Wednesday, October 14, 2026
A reminder from Little Falls Community Schools, the Little Falls Police Department, and the Morrison County Sheriff's Office will join together on TODAY Wednesday, October 14, 2026, for a comprehensive emergency management training exercise at Little Falls Community Middle School. The exercise will simulate a school lockdown in response to an active-threat situation, followed by a controlled evacuation and relocation of students to Camp Ripley. This is a planned training exercise. There is no actual emergency or threat to Little Falls Community Middle School or the surrounding community. The exercise is designed to test the ability of school personnel and emergency responders to work together through a complex emergency—from the initial response and building clearance through student accountability, evacuation, transportation, and relocation. The October 14 exercise represents an ongoing commitment by Little Falls Community Schools and local public-safety agencies to strengthen emergency preparedness through collaboration and continuous improvement. The organizations recognize that no single agency can manage a complex emergency independently. Strong emergency response depends upon established relationships, clear communication, defined responsibilities, and the ability to operate together as a unified team. Community members may observe increased law enforcement, fire department, school bus, and other emergency response activity in the vicinity of Little Falls Community Middle School, the Exchange Arena, and along the route to Camp Ripley during the exercise. Following the emergency management portion of the exercise, students will participate in planned activities at Camp Ripley before returning to normal school operations.
A Cushing man was injured Tuesday morning in a two-vehicle accident at Highway 210 and Highway 64 in Cass County near Motley. 66-year-old Charles Gregory Madden was traveling on Highway 210 and crossed over the center line striking a semi driven by 66-year-old Terence Sellers from Quebec. Madden was taken to St. Cloud Hospital with non life threatening injuries. Sellers was not hurt.
The Little Falls Fire Department informed Little Falls Radio they were called to a crash scene on Highway 371 early Tuesday afternoon. At this time, the State Patrol has not released any information on the crash.
More information was released on a fatal crash that killed two people near a rest area on Interstate 94 near Clearwater Sunday morning. At 1:41am, Eugene Seguin, age 57 of Calgary, Canada was leaving the rest area and went eastbound on a westbound lane of Interstate 94 the wrong direction. Seguin reportedly collided with a Honda car and a Yamaha motorcycle. The motorcyclist, 24-year-old Ayden McDonald of Wahpeton, North Dakota died at St. Cloud Hospital from his injuries. Seguin, was not wearing a seatbelt and died at the scene. The two in the car, were both from Watkins and taken to the hospital with non life threatening injuries.
Meeker County authorities are investigating the death of a man at the Lake Washington boat landing on Monday. Sheriff's deputies and emergency medical personnel were dispatched at 1:20 p.m. to the public landing in Dassel in the 68000 block of 215th Street in Ellsworth Township. It is believed the Carver County man suffered a medical emergency. The sheriff's office says 56-year-old Edward Chabot of Watertown and his wife were working to bring their pontoon to shore when the incident happened. Chabot was standing in the water and was working on the pontoon when he went under the water. Chabot was brought to shore where life-saving efforts were performed. Chabot was then taken to Hutchinson Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
A 31-year-old man from Monticello and his three-year-old passenger are dead following a crash in South Dakota Monday afternoon. The Highway Patrol says the man was driving his Honda Odyssey minivan east on Interstate 90 near Kimball when a wheel flew off a trailer being pulled by a man driving a Dodge Ram pickup truck. The wheel crossed the median and hit the Honda, killing the driver and the child. A 24-year-old Monticello woman in the minivan suffered life-threatening injuries. An 11-year-old passenger suffered minor injuries. The driver of the pickup truck was not hurt. The South Dakota Department of Public Safety says the the investigation is ongoing. No names were released.
The Douglas County Sheriff's Office says Debra White has been found and is safe. The Sheriff's Office thanks those who helped in finding her and sharing information. White was reported missing October 10th leaving Monticello. No other information was released only that she has been found safe.
A small community in west-central Minnesota is coming together to remember three current and former Dawson-Boyd High School students who died in a string of tragedies over the weekend. “In a matter of days, our school family has experienced heartbreaking losses,” Dawson-Boyd Public Schools said in a Monday message, in response to the deaths of current student Carter Monaghan and graduates Katherine Frank and Aaron Gebur. “Three lives. Three families. Countless connections throughout our community.” Frank, a native of Madison, Minn., graduated from Dawson-Boyd High School in 2018 and went on to become a Minnehaha County sheriff’s deputy in the Sioux Falls, S.D. area. The 26-year-old died on Monday, three days after she was shot while responding to a call in Sioux Falls. Prosecutors have charged Brandon Oetken, 39, in her killing. “Katherine was more than her badge. She was a beloved sister, daughter, granddaughter, girlfriend, and friend,” a GoFundMe campaign says. “She was deeply loved, and her loss is felt by so many.” The Minnehaha County Deputies Association organized the fundraiser to support Frank’s family, including her five siblings between the ages of 15 and 28. On Saturday, the day after Frank was shot, Monaghan, a high school senior and football player, died in a car crash. The Dawson-Boyd Blackjacks will honor Monaghan, a lineman who wore No. 64, with “Play for Carter” T-shirts during the football team’s home game against Lakeview High School on Wednesday night. Gebur, who graduated from the high school in 2003, died “peacefully” on Sunday at Glen Oaks Assisted Living in New London, according to an online obituary. He was 41. Gebur’s mother previously worked for Dawson-Boyd Public Schools as a paraprofessional.
The weather has been anything but fall-like recently, but it's not stopping one of the largest bird migrations in our area. The skies are filling up with thousands of large birds, Soon, thousands of sandhill cranes will be staging at the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge to prepare. From mid-October to early November, the prehistoric birds roost overnight in the refuge wetlands. Minnesota's largest bird then spends the daytime foraging in harvested farm fields for food. A warm and dry fall may impact the concentration of birds this year. Friends of the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge say the cranes may be more spread out and somewhat harder to find this year due to the lower water levels and the late warm weather. Visitors should still see thousands of the birds as they prepare to fly south for the winter. The peak number of birds has exceeded 20,000 in years past and typically happens during the last week of October. The best viewing times are at dawn and dusk when the sandhill cranes are leaving in the morning and returning at night.
Linden Hill Historic Estate is having a candlelight tour and Edgar Allan Poe Experience October 23rd from 5-9pm. Hear spooky tales, see Halloween displays, festive selections of food and beverage and more. Costumes are not mandatory but are encouraged for the event. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased by calling Linden-Hill at 320-616-5580 or go to this link https://linden-hill.org/. Proceeds go to help with the upkeep at Linden-Hill and the Mansions.
Aaron Olson of Kinship of Morrison County was on KLTF Monday and invites all to the Kinship Soup and Chili Cookoff Monday, October 19th at 5pm at the Falls Ballroom. Enjoy soup and chili, vote for your choice of favorite, raffles, silent auction, live music and all proceeds go to support the youth mentoring program at Kinship of Morrison County. Free milk, ice cream and breadsticks at the event. Tickets for the soup and chili part is $18 at the door, $10 for kids 5-15 and under 4 and over 80 are free will offering. You can save $3 on adult tickets by calling Aaron and preordering them at 320-632-8806 through the end of this week.
St. Mary's Church in Little Falls is hosting a harvest breakfast Sunday from 9:30am-1pm. Scrambled eggs, sausage, potatoes, fruit, caramel and cinnamon rolls and coffee for a Free Will Offering. There will also be a bake sale with many homemade items after the 4:30pm Mass Saturday and the 8:30am Mass on Sunday while items last. That is this weekend at St. Mary's Church in Little Falls.
Death Notices: Jesse Kuchinski, age 45 of Little Falls.
Weather: Partly sunny skies today, high 54, clear skies tonight low near 32 some patchy frost possible toward morning. Thursday increasing clouds, rain showers possible, high 56, cloudy skies few showers Thursday night turning breezy low around 38. Partly sunny skies, Friday with gusty winds, high 53 and wind gusts near 35mph. Friday night breezy conditions, clearing skies, low around 29 with frost likely into Saturday morning. Saturday sunny and breezy, high near 60, clear skies Saturday night low near 40. Sunday sunny skies highs around 63, low around 37. Monday sunny skies, high 65, low around 35.
Sports: High School Football due to MEA is tonight. Melrose at Little Falls 7pm on AM960 KLTF, Rockford at Pierz 7pm on 94ROCKS KFML. Royalton at Paynesville Area, Upsala-Swanville at Ashby/Brandon Evansville, St. Cloud Apollo at Holdingford, Jordan at Foley, Staples-Motley at Pillager. There is also Section Tennis for individuals including for Pierz and Foley on Wednesday. Yesterday Tampa Bay beat Cleveland 3-1 in ALCS series tied at 1. Winnipeg beat The Wild in Hockey 5-2. Sauk Rapids-Rice eliminated Little Falls 2-1 in girls soccer playoffs, St. Cloud Tech 4-1 eliminated Little Falls in boys soccer playoff. With the high school games on Wednesday night, the Gophers are idle until October 24th and the Vikings have their bye week and off until October 25th will make for a quieter weekend in football action of the area.