Patriotic Kenny Dies: How You Can Support | Army Veteran Killed in Robbery | Tuesday, May 19, 2026

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[00:00:00]You're listening to Four Things to Know, a WCCCO daily news podcast.

[00:00:06]>> Today is Tuesday, May 19th. I'm Maria Liznoli.

[00:00:09]>> I'm Johnny Connor. Thanks for listening and watching four things to Know.

[00:00:12]>> For our first thing to know today, this is really sad. A motan dedicated to helping veterans was killed by someone trying to steal his car. It happened outside of Every Third Saturday in South Minneapolis. That's an organization dedicated to helping create a community for veterans. They say the victim was internship director Amos Frier. Police say he confronted two people last Friday who were trying to take his car. They backed off and they got into a different vehicle, but Frier somehow wound up on the hood and was thrown onto the street.

[00:00:49]He died Sunday at the hospital. Police haven't made any arrests. every third Saturday posted about the loss of Frier on Facebook. In the post, they said, quote, "During his time at ETSs, he impacted all of our lives with his humor, infectious laugh, and abundance of knowledge." Adding, "He will leave a hole that can never be filled."

[00:01:12]Number two today, we are sad to tell you that patriotic Kenny has died. The Minnesota veteran and social media influencer announced in March that he had been having some health problems. He had lung cancer. Kenneth Jerry, a veteran from Willerney, went by the name Patriotic Kenny on Tik Tok. That's where his positivity gained him more than three million followers. Now, we've covered his success online for years here at WCCCO. Take a listen to this back from 2022.

[00:01:39]It is such an honor for me to come out here and put flags for our fallen armed service veterans uh men and women that have served so courageously in every war so we can have our freedom. It is it is awesome.

[00:02:02]>> Yeah. He had such a positive influence on so many people and that was for Memorial Day at Fort Snelling where he volunteered that year. It was his first time visiting that cemetery. And Maria Patriotic Kenny, he will be remembered for his positive attitude, his charitable giving to other veterans. And his Instagram page that even said, quote, "He experienced the most profound love and was Earth's bright light. He passed surrounded by love and he was in peace." End quote. And really just had a positive influence on those around him.

[00:02:30]Oh, and Johnny, he was 84 years old when he passed. And a friend told WCCCO today that he was at a board meeting two weeks ago, alert and super excited about the nonprofit that he created, the Patriotic Kenny Foundation.

[00:02:49]>> And it's so nice, Maria. We were just talking about it. It's that foundation is to end isolation and restore independence for veterans through mobility scooters. It's amazing what just being able to move around can do for your isolation and and to be able to provide that to veterans through this foundation he created and the millions of subscribers that he he reached out to. What an incredible man and he will be very missed.

[00:03:18]>> Great legacy. Yeah. And if you'd like to donate, just go to the Patriotic Kenny website. It's right there. Really really nice mission.

[00:03:25]>> Moving on to number three today. What's the future of magic mushrooms in Minnesota? Here's Esme Murphy.

[00:03:31]>> Hi, it's Esme Murphy. I am working on a story, putting together a story on magic mushrooms and what exactly the legislature did and didn't do when it comes to magic mushrooms. This is how confusing the legislature can be. I thought that they had actually passed and authorized a study for an actual study with magic mushrooms starting next year. They didn't do that. They authorized a study on a study, in other words, a study for a study on magic mushrooms. Um, in my story, and that that's going to be completed in January 2027. In my story, um, I'm going to be talking to uh, Stefan Egan, who is a worked in counter intelligence, had five deployments, and really had a suicide attempt.

[00:04:20]And before he was finally, somebody said, "Why don't you try magic mushrooms?" and it saved his life. And I'm going to talk to him because he's one of the reasons that this proposal is moving forward. Basically, it's inched forward. It hasn't moved forward as much as supporters want. But it's a it's an interesting issue. And at the heart of it, like with Stefan's story, he had PTSD. He had all these traumatic experiences. and the magic mushrooms under a therapeutic session allows him to go back and examine his feelings at the at the time even though he had blacked those out.

[00:04:56]So, it's fascinating stuff. It it really could hold keys to depression and all kinds of mental illnesses. Uh it's it's a work in progress, though. Uh again, what the what the legislature did is they didn't authorize the actual study, but they authorized a study about a study. All right, see you later. Now to your fourth thing to know today. Rainy weather is helping fight the wildfires up north. That's good news, right? Fire crews are making major progress as some evacuation orders are being lifted today. Bear Leon has the update for us and she also spoke with Jeb Baky, the Flanders wildfire incident commander.

[00:05:32]Now, we're seeing some positive changes up north, but the work is not over yet.

[00:05:36]Crews are still racing to make sure these fires stay under control. And while they do that, they're asking curious folks to stay away from the area even as roads open back up. Big progress to share in the Flanders fire near Breezy Point. It's now 60% contained.

[00:05:51]All evacuation orders connected to that wildfire are now lifted, meaning residents can return home. County Road 11 has also reopened, but again, crews are asking folks to avoid the area unless necessary. The Flanders fire has burned through more than 1600 acres north of Brainard, but has not destroyed any homes. Further north, the Stewart Trail fire in the Two Harbors area has burned dozens of buildings. It covered 355 acres, but last night we learned it is 100% contained. Still, Highway 61 remains closed between Stewart River and Silver Cliff Tunnel as cleanup continues. Governor Tim Walls toured the area yesterday afternoon. He mobilized the Minnesota National Guard to help firefighters. Crews still battling flames up north want to remind Motans to stay vigilant >> when we have those higher fire danger days. Being very vigilant and cautious of their activities, how they could start start wildfires um in the spring of the year. 90% of our wildfires are human-caused. And so just being mindful of that and the impacts that that can have on their communities, responders, just being vigilant during those high fire danger days.

[00:07:04]>> And while it's still quite early in the national wildfire season, this is pretty typical for this time of year here in Minnesota. Crews hope to finish up their work up north within the next few days.

[00:07:15]>> Those are the four things to know today.

[00:07:16]Now, let's check in on our next weather forecast.

[00:07:19]>> Hi, next weather meteorologist Lisa Meadows got a chilly forecast for you tonight. We're down to 41 for your overnight low. Some rural regions might even get a little bit of frost heading into tomorrow. High temp into the mid basically going to the mid60s. This is still below average, but at least warmer than today and also bringing a little bit more sun.

[00:07:39]>> And now here's more to know.

[00:07:41]>> We're following a developing story in Brooklyn Park where state patrol is investigating a deadly hit and run. The state patrol says an SUV hit a pedestrian on Highway 252 just before 1:30 this morning. They say a 25-year-old woman walking on the right shoulder of southbound 252 was hit between Brookdale Drive and 73rd Avenue North. The state patrol says two witnesses who who knew the victim were in a vehicle on the shoulder trying to convince the victim to get back into their car. That's when the state patrol says a dark gray Toyota RAV 4 was speeding in the right lane and struck and killed that woman. That Rav 4 and its driver kept going. The state patrol suspects the pedestrian was under the influence of alcohol. Another big story today, Governor Walls will announce his appointments to the state's highest court this afternoon, but we do already know who's been chosen. We got a press release this morning that said Walls is appointing Theodora Giatus as Minnesota's next Supreme Court Chief Justice. She has been an associate justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court since 2024 in August. Before that, she was a member of the Court of Appeals for 4 years. Walls says Justice Gatus will lead the High Court with wisdom, resolve, and fairness. She says she accepts the appointment with gratitude, and purpose. The governor also announced this morning that Ronaldo Aligata Jr.

[00:09:04]will fill the Supreme Court vacancy that opened as a result of Justice Gotus' promotion. Walls appointed Aligata to become a Ramsey County District Court Judge in 2019. The governor says Aligata will be a justice who truly sees and listens to the people who come before him. Aligata says he will strive to do justice and protect the rule of law.

[00:09:24]Now, these changes are happening because the Chief Justice right now, Natalie Hudson, she's retiring from the Supreme Court at the end of September.

[00:09:31]Minnesota's mandatory retirement for judges is 70. And Chief Justice Hudson, she will turn 70 next January. So, justices Gotus and Aligata will start their new jobs on October 1st, the day after the Chief Justice retires. All right, we have new details in the case against the ring leader of Minnesota's biggest fraud scheme, Feeding Our Future founder, Amy Bach. Prosecutors want her to go to prison for 50 years. Now, Amy Bach is scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday. A jury convicted her of stealing around 250 million tax dollars meant to feed children during the CO9 pandemic. On Monday, prosecutors sent their sentencing recommendation to the judge. They said Bach's feeding our future scheme was of unprecedented scale and that the brazen and staggering nature of her crimes has shaken Minnesota to its core, leaving lasting damage and eroding public trust. end quote. We'll let you know what happens on Thursday.

[00:10:31]>> Now, we're not in our bright spot yet, but before we get there, we have some good news. Yeah. About some warm weather pest. Mosquitoes.

[00:10:38]>> Oh god, I hate mosquitoes.

[00:10:41]>> They're the worst.

[00:10:42]>> Take a listen then, cuz mosquito numbers are low in and around the Twin Cities right now. That's according to surveillance done by the Metropolitan Mosquito Control District. Most carbon dioxide traps set up by the organization collected zero mosquitoes.

[00:10:55]>> Zero. Zero. That's wild.

[00:10:57]>> And they also said very few net collections added any. Only one trap that was located near Victoria collected more than 10.

[00:11:04]>> That's kind of a marshy area. Maybe that's why there actually golfing in Victoria tomorrow. I might get bitten up.

[00:11:10]>> Get some bug spray from those 10 mosquitoes out there.

[00:11:14]>> The agency says these low numbers are thanks to cool temperatures and dry conditions. And it looks like that's going to continue for the next couple days as well.

[00:11:21]>> I mean, maybe not dry conditions.

[00:11:24]>> Yeah, we might get a little wet later, >> right? But cold for sure.

[00:11:27]>> Yeah, absolutely. So, we'll take it.

[00:11:29]We'll take it.

[00:11:29]>> If I'll take the a little bit of cold for no mosquitoes yet.

[00:11:32]>> Let's get to sports. It's official, Maria. The 2028 NFL draft headed right here to the Twin Cities. Now, we talked about this yesterday, but we did not know exactly the location. The NFL said today it will happen right in downtown Minneapolis around US Bank Stadium. And this was pretty interesting, too. Wendy Blackshaw is the president and CEO of Minnesota Sports and Events. She said their organization submitted a 238 page proposal to the NFL outlining possible locations, operational plans connected to the draft. 238 pages before they even knew they were getting it.

[00:12:06]>> They were like, "We've got a plan, guys.

[00:12:09]Come to Minnesota. Give us that money and uh we'll put on a great draft."

[00:12:14]>> Yeah. Hopefully they will. Well, and organizers, they've actually said previous drafts have drawn more than a half million fans to host cities and generated more than 200 million bucks in economic impact.

[00:12:24]>> There you go. There you go. So, not not this year or or the next. 2028.

[00:12:29]>> 2028. Hopefully, the Vikings have a Super Bowl by then. I doubt it.

[00:12:33]>> Oh my. How cool would that be?

[00:12:34]>> That would be awesome.

[00:12:36]>> Probably not in our lifetime.

[00:12:39]>> Uh, sticking with sports quickly, the Twins, they actually won yesterday. a shocker. 6-3 over the Astros. Both teams playing again tonight at Target Field.

[00:12:47]First pitch is at 6:40.

[00:12:49]>> It's time to take a breath with your daily bright spot.

[00:12:52]>> Season 50 of Survivor wraps up on Wednesday with a big threehour finale.

[00:12:59]>> Wowza. Three hours.

[00:13:01]>> That's a big one. 50 years of this show, too. I personally haven't watched much of it. Have you?

[00:13:07]>> I haven't either.

[00:13:07]>> I But people love it.

[00:13:09]>> Absolutely. And you had a big conversation. I did. I did. So, I chatted with Rick Deans, who if you've watched the show, you know he just recently got voted off the show. Uh, but man, he's pulled some legendary moves through in Survivor. I mean, they go down in history. So, I got a chance to chat with him and take a listen to what we talked about.

[00:13:32]>> Well, I love to just have as much fun as I possibly can on Survivor.

[00:13:37]>> Which move are you most proud of this season? And then which move keeps you up at night?

[00:13:41]>> I knew that I was a big target. I knew that there was a high likelihood I was going home and we didn't know what the Mr. Beast thing was going to be. So I had to take care of business before he came out and we found that out. And I was just very proud of playing old school survivor using information against my allies. So I was very proud of that. And probably the move that haunts me, there aren't many, but if I could go back to our very second tribal council, second episode of the whole season, knowing now that Joe was out to get me the whole time, I would have probably tried to send Joe home and keep Savannah.

[00:14:18]>> So, the threehour season 50 finale airs Wednesday, May 20th at 700 p.m. on WCCCO and streaming on Paramount Plus. It was really cool talking with Rick because uh after after I did the interview and posted it on social media, so many people reached out to me and were like, "Oh my god, Maria, you interviewed Rick Deans. I'm so jealous." I'm like, "Yeah, >> it's got a big following.

[00:14:49]>> He's got a huge following and and I'm embarrassed that I don't watch the show.

[00:14:54]I guess I need to watch it >> or get on it."

[00:14:58]I don't even know. First off, I don't even know what it's about. So, like, do I have to survive in the wild?

[00:15:04]>> I think I I don't know either.

[00:15:06]>> And And then he got voted off. So, does that mean you have to like join? I'm embarrassed. But, you know what?

[00:15:12]>> It sounds like you had a great conversation.

[00:15:14]>> It was It was a fun conversation. And I have so many friends that love Survivor.

[00:15:18]I just got to start it. I just got to start it.

[00:15:20]>> Dig in. Well, and you you're a TV person, too.

[00:15:22]>> I do love watching TV. I mean, we we talked about how much you watched Artemis. Like every day you'd go home and watch the live stream.

[00:15:30]>> So true. The live stream, which is so funny, you know, that's live TV, but it's not live reality TV, right? There's such a difference. So like reality TV, I don't consume a ton of, but enough.

[00:15:46]Johnny, if you could be on any reality TV show, what would you want to be on?

[00:15:51]>> Kardashians.

[00:15:54]Absolutely. The lavish lifestyle.

[00:15:56]>> Oh yeah.

[00:15:57]>> I mean, I wouldn't actually want to be associated with them, but like it would be fun to be on set for a day or go to LA. Like chill out there.

[00:16:04]>> Oh, that'd be awesome.

[00:16:06]>> That is a great answer. I did not expect that from you. Um, I think I'd want to be like a judge on like the Great British Bake Off.

[00:16:14]>> Oh my gosh, that's a good one, too.

[00:16:16]Trying all the food.

[00:16:17]>> I wouldn't have to like actually do any cooking. I would just do the tasting.

[00:16:22]That sounds amazing. There's so many good food shows, too.

[00:16:25]>> I know.

[00:16:25]>> Yum.

[00:16:26]>> I'll be on any of them, honestly.

[00:16:28]>> Oh, well, you can watch Survivor Tomorrow. Maybe I'll join you because uh it's uh definitely one I want to catch.

[00:16:35]Thank you for catching us here on Four Things to Know with Johnny Connor. I'm Maria Lignoli and we're here with the news you need every weekday afternoon by 3:00.

[00:16:47]Listen to Four Things to Know, a WCCCO daily news podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

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[00:17:04]>> Here are the top stories of the day with four things to know. Discover top female athletes and teams from around the state on women in sports. Dive into stories about faith and belief from your local leaders to your neighbors next door with Bigger than Belief.

[00:17:19]>> Stay in the know on the go with the WCCCO podcast studio. Go to wccco.com/mpodcast.