NEWS --Around 1:20pm Monday the Morrison County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a motorcycle accident with injuries on Quest Road near 243rd Street by Harding. The driver of the motorcycle, 30-year old Jake Peck of St. Cloud was traveling north on Quest Road when a deer ran on the roadway. Peck swerved to miss the deer, lost control, went into the ditch and was thrown from the motorcycle. Peck was taken to St. Gabriel’s Hospital with unknown injuries.
--Fire departments were called out over the weekend as there was a house fire on Sunday around noon in St. Cloud on 4th Street. The fire was in the back of the home. Four people inside were not injured and the fire did around $45,000 in damage. The cause was not determined. Around 5:00pm Sunday Little Falls firefighters and law enforcement battled a car fire at the Holiday Gas Station on the east side of Little Falls. Little Falls firefighters also battled a small grass fire on Hilton Road Monday. No injuries in any of these incidents.
--An explosion was reported in northeast Brainerd Sunday around 3:00pm that led to a garage fire. Authorities say the explosion caused two people to run from the area and one was later apprehended. The garage fire was extinguished with a large hole in the roof. Authorities would not elaborate any further on the cause or damage estimate of the fire. No other structures were damaged. There were no injuries. The Brainerd Police Department is asking for the public's help identifying the second male seen running from the fire. The suspect was described as having sandy brown hair, no shirt and a large embellished tattoo of a cross on his back. The police are encouraging those with any information to call 218-829-2805. The State Fire Marshal and the Brainerd Fire Department are investigating.
--Stearns County responded to a watercraft accident that injured a 12-year-old girl on Friday around 5:40pm on Pleasant Lake in Rockville. A boat was towing an inner tube on the lake when the tube hit a wake and flipped throwing 12-year-old Macy Castilleja of St. Cloud. The driver of the boat, 71-year-old Michael Engelhart of St. Cloud was able to bring Macy to shore where she complained of leg and back pain and was taken to the hospital for treatment.
--An Albany man was injured Friday night in a rollover accident in Stearns County. 37-year-old Eugene Sunder was west of Lake Sylvia Park when he clipped the edge of the roadway, over corrected and rolled the vehicle. Sunder was treated by emergency personnel for an arm and shoulder injury but refused hospitalization.
--The Little Falls School Board meets tonight at 5:00pm at the Morrison County Government Center. The board is expected to award the sale to companies who bid on the projects approved in part one of the recent two question referendum that passed back in May.
--The owner of Avon Marine was in court Thursday to face charges that accuse him of swindling his customers. 34 year old Randy Alan Pierson is charged in Stearns County District Court with three counts of theft by swindle and one count of felony theft. His attorney has filed a motion seeking to dismiss the claims arguing that the conduct alleged in the court complaints happened so long ago that they are outside the statute of limitations and therefore can't be prosecuted. A hearing has been scheduled for August on that motion.
--The Swanville Mid-Summer Carnival is this weekend Friday through Sunday. Music including the Fabulous Armadillos Friday night, food and carnival rides all weekend and a parade Sunday at 11:30am.
--Two Milaca residents were killed Saturday afternoon when the motorcycle they were driving crossed the center line and collided head-on with an oncoming vehicle in Chisago County. 35-year old Collin M. Orth and 34-year old Sara B. Orth both of Milaca, died in the crash. The collision shortly before 3:00pm on Minnesota Highway 95 near North Branch. Collin Orth was driving a motorcycle with Sara Orth as a passenger when he crossed the center line. The motorcycle was hit head on by a westbound minivan. A third vehicle, a trailblazer heading west then hit Collin Orth. The driver of the minivan 44-year old Mark A. Lindstrom of Pulaski, Wisconsin and his three passengers 44-year old Katherine W. Lindstrom, 10-year old Elizabeth S. Lindstrom, and 15-year old Christopher J. Lindstrom all suffered non-life-threatening injuries. The driver of the trailblazer and his passenger were not injured.
--The Morrison County Sheriff’s Office is participating in the CVS Medication Disposal for Safer Communities Program. They appreciate the opportunity to partner with CVS as they strive to support the removal of expired and unwanted prescription medications from the community. As part of the program, they have placed a medication collection unit in the Morrison County Sheriff’s Office Lobby, located at 213 1st Avenue SE in Little Falls. The hours they will be collecting medications are weekdays 8:00am-4:00pm. This collection unit is for medications only, no needles or liquids will be accepted. The Sheriff’s Office encourages residents to utilize the medication collection unit in an effort to fight against prescription drug abuse in our community. If you have any questions please call the Sheriff’s Office at 632-9233.
--A Foley-area produce farmer has pleaded guilty to receiving kickbacks from foreign workers employed at his farm. John Svihel has acknowledged that he had received a total of $198,697 in illegal payments from about a dozen employees working under H-2A visas between 2011 and 2013. According to the complaint, Svihel had secured workers from the Dominican Republic to help during the farm's growing season as early as 2010. According to court documents, the investigation had found that the three were illegally receiving kickbacks for every hour each Dominican employee worked at Svihel Farm and for the cost of their flights to and from the U.S.
--A Paynesville man was burned Friday night when he was attempting to put some brush on an existing fire with a bobcat when the vehicle tipped backwards causing the 42-year-old man to end up in the burning pile. The man sustained severe burns to his feet, legs, arms, hands and face. He is being treated at a Twin Cities burn center.
DEATH NOTICES --James Olson age 69 of Staples. --Randal “Randy” Johnson, age 59 of Little Falls and also of Foley.
WEATHER TODAY= partly cloudy, high 82, storms after midnight, low 61. THURSDAY= showers and storms likely, some heavy, high 77, low 59. FRIDAY= storms early, then partly cloudy, breezy, high 72, low 54.
SPORTS TWINS= Twins go into early morning Wednesday after nearly a three hour rain delay, but beat Oakland 11-4 on home runs from Kepler, Sano and Vargas. Twins and Oakland 11:30am on Q92. LYNX= Maya Moore 33 points as Lynx beat Chicago 87-82 last night.