NEWS
--A World War II monument dedication ceremony will take place on June 9th at 1:00pm at Memorial Park located next to Mills Field on eastside of Brainerd. The granite monument was made possible by donations from the Brainerd VFW, American Legion, Brainerd Eagles, Brainerd Elks, Disabled American Veterans, Brainerd Masons and Eastern Star. The VFW and American Legion Color Guard will present the colors and Allison Struffert will sing the national anthem. The memorial will come a few days after the 75th Anniversary of the D-Day invasion in Normandy, France on June 6, 1944.
--Information provided to the Cass County Sheriff's Office as part of an all-terrain vehicle crash investigation was determined to be false. The sheriff's office reported the driver of the ATV involved in an accident last Wednesday was 20-year-old Kristine Johnson of Remer and not that of Benjamin Swankier, 21, of Remer. Swankier was originally named as the driver in a previous news release. Alcohol is believed to be a factor in the crash near Boy River, which resulted in serious injuries for Swankier. Charges of giving false information, underage drinking and DUI are pending through the attorney's office.
--A 34-year old Brainerd man was arrested after a disturbance call which led to a police chase on Memorial Day. Pequot Lakes reported around 3:30pm a call from a woman that a man had threatened to roll the SUV he was driving in an attempt to kill her and himself. The woman was able to exit the vehicle and call police. While this occurred the driver sped toward her and slammed on his brakes just before hitting the woman. The suspect sped off around 100 yards and rolled the vehicle, believed to be intentional. He fled on foot. Police were able to locate the man near Brainerd and taken into custody on charges of assault, burglary, theft, careless driving, a revoked license, fleeing an officer, possession of drug paraphernalia and making terroristic threats. Formal charges are pending through the Crow Wing Attorney's Office.
--A St. Cloud man has pleaded guilty to physically abusing his infant daughter, leaving her with bruises and a fractured eye socket. 25-year-old Scott Stang pleaded guilty to one count of Malicious Punishment of a child under four years old. According to the complaint, the mother left the four-month-old child with Stang while she went out. When she returned an hour later, the mother said Stang was clutching his head and the child was screaming. Records show the child had bruises on her cheeks, neck, arms, under her left eye, and on her back. Stang told investigators he didn't mean to squeeze the girl that hard, admitted to causing the bruising by pushing his thumbs into her head and admitted to holding the girl so tightly that he heard the child gasp for air. As part of the plea agreement charges of malicious punishment of a child doing substantial bodily harm and felony domestic assault by strangulation were dropped. He will be sentenced July 26th.
--Even more road work beginning today, Highway 71 will be detoured around Sauk Centre and Interstate 94 work begins today near Collegeville and Cold Spring. This adds on to the over 100 projects already underway in the state including the Highway 27 project in Little Falls which continue into early fall. The downtown portion underway now will continue into August.
--The Morrison County Commissioners meet Tuesday at 9am at the Little Falls City Hall Council Chambers.
--Lindbergh Elementary in Little Falls was told last week that they have been selected as one of the four schools to receive a new basketball court from the Minnesota Timberwolves. Many voted online for Lindbergh Elementary who received over 55% of the vote between the 3 schools to get the new basketball court later this year.
--The Little Falls Area Chamber of Commerce has named Sam Johnson as their June Employee of the Month. Sam is the office manager for Dr. Allison Zak at her chiropractor's office in downtown Little Falls. She has worked at the chiropractic clinic for six years. In many ways, it was a dream come true as she discovered her passion for chiropractic administration while she was still a student at the Little Falls Community High School.
--Governor Tim Walz has ordered all U.S. and Minnesota Flags on state buildings be flown at half-staff through sunset tomorrow in honor of the victims killed in the Virginia Beach shootings.
--Fire broke out Friday afternoon in the lumber yards of Big Wood Timber Frames, quickly consuming a pile of logs and a plank wall before responders were able to contain the flames and clear the scene. Brainerd Firefighters were called just after 3:30pm to the facility at 11425 Greenwood St. off Business Highway 371, just south of Brainerd. Firefighters faced the prospect of smothering flames in tight confines between mounds of timber lumped next to storage buildings amid dry, hot weather. The fire was largely contained to a pile of wood next to a self-feeding boiler (which transfer logs from a pile without human control), as well as a tall plank fence that partitioned Big Wood Timber Frames from private property owned by neighbor Mark Strobel. A nearby storage building was also affected, if minimally. There were no injuries reported.
--The Little Falls/Morrison County Airport will hold a fly-in breakfast fundraiser on June 15th from 7-11am for Habitat for Humanity of Morrison County. Funds raised go to building the next Habitat Home in Morrison County. The event is a hearty breakfast which is $8 for adults and $5 for kids 5-12, under 5 are free and also during this time there will be free airplane rides for kids ages 8-17 with written consent from a parent/guardian courtesy of EAA Chapter 51. For more information you can call 616-2084.
DEATH NOTICES
--Father Adrian Piotrowski, age 85 of Onamia.
WEATHER
TODAY= sunny skies, high near 80.
TONIGHT= storms after midnight, low 58.
TUESDAY= storm early, hazy sun, high 86, strong storms late day.
TUES NIGHT= storms possible early, then clearing, low 51.
WEDNESDAY= sunny skies, high around 82, low around 55.
SPORTS
TWINS= Eddie Rosario doubles in the winning runs in the 9th and the Twins beat the Rays 5-3 on Friday. Twins beat the Rays on Saturday 6-2 with the long ball again. Twins hold off a late surge by the Rays Sunday and win 9-7 to take 3 of 4 in the series. The Twins (40-18) have today off before going to Cleveland on Tuesday night.
HS BAB= Pierz vs. Foley in section playoffs tonight at 6pm, where the winner moves on to the championship on Thursday. Hear the action tonight on FM94 KFML. Loser would play on Tuesday.