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The Northwest Regional Correction Center in Crookston reported the arrest of the following –
Parker Austin Sunderland, 21 of Bagley, for DUI – operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol
Angel Kay Ohara, 35 of Fargo, for probation violation
Shataya Conner, 24 of Fargo, for disorderly conduct
The post ARREST/FIRE REPORT – MARCH 28, 2023 appeared first on KROX.
The Crookston City Council met this evening inside the Crookston City Hall Council Chambers. The meeting began with Crookston Police Chief Darin Selzler swearing in Nicholas Fladland, Corey Rich, and Derek Cox as new Police Officers. “Within the last two months we have been able to hire these three guys,” said Chief Selzler. “Officer Fladland comes to us with about 8 years of experience, Officer Rich has almost 2 years of experience, and Officer Cox comes to us with 7 years of experience. They’ll all do great and we’re excited to have them with us. We do have one more opening still and we’re hoping to get that filled within thirty days.” We have pictures of the swearing in ceremony at the bottom of the page.
CONSENT AGENDA
On the consent agenda was the approval of the City Council meeting minutes from the March 13 meeting, and a resolution to approve the City of Crookston bills and disbursements in the amount of $230,681.07. There was also a resolution to appoint Leah Winjum, Mike LaFrance, Mike Normandin, and Garret Kollin to the Charter Commission. Other items on the consent agenda were accepting donations to the Park and Rec Department in memory of Tom Hunt in the amount of $90.00, and from the Crookston Baseball Association in the amount of $10,000 for new uniforms for summer baseball/softball. The last item on the consent agenda was to approve the sale of permitted fireworks at Walmart. The Council approved all consent agenda items unanimously.
LABOR AGREEMENT WITH CROOKSTON FIRE FIGHTERS UNION
The main agenda began with Crookston City Administrator Corky Reynolds giving a summary of a closed Ways and Means meeting that was held on Monday, March 13 to discuss labor negotiations involving the Crookston Professional Fire Fighters Union Local #3394. Reynolds explained the final negotiated resolution and settlement involved a 6% increase for the year 2023 consisting of a 3.5% COLA and a 2.5% wage adjustment and a 3% wage increase for the year 2024. A consensus of Council Members was reached to recommend to the City Council the acceptance and approval of the tentative contractual agreement which had also been approved by the members of the Crookston Professional Fire Fighters Union. Later in the meeting, the council approved the resolution to approve the Labor Agreement.
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA OCCUPANCY OF VALLEY TECH PARK
The next item on the main agenda was approving a lease with the University of Minnesota in order for them to continue occupying Suite 101 at Valley Technology Park. “The Small Business Development Center, provides services to businesses in the Crookston community and others with respect to business plans and business operations,” said City Administrator Corky Reynolds. “They are currently helping us in terms of time management, best use of resources and things like that. We provide this entity to them for no cost as our portion of the deal.”
The lease will be in effect starting on April 26, 2023 and will expire on April 25, 2025. The council approved the resolution unanimously.
EASEMENT WITH OTTERTAIL POWER COMPANY
The next item on the agenda was a resolution to approve an easement with Ottertail Power Company. “This easement is for an electric power line that will go from Crescent Avenue, underneath the Red River, and into the woods edition to approximately Holly Avenue,” said City Administrator Corky Reynolds. “It will provide additional service for those in the woods addition and auxiliary perhaps to other areas of Crookston as well.”
The council approved the easement unanimously.
PROPOSED 2023 STREET IMPROVEMENTS
The following item was a resolution to hear and approve the engineer’s report as well as call a Public Hearing on proposed 2023 street improvements. The following streets are the ones proposed for improvements, and the construction will take place in the summer of 2023.
These six projects were deemed top priority due to their condition and that is why they’ve been selected. The council approved the resolution unanimously and the public hearing to discuss the proposed improvements further will be held on Monday, April 10 at 5:30 p.m. Citizens will be able to attend the hearing to share any concerns they may have. The cost for the street improvements is $675.00 a front foot. Public Works Director Brandon Carlson stated that assessments for the projects will be sent out soon.
AGREEMENTS WITH MNDOT, AND LOCAL PUBLIC AGENCIES TO RECEIVE FEDERAL FUNDS
Another item on the agenda was a resolution to approve delegated contracts process agreements between MnDot and Local Public Agencies eligible to receive federal funds. “This is a resolution where the city must designate the commissioner of the Department of Transportation as the individual who accepts federal grant money for and on behalf of the City of Crookston,” said City Administrator Corky Reynolds. “We are awarded federal dollars for transportation and the commissioner must initially receive these dollars and then convey the money to us. This is required by statute and something that has to be done, and therefore is a formality for the council.”
The council approved the resolution unanimously.
OTHER ITEMS
The board then passed a resolution approving an intermediary relending loan program and mortgage satisfaction on the property owned by Bucky’s LLC. Bucky’s LLC is a Minnesota limited liability company that the City of Crookston paid $100,000 to as a loan back in 2014 for financing to assist with the purchase of an existing business and acquire inventory and working capital. The repayment of the loan agreement and mortgage indicated that the final payment be due on the intermediary relending loan before April 1 of 2024. a diligent and thorough search of County property records and City financial records indicated no presently existing financial or repayment obligations are necessary.
The last item on the agenda was a resolution accepting bids and awarding contracts for Agricultural Road Street and Utility Construction for a 10-ton road owned by the City of Crookston and adjacent to the Ag Innovation Campus across from American Crystal Sugar Company. “We promised a 10-ton road and that’s what we will be giving them,” said City Administrator Corky Reynolds. “This was a bidding process and the bid from Spruce Valley Corporation was the lowest bid. We assessed if they are responsible and reliable, and have decided they are the best option for this project based on working with them in the past, being the lowest bider, and being easy to work with,”
The council approved the resolution and awarded the bid to Spruce Valley Corporation in the amount of $1,044,077.90 for the project.
REPORTS
During staff reports, Crookston Fire Chief Shane Heldstab thanked Bob Magsam for his service as a fire fighter, and is hoping everyone comes to the fire hall this Wednesday to celebrate Bob with a retirement party from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Chief Heldstab also mentioned to the council that more CERT Traning covering sandbagging techniques, and other preparation in emergency events will be coming up on April 12. The Fire Department will also be having their monthly training on April 6, and will be focusing on getting their staff prepared if their is another high water event this spring. The Fire Department is continuing to monitor the weather forecast from the National Weather Service and is prepared for flooding if it should happen this spring.
Crookston Police Chief Darin Selzler also took the time during his report to welcome the new officers one last time, and let the council know that the water main leak at the police station as been fixed and taken care of.
The next Crookston City Council meeting will be Monday, April 10, at 5:30 p.m. inside the Crookston City Hall Council Chambers. Pictures of the swearing in ceremony and the recording of the meeting are below.
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The post 3 NEW POLICE OFFICERS SWORN IN AT CROOKSTON CITY COUNCIL MEETING appeared first on KROX.
The Crookston School Board met on Monday evening at the Crookston High School Choir/Orchestra room and approved the purchase of a new phone system for the district, the general obligation building bonds, and more.
GENERAL OBLIGATION BUILDING BONDS
The board heard from Jeff Seeley, Senior Municipal Advisor at Ehlers. Seeley talked about the $4,965,000 in General Obligation School Building bonds the district was going to issue. The Crookston School District currently has a Moody’s credit rating of A1, and they will work with the State Credit Enhancement and also use their AA1 rating. “The board approved the resolution of the sale of the bonds and to enroll into the state credit enhancement program,” said Seeley. “Rates have gone up in the last six months, but right now, we are seeing favorable bids. Historically, they are still low, and bids for school building bonds and municipal bonds have been very strong.”
Ehlers will receive and evaluate bids on April 24 and bring them to the school board meeting later that day. “It is a national competitive bid process,” said Seeley. “We will bring the results to the board, and they will approve it, and about three weeks later (May 18) we will transfer the funds, and they will be able to move ahead with the construction project.”
PHONE SYSTEM PURCHASE
The board approved the purchase of a new phone system for the district. The district received three bids, with the lowest bid coming from Tech Check out of Sartell, the current network provider. The cost will be $77,613 and will move the district from using old copper lines to digital ethernet lines. “It is somewhat preventative because our current system is over 13 years old, and we have a unique thing where I received extra funds through COVID packages that came through that I didn’t spend all of my capital budget and was able to take that money and purchase the majority of what we will be doing,” said Crookston School District Technology Director Kevin Weber. “I didn’t have to go before the board to ask for a big chunk of money. It will replace our old copper-based system and with a new digital ethernet system, and there will be a lot of enhancements, and the teachers will see a vast improvement in the quality of the phone lines and the ability to do more with the phone than they have in the past.”
Weber estimates the new system will save the district anywhere from $10,000 to $15,000 a year. “When you compare the annual cost now to what we will be doing in the future, and $10,000 to $15,000 is not an unrealistic savings. I am being kind of conservative compared to the company’s estimate.”
NON-RENEWAL OF FOUR TEACHERS
The board approved the non-renewal of four teachers, third-grade teacher Jaclyn Hubbard, special ed teacher Ashley Nirschl, Kindergarten teacher Adrianne Winger, and second-grade teacher Amanda Wolf. “Those are things you don’t want on your board agenda, but they are necessary in most school districts,” said Superintendent Dave Kuehn. “We have worked with the four teachers and had conversations with them, but it is still hard. We hope through some state funding and down the road, maybe something will open up in the spring. It had to do with enrollment and rightsizing our staff, and another one was COVID funding related. The elementary needs are a little less next year, and all four are great people and we wish them the best, and hopefully, something can open up in May.”
MOVING TWO TEACHERS FROM HALF-TIME TO FULL-TIME
Two Crookston High School grads have been moved from half-time teachers to full-time teachers next school year. Ben Parkin was approved for full-time employment as a physical education instructor at Highland School, and Autumn Hanson was approved as a full-time art instructor at Crookston Middle School.
OTHER NEWS –
The board approved the current bills in the amount of $167,878.19 and the prior meeting minutes from February 23 and 27.
The next regular school board meeting will be held on Monday, April 24 at 5:00 p.m. at the Crookston High School Choir/Orchestra room. The next school board meeting will take place on Tuesday when they interview five candidates for superintendent beginning at 12:30 p.m.
The post CROOKSTON SCHOOL BOARD APPROVES BOND SALE, NEW DISTRICT PHONE SYSTEM appeared first on KROX.
The Crookston Civic Music League proudly presents the fourth concert offered for the 2022-2023 Entertainment Series. Backtrack Vocals will be coming to Crookston Friday, March 31, 2023. The show will be held at the Crookston High School Auditorium, beginning at 7 p.m.
Backtrack Vocals is a 5-person professional a cappella singing group that transforms familiar pop, funk, Motown, standards, and Broadway songs with all-new vocal and beatbox arrangements. Capitalizing on their fresh sound, Backtrack Vocals began its musical journey by launching a YouTube channel. Their unique music videos featured new arrangements of familiar songs, bringing Backtrack Vocals millions of new fans.
The group regularly performs on stages throughout the nation at performing arts centers, music festivals, and schools.
Highlights of their performance include Walking on Sunshine, Temptations Medley, Beethoven Medley, Uptown Funk, Mary Poppins Medley, I’ll Be There–Lean on Me Medley, Sweet Caroline, Rainbow Over America Medley Patriotic and Traditional.
For ticket information contact Elaine Metzger at 281-2681 or Alvern Wentzel at 281-7873. Admission is by season ticket only. Season tickets can be purchased at the door before the concert Friday, March 31.
For rides call T.H.E. Bus at 218-281-0700.
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The post CROOKSTON CIVIC MUSIC LEAGUE PRESENTS BACKTRACK VOCALS THIS FRIDAY, MARCH 31 appeared first on KROX.
Thanks to generous sponsors who provided funding for the Minnesota 4-H Food Partner Challenge this year, the North Star 4-H Club was able to help support students and families at Highland Elementary School. Club officers worked within their budget to plan and purchase food needed to create a variety of non-perishable meal kits. Club members and their families worked together to sort and pack 87 meal kits. The remaining funds were used to purchase lunchbox items for upcoming field trips this spring. All the food was delivered to Highland School Counselor Tara Rodriguez for distribution. Pictures of the members delivering the meal kits and lunchbox items to Highland School Counselor Tara Rodriguez, and the packing and making of the kits are below.
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The post NORTH STAR 4-H CLUB PARTICIPATES IN MINNESOTA 4-H FOOD PARTNER CHALLENGE appeared first on KROX.
Authorities in West Reading, PA confirmed on Sunday night that the remains of two more victims of the chocolate factory explosion in Pennsylvania were discovered, bringing the death toll from the explosion on Friday at the R.M. Palmer Co. chocolate factory to seven. West Reading Police Chief Wayne Holben said at an evening news conference that this closes search operations at the R.M. Palmer Company, as no other people connected to the location were missing.
Identities of the dead were unavailable. West Reading Mayor Samantha Kaag said Sunday that the White House reached out on Saturday: “They’ve offered condolences, asked us that if we need anything, to please reach out. So we are getting calls from numerous sources and we’re grateful for all of them. We’re grateful the resources that they’re offering. Right now we’re just kind of trying to get our feet on the ground and figure out where we can put them and how we can delegate them.”
A facility spokesperson said 10 people who survived with injuries were taken to Reading Hospital in the West Reading borough, an area of Berks County about 63 miles northwest ofaPhiladelphia. Two were transferred to other facilities, two were in good or fair condition at Reading Hospital, and the others were treated or checked out and released.
R.M. Palmer Company employs 850 people today, according to the company’s website. In a statement, the company expressed anguish, said it has lost “close friends and colleagues …Everyone at RM Palmer is devastated by the tragic events at one of our West Reading facilities and we are focused on supporting our employees and their families.”
Editorial credit: Isaiah.Rendon / Shutterstock.com
President Joe Biden declared a major disaster in Mississippi, in the aftermath of the deadly tornado that ripped through the Mississippi Delta late Friday, leaving the region — one of the poorest in the country — devastated. At least 25 people were killed in Mississippi, and one man died in Alabama.
Early Sunday, Biden ordered federal aid to supplement recovery efforts, the White House said in a statement. As recovery efforts continued, the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center warned that severe thunderstorms would bring “the possibility of a couple of strong tornadoes” across the central Gulf states on Sunday. As a result, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency tweeted that residents should “have a plan” and “know their safe place.”
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves issued a state of emergency and vowed to help rebuild the region, with more than half a dozen shelters opened in the state to house those displaced. According to early data tweeted from National Weather Service office in Jackson, Friday’s tornado received a preliminary EF-4 rating. An EF-4 tornado has top wind gusts between 166 mph and 200 mph, according to the service.
Lance Perrilloux, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s office in Jackson, told the Associated Press that preliminary information based on estimates from storm reports and radar data indicate the tornado was on the ground for more than an hour and traversed at least 170 miles. He added that preliminary findings showed the tornado began its path of destruction just southwest of Rolling Fork before continuing northeast toward the rural communities of Midnight and Silver City, and onward toward Tchula, Black Hawk and Winona.
Editorial credit: Silent O / Shutterstock.com
‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ took first place at the box office, earning $73.5 million domestically in its opening weekend. The film easily beat ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods,’ now in its second weekend.
In North America, the fourth installment in the John Wick franchise bested the $56.8 million opening of 2019’s John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum — and marked Lionsgate’s biggest domestic opening of the pandemic era.
Directed by Chad Stahelski, ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’ once again stars Keanu Reeves as the expert assassin nicknamed Baba Yaga. The cast also features Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgard, Laurence Fishburne, Hiroyuki Sanada, Shamier Anderson, Rina Sawayama, Ian McShane and the late Lance Reddick, who died earlier this month. The film is produced by Basil Iwanyk, Erica Lee and Stahelski.
‘Scream VI’ took the No. 3 spot, with ‘Creed III’ following at No. 4, and ’65’ rounding out the top five.
Editorial credit: Featureflash Photo Agency / Shutterstock.com
Actor Jonathan Majors, who currently stars in “Creed III” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” was arrested on Saturday in New York City, accused of a domestic dispute. Majors plays the villain Kang in “Quantumania,” and in “Creed III” he plays Damian “Diamond Dame” Anderson who goes up against Michael B. Jordan’s “Adonis Creed.”
NYPD officers were dispatched to a 911 call from an apartment in the Chelsea neighborhood at 11:14 a.m., where a preliminary investigation determined there had been a “domestic dispute” involving Majors, 33, and a 30-year-old woman, who told officers she had been assaulted. According to TMZ, law enforcement on the scene identified the woman as Majors’ girlfriend, who alleged that the couple got into a dispute in a taxi while returning home from a bar in Brooklyn. The altercation escalated, with Majors allegedly slapping the victim in the face and placing his hands on her neck to choke her. The woman was transported to a hospital with minor head and neck injuries in stable condition, and Majors was arrested at the scene.
Majors attorney, Priya Chaudhry, is expecting “all charges will be dropped imminently” in the assault case. Chaudhry maintained in a statement shared on Sunday that the actor is “completely innocent and is probably the victim of an altercation with a woman he knows … We are quickly gathering and presenting evidence to the District Attorney with the expectation that all charges will be dropped imminently. This evidence includes video footage from the vehicle where this episode took place, witness testimony from the driver and others who both saw and heard the episode, and most importantly, two written statements from the woman recanting these allegations … The NYPD is required to make an arrest in these situations, and this is the only reason Mr. Majors was arrested. We expect these charges to be dropped soon.”
A judge released Majors without bail at his Saturday night arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court. Prosecutors charged the actor with misdemeanor assault, aggravated harassment, attempted assault and harassment. Majors is due back in court in May.
Editorial credit: Featureflash Photo Agency / Shutterstock.com
The Northwest Regional Corrections Center reported the arrest of the following –
Paige Marissa Sannes, 31 of East Grand Forks, for permitting public nuisance.
The post ARREST/FIRE REPORT – MARCH 27, 2023 appeared first on KROX.
