August 4th, 2023 5:30 a.m. Newscast

This newscast aired at 5:32 a.m. Friday, August 4th, 2023. To listen, please click the play button below.

___

KNSI News time is 5:32. It’s 63 degrees. Mostly sunny and 88 today. Your full KNSI forecast is on the way in moments. Good morning, I’m Jennifer Lewerenz.

Woods’ Farmer Seed and Nursery’s owner died this week. Tom Woods passed away on Monday from complications related to a recent heart surgery. He was 67. Tom began his 50-year career working part-time at Lunds’ Farmer Seed and Nursery. He worked his way up to store manager, and in 2006, Tom and his wife bought the store and changed its name to Woods’ Farmer Seed and Nursery. In 2015, they moved to a larger space in Waite Park. Tom’s visitation will be at the Daniel Funeral Home in St. Cloud on Monday. His funeral will be on Tuesday at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in St. Joseph.

If you were looking to beat the heat at Schroeder Park near Annandale, you’ll have to go somewhere else. The beach is closed through the weekend because of high bacteria levels. The Wright County Parks and Recreation Department says the procedure is to wait three days and test again. which will happen on Monday. Once results are in, if levels are back below acceptable limits, the department says it will reopen the beach. If bacteria readings are still too high, the closure will be continued. Learn more at KNSI Radio dot com.

The 110th annual Benton County Fair wraps up this weekend, and it’s chock-full of events. Today includes the horse show, small pets show, llama judging, the corn feed, and police K9 demos. There’s a tractor pull at the grandstand, and the Honey Badgers will be playing the beer garden stage from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Saturday is kids’ day and features the goat show, horse training, a scavenger hunt, RC racing, and kids’ games. Plus, Jennifer Lewerenz is pouring beer at the beer garden starting at 5:00 and a demo derby in the grandstand at 6:30 p.m. The fair wraps up Sunday with the grand parade, military parade, beef show, axe throwing, and dairy judging. The final grandstand event is the first ever Bulls, Barrels & Broncos Rodeo at 1:00 p.m. For more on the fair, go to KNSI Radio dot com.

Maybe he can call it Ventura HIGH-way. Former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura wants to be the face of marijuana now that it has been legalized as of Tuesday. Ventura was always an advocate for the legalization of cannabis, and now he says he would like to help market marijuana with his name and face. His wife, Terri, suffers from a seizure disorder, and marijuana has helped save her life. Right now, people can buy seeds and grow their own, or travel to the Red Lake or White Earth Reservations to buy it legally. State licensed dispensaries are still more than a year away from being able to open as the state’s Office of Cannabis Management gets set up.

It’ll be hard to miss the new sign memorializing Minnesota’s most famous musician on a stretch of Highway 5. Thursday, the Minnesota Department of Transportation installed the sign – which is purple, of course! marking the Prince Rogers Nelson Memorial Highway. The seven miles of road runs right in front of his Paisley Park recording studios, which were also where he lived, just down the road from where he grew up in Minneapolis. Prince died in 2016 at the age of 58.

KNSI News time is 5:35. For more on these and other stories, visit KNSI Radio dot com, which is also where you can sign up for the daily newsletter and get breaking news alerts with the KNSI app. I’m Jennifer Lewerenz. KNSI News.

___