Wednesday, June 4, 2025
The Little Falls Community School District announced a change to the public hearing date for this month. The school board sent out a change notice that the public hearing on the potential schoolhouse closure of Dr. SG Knight Elementary School in Randall will now be at 6pm on June 23rd, 2025 at Little Falls Community High School Auditorium. During the public hearing the School District will present information regarding the necessity and practicability of the proposed closing, and the public will be given time to provide input prior to a decision being made by the Board of Education. In summary, the reasons for the recommended closing are: A. The School District will achieve substantial cost savings of approximately $1.1 million to offset decreased funding due to declining enrollment by closing the Dr. SG Knight Elementary School building. B. The remaining sites at Lincoln and Lindbergh Elementary have sufficient space to accommodate the School District's needs, and the Dr. SG Knight Elementary School site is not needed for School District educational purposes. C. School District Enrollment has declined by nearly 1,200 students since the 2000 school year. D. The costs involved in continuing to operate the Dr. SG Knight Elementary building are outweighed by the cost savings involved in closing the building due to declining enrollment. Again the date change, this is now on June 23rd. The public is invited to speak at the time allotted.
The Little Falls Fire Department and Little Falls Police Department reported an apparent gas leak on the 400 block of 4th Street Northeast Tuesday afternoon. They did evacuate homes in the area until the fire department was able to find and fix the gas leak. The Little Falls Police Department later stated on Facebook that the gas leak has been fixed and those were able to return home.
The Alexandria police department has identified the man who allegedly stabbed a stranger inside the Walmart store. Twenty-eight-year-old Torrian Burt of South Bend, Indiana, was arrested in Alexandria on Saturday morning. He is currently in custody at the Douglas County Jail on Felony Level 2nd Degree Assault. When interviewed, Burt described the act as “impulsive” and said the victim was not previously known to him. The incident happened at about 9am on Saturday. The victim was taken to the local hospital with a stab wound, the police did not release the condition of the victim.
Authorities are asking the public to help locate a missing 14-year-old Willmar girl who hasn't been seen in nearly a month. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) said Natalia "Tasha" Hernandez was last seen on May 8, leaving her home. The agency said Hernandez could be with another teen missing from neighboring Meeker County named Alexavier Flores. Officials describe Hernandez as 5 feet and 109 pounds with long, black hair and brown eyes. She also has three piercings in her right ear and one in her nose. She was reportedly wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and fuzzy black and white pajama pants, and could possibly be carrying a black backpack bearing Nike swooshes. If you've seen Hernandez or Flores, or have information about their location, call 911 or the Kandiyohi Sheriff's Office at 320-235-1260.
There are cleanup days scheduled for cities and townships on Saturday including the city of Lastrup will have on for residents 8-10am at the Lastrup Ball Field. Townships of Platte, Pulaski and Richardson residents have a cleanup day 8-10am at the Pulaski Town Hall near Harding. Bellevue Township will have a cleanup day at the Bellevue Town Hall from 8-11am Saturday and the Townships of Cushing, Darling and Parker have a cleanup at the Darling Town Hall 8-11am on Saturday. Some of the townships are paying up to $20 in disposal costs at the events. For more information contact your township officials or the Morrison County Solid Waste Office for the latest refuse and recycling programs on Saturdays and Sunday around the county.
The first Rock Roll and Stroll of the season is tomorrow night in Pierz from 5-8pm, walk the streets of Pierz see the classic cars, there will be a poker walk, food to enjoy and a lot more fun items tomorrow in Pierz.
Vikings News- longtime Minnesota Viking defensive end Jim Marshall has died at age 87. Marshall holds records for the most game played (282) and most consecutive starts (270) by any defensive player. But Marshall has stated he is remember for the wrong way run he did in 1964. Besides one year in Cleveland Marshall played is career with NFL career with the Vikings from 1961-1979.
Death Notices- George Bieniek, age 91 of Holdingford
Weather- An Air Quality Alert still in effect this morning, otherwise sunny today, high 76, clear skies tonight low around 48. Thursday sunny skies, high 73, showers afternoon and evening possible then cloudy, low 54. Friday showers and storms likely, cooler, high 68, low 54. Saturday sunny and warmer, high 77, storms develop late in the day and into the night, low around 55. Sunday storms likely, cooler, high near 70.
Sports- The Pierz Pioneers are 1 win away from the State Tournament in Baseball with a 1-0 win last night over St. Cloud Cathedral in the Section 6AA playoffs. Royalton moved on with a 4-3 win over Foley and will face Albany at noon today in an elimination game in St. Cloud as Albany eliminated Staples-Motley 5-0 last night. Cathedral gets the winner at 2:30pm today and the winner of that will than face Pierz tomorrow for the Section Title at 4:30pm live on AM960 KLTF. Also in High School baseball playoffs Tuesday, Hutchinson beat Little Falls 5-2 ending the Flyer baseball season. Parkers Prairie beat Upsala-Swanville Tuesday 9-1 then Belgrade Brooten Elrosa shut out Upsala/Swanville 4-0 eliminating the Patriots in the 6A playoffs. Also in girls section golf Little Falls Imagine Hines and Pierz Whitney LeBlanc both advanced to state next week. In other sports: Willi Castro and Trevor Larnach go long ball and Twins win 10-3 last night over A's to win 2nd game with 10 runs in a row. The Twins have game 3 with A's tonight at 8:30pm on Q92 WYRQ. The Lynx won 88-65 last night over Phoenix, the Lynx are now 8-0 on season. The entire first day at the State Softball Tournament in Mankato was rained out on Tuesday, they will try and get the quarter-finals and semi-finals both in Wednesday for all 4 classes.