NEWS
--Formal charges are pending against 29 year-old Stuart Wade of Onamia for his involvement in two recent residential burglaries in Richardson Township near Hillman. On June 26th the Morrison County Sheriff’s Office received a report from a neighbor who was watching property along 370th Avenue saw a suspicious vehicle with 3 males at the property. The reporting party confronted the male parties who denied having permission to be at the property and fled the scene in a vehicle. The reporting party gave a description of the suspect vehicle and the license plate number. A deputy confirmed that forced entry was made into the garage at the property. Later that evening, the Mille Lacs Tribal PD located the suspect vehicle and arrested the suspects in their county. Morrison County Investigators conducted a search warrant of the vehicle and located stolen property from a different residential burglary on June 20th at a residence off Highway 27 in Richardson Township, in Morrison County, near the Mille Lacs county line. On Thursday, Morrison County Investigators met with the owner and operator of the suspect vehicle, 29-year old Stuart Wade. Wade admitted to his involvement in both burglaries in Richardson Township. Wade is currently being held in the Mille Lacs County Jail on unrelated charges.
--Around 7:30pm Thursday the Morrison County Sheriff's Office received a report of a one vehicle accident with injuries on 350th Street, west of Dove Road in Scandia Valley Township, south of Pillager. According to the Sheriff’s Office, 20-year old Brendon Mattison of Pillager was traveling east on 350th Street when he lost control of his vehicle in a sharp curve, went off the roadway and slid into a tree. Mattison, along with his passenger, 19-year old Jordon Liebeg of Brainerd were taken by ambulance to a hospital in Staples with unknown injuries.
--Congratulations of Dakota Morris of Pierz who earned a position on the Minnesota state/provincial National High School rodeo team. He will travel to Gillette, Wyoming from July 16th-22nd, to compete at the 69th annual National High School Finals Rodeo (NHSFR) in the bareback and bull riding competitions. Morris, a senior at Pierz Healy High School, has been riding bulls since he was in the sixth grade and was a Minnesota High School Rodeo Association bull rider champion in 2014. The NHSFR features more than 1,750 contestants from 43 states, five Canadian provinces and Australia and is the world’s largest rodeo. In addition to competition for more than $200,000 in prizes, contestants will also compete for more than $350,000 in scholarships. To follow Dakota and other competitors you can visit NHSRA.com for complete results.
--Unity Bank, on Washington Street in Brainerd, closed its doors Friday in a consolidation of its operations. In a letter to customers, the bank reported it could still serve them through its electronic platform, such as its 24-hour ATM locations and online/mobile banking, along with their seven other branch locations, which include Crosby, Motley and Staples in the immediate area. Unity Bank's exit is creating an opportunity for a bank that has been looking for a chance to expand into Brainerd with more services. Randall State Bank purchased the location, with a closing on the location Friday, June 30th. Randall State Bank has been in Brainerd since the summer of 2014 but in a smaller capacity with a loan production office in the West Brainerd Professional Building on Charles Street.
--The Highway 71 improvement project in Elrosa is now complete. The detours were removed and the new roadway is open to motorists as of 5:00pm Friday, July 7. The newly completed $1 million project includes: A new road surface and driveway entrances from north of First Avenue to south of Fourth Avenue. Improved drainage infrastructure, pedestrian sidewalks, approaches and Relocated underground utilities. Motorists can expect a new smoother road surface and improved drainage and pedestrian accessibility.
--Coborn’s has issued a recall for one of their products. The St. Cloud based company, with stores in Little Falls, Foley and others, has recalled packages of its Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Bars, some of which were incorrectly labeled as Gluten Free Fudge Brownies. The fudge brownie label does not indicate the product contains milk, however the chocolate chips bars that are incorrectly labeled do contain milk. People who have allergies to milk could get sick if they eat them. The recalled products were sold at Coborn’s and Cashwise stores in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, as well as Marketplace Foods stores in Wisconsin, and Coborn’s delivers in the twin cities. The products were sold between July 4th and 6th with expiration date of July 10th. No illnesses have been reported.
--The Stearns County Sheriff says a local citizen deserves thanks after medical call last Sunday. Deputies responded to a report of an unresponsive kayaker on the Sauk River, near Heim’s Mill. A caller said the kayaker, identifed as Richard Stolpman, capsized, got back into his kayak, then fell unconscious. Stolpman was with a woman who tried to revive him but was unable to. Another kayaker, Steven Cole, came on the scene and assisted with the situation. He was able to catch a ResQ Disc thrown to him, and tie it to Stolpman’s kayak and walk to shore while authorities pulled on the rope. Stolpman was treated at the scene and taken to St. Cloud hospital. The Sheriff’s Office would like to thank Cole for his assistance on this call.
--The Morrison County Commissioners meet at 9:00am Tuesday at the Morrison County Government Center.
WEATHER
TODAY= sunny skies, high 83, clear night low around 60.
TUESDAY= storms in afternoon, some strong late, high 86, low 64.
WEDNESDAY= morning storms, then sunny, high 85.
SPORTS
TWINS= Twins battled back down 6-0 to win 9-6 Friday over Orioles. Brandon Kinzler picked up his league leading 24th save. Orioles beat Twins Saturday 5-1 and beat Twins Sunday 11-5. Before the game Friday it was announced that Kinzler was named to the American League All Star Team tomorrow night for the All Star Game in Miami with Miguel Sano and Ervin Santana for the Twins. Tonight is the homerun derby. Miguel Sano of Twins included in the derby tonight between eight major league players. Twins also had to put Joe Mauer on the disabled list Friday with back spasms. Twins are off until Friday minus the 3 All Stars, when they travel to Houston.
LYNX= Chicago routs the Lynx Saturday 100-76, Lynx now 13-2.
SB= a special thank you to call who were part of the Wounded Warrior Amputee Softball Game Friday night in Brainerd. Thousands attended and over $7,500 in donations was raised for their cause.
VL= check out Victory League scores and summaries from this final weekend of regular season action at fallsradio.com-Victory League.