NEWS
--The Morrison County Sheriff’s Office will be conducting a joint training exercise with the Minnesota State Patrol, Little Falls Police Department and Life Link III Air Ambulance, tonight in the evening hours. The training will take place on property located off Riverside Road in Richardson Township, approximately 7 miles northwest of Hillman. The Sheriff’s Office advises that there will be a heavy presence of law enforcement in the area, to include helicopters from the State Patrol and Life Link III. Thank you for your understanding as training remains a priority for their agency.
--Aaron Olson of Kinship of Morrison County spoke on KLTF yesterday. He wanted to invite all to the Kinship Soup and Chili Cookoff for Kids on Monday from 5-7pm at the Falls Ballroom. There will be a number of soup and chili’s to enjoy from area businesses and organizations along with breadsticks and ice cream served by area dairy princesses from Morrison and Crow Wing County. The cost for tickets are $18 at the door for adults, $10 for kids and under 4 and over 80 is just a free will offering. You can save $3 by calling Kinship today at 320-632-8806 or go online to kinshipofmc.org also some pre purchase tickets are at the radio stations ask for Corey Fink. All the proceeds go to the mentoring program for Kinship to help promote mentors helping and guiding youth in the area. There is also an online auction for bids items online at kinshipofmc.org.
--As the firearms deer hunting season approaches, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is offering field reports to hunters ahead of the hunt. Wildlife managers are reporting good opportunities to harvest deer in most of the management areas. In central Minnesota, deer populations are robust and are above the management goals. Many permit areas are allowing hunters to harvest up to three deer, or up to five in chronic wasting disease zones. Most crops are expected to be harvested by the start of the firearms deer season in the central zone. In the south, weather conditions had no impact on the deer herd overall. The habitat is in good shape and the overall deer populations are strong in the south.
In the northwest zone, the deer numbers appear to be in good shape despite some weather mortality farther north. Hunters who do their research and spend time in the woods should have plenty of opportunities to harvest deer. In the northeast, many permit areas are still struggling to recover deer numbers. The DNR says the best harvest opportunities will be in the southern portion of the northeast region where the numbers are higher and populations were less affected by the deep snow and severe winter. More than 400,000 deer hunters are expected to take to the woods and farm fields when the season opens on Saturday, November 5th.
--Central Minnesota veterans are invited to stop by the River's Edge Convention Center in St. Cloud today. Stand Down St. Cloud is holding their 39th annual expo and job fair. Spokesman Bob Behrens says they will have over 50 businesses and organizations ready to help veterans with a variety of services. Anything a veteran needs, any issues they have can be answered here. We have organizations from the VA, legal services, they can go pick out clothing, we will be handing out food. This is a big deal. Behrens says all the businesses at the expo are looking to hire veterans and there have been multiple success stories that have happened because of this event. He says the entire event is free to all veterans including parking. Doors open at 9am and the event will run until about 2pm.
--Our Town 56345 is hosting a Coffee and Collaboration Community Building Event on Tuesday, October 25th at 10am at the Great River Arts center in downtown Little Falls. You can learn about their recent projects, results from the youth team and their summer engagements and surveys, hear and respond to the hopes and plans for future projects, and network together to collaborate a catalog of items. If you want to take part RSVP to OurTown56345@gmail.com before next Monday October 24th. The event is made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Five Wings Arts Council along with the City of Little Falls.
--Fire caused significant damage to a home in St. Augusta Tuesday morning. Emergency crews were dispatched to the 1900 block of 238th Street at about 5:50am. The caller reported the house was fully engulfed. The Stearns County Sheriff's Office says the owners, David Miller and Cynthia Savage were able to get out safely. It's believed the fire started in the garage before flames made their way into the house. St. Augusta fire was assisted by other area fire departments. The cause of the fire is under investigation and there is no damage estimate at this time.
--Residents in Rice are being asked to stay on alert on a potential email scam. The Rice Police Department says they've received reports that someone has been sending emails which appear to have been sent from Rice officers. The police department says if you have received an email from a Rice police officer requesting personal information or payment, do not click on the links or provide information as this is not from them. The police department says they are working to resolve the issue.
--Pine Grove Zoo Boo Fest is Saturday 2-5pm at the Zoo on the west side of Little Falls. Tickets are $7 but you can pre purchase by calling the zoo 320-616-5595 or go the eventbrite page online this will get you through an express style line on Saturday to get into the fun at the Boo Fest with trick or treating, inflatables, ninja warrior obstacle course, a Howling Haunted House and more Saturday. Also Ron Specker of AM960 KLTF will be broadcasting live on Saturday afternoon from the Pine Grove Zoo Boo Fest and at fallsradio.com.
DEATH NOTICES
--LaVerne J. Steffen, age 79 of Little Falls.
--Kenneth “Kenny” Funk, age 72 of Pierz.
--Steven Schneider, age 65 of Sobieski.
--Patricia O'Neil, age 83 of Pierz.
WEATHER
TODAY= sunny skies, high 56, clear night, low around 35.
FRIDAY= sunny skies, high 61, clouds increase at night, low 42.
SATURDAY= partly sunny, breezy, high 64, mild night, low 51.
SUNDAY= showers in afternoon, storms at night, high 70, low 50.
SPORTS
HS FB= Royalton held off Pierz 22-14, Milaca beat Little Falls with a late interception 22-14 and Kimball defeated Upsala-Swanville 32-6 in action last night. The playoffs begin in football next Tuesday. Also playoffs begin for high school volleyball next Thursday the 27th.
NBA= Timberwolves open season with a win 115-108 over OKC.
MLB= Astros win game 1 of ALCS 4-2 last night over Yankees while San Diego beat the Phillies 8-5 to tie their NLCS series at 1-1.
COL FB= Gophers are at Penn State Saturday kickoff at 6:30pm.
NFL= Vikings are off this weekend, back in action on Sunday, October 30th hosting Arizona at noon.