The University of Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagle Softball team hosts the University of Mary Marauders in a Northern Sun Conference doubleheader starting at 2:00 p.m. today at the UMC Softball field. UMC is 5-13 in NSIC play and 17-28 overall. Mary is 2-18 in NSIC play and 9-36 overall.
A suspect has been taken into police custody after a mass shooting on Thursday at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. At least two people were confirmed dead, with six others hospitalized after police responded to a shooting on the campus of FSU.
Per ABC News, the suspect is identified as 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner — a current FSU student and the son of a current Leon County sheriff’s deputy, according to Sheriff Walter McNeil. The suspect is said to have had access to one of his mother’s personal weapons, which was one of the weapons found at the scene. McNeil said that the suspect’s mother has been a deputy with the department for more than 18 years and “her service to this community has been exceptional,” adding that the suspect was also a “long-standing member” of the Leon County Sheriff’s Office’s Youth Advisory Council.
It appears that Ikner had a handgun and a shotgun with him when he allegedly opened fire near the Student Union at FSU, which prompted ambulances, fire trucks and patrol vehicles from multiple law enforcement agencies to respond after the university issued an active shooter alert midday Thursday. The university’s FSU Alert account on X said the report was made in the area of the student union: Police responded to an active shooter call from the area of the student union around 12:01 p.m., FSU said. The school’s alert warned those on campus to “seek shelter and await further instructions.” The university also cautioned students to lock and stay away from all doors and windows.
Police have not identified the two people killed, but said they were not students at FSU. Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare said it had received six patients, all currently listed in fair condition. The suspected shooter was also being treated at the hospital.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said, “My heart breaks for the students, their families, and faculty at Florida State University. There is no place in American society for violence. Our entire nation is praying for the victims and their families.”
FSU informed students that the threat to the campus has been “neutralized” but the area around the campus is still considered an active crime scene. Per CNN, the university is cancelling classes, business operations and athletic events after the campus shooting: “All classes and business operations are canceled through Friday, April 18. Essential employees should check with their supervisors for further reporting instructions. Athletics events in Tallahassee are canceled throughout the weekend.”
The Supreme Court announced Thursday that it will hold oral arguments next month to consider whether the Trump administration can partially implement an executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship.
The birthright citizenship order seeks to limit automatic citizenship to children born in the U.S. to parents who are citizens or lawful permanent residents. Specifically, it excludes children born to undocumented mothers, those in the U.S. temporarily, or children whose fathers lack legal status or citizenship. Under the directive, federal agencies were instructed to stop recognizing U.S. citizenship for children born after February 19.
The high court scheduled the hearing for May 15 at 10 a.m., to hear the Justice Department’s request for emergency relief. These injunctions have so far prevented the federal government from implementing a new framework that would deny automatic citizenship to children born in the U.S. to parents without permanent legal status.
The administration is asking the Court to scale back three federal injunctions that currently prevent enforcement of President Trump’s order across the country. If the Supreme Court grants the request, the administration would only be restricted from applying the executive order to a limited group: the individual plaintiffs, certain immigrant advocacy groups, and residents of 22 states.
The acting solicitor general wrote in the application to the Court “enough is enough,” urging the justices to limit the injunctions to the individual plaintiffs and specific group members involved in the case: “At the very least,” she added, “the Court should permit federal agencies to prepare and issue public guidance on the new policy.”
Opponents of the order have urged the Supreme Court to maintain the lower court rulings. Officials from 18 states, along with Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, argued in court filings that the administration’s request would effectively strip citizenship from potentially hundreds of thousands of children born in the U.S.
Ben Affleck and Jon Bernthal star in the trailer for their upcoming flick ‘The Accountant 2’, the follow-up to the 2016 original film The Accountant.
The trailer shows Affleck’s character reconnecting with Bernthal after the corpse of J. K. Simmons’ character is shown at the morgue. Later, the pair find an unusual way of bonding when they end up in a bar fight with other patrons. Cynthia Addai-Robinson and Allison Robertson round out the cast.
Affleck and Matt Damon are producing the film via Artists Equity, with executive producers including Artists Equity’s Dani Bernfeld, Kevin Halloran, Michael Joe and Alison Winter. Scott Lastaiti and Jamie Patricof will also serve as executive producers.
Warners Bros.’ 2016 film collected $86 million at the domestic box office and $155 million globally. It centered on Christian Wolff (Affleck), a certified public accountant on the autism spectrum who has worked for criminal organizations and uses his past as an assassin to protect himself when the Treasury Department closes in on him.
The Accountant 2 hits theaters on April 25; see the trailer – HERE.
Variety reports that Kiernan Shipka, Jack Farthing, Toheeb Jimoh and Amy James-Kelly have joined the upcoming fourth season of the HBO drama series ‘Industry.’ The eighth-episode fourth season just began production in the UK.
Shipka will play Haley Clay, an executive assistant at payment processor Tender. Farthing will play Edward Smith, a troublemaker and long-time friend of Henry’s. Jimoh will portray Kwabena Bannerman, trader at Mostyn Asset Management. James-Kelly will play Jennifer Bevan, the newly promoted Minister in the Labour government. Minghella plays Whitney Halberstram, the CFO and Founder of Tender.
The new additions join previously announced new cast member Max Minghella, as well as returning cast Myha’la, Marisa Abela, Ken Leung, Sagar Radia, Kit Harington, and Miriam Petche.
Charles Earl Littlefield (Chuck) passed away unexpectedly at Essentia Hospital in Fargo, ND on Sunday, April 13, 2025 at the age of 70.
Chuck was born July 25, 1954, to John and Dorothy (Anderson) Littlefield in Spartanburg, SC. His family moved to Marietta, GA (a northern suburb of Atlanta) when he was a baby. Chuck welcomed the joy of his life, daughter Kelli, in 1978. While in Georgia, Chuck bonded with a group of guys that he forever referred to as his “brothers” and remained tight with them throughout the years. When both were working for IBM in Kennesaw, GA, Chuck met Diane (Swenson), whom he married in 1997. Chuck and Diane moved to Fertile, MN, in 2003.
Chuck and Diane enjoyed traveling, especially to visit Kelli and other family in Georgia. He enjoyed country-western dancing, hunting, fishing, and restoring antique furniture. Chuck spent his retirement years working on upgrades and projects around their home and charming the locals with his southern colloquialisms.
Chuck retired from IBM in 2010 and worked on and off for various companies like Arctic Cat, Bergeson Nursery, and M Bar D until fully retiring in 2019.
Chuck is survived by his wife, Diane, Fertile, MN; daughter, Kelli Pawloski (Dave), Savannah, GA; brother, John Littlefield (Pam), Woodstock, GA; sister, Mary Littlefield, Acworth, GA, and many beloved nieces and nephews. He is preceded in death by his parents and a sister, Ann Ergas.
Memorial Service: 2:00 PM, Friday, April 25, 2025 at Erikson-Vik-Ganje Funeral Home, Fertile, MN. Visitation: One hour before the service at the funeral home. Please view our guestbook and share condolences online at www.eriksonvikfh.com Arrangements with Erikson-Vik-Ganje Funeral Home Fertile, Minnesota
The Regional Corrections Board met Monday, April 14, at 9:00 a.m. at the Polk County Justice Center. After approval of the March meeting minutes,Executive Director Andrew Larson gave his departmental monthly statistical reports review. “Jail continues to see lower numbers than we have seen over the last three or four years, so for March, the average daily population was 131,” says Larson. “That puts us at about 130, which is our average daily for the first quarter of the year. That’s really driven by lower numbers of our local partners, so Polk, Norman, Red Lake, the Polk numbers have really come down a lot, and that is really what’s driving that reduction.” Larson says they are still seeing healthy numbers of per diems, or those being housed for other jurisdictions. He says they averaged 50 per diem on an average daily basis during the month of March.
Things continue to trend upwards at the Juvenile Center as far as the numbers go.“Our numbers have really been good,” says Larson. “We’ve been able to really fill a need throughout the entire state. So, for the month of March, there was an average daily population of 9.8; 5.5 on our residential side and 4.3 on our secure detention side. Thirty percent of the bed days on our residential side were for member counties, 70 percent were for counties from across the state.”On the Secure side Larson says that they had placements from Nobles County, Blue Earth and Marshall in March which really highlights the need in the state to find beds for kids that are having mental issues, need to be taken out of the home due to an unsafe environment, or have delinquency charges and need to be in a secure detention setting.
The board went into a short closed session that had to do with a leave request, and once the meeting was reopened, Larson talked with the board about personnel issues. “We do have some new appointments and some resignations. Also, as I discussed with the board, we are seeing staff reach that one-year mark, which designates their probationary period, which is a good thing. They are here and they are sticking around,” says Larson. “They are getting through that tough part in the job where things typically start to get easier after that one-yearmark, and we did have several as well as some internal promotions.” Retention, Larson says, is key. Even though they are fully staffed at times, many of those staff members are often in training. It has gotten better, though Larson reported, and currently, five staff members are still in training.
Red River Valley Juvenile Center Program Director, Kyle Allen,presented an update to the board on Monday. “He talked similarly to what I talked about, just expanding our footprint, some of the challenges with some rule changes within the state of Minnesota,” says Larson. “Specifically, safety separation and all of the record keeping that’s required for that. Kyle has also recently completed some certification and suicide prevention training. He and other juvenile center directors will now be training agencies around the state on QPR.” QPR Larson explained that it is question, persuade, and refer. This new model will be used in training in Juvenile facilities, as well as probation and jails.
The board was updated on a DWI Court Grant Amendment andan Intergovernmental Agreement with the United States Marshals Service. “I did update the board on some grant agreement amendments, we got some training money for DUI court so we did have an amendment there and also an amendment to our US Marshall Contract, just making some language changes, much of that driven by some of the executive orders coming out of the federal side of things.” The DWI Court Grant Amendment added $3,000 for DWI training participation by NWRCC staff.
Larson also brought to the board’s attention, without getting into a lot of detail, some Legislative Bills that are in the works that could have a potential impact on Corrections. “There are several Legislative pieces in variousstages that have all been laid over, but there are several things we are kind of keeping our eye on,” says Larson. “Some of them are for some increases in Mental Health Funding for juvenile detention facilities, one of the others is a bill to delay the implementation of sun-setting of corrections fees and that kind of co-insides with another community supervision funding bill and the last one that I briefed the board on was some proposed legislation to eliminate the Community Crime and Violence Prevention Grant program which could have an impact on us because we use that for some of our pre-trial supervision program. Just things we are really keeping an eye on with hope that we won’t be impacted as much as I fear we may be.”
There will be a Tri-County Correction Center Advisory Board Meeting on Friday, May 16, at 12:00 p.m., and the next Regional Corrections Board Meeting will be on Monday, May 12, 2025.
The Crookston Pirate Girls Golf team started the 2025 season by winning the Crookston triangular, beating East Grand Forks and Thief River Falls. Crookston shot a nine-hole round of 179, which was 29 strokes better than East Grand Forks.
Crookston was led by Addison Fee, who shot a 43 (6 over par). Fee recorded a birdie on the par-four sixth hole. She had three pars, four bogeys, and one triple bogey. Georgia Sanders turned in a solid 45. The senior carded a birdie on the par-five ninth hole. Sanders also had two pars, three bogeys, and three double bogeys. Emelia Hoerner also shot a 45. The junior carded three pars, five bogeys, and one triple bogey. Madelyn Anderson shot a 46, which was good for fourth place individually. The junior carded three pars, three bogeys, and three double bogeys. Ava Martin rounded out the Pirate top five finishers with a 47. The junior turned in two pars, five bogeys, a double bogey, and a triple bogey. The Pirates had three golfers tie for the sixth-best Pirate score with a 49. Taylor Wieland, Kaylie Clauson, and Halle Nicholas. All the individual Pirate scores are below.
Listen to Coach Cooper Freije’s comments by clicking above
The Crookston Pirate Softball team hosts the Northern Freeze (Marshall County Central/Tri-County) at Donnie Lauf Field in Crookston this afternoon. KROX will broadcast the game with a RiverView Health pre-game show at 4:00 p.m. Crookston is 1-3 on the year while the Northern Freeze is 0-3 on the year.
The CHS Band, Orchestra, and Choir each year participate in the Region 8A Large Group Contest. CHS hosted this year’s contest on Wednesday, April 9. For performance, students prepare at least one piece of repertoire from an approved MSHL list, along with others, to complete no more than a twenty-minute performance. As part of the contest experience, students listen to other ensembles from the area, receive ratings and comments from three adjudicators, and also receive brief verbal feedback while still on stage. Students also receive points toward lettering in music.
The Crookston ensembles all received overall Superior ratings (scores within the highest range given for the contest), and the judges voted the CHS Orchestra as the best orchestra of the day. Students studied the rubrics ahead of the contest as a way to understand aspects of musical performance more analytically.Choir and band students have also participated in MSHL solo and ensemble contests this year. Some of the orchestra students will attend their solo and ensemble contest in Bemidji on April 23rd.
Manny Green directs the CHS band, Lori Carlson directs the orchestra, and Adrianne Winger directs the choir.
