NEWS
--A Bowlus man was hurt in a crash east of Holdingford Thursday. The Stearns County Sheriff's Office was called out to County Road 3 near River Street just after Noon. The sheriff's office says they arrived to find a pickup resting on its side in the ditch. The driver, 63-year-old Wayne Bieniek, was trapped inside. Holdingford Fire & Rescue were able to free Bieniek who was then taken to St. Cloud Hospital by Mayo Ambulance with unknown injuries. Authorities say Bieniek was heading north on County Road 3 when he veered, left the roadway, hit a field approach, and vaulted approximately 100 feet before coming to a rest on the driver's side.
--One person was injured Friday morning on Highway 210 in Irondale Township of Crow Wing County. At 10:43am 59-year-old Timothy Shelley of Ironton was on Highway 210 when he slowed for a turn and was struck by 25-year-old Crystal Eastman of Emily who did try to avoid the crash but struck the driver's side of the vehicle with hers. Shelley was taken to Crosby Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Eastman was not hurt.
--A woman allegedly involved in a drug overdose death has been arrested in St. Cloud. The CEE-VI Drug and Gang Task Force arrested a 26-year-old woman from Shakopee in St. Cloud on Tuesday. During her arrest, she was in a stolen vehicle and had suspected fentanyl on her. Back on July 31st agents from the task force responded to a home in the 700 block of East South Street in Litchfield to help with a deadly drug overdose involving the death of a 60-year-old Litchfield man. During the investigation, they were able to identify a female suspect in the case who had provided the deadly drugs to the man before his death. Additional arrests are expected in this case.
--Minnesota Supreme Court justices appeared skeptical Thursday that states have the authority to block former President Donald Trump from the ballot, with some suggesting that Congress is best positioned to decide whether his role in the January 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol should prevent him from running. Justices sharply questioned an attorney representing Minnesota voters who had sued to keep Trump off the state ballot under the rarely used “insurrection” clause of the U.S. Constitution. The Minnesota lawsuit went directly to the state Supreme Court, where justices on Thursday consistently questioned whether it was appropriate for states to determine a candidate's eligibility to run for president. They now must decide on the next phase of this lawsuit to see if it will move forward in court.
--The Minnesota Court of Appeals granted two writs of prohibition against Mille Lacs County Judge Matthew M. Quinn. Judge Quinn attempted to rule the Restore the Vote Act unconstitutional and bar from voting several individuals who were convicted of felonies but sentenced only to probation. The court ruled that Judge Quinn overstepped his authority. Attorney General Ellison moved quickly to intervene in the case to support the writs and defend these individuals’ freedom to vote, with the support of Secretary of Steve Steve Simon. In its ruling, the Court of Appeals agreed with the petitioners and the Attorney General that “the district court exceeded its lawful authority by independently raising and deciding an issue involving the constitutionality of a statute without the issue being raised by a party and the district court violated the principle of party presentation and that the courts only perform ‘the role of neutral arbiter’ and future judges ‘should not’ look ‘for wrongs to right,’ but ‘wait for cases to come to them and decide from those cases.
--A high-speed pursuit ended with a crash on I-94 Friday morning. Waite Park Police were sent to a business on a suspected shoplifter call just after midnight. The business had the suspect’s license plate number. A short time later, that vehicle was spotted and a traffic stop was attempted at the intersection of 28th Avenue South and 7Th Street South in Waite Park. The vehicle drove away, entered Highway 23, and eventually entered I-94 with speeds reaching 110 miles per hour. Spike Strips were used near the County Road 75 exit, but were unsuccessful, and the vehicle continued driving east on I-94. More spike strips were used near the Clearwater exit. The vehicle avoided the strips but side-swiped a Waite Park police car, lost control, and crashed. Waite Park Police, assisted by the Minnesota State Patrol and the Cold Spring/Richmond Police Department performed a felony stop and removed all occupants from the vehicle. The driver, 24-year-old Abdaiziz Mohamed of St. Cloud was taken into custody and is charged with control substance crime, fleeing in a vehicle, giving a false name, revoked license and having a dangerous weapon. Mohamed was booked into the Stearns Country Jail. Three other passengers in the vehicle were released without charges.
-- A detached garage at a St. Cloud home caught fire on Friday afternoon. The St. Cloud Fire Department responded to a fire at a home in the 1300 block of 8th Avenue Southeast just before 12:30. Authorities say a single-stall garage detached from the home was on fire when they arrived. The blaze was quickly put out and did not spread to any nearby structures. No one was hurt in the incident. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
--The Royalton High School Drama Club announced a turkey bingo will be played Sunday at 1pm at the Royalton American Legion. Winners will walk away with a frozen gobbler just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday. Fifteen rounds of bingo increase chances of winning. The grand prize (last round) is the frozen turkey, a pie and a bottle of sparkling cider. Coffee will be provided and door prizes and a bake sale are available, as well. All proceeds go toward funding the spring musical and dinner theater, Beauty and the Beast, Jr., involving grades 6-12, for the Royalton Secondary School.
DEATH NOTICES
--Henry Smith Jr., age 45 of St. Cloud.
--Mary Ann J. Pierzina, age 96 of Little Falls.
--Lucinda Alice “Cindy” Hayes, age 73 of Pierz.
WEATHER
TODAY= AM rain showers, then cloudy and breezy, high 45.
TONIGHT= cloudy skies, breezy, low near 30.
TUESDAY= cloudy, PM rain showers, high 45, low near 40.
WEDNESDAY= rain showers to snow late, high 41 low near 28.
SPORTS
HS FB= Belgrade Brooten Elrosa defeated Upsala Swanville Friday morning in Fargo 36-12 to advance to state ending Patriots season. Eden Valley beat Holdingford, Osakis downed Staples-Motley, Annandale beat Foley, Alexandria beat Brainerd on Friday. Albany, Parkers Prairie and ROCORI advanced on to state.
COL FB= Illinois gets a late score to beat Gophers 27-26 Saturday.
NFL= Josh Dobbs takes over and runs and throws for touchdowns as the Vikings beat Atlanta 31-28 to now go to 5-4 on the season.