News

The Morrison County Fair is coming up June 25th through the 28th at the Fairgrounds east of Little Falls. This year presenting IV Play with music at the grandstand on Thursday, Hairball on Friday night. The link to the fair is online at fallsradio.com on top of the home page. Also this week June 11-14th is the Motley Fair for Morrison County Events include Autocross Friday June 12th and the Demolition Derby on Sunday the 14th. There is a horse show put to help 4H kids work their way to the other fairs and the State Fair, and fireworks are also planned this weekend at the Motley Fairgrounds located in Motley more details can be found on their Facebook Page. 

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is making it easier to get out and enjoy Great Outdoors Month. The DNR is encouraging Minnesotans to discover and connect with parks, recreation areas, outdoor programs, and activities. On Saturday, Minnesota residents can enter all state parks and recreation areas without a parking permit for Free Park Day. Many of the parks will be hosting naturalist-led programs that day for visitors to enjoy. If you're unable to make it on Free Park Day, seven-day vehicle permits can be checked out at participating libraries. ATV owners will also be able to ride on the state's public trails this weekend without the usual registration fee for the machine. It gives riders access to 3,000 miles of state forest and grant-in-aid trails. Riders 18 and younger are required to wear helmets, and anyone born after July 1st, 1987 must have completed an ATV safety certification. The DNR says there are also numerous opportunities to bike, camp, swim, boat, paddle, and fish all across Minnesota.

Sauk Rapids residents may need to rethink their lawn-watering habits this summer as the city takes one of its water towers offline for repairs. The city is refurbishing one of its water towers and has to drain it for the work, a step that will sharply cut the city’s available water capacity until the project wraps up. Officials estimate the reconditioning will take about eight weeks. With the tower out of service and warm-weather water use already climbing, the city is reminding residents of its Odd/Even Sprinkling Schedule Ordinance. The ordinance also urges residents not to irrigate their lawns between 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. each day, when more water is lost to evaporation. The bigger concern for residents is what happens if conservation efforts fall short. The city says that if water usage rises, it will be required to put additional water-use reduction measures or system water limitations in place. In other words, the current request to conserve could turn into firmer restrictions if demand stays high while the tower is down. To help households cut back, the city offered a series of conservation tips. Outdoors, it suggests watering grass only as needed since most lawns require about one inch of water per week, mulching trees and plants to slow evaporation, leaving grass clippings in place to shade the soil, letting grass grow a little longer, checking hoses and sprinklers for leaks, and using a rain barrel to collect water for gardens. Indoors, the city recommends fixing running toilets, shutting off the tap while shaving or brushing teeth, choosing showers over baths and installing low-flow showerheads, running only full loads of laundry and dishes, and using water-efficient appliances marked with the WaterSense label.

A St. Cloud resident has been charged via summons with four felony counts of possession of child sexual abuse material. The man, 26-year-old Uriah Justice Barber, allegedly uploaded several files containing child sexual abuse material to a Discord server and admitted to viewing prohibited files. The Minnesota Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force initially received a cyber tip in December 2024 regarding images uploaded to a Discord account suspected of containing child sexual abuse material. An investigation led by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension found the account belonged to Barber, prompting a search warrant to be executed at his residence in June 2025. Barber was subsequently taken into custody, and authorities seized his cellphone, computer and other digital equipment. In a Mirandized statement, he admitted to being a pornography addict and to viewing numerous files containing explicit material involving child sexual abuse. Barber further stated that he did not know how the images appeared on his Discord account, adding that such images should not have been on his phone or computer. Barber is scheduled to make his first appearance in Benton County District Court on Tuesday, June 23.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is investigating after a company’s abrupt closure last week left hundreds of customers in rural Minnesota without internet. Radio Link Internet suddenly shut down and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on June 1. According to a consumer alert from Ellison, customers say they had no advance warning before the company informed them it was permanently ending operations. Customers also say Radio Link Internet’s website, customer service phone line, and company email addresses were immediately shut down, even though some customers had recently paid for up to one year of internet service in advance. The company, based in the small Steele County town of Ellendale, provided internet for more than 400 homes and businesses across approximately 5,000-square-miles in southern Minnesota.

Last night on KSTP TV News they investigated Oakland Cemetery in Little Falls the story uncovered dead board members, a big raise for the cemetery’s caretaker and an attempt to...

The Morrison County Sheriff’s Office Saturday morning shared that Douglas County was searching for Endangered Missing Person. The sheriff's office was asking all residents to please keep an eye out...

One person was injured in a one vehicle accident Thursday around 1:08pm in Lastrup of Morrison County. 86-year-old Sharon Schlegel was on Highway 27 at Pine Street when she hit...

People in communities near the Camp Ripley Training Center will be hearing some loud noise and seeing smoke trails throughout the next few weeks. National Guard soldiers are working to meet...