NEWS --Two St. Cloud men have been arrested on suspicion of second degree murder in connection with a February 16th shooting in Sauk Rapids. The Sauk Rapids Police Department announced Monday that officers had arrested 20-year old Willie Demont White and 37-year old Vance Diwayne Laster. The two men who were shot early February 16th were 29-year old Nathan Phrachomphonh and 25-year old Joe Ditthideth. While Phrachomphonh is expected to fully recover, Ditthideth died from gunshot wounds in the incident at 3466 Old Creek Place. Although the shooting took place at that address, Ditthideth and Phrachomphonh were found in a vehicle stopped at Benton County Road 29 near the U.S. Highway 10 overpass, being driven to the hospital by a third party. The arrests come after a month long investigation by Sauk Rapids police, Central Minnesota Violent Offenders Task Force and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
--In the last two weeks Little Falls Police Department officers have responded to numerous incidents of scams. Scams have varied from social security related scams, to fake online purchases. There have also been a high number of theft reports recently too. Authorities continue to urge the public to report any and all suspicious activity.
--The 19th Annual Kinship Soup and Chili Cookoff for kids will be tonight from 5-7pm at the Falls Ballroom. All proceeds of the event tonight go to the mentoring programs for Kinship of Morrison County. For more information contact Aaron Olson at 632-8806.
--Rural Minnesota CEP and Little Falls Community High School is hosting a career and job fair Wednesday from 1:00-4:00pm at the high school gym. There will be over 40 businesses with students and others to ask questions about employment opportunities and what each of the businesses or organizations entail. For more information on the free event contact Sharon Dobis at 320-232-2000.
--Police suspect a man raped a woman in her own home in St. Cloud, early Friday morning. 26-year old Nicholas Robert Behling of St. Cloud faces one charge of first degree criminal sexual conduct. Officers showed up at the residence about 6:30am Friday. Behling denied knowing the victim's name and initially denied being in the shower with her. Behling stated no sexual contact occurred. He then admitted to being in the shower and that 'it' was 'consensual. The victim submitted to a sexual assault exam and a nurse noted she sustained some injuries. Behling made his first appearance in Stearns County Court on Monday.
--The Department of Natural Resources is reminding anglers and others that thin ice has become a major issue in the past weeks with more daylight, above freezing temperatures during the day and quicker snow melt. Over the weekend the DNR reported three water rescues. All three rescues were pets that had gone out too far and fell through the ice. Many bodies of water have signs posted including at the dam in Little Falls of “Danger Thin Ice”. Use caution if heading onto frozen waters in the days ahead.
--The Book of Golden Deeds Award will be presented on May 3rd. These are the final days to nominate someone for the award which started back 1972. To nominate someone, write a short narrative and send it to Mark Gerbi, PO Box 178, Little Falls or you can call Mark for more information at 632-5425. March 31st is the deadline for nominations to be received for the award.
--The Benton County Sheriff’s Office completed the first round of predatory offender compliance checks for 2018. Over a 10 day period in March, Benton County deputies conducted compliance checks on the 19 registered predatory offenders living in the unincorporated areas of Benton County. Eighteen of these predatory offenders were found to be compliant with their reporting requirements. An investigation found one predatory offender was living at an address that was different than the offender’s registered address. This predatory offender was located and brought into compliance. That investigation was forwarded to the Benton County Attorney’s Office for consideration of criminal charges.
--Kimberly Stommes of Sartell was crowned Mrs. Minnesota United States on March 17th at the state pageant in Brainerd. She works at her own law office as an attorney specializing in areas of criminal and family law and child protection. Stommes is one of many women working to reconstruct the image of pageants and break down misconceptions about the women and girls who are in them. In 2005 Stommes won Minnesota Teen, and after taking some time off, she won the title of Mrs. International in 2014. This is the first time she’s competed in the United States competition. Now that she has won, she’ll represent Minnesota at the national level in June in Orlando.
--Motorists on Highway 10 in west Elk River will encounter a new traffic configuration after crews close the existing westbound Highway 10 lanes near Lake Orono and switch both directions of Highway 10 to narrow, temporary lanes on the eastbound side of the road, beginning April 2nd. The traffic changes mark the start of the second and final year of construction on the Highway 10 Lake Orono bridge replacement project.
--Four Future Problem Solving Program teams from Brainerd and three from St. Cloud schools competed at the state competition with success. The State regional Competition was held at Apollo High School on Saturday, March 24th and featured the top Future Problem Solving teams in grades 4 thru 12. Brainerd Schools were represented by three teams from Forestview Middle School and a team from Nisswa Elementary. The topic for the event was Cloud Storage. These teams along with the three teams from St. Cloud earned an invitation to Internationals. The International Future Problem Solving Competition will be held at University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse, June 6th-10th. It is estimated that Future Problem Solving teams from over 20 countries globally will be participating in the International Conference. The teams will deal with the Global Issues Problem Solving and Performance of Action Plan Competitions. The topic for the International Conference is Criminal Justice.
BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENTS --Andrew Boone and Brittney Schmidt-Weaver of Little Falls, boy on March 23rd --Jon and Sarah Radermacher of Little Falls, girl on March 25th
WEATHER TODAY= becoming partly cloudy, high 40, clear night, low 20. WEDNESDAY= chance of rain/snow midday, high 43, low 26. THURSDAY= mostly sunny, windy, high 38, colder night, low 10.
SPORTS TWINS= Twins/Nationals spring play game today at 3pm, then Hot Stove Wednesday and regular season opener Thurs all on Q92.