BRAINERD — Recent rains certainly haven’t hurt, but it’s going to take a lot more to eliminate drought conditions in the Brainerd lakes area. The latest information from the U.S. Drought Monitor, released Thursday, June 25, shows a large portion of north-central Minnesota — including portions of Aitkin, Beltrami, Cass, Crow Wing, Hubband, Itasca, Koochiching and Wadena counties — in severe drought conditions that continue to expand. For Aitkin C…