s Office will review the scene.
--The Little Falls FFA will show the movie Silo this Wednesday night at 8pm at the Long Drive In in Long Prairie, the event is $5 a car to see.
--Listen for Pierz Medallion Hunt Clues today on Little Falls Radio, clues will be read after 6am each day on LF Radio until it is found.
--Sunday's number of COVID-19 in Minnesota were 728 new cases and there were 6 new deaths. Morrison County had three new cases on Saturday and 1 on Sunday, currently at 108 total cases, the case numbers between August 9th-23rd show 18 new cases of COVD-19.
--Wednesday at 11:38 pm, the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office was notified of a single vehicle crash in the 23000 block of County Road 9 in Munson Township, which is just north of the city of Richmond. The pickup was southbound on County Road 9 north of Richmond prior to leaving the roadway and hitting multiple driveway approaches and came to a rest on a fence line. The driver, Michael Spleiss, 69, of Richmond, was pronounced dead at the scene. There were no other passengers and Mr. Spleiss was wearing his seatbelt.
--St. Cloud Police are searching for three suspects who robbed a downtown pawn shop Friday. Police were called to Security Coin and Pawn Shop in the 600 block of St. Germain West, just before noon. Two employees were assaulted and numerous pieces of jewelry were taken. Police say three black men originally walked into the store and one of the men then left. The remaining two suspects grabbed the 75-year-old female clerk and 76-year-old male clerk and started punching them in the face. The two then jumped over the counter and ransacked a jewelry case. The men then fled on foot down the alley, heading east. The employees were taken to St. Cloud Hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. The suspects are still at-large. Two are described as being in their 20's having similar builds and stood approximately 5'8"-5'9" tall. They were wearing dark athletic sweat pants and jackets. The third suspect is described as being in his 30's and is 5'10"-5'11" tall. He was wearing a longer full-length white shirt or jacket with a white head covering. Police say all three suspects were wearing masks. No weapons were shown.
--29 Restaurants have been put on a list by the Minnesota Department of Health has places of COVID-19 outbreaks since reopening in June. Most of the Restaurants are in the Twin Cities Metro Area. Rounders in Mankato has had the most linked cases to th establishment at 118 with the Pickled Loon in St. Cloud at 117 cases. Others on the list included the American Legion Post in Howard Lake and Moonlight Bay in Cross Lake of Crow Wing County with both reported over 20 names since their places had reopened.
DEATH NOTICES
--Mark Krinke, age 65 of Little Falls.
WEATHER
TODAY= morning thunderstorms, then partly sunny, high 82.
TONIGHT= thunderstorms possible late, low around 62.
TUESDAY= sunny skies, high 81, storms late night, low 68.
WEDNESDAY= early and late day storms, high 85, low 65.
SPORTS
TWINS= Royals beat the Twins Friday 7-2. Eddie Rosario homers to lift Twins to a 7-2 win Saturday over KC. Nelson Cruz's 9th inning homer lifted Twins to a 5-4 win Sunday to take series. Twins are at the Cleveland Indians tonight at 5:30pm on Q92 WYRQ.
CLASS C= Randall scored 4 runs in the last 2 innings to beat Hadley Friday night 4-3. Union Hill eliminated Avon Saturday 13-7, Buffalo beat Ft. Ripley 8-1 eliminating the Rebels. Randall will take on Bluffton Saturday at 11am from Milroy, Buckman (who had the first round bye) plays Cold Spring Sunday at 11am from Springfield in the Class C State Tournament, hear the games on AM960 KLTF.