NEWS
--Two men were charged in Morrison County District Court on drug charges. 26-year old David John Wallenberg of Goodridge, and 32-year old Craig Allen Moore of Bagley were both charged in Morrison County District Court with one count of first degree possession of a controlled substance - 50 grams or more. The charge against both men stems from a January 3rd traffic stop in Motley. According to the criminal complaint, a Minnesota State Patrol trooper was on routine patrol in Motley when a vehicle with a loud exhaust passed him. The trooper stopped the vehicle and the driver was identified as Wallenberg and the passenger as Moore. The vehicle smelled very strongly of air freshener and Moore avoided eye contact with the trooper, according to the criminal complaint. Wallenberg allegedly failed to provide proof of insurance for the vehicle. When asked about his travels, Wallenberg allegedly told the trooper he had been to the Twin Cities metro area to pick up Moore, but he was unable to provide details on where he picked him up or how Moore got to the Twin Cities. The officer noted that details of the story did not make sense. The trooper formed a suspicion that Moore and Wallenberg were transporting illegal drugs. He conducted a K9 search of the vehicle, and the K9 officer allegedly indicated the presence of a controlled substance in the vehicle. During a search of the vehicle, the trooper found loose paneling around the radio of the vehicle. He was able to pull the paneling out and saw just above the radio there was a black box wrapped in electrical tape, according to the complaint. Inside the black box there was allegedly a large bag of a white, crystal-like substance, which field-tested positive for methamphetamine and weighed 130 grams. Moore allegedly admitted there were drugs inside the vehicle, while Wallenberg allegedly told the trooper he had made arrangements with Moore to travel to St. Paul to purchase drugs. Both men face a maximum penalty of 30 years imprisonment and/or a fine of up to $1 million.
--A Sauk Rapids man is accused of threatening a woman with a handgun in front of three children Wednesday, as well as improperly storing loaded firearms, according to a criminal complaint filed in Benton County court. 26-year old Ahmed Khalis Al Mafreajy of Sauk Rapids, is facing felony charges of second-degree assault and threats of violence, and a gross misdemeanor charge of negligent storage of firearms. It was reported that officers met with a woman who told them Al Mafreajy had threatened her with a loaded handgun inside the residence. She told police Al Mafreajy threatened her after she told him she was going to leave. Officers took Al Mafreajy into custody, and the woman showed police two other loaded firearms stored in the open in the residence. He made his first court appearance on Friday.
--One of three men charged with raping a woman at a St. Cloud park last fall has pleaded guilty. Twenty-five-year-old Sahal Abdi Hassan pleaded guilty Friday to one count of aiding and abetting 1st degree criminal sexual conduct. Two other men, 22-year old Abdirahin Omar Ali and 23-year-old Mohamed Hassan Abdi are also charged in the case. Each has a hearing scheduled in March. The sexual assault that occurred in the early morning hours of October 18th.The woman said she was being in a car with five Somali men who were talking in their native language, drinking liquor, trying to kiss her, and threatening her. The woman said they stopped at a park and a man later identified as Hassan raped her as the other men encouraged it.
--A large power outage effected the west side of Little Falls along with parts of Pike Creek and Green Prairie Township on Monday morning. The outage was reported just after 10:15am and it was reported that power was restored in many areas shortly after 11:30am and by noon pretty much all was restored to the outage. There was also a report of a power outage affected around 90 customers in Bellevue Township near Royalton starting at 11:30am and going into the afternoon. The first reported outage affected nearly 2,000 customers and also affected Lincoln Elementary School on the west side of Little Falls.
--The Department of Health website reported 611 new cases on Monday (again not all hospitals reported as a holiday), and 2 new deaths linked to the virus. Morrison County for the third day in a row reported no new cases on Monday. Crow Wing County did report 14 new cases on Monday. Todd 4, Stearns 11 and Benton reported 9.
--Governor Tim Walz signed Emergency Executive Order 21-09 granting a temporary exemption from the hours of service requirements in state law for drivers of commercial vehicles hauling propane and other fuels. Minnesota and the Midwest have faced dangerously cold weather in recent days. Those conditions have prompted an increased demand of propane while also complicating the delivery of fuel. These circumstances have caused a low supply of propane in the state. In addition, transportation continues to be impacted by driver shortages due to COVID-19, and relief is needed to allow available drivers to travel farther distances to alternate terminals to obtain product. The Emergency Executive Order provides relief from certain hours of service requirements, which will allow carriers who are providing direct assistance to the emergency to travel further distances to acquire propane and other fuels and return it to areas where it is needed. Waiving the hours of service requirements ensures that carriers and drivers can deliver propane to Minnesotans who require the fuel, protecting the lives and well-being of those in need. The Emergency Executive remains in effect for 15 days, or until the direct assistance has ended, whichever occurs first. --This week on KLTF Community Focus program, today Little Falls City Administrator Jon Radermacher, Wednesday Little Falls Schools Superintendent Stephen Jones and later this week Father Ben Kociemba of the Little Falls Tri Parish on the Lenten Season and Easter items put forward by the Bishop. The program is weekdays around 8:30am on AM960 KLTF and streamed at fallsradio.com.
WEATHER
WIND CHILL ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 9AM TODAY.
TODAY= sunny and cold, high 3 above.
TONIGHT= clouds increase, low -14 early then rising toward morn.
WEDNESDAY= cloudy, snow showers possible, high 9 above, low -8.
THURSDAY= partly sunny, high 15, clear night, low -7.
SPORTS
HS GBB= Albany at Pierz tonight 7:15pm on FM94 KFML.
TODAY IN HISTORY
IN 1950= What's My Line premiered on CBS Television.
IN 1968= Elvis Presley became the first artist to hit #1 on the Billboard rock, country, R&B and Gospel charts with his version How Great Thou Art hit #1 on the Gospel playlist charts.
IN 1972= Wilt Chamberlain scored his 30,000 point in 940 games.