Star Tribune
Woodbury breaks ground on $330 million water treatment plant
With a ceremonial groundbreaking on Thursday afternoon, the city of Woodbury began construction of its $330 million water treatment plant to scrub city water of PFAS chemicals.
It’s the city’s largest capital improvement project ever, and the plant when completed and turned on in 2028 will be the largest of its kind in Minnesota, capable of cleaning 32 million gallons of water daily.
“We are dedicated to ensuring that we provide clean drinking water to our community for now and for generations to come,” Mayor Anne Burt said, speaking to a group of city staff, elected officials, and others at the M Health Fairview Sports Center fieldhouse, where officials gathered for a ceremony and speeches after the nearby groundbreaking.
The new plant will be located at Hargis Parkway east of Radio Drive, adjacent to East Ridge High School.
The city expects to pay roughly 10% of the plant’s cost, said Jim Westerman, assistant public works director. The remainder will be covered by the $850 million settlement 3M reached with the state of Minnesota in 2018 for the contamination of groundwater under the east metro.
Originally estimated to cost up to $400 million, the plant’s total cost came in lower due to competitive bidding, Westerman said.
The plant will require 17 miles of new pipelines to connect the city’s wells. Installation of those pipelines began in August and will continue over the next four years along existing roads.
A temporary treatment plant opened in 2020 continues to scrub groundwater at nine city wells that have levels of PFAS above state health department guidelines. Once the new plant comes online, the temporary plant will be shuttered and its equipment either moved to the new plant or auctioned off, Westerman said.
Star Tribune
Maple Grove remains undefeated with an exclamation point, routing Edina 35-0 in Class 6A high school football playoffs
Consider the question answered. Perhaps not officially, but as close as it gets.
The question: Can anyone beat Maple Grove? After the Crimson pummeled Edina 42-12 in Thursday’s Class 6A quarterfinal at Park Center, it appears the answer is no.
Edina seemed positioned to challenge the No. 1-ranked Crimson’s dominance, but Maple Grove took control of the game early.
The Crimson scored 21 first-half points on an 18-yard run by Charles Langama, a 29-yard pass from Kaden Harney to Oliver Walseth and a 1-yard run by Harney and led 21-0 at halftime.
Maple Grove cemented its victory with a pair of Bo Draheim touchdowns early in the third quarter. He followed a 1-yard scoring run with a 30-yard reception for a TD and a 35-0 lead.
Edina made the score a little more respectable in the fourth quarter with touchdowns by Chase Bjorgaard and Meyer Swinney.
Maple Grove improved to 11-0. Edina fell to 8-3.
”If we leave the conference room after a meeting and somebody leaves trash on the table, Susie’s the person to grab the trash and put it in the trash can,” said Chris LaCivita, who served as campaign co-chair along with Wiles.
Another of her three posts on X this year was in the closing days of the campaign, clapping back after billionaire Mark Cuban remarked that Trump didn’t have ”strong, intelligent women” in his orbit. After Wiles’ selection as White House chief of staff, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a Trump backer, quipped on X that the president-elect had chosen a ”strong, intelligent woman” as his chief of staff.
She can control some of Trump’s worst impulses
Wiles was able to help control Trump’s worst impulses — not by chiding him or lecturing, but by earning his respect and showing him that he was better off when he followed her advice than flouted it. At one point late in the campaign, when Trump gave a widely criticized speech in Pennsylvania in which he strayed from his talking points and suggested he wouldn’t mind the media being shot, Wiles came out to stare at him silently.
Trump often referenced Wiles on the campaign trail, publicly praising her leadership of what he said he was often told was his ”best-run campaign.”
”She’s incredible. Incredible,” he said at a Milwaukee rally earlier this month.
Star Tribune
Prolific record-breaking angler Art Weston, with help from Minnesota’s Nolan Sprengeler, caught 54-inch muskie on Mille Lacs
To that Sprengeler yelled back, “I know!”
After netting the fish, the fishermen looked at each other and Weston remembered shouting in excitement, “It’s long!”
In similar fashion, Sprengeler responded, “I know!” telling Weston “I think this is the one.”
After measuring and taking photos, the massive muskie was released safely.
Sprengeler, who didn’t respond to requests for comment Thursday, is no stranger to huge muskies. In November 2021, Sprengeler, of Plymouth, landed a massive muskie of his own on Mille Lacs that measured 57 3/4-inch and weighed 55 pounds and 14 ounces. For that catch, Sprengeler and two friends had to break the ice for about 100 yards to get his boat into open water on the lake’s west end.
The weather was more cooperative during the most recent trip.
