Welcome back to another lively edition of Bonnie & Friends on WDAY Radio, broadcast live from the Corwin Subaru Studios! Hosts Bonnie Amistadi and Jace Denman navigate a humid Red River Valley morning while tracking long-awaited rain chances and temperatures dipping back into the 80s.
Today’s show delivers a dramatic blend of high-stakes local news, bizarre true-crime briefers, and regional sports updates. The hosts cover a loaded revolver brought directly into the Clay County Courthouse, a major civil lawsuit against a UND department chair for substituting his own sperm in 1980s fertility treatments, and a SWAT team standoff in Grand Forks. On the sports desk, Big Game James McCarty and Jace break down the Minnesota Twins getting shut out by Kansas City, the Fargo-Moorhead Red Hawks’ walk-off win, and the Minnesota Lynx’s 8-game winning streak. Plus, the duo unearths a mind-boggling story of a Montana hiker walking 10 miles while impaled on a 44-inch walking stick, a 53-year-old message in a bottle, and the “Question of the Morn” exploring daily life hacks.
Key Moments
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Loaded Gun at Clay County Courthouse: A 41-year-old Moorhead man faces four felony charges after bringing a loaded revolver into the Clay County Courthouse during a hearing and threatening staff that he knew where the presiding judge lived.
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UND Department Chair Sperm Lawsuit: Dr. Dennis Lutz, chair of the UND Obstetrics and Gynecology department, faces a civil lawsuit alleging he substituted his own sperm during a patient’s 1980s fertility treatments at a Minot clinic, resulting in two biological daughters.
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SWAT Standoff in Grand Forks: Police use chemical munitions to flush out 56-year-old Ricardo Sipita after he barricaded himself inside a 1st Avenue South apartment following reports of yelling at a juvenile and threatening to shoot officers.
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The 10-Mile Impaled Hike: Jace and Bonnie share a grotesque survival story out of Montana, where an experienced hiker slipped and was impaled under the armpit by a 44-inch steel-tipped walking stick, proceeding to hike 10 miles over six hours to reach the trailhead for help.
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Red Hawks Walk-Off Victory: The Fargo-Moorhead Red Hawks defeat the Lincoln Salt Dogs 7-6 thanks to a clutch walk-off RBI double by Trip Clark in the bottom of the ninth inning.
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Elizabeth Smart to Headline Women Connect: The Fargo Moorhead West Fargo Chamber announces that Elizabeth Smart will serve as keynote speaker for the 2026 Women Connect celebration on September 22nd.
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Fake Police Chief Phone Scam: Fargo Police issue an urgent warning regarding a scammer using a Southern accent who spoofs Chief Travis Stefonowitz’s phone number to claim Homeland Security is investigating residents for drug trafficking.
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John Deere “Right to Repair” Settlement: Ag Director Bridgette Riedel drops in to discuss John Deere’s FTC settlement, requiring the equipment giant to provide farmers and independent repair shops with software tools and diagnostic codes to fix their own machinery.
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53-Year-Old Message in a Bottle: A wetland cleanup volunteer in New Jersey discovers a glass bottle launched in 1973 containing a playful note written by a 9-year-old girl claiming to be captured by “ruthless sponge fishermen”.