NEWS
--At 3:54pm on Saturday the Morrison County Sheriff ‘s Office received a report of a snowmobile vs. vehicle accident near the intersection of Abaca Road and 20th Avenue, approximately two miles west of Upsala, in Elmdale Township. According to the Sheriff’s Office, 14-year old Travis Kerfeld of Melrose, was driving a snowmobile on the trail, traveling west, crossing over 20th Avenue. 55-year-old Leif Johnson of Burtrum was traveling south on 20th Avenue. Kerfeld failed to yield and was struck by the vehicle on the roadway. Kerfeld was treated by Upsala First Responders and taken to the St. Cloud Hospital with a possible leg injury.
--Morrison County Maintenance crews will be focused on pothole repair will be on County Roads 8 and 51 and the southwest corner of County Road 21. This work will begin as soon as road conditions are satisfactory to conduct the work. Snow and ice control will take priority as crews will be continuing pushing back banks and preparing in case another storm event comes through. Public Works staff will also be out removing snow and ice from storm drains, and culverts as the melting progresses. Please reduce speeds around work crews.
--St. Cloud Fire Department responded to an incident this weekend where, it is believed, the roof of a building caved in due to snow. Around 6:20pm Saturday authorities responded to a structure at 927 Ninth Avenue South in St. Cloud where the roof of the building collapsed. The cause is believed to be from the weight of the snow. Nobody was injured in the incident.
--The 38-year old Cambridge man charged in the 2018 stabbing death of his sister at her Crosby workplace pleaded not guilty Friday by reason of mental illness and said he didn't know what he was doing at the time of the crime. David Michael Otey was indicted last February by a Crow Wing County District Court grand jury in Brainerd on first-degree murder with premeditation, which carries a penalty of life in prison. He also was indicted on second-degree intentional murder, which has a 40-year prison sentence. Otey was initially charged January 16th, 2018—three days after the incident—with felony second-degree intentional murder without premeditation in the death of his sister, Danyele Marie Johnson of Ironton. He waived his rights to the omnibus hearing, which is to determine the evidence of the case and includes testimony and discussion of issues relating to a fair and expeditious trial. Instead, Otey entered a not guilty plea by reason of mental illness on both murder charges and waived his rights to have a jury trial. The McNaughton rule was a standard to be applied by the jury, after hearing medical testimony from prosecution and defense experts. The rule created a presumption of sanity, unless the defense proved "at the time of committing the act, the accused was laboring under such a defect of reason, from disease of the mind, as not to know the nature and quality of the act he was doing or, if he did know it, that he did not know what he was doing was wrong." The McNaughton rule became the standard for insanity in the United States and is still the standard for insanity in almost half of the states.
--Another school update on days to make up, Pierz Schools have announced they will now have school on April 22nd to make up earlier snow days to stay above the needed number of days for the year.
--Join Little Falls Radio next Monday night at Johnny C's Sports Bar in Little Falls for the Bracket Challenge for pairs of Twins Tickets at 6pm.
--The Brainerd Lakes Chamber of Commerce alerted its membership to a phone scam related to membership invoices. One of the chamber's members recently received a call from a Texas company. The caller stated she was collecting payment for a recent membership invoice and reported the balance had to be paid by phone. When the member asked about the company, the caller said that she was working with the chamber on magnets and other advertising. This is a scam. The chamber sent out a notice to remind all that they do not call members regarding invoices unless they are more than 60 days past due. If you are on an annual payment plan, you will always receive your invoice in the mail first. They never demand payments by phone and their calls will come from a 218 number. The chamber is still investigating this matter.
--Congratulations to the Pillager High School ProStart culinary team took third at the Minnesota ProStart Invitational in St. Paul. They served lobster, honey-seared duck and chocolate mousse cake. Now in the fifth year of the ProStart program and the third year of competition, Pillager placed higher than its previous best of 10th place. The Pillager team of Katey Flansburg, Emma Hopman, Lexi Koehler, Chase Winterowd and alternate Madalynn Jansen beat out 14 other teams from across the state to secure a third place finish.
The team is graded on teamwork, cleanliness, technique, taste, plating and cost-effectiveness of a three-course meal.
--Saturday the temperature reached 37 degrees in Little Falls ending a long streak of days below the freezing (32 degrees) mark. Little Falls had 32 degrees back on February 3rd and stayed below freezing until March 9th. However, some parts of the state broke records for days without reaching 32, including Brainerd where it was 59 days between days of being above the freezing mark in the state.
NATIONAL NEWS
--Local media outlets are staying the man accused of killing the parents of 13-year-old Jayme Kloss and kidnapping her for weeks will plead guilty. Jake Patterson reportedly wrote a letter from jail saying he could believe he did this and will plead guilty so Jayme and her family will not have to deal with a trial. He is not scheduled back in court again in Wisconsin until March 27th.
DEATH NOTICES
--Albert “Al” Bauman, age 83 of Little Falls.
WEATHER
FLOOD WATCH WEDNESDAY 1PM TO THURSDAY 7PM.
TODAY= increasing clouds, PM drizzle and showers, high 40.
TONIGHT= rain, some freezing drizzle late night, fog, low 32.
WEDNESDAY= rain likely, some heavy late day, high 44, low 36.
THURSDAY= rain likely, changing to snow late, high 36 then falling.
SPORTS
BBB= Pierz and Upsala had their seasons ended last night in the boys basketball playoffs.
GBB= The State Girls Basketball Tournament begins on Wednesday for three of the four classes which will include teams like Fergus Falls, Becker and Albany. Class A schools begin quarterfinals on Thursday.
COL BB= Gopher men open the Big 10 Tournament as the #7 seed on Thursday vs. #10 Penn State at 5:30pm on AM960 KLTF.