President Donald Trump met with French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday today to discuss topics including the war in Ukraine and trade issues. Earlier on Monday, Trump and Macron participated in a virtual meeting with fellow Group of Seven leaders to discuss the war.
Pres. Trump said: “France is America’s oldest ally, our cherished partnership has been a force for freedom, prosperity and peace from the very beginning. We’re now working on some very interesting developments, one in particular, as you know, the war between Russia and Ukraine.” Trump said he was hopeful that Russia’s war in Ukraine was nearing an ‘endgame’ – on the third anniversary of the invasion. Trump said he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin would accept European peacekeepers in Ukraine to keep the peace, and ‘had hope’ that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would soon come to the U.S. to sign a deal to give the U.S. access to Ukraine’s critical minerals (in order to repay some of the $180 billion in American aid that’s been sent to Kyiv since the start of the war).
Macron said at a joint press conference with Trump following their meeting said their talks were productive, acknowledging that European nations must do more to bolster defense on the continent while also warning against capitulating to Russia: ″This peace must not mean a surrender of Ukraine. It must not mean a ceasefire without guarantees. This peace must allow for Ukrainian sovereignty.” Trump said he believed Putin would accept European peacekeepers in Ukraine as part of a potential deal to end Russia’s war there. “Yeah, he will accept it. I have asked him that question. Look, if we do this deal, he’s not looking for more war.”
Trump called Macron a “very special man” during the bilateral meeting, noting that they talked about various trade deals between the U.S. and France earlier in the day. The President is also set to meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the White House later this week.
Sony Pictures announced the cast of the upcoming Anaconda reboot in a YouTube clip, which saw film stars Paul Rudd and Jack Black singing the names of the actors appearing in the film.
Black sings: “We gotta kill that snake, and the snake inside. Gotta kill it. We’re gonna break its neck and cook it a the stove. And when we bring that snake back home, we’re gonna have ourselves a movie.”
Thandiwe Newton, Steve Zahn, Selton Mello and Daniela Melchior will join Black and Rudd in the new movie (the original 1997 film featured Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Eric Stoltz and Jon Voight.)
Per Variety, the new Anaconda follows the mishaps a friend group encounters in the jungle as they seek to film a new version of movie they enjoyed when they were younger.
Anaconda opens in theaters Christmas Day; see the video clip: HERE.
Legendary R&B vocalist Roberta Flack has died at the age of 88.
According to a statement from her rep: “We are heartbroken that the glorious Roberta Flack passed away this morning, February 24, 2025. She died peacefully surrounded by her family. Roberta broke boundaries and records. She was also a proud educator.” A formal cause of death was not shared, but the music artist had been navigating ALS since 2022, causing her to lose her ability to sing (per NBC News.)
The Grammy-winning artist, who rose to stardom in the early ’70s with the iconic hit songs “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” started playing piano as a girl and earned herself a Howard University scholarship at just 15 years old. Eventually, she became a teacher, and sang in Washington D.C. clubs before releasing her first album, First Take, in 1969. It included the song “The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face,” which became popular after it appeared in Clint Eastwood’s Play Misty for Me, and earned the singer two Grammy awards.
Flack was honored with a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 1999, and she later developed the Roberta Flack School of Music for the Bronx’s Hyde Leadership Charter School. Flack was married to jazz musician Steve Novosel from 1966 to 1972, and was the godmother of musician Bernard Wright, who died in May 2022.
The Crookston School Board met on Monday, February 2 at Crookston High School. Following the Call to Order and Pledge of Allegiance, the board heard from a couple of students. Two seniors spoke to the board about something very important to them as graduation is approaching. “We had two young ladies that presented and a couple of young ladies who supported them,” says Randal Bergquist, School Superintendent. “I give these two gals a lot of credit, they were very professional. They just talked about how it’s been a tradition here in Crookston that the senior class got to pick a teacher, and the teacher could talk at their graduation.” Bergquist says there has been some discussion set forth that this tradition may not be continuing, and the students were concerned and spoke to the board about their concerns. The board said they would talk about it and will bring it up with Mr. Torgerson upon his return and report back at the next school board meeting.
The board heard from Gina Gunderson, the director of the Crookston ECFE and School Readiness programs, as the Feature Program part of Monday’s meeting. Gunderson gave a presentation that covered topics at Washington, including attendance, smaller class sizes, the most recent conferences, and more. She also called on School Readiness teacher Kiely Tate to help with the presentation, who told us how vital the decreased class sizes are to kids and teachers. “We have seen a huge increase in our students’ behaviors; we can use that to our advantage, and they are supported in our classrooms,” says Tate. “So, if we can deal with two less students, that’s two less students to help in the bathroom, and two less students to help get ready, so that is 16 students that are benefiting, and we get to connect with each of those students.”
Tate also touched on the importance of attendance at Washington, even though it isn’t mandatory. “Preschool is super important, and it isn’t mandatory, although we are establishing routines with families and trying to get kids in school so that they are successful at that early age and establishing those routines at early ages,” says Tate. “So, when they hit those grades where it is mandatory, they already have those established, and they are ready for school.”
Conferences for Washington were just over a week ago, and Tate says the improvement from fall to winter was quite noticeable. “At the beginning, in my classroom, all of the kids were not meeting where they needed to be for their social/emotional skills,” says Tate. “Now they are all at “meet expectations,” so we get to communicate that with our parents. I also had 100% of my parents attend conferences, which is huge in saying that our community is investing in our youngest learners, so they are successful.”
The consent agenda was approved although Item 4.3.7 was pulled out for discussion. This item was to approve the Concessions Manager Contract for Kayla Snyder. The board was asked to increase the contract from $4,000 to $8,000. “We have concessions that we provide at various extracurricular activities, and last year Kayla received $4,000,” says Bergquist. “This school year, we have increased our number of concession opportunities by almost 30, and next year, it’s going to be closer to 50 that we are going to increase.”,
Bergquist says it is essential to showcase the multi-use facility, and the job of the Concessions Manager is vital to make things run smoothly. “Being a concession stand director, you do all the ordering; you take the cash, you count out the cash, and it’s not something you can get done really during the school day,” says Bergquist. “You go to a football game or soccer game; for example, concessions are being done in the evenings.” The job also requires ordering food, pop, and supplies, getting popcorn ready for basketball games, and a lot of Saturday hours as well. The School Board voted unanimously to approve the contract increase.
Also, on Monday’s consent agenda, the board was asked to accept the Letter of Retirement from Kim Davidson, a fourth Grade Teacher from Highland Elementary School. Davidson was in attendance, and the board thanked her and told her she would be missed. Davidson taught for 11 years before coming to Crookston where she taught for another 31 years. Davidson also serves as the Crookston Education Association President.
The Main Agenda for the evening consisted of one item: The board was asked to approve the Memorandum of Understanding with the CEA for the READ Act. Bergquist explained what the READ Act is. “It’s the science of reading,” says Bergquist. “That’s what the READ Act is saying. Ok, Teachers, you need to be trained on this, and administrators need to be trained on this so we can implement this in the classroom.”
The READ Act was established with specific parameters yet allowed districts to choose from different programs to use. “So, our district gets to pick the program,” says Bergquist. “Before my time, they picked LETTERS, so elementary teachers worked on a program called LETTERS. It was 155 hours that they had to put in extra to make sure they passed the two-year program of LETTERS.”
Bergquist says that the district paid a lot for that training. “Now this year, the State of Minnesota allocated money to each district based, I think, on its student population,” says Bergquist. “Our district got $42,000 or $43,000, so as of July 1, 2024, we were supposed to meet with our administration local union and talk about what are the parameters to make sure we are following what the State of Minnesota is requiring us to do.” Bergquist says the meetings have gone quite well and that they have decided to go to a different program that is only 67 hours in addition to regular teaching duties. “We had to do this as a state mandate; many districts have already completed their memorandum of understanding,” says Bergquist. “This is just something we have to do, like so many other things the state of Minnesota requires us to do as a school district.” Bergquist is hoping that by implementing this program, reading scores will be better across the state.
The Northern Sun Conference (NSIC) has announced that University of Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagle Baseball players, Sawyer Satrom (Sr. Portland, ND) was named the NSIC Player of the Week, and Josh Dykhoff (Jr. Wadena) was named the NSIC Pitcher of the Week.
The Player of the Week recognition for Satrom is his first as a Golden Eagle. The senior hit .458 with a .792 slugging percentage over the course of six games and was 7-11 through three games with Wayne State College. Satrom also hit a grand slam against Stanislaus State to put that game out of reach. Satrom currently leads the Northern Sun in runs scored per game.
It’s the second weekly honor for the junior Dykhoff, who won it, along with his brother, back in March of 2023. The Wadena native didn’t allow a run over 11 innings through two starts and was almost unhittable, allowing just a .111 opponents’ batting average and threw his first complete game of the season in a dominant start against Wayne State College on Sunday.
The Crookston Pirate Boys Basketball team had a great first half and senior post, Hunter Nicholas made two free throws to become the Pirate Boys Basketball all-time leading scorer as they held on to beat the Norman County East/Ulen-Hitterdal Titans at the Crookston High School gymnasium.The Pirates celebrated senior night and parents’ night.
FIRST HALF – The game was tied at 2-2 over two minutes into the game when Crookston went on a 13-0 run. The run started with a Hunter Nicholas three-pointer. Jack Everett followed with a three-pointer. Nicholas scored another basket before Contreras made a shot and Michael Deng made a three-pointer for a 15-2 lead with 11:33 left in the half. NCE/UH finally made their second basket when Bryce Braseth scored, but Crookston’s Tyler Michaelson buried a three-pointer from the corner for an 18-4 lead. NCE/UH’s Axel Kjono hit back-to-back three-pointer to get within an 18-10 deficit with 7:59 to go. Crookston led 22-13 when they went on an 11-0 run with Matt Contreras scoring four points, Everett had a three-pointer and Nicholas was fouled after Everett’s shot and was awarded free throws in the bonus. Nicholas made both free throws with the first free throw breaking the Pirate Boys Basketball Career scoring record. Kenley Wahlin (2001-2005) scored 1,438 points and with the free throw, Nicholas passed Wahlin with 1,439 to become the new all-time Pirate Boys Basketball scorer. Nicholas added another basket ant the teams exchanged baskets in the final two minutes and Crookston took a 35-17 lead into halftime.
SECOND HALF – NCE/UH started the second half on a 6-0 run and showed Crookston the Titans weren’t going down without a fight. Crookston’s Nicholas responded with a 6-1 run by himself for a 41-24 lead over four minutes into the half. Five minutes later, Crookston had a 54-36 lead after a 7-0 run with five points from Michaelson and a basket by Everett. NCE/UH battled back and took advantage of a bunch of Pirate turnovers to get within a 55-50 deficit with 5:39 remaining. Crookston’s Zachariah Ali made a big three-pointer before the Titans responded with four straight points. Crookston continued to make big plays when they had to. Contreras and Nicholas made back-to-back baskets for a 65-56 lead. NCE/UH answered with a 5-1 run to get within a 66-61 deficit when Crookston’s Contreras made one free throw for a 68-61 lead with 31 seconds to go. Crookston held on to win 69-63 for their third win in a row.
Crookston improves to 8-16 on the year and will travel to Bagley on Thursday. NCE/UH ends the regular season with a 12-14 record. JV-NCE/UH won 60-44 C-Squad-NCE/UH 77-45
Click above to listen to Hunter Nicholas’s commentsClick above to listen to Coach Bruce Erdmann’s comments
The Climax-Fisher Knights Girls’ Basketball team, after trailing by 17 early, closed the lead down to 3, but the Stephen-Argyle Storm hit clutch shots down the stretch to hold on and win 54-47 in the Section 8A Tournament Play-In.
FIRST HALF – The first half started perfectly for Stephen-Argyle, as the Storm got a 3-pointer from Nora Osowski and free throws from Ayla Woinarowicz to put the Storm up 9-0 a minute and a half in. The Knights had no answer for the lockdown Storm defense, and their red-hot shooting to open the half. Osowski hit three triples and Westman added one of her own to put the Storm up 22-5 with under 11 minutes left. Climax-Fisher would not go down without a fight, however, and their defense increased their intensity and became extremely disruptive. Lucy Paulsrud gathered 3 steals in just under a minute, and the Knights began clawing their way back. After a Woinarowicz free throw made it 27-10 with 8:54 left, the Knights held the Storm scoreless for over 6 minutes and slowly clawed their way back into the game, going on an 11-0 run to cut the lead down to 6, at 27-21. Another 3-pointer by the Storm and two final free throws by Brooklyn Hoffman sent the game into halftime with the Storm up 30-23.
SECOND HALF – As the second half began, the pace significantly slowed down, and both teams began to run very sloppy offense. Turnovers were very plentiful, and this played into the hands of the Knights, as they began to pound the ball inside, giving Brooklyn Hoffman more opportunities, and when she wasn’t making the shots, she was getting to the free throw line. However, the Storm began to do the same thing, giving the ball more to Woinarowicz. After the Knights cut the lead down to 34-31, the Storm went on a 10-2 run on purely layups to take a 44-33 lead. Climax-Fisher continued to claw back, as an Anna Nesvig bucket cut the lead down to 5, but that would be the closest the Knights would get for the remainder of the contest. Clutch free throws by Isabelle Westman rose the lead to 8, and a scoop shot by Jocelyn Groven put the game on ice, and the Storm would hang on to win, 54-47
Stephen-Argyle improves to 9-16 and will take on Warren-Alvarado-Oslo in the Section 8A Quarterfinals on Thursday at UMC. Climax-Fisher’s season comes to an end with an 8-19 record.
Postgame comments from Storm head coach David Smith.
