Morning Newswatch with Jay Caldwell

St. Cloud native Alex Koopmeiners is in his 8th season playing professional hockey. The 31-year old 2010 Cathedral graduate is currently playing in the ECHL with the New Foundland Growlers which is located in St. John's, New Foundland in Labrador, Canada.

In this edition of WJON's My Life series we examine the life of former St. Cloud Times sportswriter turned author, Kevin Allenspach. Kevin grew up west of Garrison, Minnesota near Lake Mille Lacs and went to high school in Brainerd.

Stearns County Commissioners are looking at 3 options for the future of the Stearns County Jail. The two downtown options include building a 2-story building which would be an extension of where the current jail, is expanding to the west.

The warmer than normal weather in Central Minnesota has caused a late start to the ice fishing season. Glen Schmitt from Outdoor News joined me on WJON. Schmitt explains the temperatures are getting close to normalizing this week but the ice locally is generally not safe and he's waiting at least a week before giving ice fishing a shot here.

The St. Cloud Police Department are reporting a burglary on the 1400 block of 6th Avenue North where Alicia Mages from Tri-County Crimestoppers says an unknown person cut a lock construction Conex container and stole multiple spools of wire.

The United States are producing more oil in recent years, importing less and exporting more. That according to St. Cloud State Economist King Banaian, who joined me on WJON today. He says the trend in the country indicates we are consuming marginally less oil from year to year.

The weather has created some challenges for some of Minnesota's outdoor festivals but many remained scheduled as of today. Explore Minnesota's Jake Juliot highlighted what events you could be interested in.

Viking head coach Kevin O'Connell has indicated he knows who will start at quarterback for the Vikings Sunday when they play their final regular season game against the Lions in Detroit, but he won't announce the decision until all the parties involved are informed in person.

Royalton is a small town in Central Minnesota between Rice and Little Falls along Highway 10 and the Platte River residing in both Morrison and Benton Counties with a population of 1,281. Most of Royalton is in Morrison County.

The Sartell Police Department are reporting a theft on 19th Avenue North where officers were called to a construction site. Alicia Mages from Tri-County Crimestoppers says a contractor indicates an unknown party stole 4 heavy duty batteries out of a forklift at a job site.