NEWS
--This week is Catholic Schools Week. This week is set aside each year to show the importance of Catholic Schools and especially what they have to offer for your child's education. KLTF Party Line will be live at 10:05am today from Holy Trinity School in Pierz and then on Tuesday at 10:05am KLTF Party Line will be live from Mary of Lourdes Middle School in Little Falls. You can also stream both of those program live at fallsradio.com click on KLTF listen online.
--A Brainerd man who sexually assaulted a 14-year old girl in 2020 in Brainerd failed to appear for sentencing Thursday in Crow Wing County District Court and is now considered a fugitive with a warrant for his arrest. 27-year old Billie Ray Clark who faced three counts of felony criminal sexual assault, pleaded guilty to one charge and the other two charges were dropped in August 2022. Failing to appear before Judge Patricia Aanes, Clarkâs public defender Charles Frey informed Aanes of a call Clark made to his office earlier in the morning. Clark informed his lawyer and the court he was about five hours away and had no way of making his court appearance. Assistant Crow Wing County Attorney Janine LePage asked Aanes to issue a warrant for his arrest as Clark knew of this court date for an extended period of time and, other than calling on the day of to say he would not be there, made no effort to attend court.
--A Paynesville High School student charged with threatening to "shoot up" the school has been found incompetent to face the charges. A mental competency exam showed 19-year-old Matthew Herr-Ramirez of Grove City is incapable of aiding in his defense. It means the case is on hold until he can be restored to competency. Herr-Ramirez is charged with five counts of threats of violence. According to the criminal complaint, he had been making threats about bringing a gun to school last October and shooting students and staff. Records show a student told officers Herr-Ramirez was planning to shoot three specific staff members and a specific student. Court records show another student told police Herr-Ramirez was talking about his plans to shoot people at the school and showed the student a picture of a gun on his cell phone. When officers arrested Herr-Ramirez, they say he was in possession of an "airsoft gun".
--The Central Minnesota Violent Offender Task Force says it intercepted a package containing thousands of fentanyl pills headed for a home in Waite Park. A press release from the VOTF says it was working with the Postal Inspector on an investigation into fentanyl being shipped here through the mail. On Thursday, they stopped the package with approximately 2,300 pills inside. A search warrant was executed at an address in the 800 block of 7th Street South with the help of the St. Cloud SWAT team. Inside, they say there were several adults and young children. Police arrested 29-year-old Allan Glenn Pickett, who had six warrants out. He is now facing a new charge of aggravated first-degree drug possession for taking custody of the package. Police also arrested 28-year-old Gregory Jerome Thorn, who was wanted out of Illinois for armed robbery. A juvenile was also taken into custody for an unspecified active outstanding warrant. The Central Minnesota Violent Offender Task Force is made up of investigators from St. Cloud and Sartell Police Departments and deputies from Stearns, Benton, Sherburne, and Morrison Counties. St. Cloud police said last year; there were 19 overdose deaths. Sixteen of them were related to fentanyl, including a two-year-old who died in April after ingesting the drug, which police say they found lying out in the open.
--A measure guaranteeing the right for an abortion and what the DFL stated gives reproductive rights, will now go to the governor's desk. The Minnesota Senate voted 34-33 to pass the bill early on Saturday morning. This came after a long day of debates and the Senate reportedly rejected a number of Republican efforts to amend the bill. After 15 hours they voted and the bill passed as all Democrats voted for the bill and all Republican voted against it. It goes to the Governor where he is expected to sign it.
--The Pierz City Council will hold a special work session at 5pm then a special council meeting tonight at 7pm. Most of the discussion in on the current vacancies for Mayor and City Treasurer in Pierz.
--A fire at Foley High School Thursday afternoon evacuated the building. Around 2pm a fire started in the auto shop after a spark caught an oil protection pan and started the fire. Students used fire extinguishers to put out the fire but the smoke caused the alarms to go off and evacuated the school for a time. No one was hurt and cleaning was working Friday and maybe longer if need to be clean the space in the auto shop which was closed to students Friday.
--A 49-year-old from Sauk Centre was injured Friday morning just after 10:30am on Interstate 94 near Sauk Centre when the vehicle she was driving left the roadway and struck the median barrier before going into the ditch. Beverly Berg was taken to the Sauk Centre hospital by ambulance and treated for non life threatening injuries.
--A fire destroyed a shed Friday night in St. Cloud. The Fire Department was called just before 10:30pm to the 600 block of 22nd Avenue North and when they arrived the shed was completely engulfed in flames. No one was hurt and the shed was a total loss. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
--Crane Meadows Wildlife Refuge southeast of Little Falls announced due to the cold weather on Saturday they had to postpone their candlelight ski/hike event. The event will now be on February 11th starting at 5:30pm at the Wildlife Refuge near Little Falls.
--The Royalton High School presents their grades 7-12 Competition for One Act Play called Voices From the Titanic tonight at 7pm. The public performance will take place in the High School Auditorium.
DEATH NOTICES
--Clarence Blonigen, age 84 of St. Martin.
WEATHER
WIND CHILL ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON TODAY.
TODAY= sunny and cold, high near 0, wind chills around -20.
TONIGHT= clear and cold, low around -12 wind chills near -25.
TUESDAY= increasing clouds, high 6 above, low -6 with flurries.
WEDNESDAY= mostly sunny, high 12 with lows around 0.
SPORTS
NFL= The Top Seed in the NFC Philadelphia Eagles ousted the San Francisco 49ers 31-7 to move to the Super Bowl on February 12th. It was much closer on the AFC side as Patrick Mahomes fought through the pain to beat the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 for the Kansas City Chiefs to advance to the Super Bowl on February 12th in Arizona.
NFL= This weekend is the AFC/NFC Pro Bowl which has been changed to a number of events and a flag football game in Las Vegas. Coverage of the events at 2pm Sunday on AM960 KLTF.
HS GBB= Holdingford at Pierz tonight at 5:45pm followed by
HS BBB= Eden Valley Watkins at Pierz tonight around 7:45pm catch both games live tonight on 94ROCKS and fallsradio.com.