Wednesday, April 16, 2025

Little Falls Community Schools Superintendent Greg Johnson spoke on KLTF. The Community Survey is ready to begin with 500 residents in the school district to be called by the survey company to ask question on how the district is meeting the needs of the students, questions on tolerance of a possible referendum, possible 4 day school week and the financial questions to be asked including the closing of buildings in the school district to lower enrollment from lower birth rates dating back to 2002 over the past years that is according to Johnson. The 500 are being selected by Morris Leatherman a Survey Company from Minneapolis and they look at voter records, and homeowners of all ages and demographics from College age to senior citizen to decide on who will be called in all communities that have students in the district not just Little Falls, so again Randall, Sobieski, Flensburg and more. Also they will call from the Metro Area and use either a 651, 612 or 507 area code and if you don't answer they will leave a message and it will not show as spam or blocked call. If you receive a message from them you are encouraged to call them back. Johnson reiterated that this is only the survey being done as this time with questions on what the school might do on recent budget and financial items in the school district. Nothing has been voted on in the District except for the survey vote that is being done by the company out of the Twin Cities and will be returned to the school when finalized and that is expected to be brought up at the May 12th School Board Meeting. Then the board will move forward on what the next steps will have to be done from the survey for next year,  but for right now it is just the survey that is being done by the school. 

A reminder from the City of Little Falls that road work has begun on the 4th Street Northeast project again in Little Falls. You are asked to follow the detours or alternate routes around the road work for the next few months. Other road projects by the City of Little Falls, Morrison County and Statewide projects by the Minnesota Department of Transportation are also getting underway, slow down in work zones. 

A 31-year-old Little Falls woman was charged Thursday, after she allegedly attempted to run over multiple individuals in a Baxter parking lot. Stephanie Marie May is charged with three felony counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, misdemeanor domestic assault and misdemeanor damage to a vehicle. On April 4, May posted a $10,000 bond with conditions. She is due back in Crow Wing County District Court on June 11. According to court documents, on April 1, 2025, law enforcement responded to a report of an assault on the 14000 block of Baxter Drive. Officers arrived and found two men and a woman standing next to a truck in the lot. The man who called officers said he was in the store when he received a call from his mother informing him May was in his truck. He told officers he and May have two children together and May has a domestic abuse-no contact order in place against him. The man said May had been sending him messages throughout the day, but he had not opened them as he did not want to violate the order. He told officers when he left the store with the other man and woman, he didn't see May right away, but then saw her vehicle, which was identified as a blue Suburban. She then exited the Suburban and began yelling at him before getting back inside and revving the engine. May then drove toward where he and the others were standing. Both men had to jump onto the sidewalk to avoid being hit. May then backed up toward the man, forcing him to jump out of the way to avoid being hit. While driving at them, May struck the man's truck with her Suburban.

The Central Minnesota Violent Offender Task Force executed four search warrants as it uncovered a network of stash houses for drugs and weapons in western and central Stearns County. Investigators combed through homes on the 29000 block of County Road 12 in Spring Hill Township, the 300 block of 2nd Street SE and 200 block of 3rd Street SW in Melrose, and the 300 block of 2nd Street SE in Sauk Centre on April 8th. Officials note they found drugs at all four houses and guns during the search in Spring Hill Township. Task force members were concerned about being ambushed and called in the Stearns Benton SWAT Team and the FBI SWAT unit to assist with the searches. Four people were taken into custody. More arrests could still be made and formal charges are being made by the attorney's office. 

A home in St. Augusta slated to be torn down provided valuable lessons to firefighters in its last days. Lutgen Construction is going to be breaking ground at the location on a new facility soon, so the six-bedroom house was turned into a training demonstration for two area departments. Some of the volunteer firefighters at the scene say Saturday’s training was unlike anything they have encountered in their life, even in the line of duty. Lutgen Companies President Sean Lutgen explains what made him think of using the property as a training tool. Lutgen recently bought several properties along the highway and will be converting the lots into a new company headquarters.