central minnesota

Sex trafficking is an everyday problem that affects thousands. Here in central Minnesota, it is the subject of several area organizations.

A group of people from all over the state gathered in St. Cloud to bring awareness to Veteran Suicide.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Minnesota is hosting its annual Magic Moments Gala.

Central Minnesota's biggest rock music festival is taking the year off.

Conversations have been swirling at the U.S. Senate this week about proposed legislation to block people on the no-fly list from buying guns. A Waite Park gun shop says the national conversation on gun control has led to a growing interest from the Central Minnesota community for modern sporting rifles.

A community task force will recommend in June that the Sauk Rapids-Rice School District build a fourth elementary school and replace Pleasantview Elementary with a new building. Sauk Rapids-Rice is grappling with space concerns due to growing enrollment numbers (the district has grown by 800 students within the last six years).

Sex trafficking is a growing industry among gangs and drug dealers who use women to make them money by selling sex. It's a crime syndicate that operates in the shadows of every city big and small and Stearns County is no different.

While the number of people suffering from homelessness is dropping statewide, they're increasing in Central Minnesota. The Wilder Foundation released numbers on Monday, showing the number of homeless people in Minnesota has dropped since 2012.

A Foley High school student is hoping to take a step towards competing in the Olympics this weekend. 17-year-old swimmer Kasey Milstroh is competing in the Speedo Sections in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin.

A new report says up to 60 percent of the groundwater monitoring wells sampled across central Minnesota are contaminated with nitrates well above the safe drinking water standard.