Will Ferrell is set to star in a new comedy feature from 20th Century Studios, based on an original idea by Dave Callaham, directed by Peter Atencio. Atencio helmed the features Keanu (2016) and The Machine (2023) and is known for television work on such projects as Key & Peele, The Last Man on Earth, and The Afterparty.
The film, titled Street Justice, sees Ferrell playing a Dirty Harry type who goes about taking justice into his own hands. Ferrell and Jessica Elbaum of Gloria Sanchez serve as producers alongside David Koplan, with Callaham serving as an executive producer.
Ferrell will next be seen in the Amazon feature You’re Cordially Invited opposite Reese Witherspoon, and on the Netflix series Golf co-starring Ramy Youssef.
Television personality Jeannie Mai and retired NFL tight end Rob Gronkowski have been added as co-hosts on “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest.”
Mai is presiding over festivities in Los Angeles and Gronkowski will co-host from Las Vegas from the Fountains at the Bellagio Resort. The West Coast party hosted by Mai will include performers such as Alanis Morissette, with special guest Reneé Rapp, Dasha and DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!, a performance that includes stars like Ja Rule, Kesha, Natasha Bedingfield, T-Pain and more.
Ryan Seacrest is slated to host the broadcast for the 20th time alongside co-host Rita Ora in NYC’s Times Square, featuring previously-announced musical performers The Jonas Brothers, Carrie Underwood, Megan Moroney and Sophie Ellis-Bextor, taking the stage before the ball drops in Times Square at midnight.
Set to take the stage in Las Vegas are Blake Shelton, Cody Johnson, Thomas Rhett and Lenny Kravitz; and Jungle will perform from London, playing songs including their hit song “Back On 74.” The network said in a press release: “In his 20th year as host of America’s most-watched New Year’s Eve special, Ryan Seacrest will lead the countdown to midnight alongside global superstar Rita Ora live from Times Square, Dayanara Torres returns as co-host in Puerto Rico.”
The coverage of “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest” will air on ABC on Dec. 31, starting at 8 p.m. ET and streaming the next day on Hulu.
At approximately 1:08 p.m. the East Grand Forks Fire Department was dispatched for a trailer home fire. Upon arrival, fire units found light smoke coming from the trailer home. The occupants had evacuated, and smoke alarms were operating. Fire department personnel were able to make entry into the residence and extinguish the fire. The cause of the fire is determined to be a space heater that was left unattended. The East Grand Forks Fire Department responded with two fire engines, one tanker, one tower, two support vehicles, and 18 personnel. There were no injuries. Assisting on the scene were the East Grand Forks Police Department and Altru Ambulance. The Red Cross has been contacted and is assisting displaced residents.
The East Grand Forks Fire Department would like to remind citizens that space heaters are a common cause of house fires and should be used safely. Never leave space heaters unattended Do not use space heaters within three feet of combustibles
If you are looking for something to do this winter to keep active, strap on a pair of cross-country skis or snowshoes and try out the trails at Minakwa Golf Course. When snow covers the course co-owners Zach Stromen and Brandon Carlson will transform the course into trails you can navigate by either ski or snowshoe. How did the idea of making the golf course a year-round amenity come to fruition? “When we were trying to decide if we were going to purchase the golf course or not, every golf course owner I talked to said that if we did, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing trails worked well for them,” says Carlson. “Basically, by talking to other owners of golf courses around the area and trying to get it to be a year-round place for people to use, it seems to have gotten a lot of attraction on Facebook, unfortunately the weather kind of swapped on us here so we are going to need a little bit more snow before they will get usable again.”
Carlson says that, really, once there is enough snow, the commitment on his part to ready the course for skis and snow shoes is pretty minimal.“It took me abouthalf an hour to groom the trails that I groomed the other day,” says Carlson. “I was grooming like every other day it seemed like.” There are a few spots on the course thattake a little more time to get ready. “The trails on the top of the hill, closer to Fisher Ave., are higher maintenance; they blow in much easier. The stuff down by the lower ground seems to stay a little bit better.”
Initially, the thought was just for cross-country skiing, but Carlson says he had a few requests for snowshoeing trials as well. Walking on the ski trails, however, doesn’t work as it messes things up, so Carlson is planning to find a way to groom a snowshoe trail alongside the ski trail so snowshoes can come out too when there is more snow.
Eventually, Carlson says they will likely need some signage put up, but this is really kind of a trial-and-error thing this year. For now, there is a map of the trails on Facebook that can be looked at before coming out to use the trails. Admittedly, Carlson is not a cross-country skier and has relied on some help with this project. “I haven’t cross-country skied since I was a kid, and I am not that knowledgeable on it, so if anybody has more knowledge than me, I’ve kind of been leaning on the Noah boys a little bit,” says Carlson. “They cross-country ski a lot, so they have been throwing ideas at me here and there.”
Carlson’s best guess while trying to keep a measurement going is that he has groomed about three to four miles of trails. The trails are open to anyone and extend into Schuster Park. “We aren’t charging anything; it’s just kind of something for us to do for the community to do during the wintertime to get people outside.” People are welcome to come out anytime to use the trails, the club house does not have to be open. You can jump on the trail at any time. Carlson says they were able to acquire the use of some skis for those who may not have any but would like to try cross-country skiing. You do not have to rent them; you just have to come out at a time the clubhouse is open and leave your ID and a credit card to ensure the equipment will be returned.
Carlson has been doing his best to steer clear of the greens as he is grooming these trails, and they, of course, are hoping that anyone coming out to enjoy the outdoors will be respectful of the property so it can have this year-round usage continue into the future. “We ask that if people come out there, that they stay on the trails, that they stay on the appropriate trail, that is for the use whether they are skiing or snowshoeing and respect the property as if it were yours.”
Of course, snow is the ticket, and we know that being in Northern Minnesota, it will be back. When it is, stop out and try out the trails at Minakwa.
The Crookston City Council will have its final meeting of 2024 on Monday, December 30, at 5:30 p.m. at Crookston City Hall’s Council Chambers.
The meeting will start with two presentations. The first is a Service Award for Council Member Wendy Ault. The second is from Diane Hayes and John Wynne regarding the Small Cities Development Grant (SCDG).
The consent agenda includes the following items – Approval of the Truth-in-Tazation minutes and City Council meeting minutes from December 9, approval of bills and disbursements for $396,528.10. The council will also be asked to accept a donation of $5,169 to go towards the Crookston Community Pool and a $200 donation from the Iris Eisert estate to the Crookston Fire Department. The council will be asked to designate the 2025 Election Precinct polling location (Wards 1, 2, and 6 at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, and Wards 3, 4, and 5 at the First Presbyterian Church), and a resolution regarding surplus property for the City of Crookston. The City Council will also be asked to approve a resolution regarding the purchase of radios and equipment for the Police and Fire Department, the amendment of the School Resource Officer contract with the Crookston School District, and amending the contract with Scruffy Tails. The busy consent agenda wraps up with an independent audit of Body Worn Cameras of the Crookston Police Department and the first amendment to the lease of the Crookston Municipal Airport-Kirkwood Field, ASA-B Radio Station Site SV263-01.
The regular council agenda includes the following – adopting the fee schedule for 2025, approval of an increase for water and wastewater rates in 2025, the new Fire Fighters Labor Union contract, adoption of the five-year capital improvement plan from 2025 to 2029, adopting the property tax levy of 22.2% increase in 2025. The council will also be asked to adopt the 2025 budget, approve an intermediary re-lending program loan request from Vertical Malt, and the approval of policies for the Small Cities Development Grant program. There will be a closed session to discuss the purchase of real property, with the meeting opened back up with a summary of the closed session to wrap up the meeting.
The full meeting agenda packet is available below-
Co. Line 12-30-24 The County Line By Warren Strandell Polk County Commissioner, Dist. 2
With their budgets finalized and approved, local governments are about to enter the new year. So, do ever wonder about where your property tax dollars go in, just what they are used for? On that subject, I’ll try to tell you a few things — in as a simple way as I can — about how Polk County will use the property tax money that it collects in 2025. This is only about how Polk County will us the property tax dollars it collects. The cities, school districts, townships, watershed districts, or other units of government/services have their own budgets.
First, Polk County spending for the 2025 is budgeted to total $73.4 million. That number includes an increase of $987,000 or 3.865 percent over 2024. Of that $73.4 million total, Polk County property taxpayers will contribute $28.3 million. After also using $4.56 million from reserves and available fund balances, the remaining balance of about $40 million — needed to come up with the $73.4 million total — will come from state and federal sources. The state portion of this amount includes about $2 million in County Program Aid. This Program Aid amount includes an increase of $114,000 over 2024.
Reduction from “Preliminary” The 3 percent levy increase amount is a reduction from the 5 percent “preliminary levy” that was adopted in September. The 2025 budget includes the ability to pay for a 3.5 percent COLA (cost of living adjustment) for employees, plus a $250 per month increase in the benefits package.
The county has eight organized (unionized) departments. Seven of the departments have newly approved three-year wage and benefits contracts. These contracts were negotiated over the past six months. If not approved already, some relatively minor issues remain to be settled in the final contract.
By percentage, the eight different “expense areas” (the different departments) in 2024 were: Social Services, 28%; Road and Bridge, 25%; General Fund, 18%; Public Safety, 10%; Tri-County Community Corrections, 9%; Public Health, 6%; Debt Service, 3%; Planning & Zoning, 1%; Library, less than 1%.
Other notes about county finances that might be of interest: • $20.7 million was budgeted for Social Service expenses in Polk County in 2024. Expected revenue for social services from the State of Minnesota in 2025 will total $14.5 million. These numbers help to show that about 40% of some salaries for social service employees is paid by the State of Minnesota.
• Tax levy increases — beginning in 2009 to the current 3% levy amount set for 2025 — have averaged 2.89% over the past 16 years. The lowest increase of 1.324% came in 2010. The highest increase of 3.053% came in 2023. Most of the “preliminary” increase amounts, which are set in September have been at about 5%. A 3% rate increase coincides closely to the rate of inflation.
• Two years of debt service remain to be paid to satisfy the $17.5 million in bonds issued in 2005 to construct the 200-bed jail portion of the $25.5 million Polk County Justice Center.
• The “non-jail” portion cost of the Justice Center — about $8 million — was paid for up front in cash. The non-jail portion of the Justice Center building includes space for the District Courtrooms and Court Administration, the Polk County Attorney’s Office, Polk County Public Health Department, and the administrative offices and Probation Department of Tri-County Community Corrections.
• The “next to last” Justice Center bond re-payment —about $1.1 million — will be made in February 2025. The final payment is to be made in February 2026.
• The Polk County budgeting process begins in mid-summer when Administrator Chuck Whiting and the County Personnel Committee (commissioners Gary Willhite and Joan Lee) start discussions with the employee group bargaining members.
• The County Board set the “preliminary levy” increase percentage at 5% in September… it’s an increase because budgets never go down. The “final levy” of 3% was set in December.
• Minnesota has a 6.875% state sales tax rate that is the major part of the tax rate collected at the time of purchase. The average sales tax rate in Minnesota is 8.04%. Just thought you would like to know this so that local governments don’t get all the blame for the total amount of sales tax.
Thoughts for the day: • Politicians are the same all over: They promise to build a bridge even when there is no river. — Nikita Khrushchev • I’ve found that prayers work best when you have big players. — Knute Rockne, Notre Dame.
• Happy NewYear everyone!
Disclaimer:Thoughts expressed in this column are those of the author and are not necessarily a reflection of the opinions of the other members of the Polk County Board.
Whether you need CPR certification to fulfill a job requirement or you simply want the knowledge to know what to do in an emergency, RiverView Health has a class for you. RiverView offers two CPR classes on the second Thursday of each month – one for certification and the other provided free of charge for general knowledge.
RiverView’s HeartSaver CPR AED (automated external defibrillator) class is for those needing certification. The cost is $55, which includes the HeartSaver CPR AED eCard and book. This class is four hours long (6:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m.) and includes a test at the end of the session.
The Friends and Family class is for those who do not need certification. Thanks to the generous support of Crookston American Legion Post 20, this class is free of charge. Participants will learn basic information about what to do in life-threatening situations and will receive a Friends and Family CPR book. This class is four hours long (6:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m.); no test or card is given at completion.
Classes will take place on the following Thursdays in 2025:
January 9
February 13
March 13
April 10
May 8
June 12
July 10
August 14
September 11
October 9
November 13
December 11
All classes are held in the RiverView Home Care Building, 721 S. Minnesota Street, Crookston. Registration is required, and payment for the HeartSaver class must be made at the time of registration. To register or for more information, call 281-9536.
RiverView offers these classes as part of its American Heart Association (AHA) Community Training Center. Contracted Community Training Centers, like RiverView, are the only sites permitted to offer AHA classes to the public and professionals through their affiliated instructors and programs.
The Crookston Pirate Boys Hockey takes on the Waseca Bluejays Saturday afternoon in the final day of the Thief River Falls Holiday Classic at Ralph Englestad Arena in Thief River Falls. Crookston is 7-3-1 on the year. Waseca beat Thief River Falls on Friday night 5-2.
FIRST PERIOD The first period was an offensive battle for the teams as Waseca came out strong with a goal on
