NEWS
--On Tuesday morning the Morrison County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a business burglary at the Pierz Co-op, located on Meadowlark Road, in the city of Genola. According to the Sheriff’s Office, the white male suspect, captured on surveillance, broke into the business around 6:00am on Sunday September 1st. The suspect forced entry into the business through a side entrance. There are two videos of the suspect on the Morrison County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page. If you have information regarding this burglary, you are asked to call the Morrison County Sheriff’s Office at 632-9233.
--The Little Falls Fire Department responded to three separate incidents on Monday night. The first around 8:30pm was at the Sandra Tautges residence at 2938 Meyer Road in Fort Ripley Township of Crow Wing County. It appeared a lightning strike hit close to the home causing smoke in the house. Firefighters cleared after 45 minutes of investigating and noticing no active fire. A similar incident occurred around 9:25pm at the Josh and Katie Collins residence at 3159 County Road 2 in Crow Wing County. After investigation into this call, firefighters believe a lightning strike close to the house followed a water pipe into the home causing smoke in the basement. There was no active fire here either so firefighters cleared after about 30 minutes. The final incident around 11:20pm Monday night was an unauthorized burn at the Bruce Holman residence at 14412 133rd Street in Little Falls Township. Little Falls firefighters extinguished the non permitted fire. There were no injuries in any of these three incidents.
--At 8:09pm Monday the Morrison County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a motorcycle accident with injuries on Dove Road just south of Flensburg, in Culdrum Township. The driver of the motorcycle, 53-year old James Gorka of Flensburg was traveling north on Dove Road when he struck a deer with his motorcycle. Gorka was taken by ambulance to St. Gabriel’s Hospital with unknown injuries.
--Another round of heavy rains and severe storms moved through the state Monday night. The National Weather Service investigated Tuesday about a possible tornado near the Stearns and Meeker county lines. Heavy rains, gusty winds dropped trees, barns, outbuildings and other debris in west-central Minnesota including the roof off the Silver Bullet bar in Genola. Rain totals varied from nearly 1 inch in some spots to over 2 and a half in others. Monday night's storms knocked out power for thousands of Minnesotans. Xcel Energy says they still had over 5,000 customers without power as of 6:00am Tuesday where at one time over 18,000 customers in portions of Morrison, Todd and Stearns County were without power and even more outages were reported through portions of Mille Lacs County.
--The DFL-led Minnesota House Capital Investment Committee will visit several sites in the North/NW Twin cities suburbs and Northwest Minnesota from September 4th-6th. Committee members will see infrastructure needs firsthand and receive presentations on various projects for possible inclusion in the 2020 Bonding Bill. Members will visit the Minnesota Military Museum/Fishing Museum for a tour from 12:00-12:45pm on Friday. House Capital Investment Committee members expected include Chair, Rep Mary Murphy (DFL Hermantown) and Vice-Chair, Rep Fue Lee (DFL–Minneapolis).
--Morrison County Farmers Union will hold its annual convention and banquet at 12:30pm on September 18th at Royal Cafe in Little Falls. For more information call 573-2328 or 632-9432.
--The Morrison County Sheriff’s Office wants to remind everyone that this week kids have headed back to school. They want everyone to arrive to their destinations safely, so please pay attention to the school buses as they will be making periodic stops. Be aware of the flashing lights on the school bus which indicates the bus is preparing to stop. Motorists need to slow down and keep their vehicles a minimum distance of 20’ away from the bus when the flashing red lights are displayed and the extended signal arm is out. Please do your part to keep our children safe. STAY ALERT, SLOW DOWN AND DO NOT BE IN A RUSH. Let’s all do our part to make sure our kids arrive safely. This comes as the Minnesota Department of Public Safety announced a Brake4Buses campaign after 366 school bus accidents occurred during the last school year in Minnesota.
--Morrison County Public works will be preparing culvert patches on CSAH 34, and CSAH 51 for paving. Flaggers will be present as work is being done. Maintenance crews will be doing bridge repairs on CSAH 43, CSAH 1, and CSAH 26. This work will require one lane closed and flaggers will control traffic. Public works will be patching potholes around the county as weather permits. Public Works Contractor will be spray patching CSAH 34. Please use caution around work crews as loose material may be present in driving lanes.
--Former Lieutenant Governor Michelle Fischbach announced she is running for Congress in Minnesota’s 7th Congressional District. Fischbach will challenge Democrat Congressman Collin Peterson, who has been in Washington for nearly 30 years. Before serving as Lieutenant Governor, Fischbach served in the Minnesota Senate. After the 2010 election, the Minnesota Senate selected Fischbach to serve as President of the Senate, making her the first woman in Minnesota history to serve in that role. When Tina Smith was appointed to replace Senator Al Franken in Washington, by state statute the President of the Senate becomes Lieutenant Governor so Fischbach finished Smith's tenure in that office also.
--Three vehicles were involved in an accident Saturday around 12:15pm on Highway 169 when two northbound vehicles were unable to avoid a slowing down turning vehicle near the south harbor of Mille Lacs Lake. Vehicle one with Evan and Perrin Larson of Lindstrom both had non-life threatening injuries. The second vehicle had 3 children and 2 adults, none injured and also the third driver involved was treated at the scene but not hospitalized.
BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT
--Brittany Barchus of Little Falls had a baby girl born August 31st.
DEATH NOTICES
--Patricia A. Young, age 84 of Little Falls.
--Florence M. Harakel, age 97 of Little Falls.
WEATHER
TODAY= sunny skies, high 70, storms after midnight, low 54.
THURSDAY= AM storms, then sunny skies, high 74, low near 51.
FRIDAY= sunny skies, high 73, clear night, low around 48.
SPORTS
TWINS= Twins win 6-5 last night over Boston. Twins (86-52) continue series in Boston tonight 5:30pm on Q92.
NFL= Green Bay and Chicago kickoff NFL season, hear the coverage Thursday night at 6:30pm on AM960 KLTF.