NEWS
--Today is Township Election day where 21 of the 30 Morrison County Townships will hold elections. Elections will take place in Agram, Belle Prairie, Bellevue, Buckman, Buh, Culdrum, Cushing, Darling, Granite, Lakin, Leigh, Little Falls, Motley, Parker, Pike Creek, Platte, Ripley, Swan River, Swanville and Two Rivers. Each township has different times. Most are afternoon and evening hours at their town halls for elections which are for supervisor, clerk and treasurer in most cases. Some special elections may also be occurring at some of the township sites. Township officials are encouraged to call Little Falls Radio tonight and leave their results on the answering machine at (320) 632-2992 or by emailing the station at news@fallsradio.com.
--Around 5:45pm Saturday a Morrison County Deputy was patrolling Motley and observed a traffic violation. A traffic stop was conducted on a car driven by 34-year old Lebartta Geionety of Red Lake near the intersection of Highway 210 and Highway 64. The deputy observed drug paraphernalia in plain view inside the vehicle. During a search of the vehicle suspected heroin was located. Morrison County Sheriff Shawn Larsen states that the deputy utilized his drug interdiction training and in this particular case, approximately 9 grams of heroin was seized from the vehicle. Lebartta Geionety is being held in the Morrison County Jail pending formal drug possession charges.
--A St. Cloud man allegedly barricaded himself in his home late Friday morning. The St. Cloud Police Department says officers were sent to a home in the 700 block of 2nd Avenue Northeast in St. Cloud, shortly after 11:00am to find 48-year old James Blaisdell. Blaisdell had two felony warrants out for his arrest, one for drug charges and the other for assault charges. Authorities says Blaisdell barricaded himself in his bedroom claiming that he had a weapon. The St. Cloud Police Department Crisis Negotiation Team was called in and Blaisdell surrendered shortly before 1:30. He was arrested and taken to Stearns County Jail.
--A St. Cloud man is hurt after crashing his vehicle Saturday afternoon. The Minnesota State Patrol says just before 2:00pm, 64-year old Steven Skotterud was traveling eastbound on Highway 23 near Stearns County Road 123 in Munson Township when the crash happened. Skotterud was taken to St. Cloud Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
--Two people in their 20s suffered life-threatening injuries when the car they were in collided with a semitrailer on Highway 2. The crash, 4 miles east of Cass Lake, was reported at 1:42pm Saturday. 28-year old Kara Lee Smith of Duluth was driving a Lincoln Town car west on Highway 2 in the wrong lane of traffic/shoulder area near the intersection with Pike Bay Loop Northwest. The Minnesota State Patrol reported Smith then corrected the vehicle back onto the highway and collided head on with an eastbound semitrailer driven by 67-year old William Joseph Black of Wadena. Smith was reported to be in critical condition and was transported by ambulance to St. Mary's Hospital in Duluth. The passenger in the car, 29-year old Beau James Grotberg of Duluth, was also in critical condition and was transported via Sanford Med Air to Sanford Medical in Fargo, North Dakota. Black reportedly had a non-life-threatening injury and was evaluated on scene. Smith and Black were both wearing seat belts. It was undetermined if Grotberg was wearing one.
--Xcel Energy employees contained a small fire before it injured anyone Monday morning at the Sherco coal fired generating plant in Becker. Xcel Energy is still reckoning with an explosion at Sherco that seriously burned three employees last summer. OSHA issued the company three citations in December along with a $21,000 penalty. The violations were contested on January 18th. Monday's fire took place in one of the generating station's smaller units with a capacity of 682 megawatts. Workers quickly extinguished the fire which caused minimal damage and there were no injuries. Xcel will investigate the cause of the fire. Minnesota OSHA will likely not follow up on Monday's fire.
--Minnesota's farmland prices dropped last year as the agriculture industry continues facing low crop prices and reduced income. Sales data for fiscal 2017 reported to the Minnesota Department of Revenue and analyzed by the University of Minnesota indicate that the median price per acre was about $4,600, a 5.4 percent decrease from 2016. Former Minnesota Corn Growers Association President Bruce Peterson says land values are important to a farmer's equity. Minnesota Soybean Growers Association President Mike Petefish says falling land prices may make it easier for farmers looking to rent or purchase land. The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis says the state's agricultural sector, which has been struggling for four years, is weak but stable.
--The Morrison County Historical Society, Charles A. Lindbergh Historic Site and Museum and The Minnesota Military Museum are opening an exhibit April 14th through December on the Vietnam War. Mary Warner asked on Little Falls Radio Monday if possible to still get some artifacts, possibly POW bracelets and any other items related to Central Minnesotans who were in Vietnam during the conflict from the late 1950's through the mid 1970's. If you have items to donate to the exhibit call Mary at 632-4007. The exhibit at the three locations will have kickoffs on April 14th and be open to the public at the three sites through the rest of the year.
BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT
--Matthew and Kayla Young of Pierz, a boy born on March 10th.
DEATH NOTICES
--Maynard “Joe” L. Leyk, age 84 of Little Falls.
WEATHER
TODAY= sunny skies, not as windy, high 36.
TONIGHT= clear skies, low 18.
WEDNESDAY= sunny skies, high near 40, low around 18.
THURSDAY= sunny, a bit cooler, high 34, low around 5 above.
SPORTS
PARA= Kimball native Mike Schultz won the gold medal at the Para Olympics in South Korea Sunday night in snowboarding.
WRE=The St. Cloud State University wrestling team (19-0, 8-0 NSIC) completed a perfect season by capturing its third NCAA Division II national championship on Saturday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. This marks SCSU's third national title in the past four seasons as the Huskies also won NCAA DII titles in 2015 and 2016.
NFL= Denver Broncos sign Case Keenum off Free Agency Monday.
COL BB= Gopher Women in NCAA Tournament vs. Green Bay Friday.