NEWS
--Staff Sargent Anthony Housey of Camp Ripley announced yesterday that due to the increase in temperatures and lack of snowfall in the past days, they have had to cancel the Dog Sledding event scheduled for this weekend at the Camp Ripley military base.
--The Little Falls Community High School is trying to send a fan bus to the girls hockey section final vs. Roseau Friday night in Crookston. The fan bus would leave tomorrow afternoon at 3:00pm and cost $15 per person (game ticket not included). The deadline to sign up is 1:00pm this afternoon. For information or to sign up contact the Little Falls Community High School Activities Office at 616-2206. Listen to the section final on 92.1FM WYRQ and online through fallsradio.com.
--The victims of a fatal collision that killed two people and injured two others Wednesday morning have been identified. 30-year old Cody Alan Randall and 24-year old JD Delance Randall died at the scene on Stearns County Road 2 near Cold Spring. The Randalls were driving with 15-year old Katie Seegmiller who was extricated from the vehicle and flown to North Memorial Medical Center where she was in critical condition Wednesday afternoon. All three are from Washington City, Utah. 64-year old Sandra Hansen of Cold Spring was driving the second vehicle. She was taken by ambulance to St. Cloud Hospital and listed in stable condition. The crash happened about 8:00am near County Road 2 and Island Lake Road between Cold Spring and Jacobs Prairie. The police report stated the Randall car was headed south, lost control around a corner and turned sideways in the opposite lane. The northbound car, driven by Hansen, hit the first car on the passenger side. The crash is still under investigation.
--Lacey Kuschel died from a gunshot wound to her upper back last February. The man charged in connection with her death, who says it was an accident, may avoid a trial after the defense and prosecution proposed a plea agreement on Tuesday instead. According to a criminal complaint against him, 32-year old Tyler James Slagerman had been out drinking with friends on the night of Kuschel's death. He arrived at their Clarissa home at approximately 12:45am on February 25th, 2017. He said he found Kuschel was sitting on the bed holding their months old baby because the dogs had woken the child. Slagerman told authorities he believed there were coyotes in the yard, so he grabbed the loaded rifle he kept in the bedroom. As he spun around to leave, according to the criminal complaint, the rifle fired and struck Kuschel in the back. Slagerman was initially charged with one count of second-degree unintentional manslaughter for causing the death of another person by creating unreasonable risk and for "culpable negligence." He was also charged with child endangerment. In the plea agreement offered Tuesday morning, Slagerman would instead plead guilty to one count of unintentional manslaughter, if a judge approves the deal. The child endangerment charge would be dropped and Slagerman would be sentenced to up to one year in county jail. If he were to break any rules of probation, he could spend 48 months in prison. The judge will review documents and submitted information before making a decision on the plea. If the judge rejects the plea deal, the case will go back to its current standing.
--A 23-year old St. Cloud man is facing charges for entering a home without consent and threatening the residents with a gun. Benjamin Jackson was charged Tuesday with two counts of first degree felony burglary and two counts of second degree felony assault with a dangerous weapon. Jackson's next court date is on April 5th.
--Another St. Cloud office has decided to close. Pilgrim's Pride will be closing their St. Cloud administrative office. In a statement Tuesday the company says "we have made the difficult decision to close the St. Cloud office and transfer responsibilities to our corporate headquarters in Greeley, Colorado." The decision will not impact the production facilities in Arcadia, WI or Cold Spring and has no impact on the companies feed mill teams, grower partners or customers. Pilgrim's Pride bought GNP in an all cash $350 million transaction back in January 2017.
--The Minnesota State Patrol says troopers have confiscated hundreds of pounds of marijuana in the past few weeks, discovering the drugs following traffic stops along Interstate 94 from the North Dakota border through Otter Tail and Douglas County in central Minnesota. The most recent bust took place February 9th in Otter Tail County after a trooper pulled a motorist over for an obstructed license plate. Inside the vehicle in plain sight the trooper could see bags of pot on the center console and on a seat with a woman sitting on them. The stash turned out to total 300 pounds of marijuana. On January 26th a trooper pulled a driver over on I-94 in Otter Tail County and recognized signs of criminal activity. He deployed a K-9 dog named Argo who discovered approximately 200 pounds of marijuana with a street value of $600,000. Two days earlier, on January 24th a trooper pulled over a motorist in a rental vehicle who was speeding near Alexandria. Unusual behavior by the suspect resulted in a K-9 being called in, and the dog located 24 pounds of marijuana and $8,200 in cash. The recent spike in marijuana busts seems to be part of a trend: In 2017 the State Patrol seized 2,642 pounds of marijuana, up from 389 pounds in 2016. North Dakota authorities have also seen a recent jump in drug busts on the I-94 corridor.
--The National Council for Home Safety and Security is happy to announce their ranking of the Safest Cities in Minnesota for 2018. The top ten are: Orono, Big Lake, Rosemount, Farmington, Hibbing, South Lake, Minnetonka, Lino Lakes, Lakeville and Northfield. To identify the safest cities, they reviewed the most recent FBI Uniform Crime Report statistics along with their own population data and internal research. They eliminated any cities that failed to submit a complete crime report to the FBI and removed cities with populations under 10,000. The cities were ranked based on the number of reported violent crimes (aggravated assault, murder, rape, and robbery) and property crimes (burglary, arson, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft) per 1,000 people. These variables were then weighted, with violent crimes assigned a value 1.5 times (due to their severity) that of property crimes.
DEATH NOTICES
--Lucille Rae “Lu” (Yorek) Frieler, age 63 of Sebeka formerly Royalton
--Ted Deering, age 46 of St. Cloud formerly of Little Falls
WEATHER
TODAY= snow showers, turning windy and dropping temps.
TONIGHT= clearing skies and cold, low -5 wind chills near -25.
FRIDAY= sunny and colder, high 18, snow late night, low 12.
SATURDAY= partly sunny, high near 30, snow late, low 22.
SPORTS
HS GBB= St. Cloud Cathedral at Little Falls tonight 7:15 on Q92.
HS BBB= Pierz at BBE tonight 7:15pm on FM94 KFML.