NEWS
--Little Falls Area Chamber of Commerce President Deb Boelz announced that due to governmental restrictions pertaining to the Coronavirus pandemic, it is with regrets that the Little Falls Area Chamber of Commerce is cancelling the 48th annual Little Falls Arts and Crafts and the 9th annual Market Place Fairs scheduled for September 12th and 13th. This weekend attracts thousands of people to Little Falls, creating challenges for social distancing and other logistical issues with sanitation of common areas such as the food courts and restroom facilities. This cancellation is especially hard on the downtown businesses that experienced the major road and infrastructure construction in the summer of 2019, then the economic shutdown caused by COVID 19 in the spring and summer of 2020. The Chamber encourages shopping and doing business locally at every opportunity. Also that same weekend, Little Falls Radio was informed Friday that The Lone Eagle Auto Club has cancelled their Car Show & Swap Meet. It was also announced that the West Side Improvement Association will not be hosting the 18th annual West Little Falls Antiques & Collectibles Show this year. Next year’s Fair weekend will be September 11th and 12th of 2021.
--Heavy rains dumped 2 to 5 inches in areas late Friday into Saturday morning in Morrison County 4+ inches from a line near Ft. Ripley over to the Harding area. 2.5 to 3.5 amounts around Little Falls less amounts near Royalton and Pierz area. The Sheriffs Office reported trees down on Airport Road in Little Falls and around the Bay View Trail at Lake Alexander. A cabin struck by lightning northeast of Harding on Quest Road, Pierz Fire Department was disptached and calf huts that were blown away early Saturday northeast of Bowlus. Saturday night the storms stayed north and east of Little Falls with flooding issues portions of Crow Wing and Aitkin Counties with reports of some areas getting nearly eight inches of rain. Tornadoes were reported near Hastings Saturday with lots of wind damage reported in a number of eastern Minnesota counties.
--Pierz Superintendent George Weber stated Friday on Little Falls Radio that Pierz schools have a plan in place for whichever direction the Department of Education decided on July 27th. The hope is all students in school, the second is distance learning with no students in schools, and the third is the hybrid idea. Weber said that his approach is to have all Kindergarten through 4th graders will be in school 5 days a week. Grades 5th through 12th would be on alternate days at the schools with in person one day and distance learning the next if the hybrid scenario eventually decided on by the state. Weber said that busing will be still be a big issue and many may have to find a different way to get to school and they built a possible K-4 bus run to get students to school depending on state guidelines. He wanted to thank all who took the recent survey which showed an astounding yes that the parents wanted their children back in school, less than 10% of the survey had parents with concerns for the safety of children and close to 90% of the survey felt the school was a safe environment for their students. Weber hopes that the sports season starts this year as they have set their All School Sports Meeting for August 10th at the MAC depending the Minnesota State High School Guidelines which will come out around August 4th. Right now the plans are being put in place for whichever decision the state tells them they can do with hopefully that being released July 27th. If you have questions of Pierz Schools call them at 468-6458.
--On Saturday there were two new cases and 1 new case on Sunday of COVID-19 in Morrison County making 73 positive cases with the 1 confirmed death. A large total of overall cases were reported with 464 cases Saturday and 737 on Sunday with 8 new total deaths.
--The Central Minnesota Violent Offender Task Force conducted a search warrant at a residence on Thursday in the 5000 block of 17th Avenue Northeast in Foley. While investigators executed the search warrant, they located several individuals including 18-year old Grant Christopher Saxon from Foley. Saxon had an apprehension and detention order issued on him from Stearns County and had two hand guns and ammo in his possession. Grant is prohibited from possessing firearms. Investigators also located over 250 grams of suspected marijuana, over 100 pills of suspected Xanax pills, and a small amount of suspected marijuana wax. Saxon was transported to Stearns County Jail then transported to Benton County Jail where he will be held on 5th degree possession of controlled substance and two counts of an ineligible person in possession of firearm.
--The Todd County Sheriff's Office is investigating a drowning incident near Long Prairie Thursday night. Deputies were called to the Lake Charlotte swimming beach around 7pm on a report of a missing swimmer. Witnesses say a 21-year-old man went missing in the water near the beach. After an initial search, the Douglas County dive team was called in to assist. At around 9pm the victim was found in about 20 feet of water near the beach. He was not wearing a life jacket. Deputies say the incident is under investigation and the name of the victim is being withheld until family has been notified.
--Coborn's Inc. announced that they will be requiring masks on all customers effective today at all of their Coborn's, Cash Wise and Marketplace stores. Requiring customers to wear masks to enter.
--A pedestrian was transported to the hospital after a car accident Friday evening, according to a St. Cloud Fire report. The accident happened around 10:30 p.m. near University Drive and 10 1/2 Ave. S in St. Cloud. Crews found one person in the roadway upon arrival. The person was treated and transported by Mayo ambulance with unknown injuries, according to the report.
--Little Falls Township would like to provided an update regarding roadways within Little Falls Township after repairs from late June that as of Friday morning while the final repairs are still being completed, all Little Falls Township roadways are now open to public traffic.
DEATH NOTICES
--Joseph “Joey” Block, age 43 of Swanville.
--Eunice Larson, age 88 of Little Falls, formerly of Hillman and Pierz
--Gordon Cluka, age 89 of Little Falls.
--Mary Ann Kimman, age 66 of Pierz.
WEATHER
TODAY= sunny skies, high 78.
TONIGHT= showers & t-storms after midnight, low near 60.
TUESDAY= storms likely early, then cloudy, high 74, low 53.
WEDNESDAY= sunny skies, high 78, low around 62.
SPORTS
VL= get Victory League scores at fallsradio.com/victory league.
MLB= the city of Toronto Saturday said the Blue Jays can not play in their home park this year due to COVID. They will play most of the games at their facility in Florida and others in Buffalo, New York.