NEWS
--The Minnesota State Patrol reported Saturday around 3:35pm an accident with injuries in Morrison County. The accident was on Highway 371 about a mile north of Highway 10 just north of Little Falls. A vehicle had left the roadway and rolled over resting on its wheels. 52-year-old Thomas Gladhill of Richfield had non life threatening injuries and taken to St. Gabriel's Hospital in Little Falls.
--One person is dead after a traffic stop turned deadly in St. Michael Saturday morning. The Wright County Sheriff's Office says around 5am, a deputy performed a traffic stop at Ivory Ave. NE at which time the driver got out of the car with a weapon, confronted the officer, and refused to comply with the deputy's commands. The confrontation resulted in the deputy shooting the driver. Deputies attempted life-saving measures until paramedics arrived and continued the efforts. They were not successful and the driver was pronounced dead at the scene. The officer involved in the shooting has been placed on administrative leave and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is investigating the incident.
--Diane Webb-Skillings announced her candidacy for Minnesota House of Representatives District 10A which includes the northern half of Morrison County including the city of Little Falls. Webb-Skillings is from Aitkin and considers herself the Constitutional Christian Conservative and says her stands is for community and freedom. Current 10A House Representative is Ron Kresha who has been in the State House for the past 12 years.
--The murder trial of a St. Cloud man has been canceled after he accepted a plea agreement. 54-year-old Paul Coleman has pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting 2nd-degree murder for the death of 39-year-old Michael Batsche. As part of the agreement, a charge of aiding and abetting 1st-degree premeditated murder will be dismissed. St. Cloud Police were called to a home in the 1200 block of 10th Avenue South on May 24th, 2022. Officers arrived to find a man lying on the floor by the back door with a gunshot wound to his head. Records show footage from the home's motion cameras saw the victim alone in the backyard before the shooting. Roughly ten minutes later the camera is activated again showing Coleman and another man, identified as 44-year-old Alphonso Cotto, near a detached garage facing near the back door where the victim was found. Court records show Coleman could be seen holding what is believed to be a gun in his right hand. Coleman and Cotto are then seen running to a vehicle registered to Coleman. Court documents show that Coleman will testify at Cotto's 1st-degree murder trial in April. As part of the plea agreement, Coleman will be sent to prison for 16 years when he is sentenced in May.
--The Brainerd School Board approved the new 2023-2025 contract with its teachers union. A few hours before the precinct caucuses Tuesday, the Brainerd School Board had a special meeting and approved the teachers’ contract along with the food services contract and the 2024-2025 school calendar, all in unanimous votes. Brainerd isn’t the only district taking a longer time to negotiate contracts this year. As of last week, 217 local unions had settled their contracts, out of the 328 districts bargaining this cycle, according to Education Minnesota. That means about two-thirds of districts have settled their contracts, which Education Minnesota reported is a slow pace this year compared to others.
--A majority of Minnesota is once again in a drought. An update shows extreme and severe drought still stuck in a well-defined region in the state’s southeastern portion and a slice stretching from Cass to Kittson County. Moderate drought jumped significantly, though. An estimated 50.73% is in some stage of drought. That could continue to worsen without a major weather pattern shortly. Last week, 14.41% of Minnesota was in the normal soil moisture range. That has fallen to 0.51%. Abnormally dry conditions really bloomed locally in western Stearns County. Most of the state has not seen this type of drought report since record rainfall drenched the area in late December and then again in early February but with little to no snow pack after a mild winter is cause for concern, as advanced stages of drought are possible early in the planting season. There is moisture in the forecast this week but believed not to be enough to help with some areas of drought already spotted in 2024.
--The winter of 2023-24 is the warmest on record for dozens of communities like St. Cloud and the entire state as a whole. Experts say the blistering temperatures were fueled by a weather pattern from the Pacific called El Niño. Usually, with the El Niño winters up here, tends to be drier and warmer than normal. December, January, and February’s temperatures were historic showing average temperatures between 27-32 degrees for the winter which shows almost a 10-15 degree push compared to others years. The warmest winter beforehand was 2001 into 2002 which had temperatures from 4-7 degrees above normal. December had an average of 32.1 degrees and February of 30.5 degrees, both new records. January’s average was 19.4 degrees, which is about normal mainly due to the 8 colder than average days during that month. Most of central Minnesota saw less than 11 inches of snow for the three winter months December-February the lowest snow totals for those three months going back over 100 years.
DEATH NOTICES
--Retha Zeck, age 96 of Brainerd.
--Louise Ann Ohnstad, age 74 of Little Falls formerly Fort Ripley.
WEATHER
TODAY= AM clouds, then partly cloudy, high 43.
TONIGHT= clearing skies, cooler temps, low 26.
TUESDAY= sunny skies, high 42, low near 30.
WEDNESDAY= sunny skies, high 41, snow showers late, low 22.
SPORTS
WRE= The State Wrestling Tournament wrapped up Saturday. For Little Falls Ivan Petrich 3rd, Cayden Neisen was 6th. Pierz Kyle Stangl finished 4th. Royalton-Upsala Sawyer Simmons 4th and Brandon Mugg was 6th. Holdingford had Masyn Patrick 2nd, Drew Lange 3rd, Luke Biniek 4th and Wyatt Novitsky was 5th at the State Tournament.
GBB RECAP= Alexandria beat Little Falls Saturday 66-20, Pequot Lakes downed Pierz 65-44, Albany beat Royalton 70-33, Oglivie defeated Upsala 69-61, Holdingford was a winner 61-20 over Osakis.
BBB= Pierz opens playoffs tonight at Staples-Motley against the Cardinals, tip off at 6pm on 94ROCKS KFML. Little Falls opens playoffs Tuesday night at St. Cloud Tech at 8:05pm on Q92 WYRQ.
BHK= State Boys Hockey Tournament begins on Wednesday.