Monday, August 3, 2026
A reminder from local schools that this year school will begin for most students before Labor Day in central Minnesota for the first time in many years. Little Falls Community Schools will begin for all students on September 1st, with 6th and 9th graders going on August 31st and open houses at the elementary school and pre schoolers on 31st with first day of classes for them also on September 1st. Pierz schools will begin classes on September 1st, with kindergarten starting September 3rd and pre-school on September 8th. Royalton will begin classes September 1st for 6th-8th graders, the rest of the students begin September 2nd. Upsala all classes K through 12 begin for students September 1st. Swanville schools is planning not to start classes until after labor day, their calendar shows September 8th as the first day of school. For other schools in the area check with their websites or calendar information.
A St. Cloud teenager who died in a Benton County motorcycle crash on Monday has been identified as 17-year-old Brody Oltz. According to his obituary from the Williams Dingmann Family Funeral Home, Oltz died in a motorcycle crash in Rice. The Benton County Sheriff's Office says the motorcycle collided with a farm tractor and silage wagon. The obituary shows Oltz most recently attended St. Cloud Apollo High School and was a cook at Mongo's Grill in St. Cloud. The crash happened at the intersection of 15th Avenue NE and 160th Street NE in Langola Township. The sheriff's office says both the motorcycle and the tractor were going north on 15th Avenue when Oltz tried to pass the tractor as it was turning onto 160th Street NE. Oltz was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation is studying 30 miles of Highway 10 between St. Cloud and Little Falls. An upcoming public meeting will specifically address needed improvements for the highway in the city of Royalton. MnDOT is inviting businesses to an open house-style meeting from 2:00-4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, August 12th. Members of the community and driving public are asked to attend between 4-6pm The meeting will be held at Royalton Middle/High School at 120 Hawthorn Street. There is no formal presentation, but you'll see the potential improvements, understand the impacts, and can share feedback. The study looks to address ongoing access, mobility, and safety issues. Some of those issues include numerous at-grade crossings, hard left turns, and traffic signals in Royalton and St. Cloud that lead to traffic flow issues. Additional public meetings will be held in the Little Rock Lake and St. Cloud areas this fall before the study is completed this winter. For more information, visit the MnDOT Hwy 10 Study St. Cloud to Little Falls project page.
The Cass County Sheriff’s Office announced they have currently been experiencing issues with the siren control system. As a precaution, the siren controls have been switched to a backup system and are expected to operate normally. Repairs are currently underway and are expected to be completed within the next week. However, if severe weather impacts the area, we encourage all guests and residents to take extra precautions and monitor weather conditions closely. The Cass County Sheriff’s Office also utilizes Nixle to send emergency notifications and important community alerts directly to mobile phones by text message. These alerts may include severe weather warnings, public safety information, and other time-sensitive emergency updates.
The families of four teenagers who died by suicide are suing Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube over what they describe as “years of escalating harms” from using their platforms that eventually resulted in their deaths. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the Superior Court of Delaware, is the latest in a flurry of suits filed against the social media giants that alleges their platforms are addictive and dangerous. The complaint was filed on behalf of four families from Texas, North Carolina, Minnesota and Tennessee whose children died over a 14-month period starting in July 2024 through September 2025. The Social Media Victims Law Center is bringing the suit on behalf of the families, and its founding attorney, Matthew Bergman, said it’s “particularly salient” that the children in this case died “long after” similar suits had been filed. The four teens who died by suicide each experienced harms including social media addiction, severe sleep deprivation, depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation after years of using the social platforms, the complaint states. Livi Castro died at age 13, Riv Kelleher at 14, Nathaniel Chambers at age 17 and Dawson Holden at 18. The complaint alleges the social media companies knew they were causing harm to young users. Representatives for Meta, YouTube, TikTok and Snap did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Meta, YouTube, TikTok and Snap are facing numerous state and federal lawsuits over harms to minors. Meta is on trial in Tennessee this week for a lawsuit brought by the state attorney general claiming that the company deliberately designed its platforms, notably Instagram, to make them addictive to young people, and did not warn them of its dangers. And in August, Meta is heading to trial in federal court in Oakland, California to face four of dozens of states that sued the company in 2023. That lawsuit says the company is contributing to the youth mental health crisis by designing addictive features and violated federal law by collecting data on kids under 13 without parental consent.
County Fairs continue to be the thing this week. The Crow Wing County Fair begins Tuesday in Brainerd with Military day, Wednesday Senior and Daycare day, Thursday Ag Day, Friday Teen Day and Saturday Kids Day. The Benton County Fair begins Tuesday with events through Sunday in Sauk Rapids, with big rodeo events Tuesday and Wednesday and demolition derby on the schedule for both Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. Also the Mille Lacs County Fair in Princeton begins Wednesday through Sunday with many events including the Demolition Derby Saturday at 7:30pm. Also Kandiyohi, Freeborn, Lake, St. Louis and Koochiching County all have their county fairs this week into the upcoming weekend.
The Little Falls City Council meets tonight 7:30pm at the City Hall Council Chambers.
Little Falls Activities Director Dave Langerud who started July 1st is the guest today at 8:30am on the KLTF Community Program. Live on AM960 KLTF.
Death Notices: LeRoy John Pusc, age 91 of Little Falls. Duane James Zapzalka, age 86 of Bowlus. Richard "Dick" Charles Carlson, age 92 of Albany. Shirley VanDenheuvel, age 79 of Little Falls.
Weather: mostly sunny today, warm and humid, high 88. Showers and thunderstorms likely after dark some severe with gusty winds, low around 60 wind gusts over 35mph. Tuesday patchy smoke, decreasing clouds, cooler, high 76, clear and cool Tuesday night low 51. Sunny skies Wednesday high 81, clear Wednesday night low 56. Sunny and warm Thursday, high 85, clear Thursday night low 59. Sunny and and humid Friday, high 88, clear Friday night low around 64. Sunny and hot Saturday high 91, storms in the evening, low around 63. Morning storms Sunday then partly sunny and warm, high 87, low around 61.
Sports: Twins win 5-3 Friday over Seattle, then Seattle won on a walk off due to aggressive base running to win 4-3 Saturday over the Twins. Mariners have a 6-0 lead early Sunday, Twins tie it in top of the 9th only to have Mariners walk if off in the bottom of the 9th 7-6 to take the series. Twins have Monday off. Twins acquired Dean Kremer Friday from the Baltimore Orioles for a minor leaguer to help pitching staff, after getting A.J Minter on Thursday from the New York Mets for relief help. Lynx beat Indiana Sunday 108-100 as Olivia Miles had 28 points, Courtney Williams added 27 in the win, Lynx have now won 10 games in a row, Caitlyn Clark had 19 for the Fever. Lynx back in action Thursday against LA Sparks. Region Baseball Coverage started on Friday night with Pierz Lakers winning 5-4 over Avon then Opole beat St. Wendel 7-1. Saturday games saw Aitkin knock off top seed in 9C Randall Cubs 6-0, Buckman routed St. Stephen 10-0 then Pierz Brewers held off Freeport 4-1. Sunday Nisswa's Isaiah Biehn pitches a no hitter as the Lightning blanked Ft. Ripley 8-0. Pierz Bulldogs beat Clear Lake 6-2. Sobieski gets a walk-off 3 run homer by Evan LeMieur to beat Foley 15-3 in 7 innings for the Skis. All the teams will play again this coming weekend with four games Friday night 2 in Pierz, 2 in Avon then 3 games Saturday and Sunday will be played in Opole. Listen to more region coverage live on AM960 KLTF starting Friday at 6pm.