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RED LAKE WATERSHED DISTRICT WILL CLOSE SCHIRRICK DAM ON BLACK RIVER FRIDAY

The Red Lake Watershed District will close the Schirrick Dam gates on the Black River at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, April 3, 2020. This is being done as a measure to reduce flood flows and stages downstream on the Red Lake River and the Red River of the North. Owners of property within the reservoir are advised that water levels will be increasing and personal property within the reservoir may be inundated.

The dam is being closed in response to predicted stages in Crookston and Grand Forks. The National Weather Service has advised the District that river stages are predicted to crest in Grand Forks in the early morning of Monday, April 6, 2020.

The opening of the gates to begin release of the water will begin once the existing and projected river stages are below 44 feet at Grand Forks and 22 feet in Crookston.

The Black River is a tributary of the Red Lake River. The dam is located in Section 35 of Wylie Township, Red Lake County. An area of 108 square miles drains to the dam. The dam is a 38-foot high earthen embankment, with a reinforced concrete spillway. The reservoir will store 4800-acre feet of water, which is approximately equivalent to one inch of runoff from the area which drains to the dam. The dam was constructed in 1988.

The operation of the dam is planned to reduce peak flows and stages during critical floods in Crookston, Grand Forks, and other areas downstream. For more information contact Myron Jesme or Nick Olson at the Red Lake Watershed District at 218-681- 5800.

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Lynette “Pud” Joseph – Obit

Lynette Marion “Pud” Joseph, 68, of Crookston, MN, passed away at Sanford Health in Fargo, ND, early Wednesday afternoon, April 1, 2020, with family at her side. A Memorial Service for Pud will be held at a later date when the COVID-19 crisis has been lifted. May God bless Pud’s memory.

www.stenshoelhouske.com

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U.S. Surpasses 200K Coronavirus Cases Aa States Issue Strict Stay-At-Home Orders

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The U.S. recorded 681 deaths on Wednesday, its worst day since the coronavirus outbreak began. More than 200,000 infections have been reported, and public health officials are  considering recommending that more Americans wear face masks. “Even if you do wear a mask, it can’t be at the expense of social distancing,” Surgeon General Jerome Adams said, adding that higher-level N95 masks would not be necessary. 

Almost 2,000 have already died in New York state alone, prompting New York City to close its parks and open temporary hospitals in a convention center and iconic Central Park. Health experts predict that the virus will not hit its peak in the U.S. for about another two weeks.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he would be issuing an order for residents to stay at home for the next 30 days and only leave for essential services. The order will go into effect Friday at 12:01 a.m.

New York state’s death toll from the coronavirus continued its sharp ascent with 391 people dying the in latest 24-hour period, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.

Here are the stay-at-home orders in every state across the U.S.

Via www.nbcnews.com
What each state is doing — or not doing — amid widespread coronavirus lockdowns.
 

Editorial credit: tetiana.photographer / Shutterstock.com

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Dow Jones Falls 973 Points Amid Job Losses Across The Country

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U.S. stocks fell Wednesday amid reports on job losses and the potential for as many as 200,000 deaths due to the COVID-19 pandemic.The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 973.65  points, or 4.44 percent, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both closed down 4.41 percent.

Boeing stock fell 12.35 percent, American Express stock slid 9.03 percent and Dow Inc. dropped 7.52 percent, leading the Dow’s decline. Real estate investment, utilities, energy and financials each fell 5 percent. ADP and Moody’s analytics reported Wednesday that 27,000 U.S. jobs had been lost by March 12, before the main impact of the coronavirus. The Labor Department will release its March jobs report Friday.

The decline also came after White House experts on Tuesday shared projections that 100,000 to 200,000 Americans may die due to the coronavirus. President Donald Trump warned Americans to prepare for a “very tough two weeks” as deaths are expected to hit a peak.

Coronavirus economic updates: Dow plunges as Trump warns of ‘painful’ weeks to come

Via abcnews.go.com
The health crisis has increasingly become an economic one.
 

Editorial credit: Immersion Imagery / Shutterstock.com

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Christopher Meloni Reprising Law & Order: SVU Role For New Spinoff Series

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Christopher Meloni will be reprising his role as the iconic Law & Order: Special Victims Units detective for a new NBC spinoff series. The still untitled show has already received a 13-episode order.

Dick Wolf, Law & Order mastermind, is behind the show and will executive produce. This will be the first time Meloni will be playing Stabler since leaving Law & Order: SVU back in 2011 after contract negotiations broke down. He was an original cast member when the franchise premiered in September 1999, and he earned a lead actor in a drama series Emmy nomination for his work on the show in 2006. Stabler was written off in the show after its season 12 finale, retiring from the police force.

In February, Law & Order: SVU was renewed through its 24th season.

        

Law & Order: SVU star Christopher Meloni reprising Stabler role for brand new spin-off

Via uk.news.yahoo.com
Christopher Meloni is reprising his Law & Order: SVU role as Elliot Stabler in a new…
 

Editorial credit: Ron Adar / Shutterstock.com

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SPORTS FEEVER – April 2, 2020

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Welcome to another pandemic version of the Sports Feever column.  We are in the third week of sports being shut down because of the exotic markets in a country I can’t name without being called racist.
The pandemic news that came out over the past week has COVID-19 peaking in Mid-May to June.  If that is true, guess what that means for spring high school sports?  Yep, that means we are about 99 percent certain there won’t be spring sports, playoffs, or anything.  The possibility of not having college football or the NFL has been thrown around by “experts.”  We will see what happens, but the one thing we know….we don’t know when this will be over.

There will be no proms, there won’t be any graduations and no sports. The one thing that sports do for people is a getaway for a couple of hours each day from any worries, problems, or whatever is bothering us each day.

While I feel bad for the kids, I feel terrible for the people that aren’t working because of this and trying to figure out how they are going to pay the mortgage, pay for food, etc while they try to get unemployment insurance or look for a temporary job.  I feel sorry for those people way more than the kids who have their entire life ahead of them and probably living through what might be the toughest experience they will go through (hopefully).  Most of these kids are lucky and the kids have adjusted to the new norm….remember, kids are more care-free than we give them credit for.  They adjust and adapt quicker than adults!

I have been very fortunate at KROX to keep all my employees working their normal hours and we have been able to offer everything as usual.  My wife was forced to shut down her work as a hairstylist.  She has been without work for two weeks with no unemployment or anything.  Luckily we have some money saved up and we should be fine as long as this doesn’t go longer than a couple of months.  The hardest part of this shutdown has been No Minnesota Twins baseball.  That is the toughest part of this for yours truly.

I hope you and your family is safe and healthy and we get this over with as soon as possible.

I was thinking we would have Frank do some top 10 lists for the next few weeks.  We will see if I can get the email through his protective bubble!

If you have any ideas for topics in the Feever column, let me know!  Or if you can think of a top 10 list let me know!

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We are running the 1987 World Series games this week on KROX.  Next week we will have the 1991 World Series.  Then the week of April 13 we will play some Crookston Pirate Section and State championship games.
April 13 – Crookston Pirate Baseball wins the State Baseball Championship
April 14 – Crookston Pirate Football beat EGF in the Section 8AAA Championship 2003
April 15 – Crookston Pirate Girls Basketball beat Barnesville in the Section 8AA Championship 2006

We are looking for other games that we don’t have at the KROX studios.
We would love to have the 1980 State Football Championship game if anybody has a recording of that anywhere.  We would also love to have the Section 8A Girls Hockey Championship from 2007.  And the Section 8AA Boys Basketball championship game Crookston vs Pelican Rapids from 2007.

If you have recordings of any of the games listed above or any other section championship games (like Pirate Boys hockey vs Warroad when Warroad scored two late goals to win) or any other memorable games let me know at chrisjfee@yahoo.com.

Thanks and stay tuned for the classic Pirate games!

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There will be no Major League Baseball in April for the first time since 1883!!!

— — —

The American Hockey Coaches Association has narrowed down its Coach of the Year candidates to nine coaches.  Some of the coaches of interest are listed below –

Brady Berry (UND)
Mike Hastings (Minnesota State Mankato – won in 2015)
Bob Motzko (Minnesota)
Scott Sandelin (Minnesota Duluth – won in 2004)
Tom Serratore (Bemidji State)

— — —

Mackenzie Roller from Warren-Alvarado-Oslo has signed a letter of intent to play basketball next season for the Northland Technical and Community College Pioneers.  She averaged 14.7 ppg, made 57 3-point shots while shooting 46% from the 3 point line.  She was recently named to the Northern Galaxy All Conference team.

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JOKES

— —

A 90-year-old man goes for a physical and all of his tests come back normal.
The doctor says, “Larry, everything looks great. How are you doing mentally and emotionally? Are you at peace with God?”
Larry replies, “God and I are tight. He knows I have poor eyesight, so He’s fixed it so when I get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, poof! The light goes on. When I’m done, poof! The light goes off.”
“Wow, that’s incredible,” the doctor says.
A little later in the day, the doctor calls Larry’s wife.
“Bonnie,” he says, “Larry is doing fine! But I had to call you because I’m in awe of his relationship with God. Is it true that he gets up during the night, and poof, the light goes on in the bathroom, and when he’s done, poof, the light goes off?”
“Oh sweet Jesus”, exclaims Bonnie. “He’s peeing in the refrigerator again!”

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How are former Crookston Pirates athletes doing in college or elsewhere?
****LET ME KNOW OF OTHERS TO ADD TO THE LIST email me at  chrisjfee@yahoo.com

Paul Bittner is playing for the Cleveland Monsters, the AHL affiliate of the Columbus Bluejacket.

Brady Heppner, is playing hockey for the Roanoke Raildogs in the SPHL.

Aleece Durbin, is a Sophomore on the University of North Dakota Women’s Track and Field team.

Brita Fagerlund, is a Junior on the University of Jamestown Jimmy Women’s Track team.

Ben Trostad is a sophomore member of the University of Minnesota Crookston golf team.

Isaac Westlake, is a Senior on the Winona State Warrior Men’s Golf team.

Elise Tangquist, is a Junior golfer for the University of Northwestern in St. Paul.

Mason LaPlante, a freshman, is playing soccer at the University of Jamestown.

Rachel Hefta, a freshman, is playing volleyball at Hastings College in Nebraska.

Cade Salentine is a redshirt Freshman playing football at the University of North Dakota. 

Nick Garmen, is a freshman playing basketball and tennis at the University of Minnesota Morris.

Thea Oman, a freshman, is swimming at St. Ben’s.

Crookston School District Coaches –
Jeremy Lubinski is a Pirate 8th Grade Football coach.
Amy Boll is the head Pirate Girls Track head coach and assistant volleyball coach
Sarah Reese is the Pirate Head Girls Soccer coach
Cody Brekken is the Head Pirate Girls and Boys Tennis coach and Crookston Community Pool Supervisor
Marley Melbye is the Head Girls Swimming coach
Mitch Bakken is the head Pirate Baseball coach.
Brock Hanson is the Pirate Baseball volunteer assistant coach.
Jeff Perreault is the Pirate Girls Golf head coach
Wes Hanson is the Pirate Wrestling Head Coach and assistant boys golf coach
Kevin Weber is a Pirate Boys Basketball volunteer assistant coach
Connor Morgan is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Sam Melbye is the Pirate Boys J.V. Hockey coach
Chris Dufault is a youth wrestling Coach
Blake Fee is an assistant wrestling coach
Colton Weiland is an assistant wrestling coach

Non-Crookston High School coaching –

Cody Weiland is an assistant wrestling coach at Proctor/Hermantown

Kaylee Desrosier is a softball coach for Fargo Davies Middle School.

Justin Johnson is an assistant softball coach at the University of Minnesota Crookston.

Josh Edlund  is an assistant football coach and phy ed teacher at Flandreau, South Dakota.

Allison Lindsey Axness is Assistant Varsity Volleyball Coach in Champlin Park

Jeff Olson is Head Wrestling coach and Head Baseball coach at Delano.

Jake Olson is an Assistant Football Coach and Head Boys Tennis coach at Delano.

Carmen (Kreibich) Johnson, is Head Volleyball coach at Little Falls High School.

Katy Westrom, is Head Girls Tennis Coach and Head Boys Tennis coach at Monticello High School.

Matt Harris, is a Director of Athletics at the British International School of Houston.

Marty Bratrud is the Superintendent and High School Principal at Westhope High School.

Gordie Haug is an assistant football coach at the University of Wyoming

Mike Hastings is the Minnesota State Mankato Men’s head Hockey coach

Mike Biermaier is the Athletic Director at Thief River Falls High School

Stephanie (Lindsay) Perreault works with the North Dakota State stats crew for Bison football and volleyball and basketball in the winter. Stephanie’s husband, Ryan, is the assistant director for the Bison media relations

Jason Bushie is the hockey athletic trainer at Colorado College

Chris Myrold is a Tennis Pro on Nevis Island in the West Indies

Kyle Buchmeier is a Tennis Pro at the Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center in Minneapolis

Jarrett Butenhoff is serving our country with the U.S. Navy

Joshua Butenhoff is serving our country on a Submarine with the Pacific Fleet with the US Navy.

Peter Cournia is a 2002 Crookston High School Graduate and also a grad of West Point and is currently is serving in the U.S. Army.

Erik Ellingson is serving our country with the U.S. Air Force at Minot.

Philip Kujawa class of 2004 from Crookston High School.  He is an Army recruiter in Rochester.

Scott Riopelle is head of Crookston Parks and Recreation

Rob Sobolik is the General Manager of the Fargodome

That’s it for this week.  Thanks for the comments and if you have anything to add or share, please e-mail chrisjfee@yahoo.com or call.  Thanks for reading and listening to KROX RADIO and kroxam.com

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PUBLIC WORKS TRANSITIONS TO 24 HOUR SHIFTS, EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER MAY OPEN THURSDAY

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With the river on the rise and a new initial crest predicted at 22 feet, City of Crookston Emergency Management and Public Works have had to shift their plans from a few days ago.  Crookston Emergency Manager Tim Froeber said the city would likely open its Emergency Operations Center (EOC) sometime on Thursday as the river reached 20 feet.  “Now that we have a river forecast that went to 22 feet for some time on Saturday, we will be opening up the EOC at city hall when it reaches 20 feet,” said Froeber.  “That looks like it will be sometime on Thursday.  With the cooler temps that are coming, that’s going to slow to melt down a little bit.  And with the snow, they’re anticipating a possible four to seven inches. We’re going to end up with a secondary crest again in the middle of next week as that melts.  Also, as the ice starts to move, that will change the water level significantly too, so hopefully, we don’t end up with any ice jams and cause any problems there.”

Public Works Director Pat Kelly said crews began working at 4:00 a.m. Wednesday and will continue on 24-hour shifts until the river level subsides.  “This morning at 4:00 a.m., we started our 24-hour shifts,” said Kelly.  “Crews have been out closing valves, and we had most of our pumps set the day before.  Now we are going around monitoring our different pumping points, pumping down, and keeping an eye on the system.”

Kelly said the crews would continue monitoring the river and closing valves before asking that residents consider reducing their water usage to ease the burden on the lift stations throughout town during the high-water event.  “We have a chart that we utilize for elevations on valve closing,” said Kelly.  “We just keep monitoring the river as we go along, and close valves as necessary, then monitor any runoff from that drain and pump that out.  I guess the one thing we might mention is when we get high water if we could have the public try to minimize their water usage a little bit, it would certainly help our lift stations.  As the water gets high, we start getting more infiltration into some of our subdivisions, into the sandier soils.  We start getting water entering into some of our piping nets, so our lift stations are running a little harder right now, and anything anybody could do to help relieve that would be appreciated.”

Froeber said he expects Central Park to flood overnight Wednesday or early Thursday and asked that residents call the EOC number if they notice any seepage through the levees or storm sewer backups. “We’re also anticipating central park will flood sometime Thursday, if not late tonight as the river continues to rise,” said Froeber.  “That usually fills up around the 19-foot mark.  One thing I would like to pass onto people is if they do notice anything unusual around the levies like water seeping through them or storm sewers backing up that they call EOC at 281-4363.  That number is answered 24 hours a day.”

Froeber also reminds people that levees in neighborhoods are private property, and the public is asked to stay off them for that reason in addition to staying off for their safety as the levees will be slippery. 

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WINTER STORM WARNING ISSUED FROM 10PM WEDNESDAY TO 1PM FRIDAY

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The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Warning for northwest Minnesota and eastern North Dakota from 10:00 p.m. Wednesday through 1:00 p.m. Friday. The warning includes the Minnesota cities of Crookston, East Grand Forks, Hallock, Karlstad, Lancaster, Warren, Stephen, and Argyle. In North Dakota – Langdon, Cavalier, Walhalla, Drayton, Pembina, Neche, St. Thomas, Devils Lake, Grafton, Park River, New Rockford, Lakota, Mcville, Aneta, Tolna, Grand Forks, Cooperstown, Finley, Hope, Mayville, Hillsboro, Hatton, Portland, Valley City, Fargo, Lisbon, Enderlin, Gwinner, Milnor, Forman, Rutland, Edinburg, Adams, and Lankin.

* WHAT…Snow and a wintry mix expected. Total snow accumulations of 4 to 6 inches and ice accumulations of up to one-tenth of an inch. Winds gusting as high as 35 mph could cause some blowing and drifting snow in open areas Thursday and Thursday night.

* WHEN…From 10 PM this evening to 1 PM CDT Friday.

* IMPACTS…Travel will be very difficult. The hazardous conditions will impact the morning and evening commute.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
If you must travel, keep an extra flashlight, food, and water in your vehicle in case of an emergency.

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CROOKSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS USING VARIOUS METHODS TO TRACK ONLINE LEARNING ATTENDANCE

With distance learning underway Highland Principal Chris Trostad and High School Principal Eric Bubna discussed how attendance is being tracked for the Crookston School District.  Tracking attendance is a required component of the order to provide distance learning, and Trostad said Highland is doing that through daily interaction with the students. “Yeah, there is an attendance requirement by the governor with distance learning that we have to take attendance every day,” said Trostad. “How we do that, a lot of that is daily interactions with kids.  So, as long as kids are online, submitting their work, they would be considered to be present at school.  It is very important that daily interaction takes place by email, phone call, through one of the apps like Seesaw, Google Classroom.  As long as those kids are interacting, they are going to be considered to be present at school.”

Trostad said that if students are sick and unable to partake in online learning for the day, parents should still call the school, so the student can be marked sick. “If a student is sick, we’d ask a parent to call the school,” said Trostad. “We’d mark them sick, and then the teacher would know that they aren’t going to be available that day for online learning.  We want to be as understanding as possible, but on the other hand, the governor has assigned us the task of distance learning and monitoring attendance.  The teachers are expected to have daily interactions with the students, so parents and students are expected to see that those daily interactions are happening too.  If there is anything we can do to help, let us know, communicate with us.  But those daily interactions need to take place every day.  If they’re not, then students are considered to be absent that day, and we need to report that.  We want to work with parents as best as possible.”

Crookston High School is using two strategies to track attendance.  One is an advisory class that will be used for official attendance, and the second is teacher meetings to monitor the academic progress of students. “That’s something we’re figuring out as we go,” said Bubna. “Right now, all the kids have what we’re calling an advisory call or counseling class if you will.  Mrs. (Leah) Zimmerman is running that along with Mr. (Matt) Torgerson.  Attendance is going to based on three check-in questions a week – one for Monday, Tuesday, one for Wednesday/Thursday, and one for Friday through Sunday. That’s kind of what we’re basing our attendance on as far as what goes in Skyward as attendance. We’ll also have an attendance meeting once a week with teachers to see who isn’t logging in. I guess that’s more of an academic progress question than an attendance.  The short answer right now is we’re basing attendance on them logging into that advisory class and answering those questions.”

Bubna said he hopes the weekly academic progress meetings with teachers will help them track engagement, attendance, and check to make sure students have the devices and support they need for distance learning. “We’re trying to figure out what we’re going to do when they log into that advisory class and answer that question so that in Skyward, they are marked present, but they are doing nothing academically,” said Bubna. “We have that problem when we’re here physically at school too.  We have a small number of students that show up every day, but they put their heads down and don’t do much.  So, we are having weekly meetings with the teachers.  Mr. Torgerson is facilitating grades seven to nine, I’m facilitating grades 10-12 with the teachers from those grades and seeing what kids are checking in, but they are maybe not getting their work done. Let’s call home, make sure they have a device, see what kind of supports they need.  We have our first set of meetings tomorrow, and I’m hoping we have a pretty clear picture as to what our academic progress is looking like, what our engagement rate is like, and that attendance piece too.”