NEWS
–Another outbreak of severe weather occurred Wednesday dropping hail, heavy rains and radar indicated tornadoes in Morrison, Todd and Stearns County. Reports of shingles ripped off roofs, crops damaged by hail and strong winds. Radar indicated a storm with a tornado around Randall, Cushing, Camp Ripley and Fort Ripley around 6:00pm and another earlier around Long Prairie but no touchdowns were reported by weather spotters. Another storm with very heavy rains moved through Little Falls between 7:30-8:30pm last night. Little Falls Radio received over 3 inches of rain on Wednesday from the storms. More rains forecast today and Friday.
–Voters in the Sartell school district Tuesday approved a ballot question that will raise $105.8 million in the next 25 years. The referendum question passed 52.9 percent to 47.1 percent with 4,315 voters turning out to vote. That’s about 41 percent of the 10,644 voters in the district. Voters in St. Stephen, Brockway and St. Wendel townships voted more than 2-1 against the referendum. The votes from the city precincts more than made up for the difference.
–The North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL) has announced that it has approved the transfer of membership, purchase and relocation of the Minnesota Flying Aces by the Blizzard Hockey, LLC, ownership group. The team will be relocated from Little Falls to Willmar for the 2016-17 season. The team will be rebranded and renamed. A contest will be held in the Willmar community to name the new team. The team will assume the playing rights to those players that were rostered with the Minnesota Flying Aces during the 2015-16 season.
–The Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the murder conviction of a Walker-area man who killed a Rockville man in October 2012. 31-year old Marcus Barshaw was convicted by Stearns County District Court Judge Frederick Grunke of first and second degree murder along with first and second degree assault after a court trial in late 2014. Barshaw killed Jeff Schutz after the two argued at Schutz’s Rockville residence. Barshaw is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
–For the second year, the Crow Wing County Board of Commissioners discussed the possibility of selling beer at the Crow Wing County Fair but again have decided after talking to the community to prevent the sale of beer. Crow Wing County is still one of the last dry county fairs in the state. Representatives of the fair board expressed the idea of a beer garden, in a controlled secure environment. A community meeting had most of the people attending in opposition of beer at the county fair including two people who stated they lost loved ones due to drinking and driving from events. Others say Crow Wing County is considered the family-friendly fair and no beer keeps that idea for all to come to the fair in Brainerd. After discussion Crow Wing County Board decided to keep fair alcohol free.
–Former State Representative and Little Falls City Council member Mike LeMieur announced that he is running for Morrison County Commissioner in District 1 which includes Ward 3 of Little Falls, Randall, Motley and the townships of Cushing, Darling, Green Prairie, Motley, Rosing and Scandia Valley.
–Graduation ceremonies are scheduled this weekend. On Friday Pierz, Swanville, Long Prairie-Grey Eagle, Holdingford and Staples-Motley will all graduate. Upsala graduates on Saturday while Little Falls students graduate on Sunday. Brainerd graduation ceremony is on June 3rd while Foley is on June 4th.
–The Brainerd man injured when he was struck by a car Monday on Oak Street in Brainerd is improving. 40-year-old Troy Thompson was on a motorized bicycle when he was struck by Kerri Nord of Nisswa. Thompson was airlifted with serious injuries to North Memorial in Robbinsdale and upgraded to stable condition on Tuesday. The driver of the car Nord, and her passenger were both wearing seatbelts. Neither of them were injured.
–The Department of Employment and Economic Development has released county unemployment rates for April 2016. Morrison County dropped from 8.1% unemployment in March to 5.5% in April. Unemployment was 5.4% in April last year in Morrison County. Here is how our other area counties fared for April unemployment rates: Aitken 7.2%, Benton 4.3%, Cass 7.3%, Crow Wing 5.2%, Mille Lacs 6.3%, Sherburne 4%, Stearns 3.5%, Todd 4.7% and Wadena County 6.1%. The city of Brainerd had 5.2% unemployment and the St. Cloud area registered at 3.6%. The statewide average unemployment was 3.8% and the national average for April was 4.7%.
–Morrison County Sheriff Shawn Larsen appeared on Little Falls Radio Wednesday to warn of counterfeit money scams. There have been numerous incidents in central Minnesota including two in Morrison County of counterfeit bills. People are encouraged to inspect money exchanging hands. One way is by checking for watermarks. Hold the bill to the light to check for water marks. The image of the persons portrait that is on the bill can be found on all 10, 20, 50, and 100 dollar denominations. Watermarks are also on all $5 in the 1999 series or later. The sheriff also advised area residents to be cautious of copper line thefts popular at this time of the year. Thieves often burn or cut off the protective coating around copper and normally go to a recycling place and receive money for the copper. If anyone ever notices suspicious activity, you are urged to contact authorities. To contact the sheriff’s office in Morrison County, call 632-9233.
–A 38-year-old of Burnsville was seriously injured Saturday in Garrison. Authorities say that Russell Helser was on Linden Street in Garrison on an ATV when it rolled over. Helser was taken to North Memorial Medical Center with serious injuries.
BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT
–Jared and Angela Houdek of Little Falls, a girl born May 23rd.
DEATH NOTICES
–Aurelius “AJ” Nickaboine, age 73 of Onamia.
WEATHER
TODAY= hazy sunshine, high 80, chance of late day storms.
TONIGHT= storms likely, some strong overnight, low 58.
FRIDAY= storms in morning, cloudy, high 78, more storms late.
SATURDAY= heavy rains possible, strong storms possible, high 73.
SUNDAY= chance of morning storm, then hazy sun, high 77.
SPORTS
TWINS= Twins battle back to beat Royals 7-5 Wednesday to salvage one game in the series. Twins have today off, in Seattle Friday.
HS SB= Pierz vs. Holdingford in elimination game today at 5pm with the winner to play again right after- hear the games on FM94 KFML.
HS SB= Little Falls at Alexandria in playoffs today 5pm on KLTF.
HS BAB= Holdingford at Pierz tonight 7pm playoffs on FM94 KFML.