Friday, June 6, 2025
Congratulations to the Pierz Pioneers baseball team winning last night in the second game against Albany to advance to the Class AA State Baseball Tournament next Wednesday in St. Cloud.
More information was released on the fire that broke out at a multi-use building in downtown Brainerd Wednesday. Firefighters responded to the 600 block of Front Street around 11am on a report of smoke in the apartments above the Front Street Cafe. Upon arrival, crews discovered smoke damage in the second floor units, as well as smoke gathering in the attic. Crews fought the blaze for nearly three hours with the help of multiple fire departments in the area. Brainerd Fire Chief Tim Holmes says that they have not yet determined the cause of the fire. According to Holmes, the Red Cross is working with displaced residents to ensure they have a place to stay while the cause of the fire is being determined and the building is repaired. The City of Brainerd reopened roads in the area but there is barricaded spots in front and on the side of the building please do not go into the area that is barricaded off at this time as repairs and the investigation continues.
Beginning July 1, you'll need a valid permit to operate boats and personal watercraft. The July implementation of the law passed in 2023 requires people born after June 30, 2004, and are aged 12 and older; accompanying operators for people without a valid operator's permit; and people who want to rent/operate motorized watercraft on Minnesota's waterways to obtain the permit before getting behind the helm. “Minnesota has a long and proud tradition of safe outdoor recreation, and a key part of that is safety education,” said Capt. Adam Block, DNR boating law administrator, in a statement. “While this new law won’t initially apply to many boat operators, we still encourage all boaters — regardless of their age — to obtain their watercraft operator’s permit.” The DNR said by 2028, the new rule will extend to all watercraft operators born after July 1, 1987. To obtain your permit, the DNR requires prospective applicants to study Minnesota's boater safety course and pass the final exam before paying a one-time fee of $34.95. The agency said the fee ensures unlimited retries of the final exam. For more information about boater operation and safety this summer visit the DNR website at https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/licenses/watercraft/index.html.
A St. Cloud woman was hurt in a crash involving a semi truck Wednesday afternoon. The incident happened at around 4:50pm on Highway 23 in Rockville. The Minnesota State Patrol says a car driven by 19-year-old Olivia Williams was heading north on Highway 23 while a semi driven by 36-year-old Mitchell Gobely of Hastings was westbound on County Road 47. The vehicles collided in the intersection. The patrol says Williams was taken to St. Cloud Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Gobely was not hurt.
The nearly seven-year-long legal battle over an alleged murder suspect’s trial in Stearns County District Court will drag on after his latest motion was denied. Daniel Kenning is charged with first and second-degree murder after he walked into the St. Cloud Police Department in September of 2018 and told officers he strangled 45-year-old Jennifer Moy of Blaine, and her body was still in his basement. When investigators asked why he did that, according to a press release, Kenning told them he believed he could resurrect her. On several occasions, Kenning was found incompetent to stand trial, and criminal proceedings were suspended. In March, the trial was set to move forward but a hangup over evidence that was supposedly not made available to attorneys, it was delayed. Kenning, whose lawyers are from the public defender’s office, previously filed a motion to change counsel, which was granted. He filed another motion last week, before asking to represent himself, but withdrew that. The judge denied his motion and said he was free to fire his lawyers, but would then be responsible for hiring his own attorneys at his expense.
There's another Take a Kid Fishing Weekend ahead. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources allows adults to fish without a license this Friday through Sunday as long as they take a child 15-years-old or younger along with them. Kids who are 15 or younger never need a license, but must observe all fishing seasons and other regulations. The DNR says Take a Kid Fishing Weekend is one of many outdoor activities people can do during June, which is Great Outdoors Month in Minnesota. To learn more or for more resources, find the Take a Kid Fishing webpage https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fishing/take-kid-fishing.html.
June is Dairy Month, during the month you have been hearing commercials from the Morrison County Dairy Princesses on Little Falls Radio from local businesses. The first thing of the month is to wait for the first baby born in the county and that was on June 3rd at 11:21pm when Destinee Mae Haye was born to Tiabeth Hayes and Charles Stribling of Little Falls. The Morrison County dairy princesses made their way to Little Falls to greet and gift her with a variety of cow-themed items, such as a blanket, a sippy cup, onesies, a stuffed animal and more items with dairy themes. Destanee Mae also has two older brothers, Kingston and Zayden Stribling. Grandparents are Tonya and Donald Hayes of Little Falls and Delores Foxx of Minneapolis. The Morrison County Dairy Princesses this year are Daizy Dickmann, Josi Smude, Kayla Virnig, Breanna Houdek and Isabelle Dulude. Virnig was also handing out ice cream yesterday with a number of Dairy Farm women supporting dairy and beef farmers at Coborn's Marketplace in Little Falls.
Weekend events include a Car Wash Brat and Bake Sale at First United Church 11am-2pm on Saturday for a Free Will Offering. Holy Family Heritage Festival in Belle Prairie is Sunday Mass at 10:30am outside, music, food, kids games, full country store, silent auction and more with raffle at 4pm. Get details on events at fallsradio.com on the community calendar website.
Death Notices- Leon Schmidtbauer, age 87 of Pierz. Gavin L. Majerus, age 17 of Pierz. Kenneth W. Santala, age 71 of Little Falls.
Weather- rain likely Friday through early afternoon then clearing, high 68, dry night tonight with partly cloudy skies, low 46. Saturday possible showers during the day, better chances after 4pm into the night, warmer highs around 75, low around 50. Rain likely in the morning Sunday then sunny, turning breezy, high 73 with rain starting up again late in the day some heavier rain Sunday night into Monday, low near 48, breezy Monday with high around 66 rain ending later in the day. Sunny and dry Tuesday high 74, low around 53. Sunny and warmer Wednesday with high of 83 and low around 58.
Sports- Pierz lost to Albany 6-2 in the first game yesterday in baseball only to shut out the Huskies 3-0 in the second game to win the Section 6AA Championship. Pierz will advance to the Class AA State Baseball Tournament Wednesday at Dick Putz Field in St. Cloud. Who and when they play will be announced on Saturday and listen for information on where you can hear the games next week on Little Falls Radio and streamed online at fallsradio.com. Other baseball teams advancing are Parkers Prairie that beat BBE for the Section 6A championship and Hutchinson that won a pair of games over Fergus Falls yesterday to win the Section 8AAA Championship and move on to state next week. A's beat up the Twins Thursday 14-3 to take one of the four games this week. Twins open a series at home Friday night against Toronto at Target Field. Pregame Friday at 6:30pm, Saturday at 12:30pm then Sunday Inside Twins begins at noon on Sunday on Q92 WYRQ. Indiana wins in the final seconds of Game 1 of the NBA Finals 111-110 last night over Oklahoma City, game 2 is Sunday. The Lynx are at Dallas on Sunday in the WNBA, Lynx are 8-0 on season. State Softball Tournament have their Championships on Friday at the University of Minnesota softball field, teams like St. Cloud Cathedral and Rocori in those games today. Victory League Game of the Week on Sunday is the Pierz Lakers at Upsala at 1:30pm on AM960 KLTF and fallsradio.com.