NEWS
--A statement from Little Falls Superintendent Steve Jones said a false rumor is circulating about an attempted abduction Tuesday of a student from Lincoln Elementary School. He said, "It just came to our attention that a story is circulating on social media about an attempted abduction of a student today from the Lincoln Elementary School playground. This is absolutely and completely false...it never happened. Please understand that we take the safety and welfare of our students seriously...and we were dismayed to hear of this circulating around the community. Again, there was no attempted abduction of a student from Lincoln Elementary School playground."
--Pierz Schools Superintendent George Weber announced Tuesday morning on KLTF after meeting with teachers that morning the school district has decided to go to Hybrid learning for grades 7-12 though a date timeline to begin this is being worked out in the next day or two. Weber said that the district like others have had to deal with COVID-19 cases in the school district in the past two weeks and continue to work with Morrison County Public Health and State Department of Health. In the next days detailed information on Hybrid learning for grades 7-12 (this will not effect pre-K through 6th grade at this time) will be released on two goes on which days of the week for Pierz Healy High School, lunches, tranportation, practices for athletics will all be included on the plan. Again for now school in class learning for this week and Weber said likely through October 8th, with the 9th as scheduled day off for students to work on getting the Hybrid in place in the near future.
--Crow Wing County released the name of the 57-year-old from Crosby that was killed in a motor vehicle accident on Sunday. Stacy Elmer Walls of Crosby was identified as the driver of the vehicle that died from multiple traumatic injuries from the accident.
--The Morrison County website is sending out local information on the numbers related to COVID-19 via local zip codes in the county. As of Tuesday morning the website reported 87 active cases of COVID-19 in Morrison County in the past 14 days with 43 of those in the Little Falls Zip Code. Pierz reported 14 cases, Randall and Motley were at 9 cases with other county zip codes showing less than 5 cases each. 18 cases from total numbers for Morrison County residents that required hospitalization. The average age of cases is around 42 years of age. The county shows about the same in the state where an uptick in numbers between the ages of 18-34 is around 31% of total cases.
--According to the latest report from the Minnesota Department of Health there were two new cases of COVID-19 in Morrison County residents in yesterday's report. The state shows a cumulative total of 270 cases in Morrison County. Statewide there were 817 cases yesterday with 5 new deaths linked to the virus.
--The Morrison County Public Works Maintenance Report for this week announced that maintenance employees will be working on the graveling of County Road 279 northeast of Little Falls. Installing a Centerline culvert on County Road 243 east of Morrill. Crews will continue to mow roadside ditches. Please use caution around work crews and flashing lights.
--President Donald J. Trump will be back in Minnesota tonight, he is scheduled to land in Minneapolis this afternoon, scheduled to speak on behalf of U.S. Senate Candidate Republican Jason Lewis, then he will hold a rally tonight at 8pm in Duluth which will be open to the public following Minnesota guidelines. Gates open at 5pm.
--Numerous law enforcement officers from multiple St. Cloud area departments blocked off an area near Division Street and 23rd Ave. in St. Cloud Tuesday night following an officer-involved shooting. St. Cloud Police say they were assisting the St. Paul Police Department and the ATF in locating a man wanted for a shooting and a carjacking in St. Paul Monday night. During that incident, the man allegedly fired at a St. Paul police officer. The man also had an active warrant for aggravated robbery charges. Just before 6pm Tuesday, the suspect was located in the parking lot of the Speedway convenience store, located at 2200 W. Division St. Officers blocked the suspect's vehicle in with an armored vehicle and attempted to take him into custody, at which time police say the man got out of the vehicle with a gun. Multiple officers from each of the agencies present then fired their weapons at the suspect thus killing him. A woman in the vehicle that the suspect came out from sustained non life threatening injuries. No other injuries reported, the BCA is investigating, it was also reported by police in the report that the suspect was not black.
--Fire crews responded about 8:20am Tuesday to a fire at 1020 Lincoln Ave. South in Sauk Rapids. About 8:45am a ladder struck was spraying water on a building at Cutting Edge Grinding, which grinds recycled plastics. Black smoke continued to billow out of the building. Lincoln Avenue remains closed in that area as crews battled the fire Smoke continued to pour out of the structure for several hours and fire crews stated they would let the building (already a total loss) just burn out completely. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
NATIONAL NEWS
--The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released guidelines on Thanksgiving stating that Thanksgiving dinners with the lowest risk include having a small meal with people who live in the same household, and/or delivering meals or homemade treats to those who are at higher risk of severe infection through a no-contact delivery system. Other low-risk holiday activities include online shopping instead of in person and having a virtual dinner with family and friends. Moderate risk is larger family gatherings while larger gatherings were higher risk and should be avoided if possible this year also races, parades and community meals should be avoided.
BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT
--Justin and Tracie Froelich, boy on September 28th
DEATH NOTICE
--Mary Ann Noble, age 82 of Long Prairie.
WEATHER
TODAY= partly sunny, afternoon showers, windy, high 57.
TONIGHT= shower early, then partial clearing, low 42.
THURSDAY= cloudy and breezy, cool, high 47, low 28 with frost.
FRIDAY= frosty start, then cloudy, not as windy, high 46, low 29.
SPORTS
TWINS= Houston scored 3 unearned runs in the top of the 9th inning to beat the Twins yesterday 4-1 in Game 1 of the Wild Card sereis. Twins and Houston play game 2 of the best of 3 series today, pregame at 11am, first pitch just after noon on Q92 WYRQ. If there is a game 3 that will be played on Thursday with game time to be determined after today's action in MLB playoffs.