Star Tribune
Minnesota fire departments win more than $10 million in federal grants
Firefighters in the Twin Cities and across Minnesota will get some help this year, after the federal government awarded more than $10 million in grants to departments across the state.
Minneapolis received a $4.5 million federal grant to pay for 15 more firefighters. That award, called the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant, will run over a three-year period starting March 1.
City leaders celebrated the news in a news release Thursday, adding that the new hires would increase the force to 434 sworn personnel with plans to host up to 445 firefighters.
“I am very excited about the SAFER grant award to the Minneapolis Fire Department,” Fire Chief Bryan Tyner said in the news release. “As MFD incident responses continue to rise each year, the award will allow the department to add an additional 15 firefighters to our ranks, bringing the MFD to its highest authorized strength in approximately two decades.”
Minneapolis is not the only city that’s earned federal support.
The Bloomington Fire Department received $6.2 million from the SAFER grant, which will be used to hire 18 full-time firefighters. St. Paul did not receive the same grant this year, but did earn $1 million from the Assistance to Firefighters grant to help pay for equipment, training and other operations costs.
St. Paul’s Deputy Fire Chief Roy Mokosso said that grant will pay for 18 staffers’ paramedic training, 90 sets of firefighting gear and 430 physical exams to detect cancer and cardiovascular disease — conditions that firefighters’ work makes them more prone to.
“We’ll continue to evaluate opportunities to apply for grants,” Mokosso said. “It is great that both Minneapolis and St. Paul are applying for federal grants, and that they are also receiving them to support both staffing and other public safety initiatives.”
St. Paul’s Fire Department did request $125,000 in its budget presentation this year in order to train and hire more firefighters. The City Council is expected to vote on that budget request this December.
DULUTH – The Minnesota and Wisconsin transportation departments will make upgrades to the Richard I. Bong Memorial Bridge in the summer of 2025, in preparation for the structure to become the premiere route between this city and Superior during reconstruction of the Blatnik Bridge.
Built in 1961, the Blatnik Bridge carries 33,000 vehicles per day along Interstate 535 and Hwy. 53. It will be entirely rebuilt, starting in 2027, with the help of $1 billion in federal funding announced earlier this year. MnDOT and WisDOT are splitting the remaining costs of the project, about $4 million each.
According to MnDOT, projects on the Bong Bridge will include spot painting, concrete surface repairs to the bridge abutments, concrete sealer on the deck, replacing rubber strip seal membranes on the main span’s joints and replacing light poles on the bridge and its points of entry. It’s expected to take two months, transportation officials said during a recent meeting at the Superior Public Library.
During this time there will be occasional lane closures, detours at the off-ramps, and for about three weeks the sidewalk path alongside the bridge will be closed.
The Bong Bridge, which crosses the St. Louis River, opened to traffic in 1985 and is the lesser-used of the two bridges. Officials said they want to keep maintenance to a minimum on the span during the Blatnik project, which is expected to take four years.
Red Wing will celebrate the grand opening of its first permanent set of pickleball courts next week with an “inaugural play” on the six courts at Colvill Park on the banks of the Mississippi, between a couple of marinas and next to the aquatic center.
Among the first to get to play on the new courts will be David Anderson, who brought pickleball to the local YMCA in 2008, before the nationwide pickleball craze took hold, and Denny Yecke, at 92 the oldest pickleball player in Red Wing.
The inaugural play begins at 11 a.m. Tuesday, with a rain date of the next day. Afterward will be food and celebration at the Colvill Park Courtyard building.
Tim Sletten, the city’s former police chief, discovered America’s fastest-growing sport a decade ago after he retired. With fellow members of the Red Wing Pickleball Group, he’d play indoors at the local YMCA or outdoors at a local school, on courts made for other sports. But they didn’t have a permanent place, so they approached the city about building one.
When a city feasibility study came up with a high cost, about $350,000, Sletten’s group got together to raise money.
The courts are even opening ahead of schedule, originally set for 2025.
REDWOOD FALLS, MINN. – A truck crashing into a school bus left nine with minor injuries Wednesday morning in rural Redwood County, a statement from the Redwood County Sheriff’s office said.
The bus driver, serving the Wabasso Public School District, failed to yield when entering the intersection of County Road 7 and 280th Street, the statement said.
Deputies received word of the crash around 8:15 a.m. and identified the bus driver as Edward Aslesen, 72, of Milroy.
The nine injured passengers on the bus were transported to local hospitals, the statement said.
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