Star Tribune
Tornado touched down in northern Minnesota
A National Weather Service survey team will be in St. Louis County in northern Minnesota on Friday to assess damage and try to determine the strength of a twister that touched down Thursday afternoon.
“It was a confirmed tornado,” said Krystal Lynum, a meteorologist with the Weather Service’s office in Duluth.
Numerous photos and videos posted online showed the tornado that felled trees near Bug Creek Road just east of Cotton, and as it crossed Hwy. 53 near Canyon, Minn. between 4:45 and 5:30 p.m., Lynum said.
Shingles were torn from a two-story home and debris was strewn near Cotton, the Weather Service reported.
“Fortunately, a remote area with few buildings,” St. Louis County Sheriff Gordon Ramsay wrote in a Facebook posting. No injuries were reported, he said.
The two small towns are about 40 miles northwest of Duluth.
While not unprecedented, the September tornado in northern Minnesota is rare, Lynum said.
“Usually severe weather starts to end the last part of August, but it’s been so warm we are seeing severe weather in September.”
Through Network Now, the agency plans to introduce 20 new routes in areas that currently do not have service, and bring on-demand service to six additional suburbs. Metro Transit is expanding its microtransit service to Roseville and Woodbury this year to provide better connections to regular-route transit.
In Woodbury, that means helping transit users access the new Gold Line, a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line that will run along Interstate 94 between downtown St. Paul and Maplewood, Oakdale, Landfall and Woodbury, starting in 2025.
By 2027, Metro Transit plans to have four new rapid bus lines in service and open the Green Line Extension, the light-rail line running from downtown Minneapolis to Eden Prairie that is also known as Southwest LRT.
“We are making a significant investment in our transportation network, so it’s essential that we listen and respond to riders, local partners and community members across the region as we plan for the future,” Met Council Transportation Committee Chair Deb Barber said.
Feedback and input on the plan can be submitted online through Nov. 15. The agency also will hold a series of in-person public information sessions during October. They include 5:30 p.m. Oct. 1 at the Hopkins Pavilion, 11000 Excelsior Boulevard, and 11 a.m. Oct. 8 at Central Library, 300 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis.
Online meetings will take place at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 7 and Nov. 7.
Attorneys for Kortgard and Pillar Bank did not respond to requests for comment.
In an 11-page complaint filed Sept. 9, after using $7 million of the credit it’s owed to acquire the Lowry Apartments through a foreclosure sale, lender Colliers Funding argued Kortgard is liable for remaining debt associated with the building as a guarantor.
The lawsuit seeks more than $8 million plus interest, late charges, attorney fees and other costs. An attorney for the lender did not respond to requests for comments.
The court appointed a receiver to take over management of the Lowry Apartments last month after tenants complained that the building was unsafe and unsanitary. Other Madison Equities properties have lost major office tenants in recent months, and an attorney for the company warned large buildings could soon be boarded up and left without security.
Madison Equities did not pay the first half of this year’s property taxes on its downtown buildings. The company owes at least $1.7 million in taxes, fees and penalties, and at least $1.6 million more will be due in October.
Crockarell, who died in January, was a controversial figure in downtown St. Paul, engaging in a number of legal battles over decades with the city, other property owners, his tenants and his staff. As he amassed his portfolio, he grew a reputation for buying distressed buildings and offering below-market rents. Kortgard, an attorney, was a business partner.
The state Department of Employment and Economic Development has announced a $440,000 grant to Oak Park Heights that the city plans to begin cleaning city water of the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) discovered in two city wells earlier this year.
The grant was one of six Community Energy Transition Grants awarded to communities with power plants that have closed or are scheduled to close due to the state’s conversion to 100% clean electricity by 2040.
The Allen S. King power plant will close in 2028, taking with it about a third of Oak Park Heights’ tax collections. Oak Park Heights Mayor Mary McComber said in a statement that the city will use the grant for a feasibility study and pre-design work to construct a new water treatment facility to remove PFAS contaminants from city water.
“We are grateful for DEED’s partnership and continued support,” McComber said. The six Community Energy Transition Grants announced this week totaled $5.21 million in funding for Oak Park Heights, Monticello, Red Wing, Cook County, Becker, and Sherburne County.
