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ST. WENDEL — The Stearns County Highway Department will hold an open house meeting tomorrow to gather input on County Road 4 improvement plans.

The county plans to rebuild the road between County Roads 2 and 3 in either 2013 or 2014.

Residents and other citizens are invited to view the preliminary designs and offer comments or concerns.

The meeting will be held in the St. Columbkille Church in St. Wendel located along County Road 4 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. A brief presentation will be made at 6:30 to show existing problems and designs.

County officials say the basement of the church is not handicap accessible so if you need accommodations to attend the meeting, call the county engineering office.

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ST. JOSEPH – This year’s finalists for the title of Princess Kay of the Milky Way have been named.  The 12 young women from dairy farm backgrounds were selected at the conclusion of a three-day event for county dairy princesses held in St. Joseph.

Each of the 12 will be sculpted in butter during the 2012 Minnesota State Fair.

Princess Kay is crowned each year the night before the State Fair opens.

The finalists include:

• Kelsey Buss, 20, Hutchinson, representing McLeod County, daughter of Kevin and Lori Buss;
• Valerie Grimm, 18, Waconia, representing Carver County, daughter of Joel and Barb Grimm;
• Victoria Haler, 18, Waconia, representing Carver County, daughter of Rick Haler and Connie Haasken;
• Meg Hintzen, 21, Carlos, representing Douglas County, daughter of Leonard and Jodi Hintzen;
• Kirsten Meier, 19, Watkins, representing Stearns County, daughter of Vernon and Michelle Meier;
• Laura Mesenburg, 19, Byron, representing Olmsted County, daughter of Dan and Amy Mesenburg;
• Kelsey Mussman, 19, Claremont, representing Steele County, daughter of Mike and Julie Mussman;
• Elizabeth Nix, 21, Plato, representing McLeod County, daughter of Tim and Ann Nix;
• Christine Reitsma, 17, Sauk Centre, representing Stearns County, daughter of Paul and Carolyn Reitsma;
• Laura Rosenhammer, 20, Sleepy Eye, representing Brown County, daughter of John and Patty Rosenhammer;
• Aly Schwartau, 19, Red Wing, representing Goodhue county, daughter of David and Jane Schwartau;  and
• Maggie Stiles, 18, Lakeville, representing Dakota County, daughter of Mike and Tina Stiles.

Midwest Dairy Association manages the program, which is in its 59th year.

In this afternoon’s WJON News headlines:

– Some Minnesota schools on “need improvement” list
– April housing report shows positive trend
– Big Lake man sentenced in child pornography case
– Sartell 8th grader advances to National Geographic Bee finals

WJON News.
On the Air. Online. On Charter Channel 20. On Demand.

Mudmanrace.com

ST. CLOUD — Stearns County Commissioners approved a large gathering license for an extreme fitness contest to be held this fall.

Organizer Bill Corcoran says Mud Man is not your typical event.  The race is a 5k obstacle race where participants will run, walk, climb, and crawl through the as many as 10 obstacles on the race course.

You can run the race as an individual, with a buddy or in the parent and child division.

Mud Man will be held August 18th at Powder Ridge.

To learn how to register, log on to www.mudmanrace.com.

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ST. CLOUD — The Veteran transportation systems at the St. Cloud VA Health Care System is looking for volunteers.

The new initiative called Veteran Transportation Service is expanding and drivers and transportation assistants are needed to accommodate the growth. The service has added two wheelchair accessible vans, scheduling software and GPS units.

Drivers need a valid Class C license, must pass a physical and show proof of a safe driving record.

Transportation Assistants will be responsible for helping load, secure and unload passengers.

To volunteer, contact Patricia Aljets by e-mailing her at patricia.aljets@va.gov or by calling her at 654-7622.

National Geographic Bee

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Sartell’s Gopi Ramanathan has made it to the finals of the National Geographic Bee.

The eighth grader is one of 10 state champions who will take part in the finals on Thursday.  They’ll be taped on Thursday morning at 9:00 a.m., and then shown on the National Geographic channel at 7:00 p.m. Jeopardy host Alex Trebec will moderate the finals.

The bee is being held this week in Washington, D.C.

Ramanathan is making his second appearance in the National Geographic Bee.

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Jim Maurice

ST. CLOUD – Another tenant is moving into the 5th Avenue Live! development.

The Endurunce Shop is making a short move from their current location next to Pacific Wok over to the 100 block of 5th Avenue, next to Brother’s Bar and Grill.  The Endurunce Shop will occupy two floors of the 117 building.  They’ll be open in their new location on July 1st.  It’s been restored back to it’s original high ceilings, brick walls, and 120 year old wood floors.  They’ve also restored the stained glass windows found on the second floor.

5th Avenue Live! spokesman Brian Schoenborn says the upstairs of the 117 building is still vacant, that will eventually be used as office space.  The 125 building is also still open, and they hope to eventually sign a restaurant for that location.  Schoenborn says they also still have one opening in the West 200 block — that’s the building that has Chipotle and Noodles and Company.  And in Coborn Plaza, they have three of the 10 retail spaces still vacant.   Their goal is to have all of the spaces on the west side of the street filled by the time students return to SCSU this fall, they could then turn their attention to the plans for the east side.

You’ll also notice the primary St. Cloud State University entrance monument being built in early June, and it should be completed by July 1st.

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Today’s top stories from WJON News:

– Thunderstorms possible late tonight
– Police arrest man on drug charges
– Big Lake man sentenced in child porn case
– Three injured in three-vehicle crash in St. Cloud.
– Local unemployment rate continues to drop
– Sartell-St. Stephen School board looking for applicants

WJON News
On The Air. Online. On Charter Channel 20. On Demand.

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The Twins have officially designated for assignment starting pitcher Jason Marquis.  He was 2-4 with a 8.47 ERA in 7 starts for the Twins this season.  Marquis allowed 8 earned runs in 1 2/3 innings against Milwaukee Sunday.  The Twins have called up righthander Cole DeVries from triple-A Rochester to replace Marquis in the rotation.  DeVries is a Eden Prairie, Minnesota native and attended the University of Minnesota.

DeVries has an ERA of 4.24 and 1-4 record at triple-A Rochester.  He is 27-years old.

derekskey, Flickr

MINNEAPOLIS — A 48-year-old Big Lake man has been sentenced to prison for producing child pornography.

U.S. District Court Judge Susan Richard-Nelson sentenced Joel Zigler to 25 years in a federal prison.

Zigler admitted in January he induced minors to engage in sexually explicit conduct and recorded it with a digital camcorder. The videos were made in October 2010 in a Hibbing hotel room.

Authorities seized the equipment at Zigler’s parents’ home where he was staying at the time of the indictment.

The figures released today (Tuesday) from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development show an unemployment rate for our area at 5.1% – down from 6.7% in March.  It’s our lowest unemployment rate since October of last year.  And it’s also the lowest April unemployment figure for us since 2007.

The St. Cloud metro area is faring better than the state as a whole, which is at 5.6%, and the national unemployment rate which is at 8.1%.

Steven Wright

SARTELL – The Sartell-St. Stephen school district is accepting applications for their two school board vacancies.

Applications are available at the Superintendent’s office, and also on the district’s website.

The deadline to apply is 4:00 p.m. Thursday, May 31st.

The board plans to select two people to fill the positions at the June 25th meeting.

Steven Wright

ST. CLOUD – St. Cloud police have arrested a 24-year-old man on drug charges.

Officers were called to the 800 block of East St. Germain Street at about 8:00 p.m. last (Monday) night.

A woman reported she was approached by a man on a bike who wanted to sell her pills.  Officers identified the man as Dustin Tolentino.  He admitted he had narcotics on him and produced a bottle of 24 pills.  He was arrested and brought to the Benton County Jail.

St. Cloud police say the incident happened at the intersection of Highway 15 and 12th Street North at about 4:20 p.m.

A vehicle driven by 28-year-old Rachel Mercer of Roseville, and another vehicle driven by 34-year-old Christine Seitz of Sartell were both heading south on Highway 15.  A third vehicle driven by 58-year-old Lonnie Albrecht of St. Cloud was attempting to make a left-hand turn when they crashed.  All of the drivers claimed to have a green light.

Albrecht and Mercer were taken to St. Cloud Hospital.

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ST. PAUL  (AP) – School officials in Minnesota are raising concerns about the shortage of counselors available to students in the state’s classrooms.

The Minnesota Association of School Counselors says the average ratio of students to counselors in the state is about 800 to 1. That ratio puts Minnesota second to last in the U.S.

University of Minnesota professor of counseling, Kay Hertling Wahl, says the lopsided ratio makes it difficult for counselors to be effective in dealing with depression, addiction or bullying.

State law doesn’t require schools to put counselors, social workers or psychologists on staff. That’s up to administrators in each school district. There are dozens of school districts in Minnesota that don’t have any counselors.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved)

National Weather Service

UNDATED – Thunderstorms will be possible late tonight (Tuesday) through Sunday.

If severe weather develops, the greatest threat will occur Wednesday and Wednesday night.

Heavy rainfall is also possible, with some locations picking up as much as two inches of rain in as little as six hours.

Resources
National Weather Service
WJON.com Weather Page

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The Twins are expected to designate for assignment starting pitcher Jason Marquis today.  According to the Star Tribune siting a source within the organization, the team will intend to release Marquis.  Marquis is 2-4 with a 8.47 ERA in 7 starts with the Twins this season.  Righthander Liam Hendriks is likely to be recalled from triple-A Rochester to take his spot in the rotation.  Hendriks is 2-0 with a 1.93 ERA in 18 2/3 innings at triple-A.  He had a 9.00 ERA and 0-2 record in 4 starts with the Twins this season.

Minnesota had the day off Monday and will begin a 3-game series at Chicago against the White Sox Tuesday night at 7:10, pregame on WJON at 6:40.  Righthander P.J. Walters (1-1) gets the start on the mound for the Twins and righthander Gavin Floyd (3-4) toes the rubber for the White Sox.  The Twins are 14-27 but have won 4 of their last 5.

St. Cloud Tech and Community College

The St. Cloud Tech and Community College baseball team saw their season end Monday when they lost 13-3 in 7 innings to Niagara in the National Junior College World Series in Tyler, Texas.

The Cylones were 1-2 in the tournament after losing Saturday but staying alive with a win on Sunday.

Apollo 6, Brainerd 1
Apollo 4, Brainerd 0

Tech 6, STMA 5
St. John’s Prep 7, Upsala-Swanville 0

London looks, Flickr

CLEAR LAKE – MnDOT has announced a road closure at the intersection of Highway 10 and County Road 11, part of the project from Clear Lake to Big Lake.

It will begin at 10:00 a.m. this (Tuesday) morning.  The intersection is scheduled to reopen by 6:00 a.m. tomorrow.

State Troopers will be on the scene to help direct traffic.