Detroit Lakes man charged with assaulting juvenile with a tire iron

Detroit Lakes, Minn. (KDLM) – A Detroit Lakes man has been charged with felony second-degree assault after striking a juvenile at the Becker County Fair with a tire iron during a fight involving multiple people.

According to court records, on July 27, a juvenile male reported that he was assaulted by four or five people after he was punched and knocked to the ground by another juvenile.

During the melee, a man later identified as 19-year-old Arthur Deshun Campbell of Detroit Lakes was seen hitting the boy with a tire iron in the back.

One of the juvenile’s friends were able to wrestle the weapon from Campbell and gave it to a fair employee at the yo-yo ride.

Officers observed the victim to have a swollen, bloody lip and forehead, as well as, red marks and bruising on his chest and back. He was also diagnosed with a concussion when he sought medical treatment for his injuries.

Campbell’s request for a public defender was approved and he is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Nov. 2 in Becker County District Court.

Verndale man injured in Highway 10 crash Saturday night

A Verndale man was injured in a single-vehicle crash on Highway 10 in Randall on Saturday night.

On Oct. 28 at 7:03 p.m., a 2007 Nissan Maxima, driven by 21-year-old Vincent Earl Dailey of Verndale, was eastbound on Highway 10 at mile marker 134 in Randall when it left the roadway and entered a roadside ditch before striking a culvert.

Airbags deployed in the Nissan during the crash.

Dailey suffered non-life-threatening injuries during the crash and was transported to St. Gabriel’s Hospital in Little Falls for treatment.

Dailey was not wearing his seatbelt at the time of the crash and law enforcement believes alcohol may have factored into the incident.

New ‘x-band’ radar coming to Wendell; expected to increase weather data to several counties

After about a year of research and planning, a new weather radar site will soon go online in west-central Minnesota.   

The site should fill gaps in radar coverage in parts of several counties.   

Grant County Emergency Manager Tina Lindquist says she worked with other emergency managers, a retired national weather service meteorologist and Louisville, Kentucky-based “climavision” to bring the “x-band” radar to Wendell, Minnesota, northwest of Elbow Lake, where it sits on top of the water tower.  

“Climavision is a private company and we were able to work with them,” said Lindquist. “They had a radar ready to deploy and things just really started to gain momentum because there is zero cost to the county and zero cost to the city. We moved full steam ahead.”
Lindquist says the radar has a radius of about 60 miles and will be most helpful during the spring and summer severe weather season in Grant, Otter Tail, Douglas, Pope, Stevens and Traverse Counties.   

Lindquist says Wendell is considered a pilot project and added the real-time information will be shared with emergency management and other government agencies. 

Another radar site is planned for Kandiyohi County next year.   

The meteorologist-in-charge of the weather service in Grand Forks says the radar will be useful in providing coverage to areas that are out of reach of the weather service “nexrad” sites. 

Story by Paul Jurgens / KFGO

New Kids On The Block coming to Prior Lake June 24; special guests Paula Abdul and DJ Jazzy Jeff

A blast from the 90s will take over Prior Lake’s Mystic Amphitheater in June.

New Kids on the Block, with very special guests Paula Abdul and DJ Jazzy Jeff, will play on June 23rd as part of the Magic Summer Tour 2024. NKOTB has sold 80 million albums, and they said to expect greatest hits, fan favorites, and surprises with the show. The tour is the same name as the 1990 tour, which saw the group sell out some of the biggest stadiums in the country.

Paula Abdul has sold 60 million albums and earned a pile of awards, including Grammys, American Music Awards, and Emmys. “Straight Up!”, one of four singles that set a record for the most #1 Billboard charted singles from a debut album, has over 100M streams worldwide.

DJ Jazzy Jeff is half of DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. A multi-platinum artist, he has collaborated most famously with Will Smith.

Tickets go on sale to the fan club on Wednesday and to the general public on Friday, November 3rd, at 10:00 a.m. by clicking here.

Story by Jennifer Lewerenz / KNSI

Rep. Michelle Fischbach praises new speaker Mike Johnson; announces run for Republican House vice-conference chair

Minnesota Congresswoman Michelle Fischbach is applauding the election of Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana as the new speaker of the House of Representatives and announced her own candidacy to fill Johnson’s role as vice chair of the House Republican conference.

Johnson fills the speakership following a 22-day vacancy after former speaker, Kevin McCarthy, was removed from the position in a vote of no confidence on Oct. 3.

Fischbach said she believes he stands for conservative principles and was someone the entire republican conference could unite behind. However, she was most impressed with his first action as speaker.

“I’m proud to say that the very first thing that he did as speaker was to pass a resolution standing with Israel as it defends itself against the barbaric war launched by Hamas and other terrorists,” said Fischbach.

 Fischbach also announced her candidacy to fill Johnson’s vacated role in the House GOP leadership as vice chair of the House Republican conference.

“We’ve still got a lot to do and we can only do that from a united front,” she said. “That’s why I’ve decided to run for vice conference chair. My team successfully brought Republicans into the majority in the Minnesota state Senate after 40 years. And when I was president of the senate, there was no room for error. Congress is facing similar challenges now. And now that I’m here, I learned just how important building a consensus is. Our conference’s conservative values are my priority. My proven leadership and conservative voice can assure that our message remains strong and unifying.”

Next up for Fischbach, Johnson and the House Republicans, passing an aid package for Israel and Ukraine requested by the White House.

DL man charged with felony harassment and domestic assault

A Detroit Lakes man has been charged in Becker County District Court with felony harassment and two counts of felony domestic assault.

According to court records, on Aug. 8, White Earth police interviewed a woman at the White Earth Down On Violence Everyday office about domestic issues she had been having with a former partner.

She told investigators that she was previously in a relationship with 19-year-old Treyton Jorge Edwards of Detroit Lakes and they lived together for two years until she recently told him to move out.

The woman said Edwards was abusive during their time together and continued harassment began following their breakup.

She alleges Edwards told her two days after the breakup that he was going to kill her and also found him sitting in her car.

He also began continuously calling and texting her to the point where the woman blocked him on every social media site and any other way she could think of, but he would make fake accounts and continue the harassment. He also began calling her using other phone numbers to avoid her blocking attempts.

In one 24-hour period in August, she said she received about 50 phone calls from Edwards.

When Edwards was unable to reach her by phone, he began sitting in the parking lot of her work and waited for her to leave.

The woman told investigators she is scared to go anywhere alone anymore.

Edwards’ first court appearance in Becker County District Court is scheduled for Nov. 2.

DL closes compost site for brush grinding; will reopen by end of the week

The city of Detroit Lakes will be closing its compost site on Hillcrest Road this week .

According to the city public works department, a contractor will be grinding their brush pile and they won’t be able to accept any drop offs until the process is complete.

The brush pile grinding began on Monday, Oct. 30 and is expected to take two or three days. Then, the site will reopen for normal operations.

For more information on the city’s compost site, check out the Detroit Lakes Public Works website or call them at: 218-847-4637.

Westbound Interstate 94 lane closures this week near Fergus Falls

Starting on Monday, Oct. 30 and lasting through this Friday, Nov. 3, motorists traveling on westbound Interstate 94 near Fergus Falls will encounter lane closures between County Road 1 and Highway 210, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation. 

Crews will complete repairs at the County Road 15 overpass bridge.

The lane closures will remain in place overnight, even when workers are not present, until the work is completed.

For real-time traffic and travel information in Minnesota, visit www.511mn.org

Confirmed Minnesota avian influenza sites rises to 11

The number of sites in Minnesota affected by highly pathogenic avian influenza in October is up to 11.

The first site was discovered in Meeker County on October 11th, according to the Minnesota Board of Animal Health. 

It has also turned up on two other farms in Meeker County, affecting 220,445 birds. 

All of the affected sites were in commercial turkey meat birds. 

The most recent infection was reported on October 25th. 

Birds at sites with an H5N1 diagnosis are depopulated to remove them from the food supply. In all, 330,256 birds have been destroyed in October.

State Veterinarian Dr. Brian Hoefs said the infections seem to keep popping up during seasonal migrations in Minnesota.

Hoefs said: “Before today’s detection our most recent cases were in the spring of this year. Anyone who has poultry should take this detection as a clear sign to keep a close eye on their flock and initiate your strongest biosecurity practices.”

Poultry is safe to eat, and birds in affected flocks are put down to prevent the spread of the disease.

Last year, avian influenza cost producers in 47 states, 59 million birds, including more than four million birds in Minnesota.

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