Monday, June 2, 2025
The Little Falls School Board met on Tuesday to set a date for the public hearing, which will be Monday, June 9th at 6pm at Little Falls Community High School in the auditorium. The public hearing in on the potential closure of Dr. S.G. Knight Elementary School in Randall. Also on Tuesday, the school board also unanimously voted to dissolve an elementary school principal position in the district leading to their potential closure.
A Randall man was injured yesterday around 5:20pm on Highway 115 in Darling Township of Morrison County. 75-year-old Dale Strack was on a motorcycle east on 115 when he clipped a deer that ran onto the roadway causing his cycle to roll on its side. Strack was taken to the Little Falls hospital for his injuries.
The Minnesota State Patrol responded to many more accidents again in the past days. A motorcycle vs. deer accident happened Friday around 10pm on Highway 23 near St. Cloud. The driver was taken to the hospital with non life threatening injuries. Another motorcyclists had critical injuries after he struck the median on Highway 169 in Milaca Township Saturday around 6:15pm. The driver a 56-year-old from Onamia was taken to a Twin Cities hospital with life threatening injuries. There was a double fatal accident Thursday in Cass County near Walker. Both drivers in that accident on Highway 200 collided head on and died at the scene. The release reported it was a 61-year-old from Walker and 55-year-old from Menagha but no names released. There were two passengers taken to a hospital with serious injuries in that accident Thursday in Cass County. On Sunday two were injured in an accident in South Harbor Township of Mille Lacs County and a 19-year-old was hurt driving a Model T that crashed with another vehicle in Douglas County on Saturday. Again the State Patrol said that speed, distracted driving and animals darting across the road were factors in some of these accidents this past weekend.
The Alexandria Police Department is investigating a stabbing that occurred at a Walmart Saturday morning. According to officials, the stabbing took place at approximately 9am at a Walmart located at 4611 State Highway 29 South in Alexandria, Minnesota. Police say they found an individual with stab wounds upon arrival, and transported that individual to a local hospital. The condition of the victim is currently unknown. Alexandria police say the suspect fled the scene before law enforcement arrived, however the individual was later caught by police and taken into custody with help from posting surveillance camera footage of him on social media. Authorities do not believe this was a random act and there is no threat to the general public from this incident. Again the alleged suspect is in custody.
The St. Cloud Police Department says the 12-year-old girl who was reported missing and a runaway last week has been found. According to a press release, Xaveria Stephenson was located by police, with friends and safe, in the area of 14th Avenue and 11th Street South in St. Cloud. Officers were asking for the public’s help to find Stephenson after she hadn’t been seen since May 24th and feared she had run away.
A fight disrupted the graduation ceremony Saturday at St. Cloud Tech High School at the River's Edge Convention Center when a fight occurred after the event. District 742 officials say the altercation occurred between a group of adult spectators near the back corner of the hall. Staff and law enforcement responded immediately, and the incident was quickly stopped. The district says they are both disappointed in and frustrated by the behavior of some adult attendees, and it is deeply unfortunate that anyone chose to act in a way that detracted from the moment meant to honor its graduates. There was no word if arrests were made.
The entire state remains in an Air Quality Alert today and for central Minnesota until 6pm tonight. Smoke from Canadian wildfires has prompted state officials to issue an air quality alert for the entire state, with parts of northern Minnesota expected to reach unhealthy levels for everyone. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency issued a red air quality alert for several cities in northern Minnesota and an orange air quality alert for the remainder of the state. The cities under the red air quality alert include Brainerd, Bemidji, East Grand Forks, Moorhead, International Falls, Two Harbors, Hibbing, Ely, Duluth, Roseau, and the Tribal Nations of Leech Lake, Red Lake, Grand Portage, and Fond du Lac. Officials are urging everyone to limit prolonged or heavy exertion and time spent outdoors. A cold front bringing gustier winds and rains tonight into Tuesday will help moving the smoke out of the area but more alerts are possible late this week with a return to north winds as Canadian wildfires continue to burn thousands of acres as of this past weekend.
Death Notices- Florann Grettum, age 93 long-time resident of Little Falls. Ainez K. Hayunga, age 89 of St. Cloud. Joseph "Marv" Welna, age 94 of Little Falls.
Weather- today hazy sunshine with filtered smoke at times, warm, high near 90, turning breezy this afternoon with rain developing after 5pm, showers and isolated strong thunderstorms tonight into the overnight with locally heavy rains, low 53, storms could produce hail and wind. Tuesday morning showers than cloudy and cooler, high near 70 and breezy, partly cloudy Tuesday night low around 48. Wednesday a mix of clouds and sun, high around 75, lows around 50.
Sports- Twins win 12-6 in 10 innings on Friday with two homeruns from Willi Castro. The Mariners strike back with a 6-5 11 inning walk off win on Saturday over Twins. Mariners get another walk off win on Sunday to win 2-1 in bottom of the 9th inning to take the series over the Twins. The Twins continue on the west coast tonight at the A's who now play in west Sacramento this year, pregame at 8:30pm on Q92 WYRQ. Collier and Williams score 20+ each and help the Lynx go to 7-0 on the season with an 86-75 win Sunday over Golden State, Lynx also beat Phoenix on Friday night. Little Falls beat Alexandria 4-2 Saturday in elimination baseball playoffs to advance and take on Hutchinson on Tuesday morning at 11am on AM960 KLTF the winner of that game plays again at 2pm Tuesday. Upsala/Swanville takes on Parker's Prairie today at 1pm in Section semi-finals in Morris, also later today Royalton vs. Foley and Staples-Motley vs. Albany both play at 4:30pm in St. Cloud elimination games, followed by Pierz in the section semi-finals tonight against St. Cloud Cathedral at 7pm from Dick Putz Field in St. Cloud and will be heard live on AM960 KLTF. Win or lose Pierz will have another game later this week. Also congratulations to the 5 Little Falls, 6 Royalton, 3 from Upsala/Swanville and 16 from Pierz who advanced to the State Track and Field Tournament June 10th-12th at St. Michael-Albertville High School. Listen for more sports today with Alex on Little Falls Radio.