NEWS
--A St. Stephen man was hurt in a one-vehicle crash in Morrison County Thursday morning. The sheriff's office got a call about a crash near the intersection of 93rd Street and 345th Avenue at around 8:45am. That's about seven miles east of Buckman in Morrill Township. The sheriff's office says 55-year-old Heidi Kloss of Sartell was driving east on 93rd Street when she swerved to miss a dog in the road, entered the ditch, and hit a field approach. Kloss was not hurt, but her passenger, 55-year-old Dean Gangl of St. Stephen was taken to the hospital in Little Falls with unknown injuries.
--A Pierz woman was hurt in a crash in Morrison County. The Minnesota State Patrol says it happened at about 7:15am Thursday on Highway 25 in Platte Township north of Pierz. Forty-one-year-old Nicole Johnson was heading north when her vehicle went into the ditch and struck several trees. Johnson was taken to the hospital in Little Falls with non-life-threatening injuries.
--A man was seriously hurt after his vehicle struck a deer and he was hit by another vehicle. The Minnesota State Patrol says the incident happened at about 6:30pm Thursday on Interstate 35 in Pine County. Troopers say 65-year-old Dale Tatge of Faribault was going north when his vehicle struck a deer and was stopped in the left lane.
He then got out of his vehicle and was hit by a vehicle driven by 67-year-old Patricia Weyandt of Alborn. Tatge was taken to North Memorial with life-threatening injuries. Weyandt was taken to Essentia in Sandstone with non-life-threatening injured.
--St. Cloud Police have released more details on the south St. Cloud shooting that injured four people Wednesday night. According to police, witnesses at the scene said there was a heated argument between two groups in the alleyway in the 1000 block between 5th and 6th Avenue South near 11th Street. During the argument, several shots were fired from multiple people, resulting in four people hurt.
The victims include a 21-year-old St. Cloud man with a gunshot wound to the head, a 21-year-old St. Cloud man with a gunshot wound to the chest, a 19-year-old Mora man with a gunshot wound to the elbow, and a 15-year-old from St. Cloud with a gunshot wound to the shoulder and neck. Police say one of the victims (21-year-old with gunshot wound to his head) was released from the hospital Thursday, while the other three remain in stable condition. Authorities say no arrests have been made at this time. The investigation remains active by the police department.
--A St. Cloud man has pleaded guilty to raping a woman while she was unconscious. Twenty-nine-year-old Markus Ost has pleaded guilty to 3rd-degree criminal sexual conduct while the victim was physically helpless. St. Cloud Police got a call on February 8th reporting that Ost had raped a woman and they were asking police to do a welfare check on the victim. The victim then called police later in the day to report what had happened. According to the criminal complaint, the woman and Ost had been arguing in the early morning hours outside a friend's apartment. When they returned to their north St. Cloud apartment, Ost allegedly became verbally and physically aggressive.
Court records show Ost then pushed the woman onto the bed, stripped her of her clothes, punched her in the face, and began choking her. The woman told police she lost consciousness and when she came to, Ost was giving her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and was raping her. Ost has previous convictions of violating a domestic abuse no-contact order and domestic assault in 2015. He'll be sentenced for this crime in August.
--The Morrison County Sheriffs Office stated that their office Friday received a report of someone that possibly went through the ice near the Landing Restaurant in Scandia Valley Township. Over the past week or two the sheriff's office and Little Falls Police have been called out to possible ice issues. Luckily no one was to have been in long enough to be rescued. The Morrison County Sheriff’s Office wants everyone to enjoy the outdoors, but be safe while doing so. With the warm temperatures, we encourage people to stay off the lakes in our area, as you are taking safety risks that may harm you and possibly our emergency responders. Always have a plan and use extra caution when you venture on the ice. A few tips include: Tell someone where you are going and when you expect to be back. Wear a life jacket. Have ice picks readily available. Physically check the ice conditions with a chisel or auger before you venture out. The ice conditions are never consistent across the entire lake. Please do not put yourself or our emergency responders in a dangerous situation.
--A Wayzata man is the latest Minnesota man to be charged with child solicitation in Stearns County. Sixty-three-year-old Blake Middleton is charged with three felony counts involving the sexual solicitation of a child. Court records show Middleton logged on to a chat room known for the solicitation of children and messaged an undercover officer posing as a 15-year-old girl. Middleton is accused of initiating the conversation in October and grooming whom he thought was a 15-year-old girl. He indicated he was a 53-year-old man. The conversation allegedly turned sexual when the undercover investigator said Middleton began discussing a previous sexual encounter with a different underage girl. According to the criminal complaint, Middleton is accused of sending pictures of his genitalia, soliciting whom he thought was a teenage girl for sexual acts, and sending videos of sexual acts with a female who he says was a 16-year-old girl. The investigation also allegedly uncovered a conversation in July where Middleton was corresponding in the chat room with the same undercover officer who was using a different screen name at that time. Middleton has his next court hearing scheduled for December 12th.
DEATH NOTICES
--Jennifer M. Reinhart, age 50 of Pierz.
--Myrtle Doloris “Diddie” Hines, age 94 of Little Falls.
--Joyce (Kroll) Leidenfrost, age 50 of Pierz.
WEATHER
TODAY= cloudy skies, high 26 early, then temps dropping into teens
TONIGHT= mostly cloudy skies, few flurries, low 7 above.
TUESDAY= snow showers possible, high 18, low around 10.
WEDNESDAY= snow showers possible, then PM sun, high 14, low 4.
SPORTS
NFL= Vikings hold on to beat New York Jets 27-22 Sunday.
COL FB= Gophers will play at Yankee Stadium in New York after accepting bid to Pinstripe Bowl December 29th against Syracuse.
HS FB= Prep Bowl 2022 results Class A Minneota defeated Springfield 38-21. Class AA Barnesville beat Chatfield 35-20. In Class AAAA Simley beat Hutchinson 34-24, Class 6A- Maple Grove defeated Rosemount 27-10. 9-Man Mountain Iron Buhl defeated Spring Grove 28-25. New London Spicer beat Dilworth Glyndon Felton 27-26 for the 3A Title. Elk River won the 5A title 29-26 over Mankato West.
USA= Netherlands eliminated USA 3-1 from World Cup of Soccer.