Friday, September 26, 2025
The Morrison County Sheriff’s Office reports that on 9-24-2025 at approximately 3:40 pm, their office received a report of a male that had been run over by a vehicle at a residence off Cannon Road, approximately four miles east of Swanville, MN in Swanville Township. According to the Sheriff’s Office, 25 year-old Adam Throener of Swanville, MN was working on a vehicle and removed the drive shaft. Once doing so the vehicle started to move and Throener was run over by the vehicle causing severe head trauma. Throener was transported to St. Gabriel’s Hospital by Mayo Clinic Ambulance and later airlifted by North Air Care with unknown injuries. The Morrison County Sheriff’s Office was assisted by the Swanville First Response Team, North Air Care and Mayo Clinic Ambulance.
The Morrison County Sheriff’s Office reports that on 9-24-2025 at approximately 10:40 am, their office received a report of a man who had fallen from a roof at a residence located off 52nd Avenue, approximately one mile south of Upsala, MN in Elmdale Township. According to the Sheriff’s Office, 36-year-old Aaron Backes of Cold Spring, MN was working on the roof of a barn under construction when a purlin (roof support) gave way, causing him to fall approximately 15 feet onto a concrete surface. Backes was airlifted by North Air Care an transported to the St. Cloud Hospital. His condition is currently unknown
A couple from Pine River is charged with manslaughter in the death of their "high-needs" autistic daughter, who investigators say was left alone and unsupervised for up to 12 hours. Criminal complaints filed in Crow Wing County detail the allegations against 57-year-old Darcy Ronald Cross and his 49-year-old wife, Heather Lynn Cross, after their 10-year-old daughter Cecelia was discovered dead the afternoon of August 25th. Court documents show Cross Lake police and Crow Wing County sheriff's deputies were dispatched to the family's residence in Pine River just after 4:30pm that day on a report of a child who had been fatally crushed by her bed. They and arrived to find Heather Cross frantically attempting to perform CPR on her daughter, and according to court documents, had to pull Cross off in order to place paddles from a squad AED on Cecelia's chest. The officer attempting to restart the girl's heart noted that her legs were stiff with rigor mortis, indicating she had been dead for several hours, according to the complaint. Prosecutors say the investigators called to the scene found Cecelia's room smeared in urine and feces, and contained only a bed with a cover made of metal piping and netting. The bed was also covered in human waste. Darcy Cross reportedly told investigators the condition of the room they observed was normal. A Crow Wing County couple is charged with manslaughter in the death of their high-needs, autistic 10-year-old daughter. The complaint said when interviewed by law enforcement, Darcy and Heather Cross told officers that Cecelia and her older sister are both autistic. Darcy described Cecelia as an "escape artist," and explained that's why the couple obtained "safety beds" for both girls. The couple said that when the bed covers are zipped up, their daughters are completely confined and are unable to get out. The criminal complaint says Heather Cross told investigators that on the day of Cecelia's death, she gave her daughter a bottle of milk and her prescription medicine between 4 and 6 a.m., and went back to bed. The couple allegedly said they woke up about 9:30 a.m. and neither of them checked on Cecelia until 4:30 p.m., when they found her dead in her room. Authorities said if the defendants' version of events were true, it would mean they left an extremely high-needs child alone for 10 to 12 hours with no supervision or welfare checks. Investigators say Darcy Cross told them Cecelia was on her mattress with her head pinned between the wooden bed frame and the metal frame for the safety cover. The complaint says Heather Cross told detectives she had never seen the bed broken or displaced, but photos recovered from her phone sent to her husband on an earlier day showed the safety bed broken. Back on September 17th after an investigation due to "the cumulation of increasingly concerning evidence," law enforcement arrested Darcy and Heather Cross and placed their surviving daughter in protective custody.
The Little Falls Police Department in the past week responded to a number of suspicious activity calls, non injury accidents, speeding complaints, fights reported that had to be broken up, and 4-wheeler complaints through town. If you need to reach the police department on suspicious activity call 320-616-5570.
Former St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis was one of 155 people on board a Delta Air Lines flight that aborted its takeoff Wednesday morning due to an open window on the airplane. The flight, departing from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was bound for Las Vegas. It was a layover stop for Kleis, who is heading to Arizona to hike the Grand Canyon. “We really didn’t notice what was happening other than the fact that it was very abrupt. We were getting ready, and just as we were building up a lot of speed, getting ready to take off, all of a sudden, it was a jolt of braking. Hard braking. I thought that maybe there was another plane landing or there was a bird strike or something.” He says most people were pretty calm, including the flight crew. “As always, whenever something like that happens, I always look at the flight attendants, and they seemed very calm, sitting in their jump seats.” After the plane stopped, the pilot immediately addressed the passengers and explained that a window in the cockpit had popped open. Kleis called it very fortunate that it happened “before takeoff, rather than at 35,000 feet.” Kleis praised the crew for their calm demeanor and professionalism and was grateful for how quickly Delta moved. “The crew, the flight attendants, and the pilots were very helpful and already had us all rebooked. I got a text that gave me the new time the next flight was going to take off before I even got off the plane that I was on.”
A busy weekend of events DAV Clothing Drop Off final Friday of the season 9am-12pm Friday at 609 4th Avenue Northeast in Little Falls. First meeting of Gamblers Anonymous at 5pm Friday at the Carnegie Library in Little Falls. Wine and Chocolate Walk 1-4pm Saturday at Linden Hill Historic Estate, 45th Annual Northern Minnesota Draft Horse Field Day 10am Saturday at the Staricka residence near Swanville, Bethany Lutheran Church of Cushing as a chicken dinner, silent auction, raffle and more 5-8pm on Saturday night tickets at the church that night, plenty of kids items too. Community pot luck to remember Charlie Kirk will be held 2-5pm at Maple Island Park in Little Falls Saturday with 4pm candle lighting and prayer. Minnesota Deer Hunters Banquet will be Saturday night 5-9pm at the Falls Ballroom, tickets at the door of the event. Sunday Vikings Day brunch at Royalton Legion 8am-11am full breakfast fundraiser for Legion Ladies Auxiliary. Bethany Lutheran Church of Ramey has a quilt and turkey bingo at 1pm Sunday. St. Joseph's Church of Morrill has a breakfast on Sunday from 8-11:30am. More events can be found by going to the fallsradio.com and community calendar.
Weather: sunny skies, warm temps again Friday, high 78, clear Friday night low around 50. Cooler Saturday with partly sunny skies, high 72, clear Saturday night low 45. Sunday sunny and warmer, high 77, clear Sunday night low around 60. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, sunny and warm temps continue with highs around 80 and lows around 60. Chance to T-storms next Thursday bit cooler with high of 67.
Sports: The Twins wrap up their season at Philadelphia starting on Friday, with 5pm pregame, Saturday pregame at 4:30pm and Sunday Inside Twins at 1pm with all games starting at 2pm Sunday to finish the regular season for Major League Baseball. Minnesota Lynx at Phoenix Friday night for game 3 of WNBA playoff series that is tied 1-1 tipoff at 8:30pm. Game 4 is Sunday in Phoenix, then Game 5 if necessary would be back in Minnesota next week. The Gopher football team takes on Rutgers Saturday at 11am. The Vikings take on Pittsburgh Sunday at 8:30am from Dublin. High School Football Friday Little Falls at Pierz for homecoming in Pierz, at 7pm on 94ROCKS and fallsradio.com. Melrose at Royalton for Homecoming for the Royals at 7pm, Upsala-Swanville at Browerville, Holdingford at Minnewaska, St. Cloud Apollo is at Foley, Pillager at Hawley, Staples-Motley at DGF all at 7pm Friday night in High School Football. Listen to results and interviews on Saturday at 9:05am on AM960 KLTF and fallsradio.com.