NEWS
--Governor Tim Walz announced a $12 billion budget proposal Tuesday focused on kids and families. Calling it the One Minnesota Budget and claiming it will make our state the best in the country for kids, the proposal would include $539 million in tax credits in 2024 and 2025 and $547 million in tax credits for 2026-2027 to expand the Child and Dependent Care Credit. It would allow families making under $200,000 with one child to receive up to $4,000 yearly for childcare costs. Families with two children could receive up to $8,000, and families with three could receive up to $10,500. The proposal would expand public pre-K seats for nearly 25,000 eligible children, invest in early learning scholarships, and improve childcare access for Minnesota families by increasing childcare assistance payment rates. It would also increase staff compensation at childcare facilities and support those starting childcare businesses. They also introduced a Child Tax Credit, providing lower income families $1,000 per child with a maximum credit of $3,000, which they claim would cut child poverty by 25% and $2.3 billion in tax cuts between 2024 and 2027. It expands outreach for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and funnels money toward the Minnesota Food Shelf Program and emergency food and distribution facilities. On the education front, the proposal gives a 4% bump to the general education funding formula next year and a 2% increase the year after that for a total of over $2 billion in education spending. The budget proposal reduces the special education cross subsidy for school districts by 50% and includes $813 million for universal school meals. Funding for hiring school counselors, school nurses, school psychologists, school social workers, and chemical health counselors and a workforce initiative to address staffing shortages in these areas with additional resources to increase access to infant and early childhood mental health consultation for school-based early childhood programs, School-Linked Behavioral Health Grants and Intermediate School-Linked Behavioral Health Grants rings up at $158 million.
--The Minnesota State Patrol says they, along with their law enforcement partners across the state, arrested more than 2,200 impaired drivers during a stepped up DWI enforcement campaign over the holiday season. From November 23rd through New Year’s Eve, there were 2,228 DWI arrests, which is a couple dozen more than the 2021 campaign. The Minnesota Department of Public Safety Office of Traffic Safety coordinates the campaign with funding provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The campaign includes extra patrols and advertising supporting the Toward Zero Deaths traffic safety program. In greater Minnesota, agencies with the most DWI arrests during the campaign included the Wright County Sheriff’s Office with 38 and the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office with 35. The report shows the highest alcohol level of a DWI arrest was .41 in the Metro Area nearly 5 times the legal limit in Minnesota. Also the youngest arrest for DWI was a 15 year old.
--Three people were hurt in a two-vehicle crash in Wright County. The Minnesota State Patrol says it happened at about 8:45pm Monday on Highway 55 near Maple Lake. A van was going east when it lost control, spun around, and collided with a vehicle that was going west. The van driver, 34-year-old Kristina Forsberg, had non-life-threatening injuries. Her passenger, 10-year-old Kayden Kafka of Maple Lake, was taken to St. Cloud Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The driver of the second vehicle, 64-year-old Brian Williams of Annandale was taken to Buffalo Hospital for treatment of injuries.
--A Wisconsin man was airlifted to the hospital after crashing his snowmobile during a race event over the weekend. The Cass County Sheriff's Office responded to the Nisswa 100 Snowmobile Race Event near Lake Shore just before 2pm Saturday. Authorities arrived to the course to find the 26-year-old Mayville, Wisconsin man had crashed on the race course. First responders began medical aid on the man, before he was flown by helicopter to a Twin Cities hospital with serious injuries. The incident remains under investigation.
--A garage and everything inside it were destroyed in a fire. The Douglas County Sheriff's Office says they got a call at about 1:30pm Monday about the fire near Miltona. The owner, Brandon Hogrefe, called in the fire. By the time fire crews arrived the garage was fully engulfed. No one was inside the building. The garage and all the equipment inside were all a total loss. A vehicle parked outside the garage also had fire damage. The cause of the fire is not known and is under investigation, but it does not appear to be suspicious.
--The Wright County Sheriff’s Office is investigating after a 44-year-old man was shot in Monticello Monday night. According to police, at about 8:30, they were called to the Montissippi Park compost site for a shooting. They found Jade Nickels of Monticello on the road near the facility’s entrance. He had been shot multiple times and had also been assaulted. Nickels was rushed to North Memorial Hospital in the Twin Cities and is said to be in serious but stable condition. Witnesses at the scene say the suspect, 18 year old Dillon Tilbury of Moorhead fled on foot, but deputies eventually tracked him down at a house in Monticello, where he was arrested. Tilbury is being held in the Wright County Jail where he is faces 1st degree assault with a gun along with other possible charges. The incident is still under investigation.
DEATH NOTICES
--Arnold Scholz, age 97 of St. Francis.
--Jane Marie Storkamp, age 72 of Pierz.
--Linus T. Lehner, age 97 of Albany formerly of Upsala.
WEATHER
TODAY= mostly cloudy, steady temps in the mid 20s.
TONIGHT= snow showers after midnight, low around 21.
THURSDAY= snow during the day, 1 inch, high 25, low near 13.
FRIDAY= partly sunny, cooler, high near 20, low near 10.
SPORTS
DANCE= Several Minnesota collegiate dance teams came home from the national championships with some new hardware. The 2023 College Cheerleading and Dance Team National Championships wrapped up in Orlando Sunday. The St. Cloud State University Dance Team took second place in the Open Pom competition and third place in the Open Jazz competition. The College of St. Benedict Dance Team also advanced to the finals in Open Pom and Open Jazz but finished in seventh place in both. The top spot in Open Pom still went to a Minnesota team with MSU-Mankato taking the gold and UMD earning the bronze. In Open Jazz, UMD took home first, while MSU finished in second. Meanwhile, the University of Minnesota claimed the top spot in both the DIA Pom and DIA Jazz competitions, beating out schools including Ohio State, Florida State, and Tennessee. Great job on the college side and also that shows great things for our local high school dance teams out of Little Falls, Pierz, Holdingford and Foley. Good luck to all of those girls.
TWINS= Catch Twins Hot Stove tonight 6pm on Q92 WYRQ.