ST PAUL, Minn. — Four years ago, St. Paul put $50 into college savings accounts for children born after January 1, 2020. Now, that program is expanding as those kids reach school age. 

“We are sending our young people a clear message,” said Mayor Melvin Carter during the launch event on Saturday morning. “We believe in you enough to invest in you.”

Community partners joined Carter to launch CollegeBound Elementary, an extension of the Collegebound initiative, at Bremer Bank’s Midway location. The program expands the program eligibility, allowing all families with children entering a St. Paul Public School Pre-K classroom to opt-in to a college savings account regardless of address or birth year. 

The launch event doubled as the program’s first Family Deposit Day, where families who contributed to savings accounts earned a $25 bonus.

According to a press release, over 14,000 children have been enrolled in these starting-at-birth savings accounts that have accumulated more than $3 million to date. CollegeBound Elementary will also give students opportunities to engage in activities in and out of classrooms, earning up to $350 in additional bonuses, as well as access to educational tools centered on wealth justice.

“This program is really about hope,” one parent of a CollegeBound child said. “Every time we come and save money, we are injecting hope into Malachi’s future.”

The City says that the Financial Empowerment has been working with St. Paul Public Schools since 2022 to help instill post-high school aspirations for CollegeBound children as soon as they reach school age.

Bremer Bank has been the City of St. Paul’s financial partner for this program since its inception. 

“Bremer has been the proud financial partner of CollegeBound Saint Paul since its inception, and the tremendous growth of the program is inspirational. This pioneering program is helping to improve access to higher education for families across this community,” said Bremer President and CEO Jeanne Crain in a release.

St. Paul plans to expand CollegeBound Elementary to charter, private, and home schools within the city in future years. 

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board (MPRB) is looking for public input on two draft policies concerning cannabis use and THC products inside the park system.

The first policy is an update to the tobacco policy, which bans tobacco products of any kind on park land or facilities. This potential change would add smoking or vaping cannabis or THC products to that policy, banning it from park land and facilities.

“The tobacco portion of the policy does go more deeply into other forms of tobacco, but the cannabis portion just focuses on smoking and vaping,” Jennifer Ringold, the deputy superintendent for the MPRB, said.

The second proposed policy would create protocol for how vendors or permit holders could sell THC products within the park system. Beverages and edibles would be capped at a potency of 5 milligrams of THC per serving.

You can read both policies by clicking here. Public comment on both started this past Monday, and will last into January.

“We’re just trying to move through with where the commissioners views are of what they want to see happen within the Minneapolis Parks,” Ringold said.

Ringold says this wouldn’t add any sort of penalties if the cannabis element is added to the tobacco policy.

“I think it’s fair to say the commissioners are choosing a policy approach which doesn’t establish any type of penalty or any type of violation with it,” she said. “It does rely on, you know, park staff, community members, kind of self monitoring and doing the work that would would be done to discourage smoking or vaping within public spaces in the same way we currently do around tobacco, smoking and vaping in public spaces on the THC edibles and beverages side.”

With public comment still underway, we asked dozens of people Saturday their thoughts on the potential changes.

“When I come out to the park, I want it to be clean,” Sidney Grimmett said. “I want it to smell like nature.”

“I prefer none of it in the park,” Elizabeth Unger said.

Others say they don’t see what the issue is.

“It feels vindictive to me to make a big deal about the occasional person that’s going to be walking around making a, puffing away on it,” Val Baertlein said.

Ringold says as of Friday, they’ve had over a thousand people comment on the two policies.

Public comment will run through January, and in February, MPRB will look at those comments and update policies. In March, a public hearing will be held on the two, and commissioners will decide on the two that same month.

CHASKA, Minn — Food is usually best when it goes right from the farm to the kitchen. 

And that’s exactly what happens at the U of M’s Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. Chef Shelagh Mullen is at the helm of the Farm at the Arb program, where they plant, grow and harvest produce and herbs and then create seasonably wholesome fare. 

Chef Shelagh invited the KARE 11 Saturday crew into her kitchen to whip up a Carmelized Onion and Gruyere Tart, perfect for Thanksgiving and the entire holiday season. 

• 2½ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
• ½ cup + 2 tablespoons ice water

• 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 2 medium onions, very thinly sliced*
• Kosher salt
• 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• 4 oz. coarsely grated sharp cheddar or Gruyère
• 2 delicata squash (about 1½ lbs), halved lengthwise, seeds removed, very thinly sliced* (half moons)
• 1 small sweet potato, very thinly sliced* (half moons)
• 1 small red onion or shallot, very thinly sliced*
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves removed
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• Flaky sea salt
  

• An 11″- or 12″-diameter fluted tart pan with removable bottom 
• Mandoline or food processor (or a very sharp knife)

Place a rack in the lower third of the oven; preheat to 375°.

FILLING: Swirl 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet to coat bottom and add the onions; season with kosher salt. Set the skillet over medium heat and cook onions, stirring occasionally and making sure to scrape the bottom of the pan, until very soft and deep golden brown, 20-30 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are caramelized and deeply browned, 5-10 more minutes (if onions get super dark and stick to the pan, a few drops of water should dislodge them). Let cool.

CRUST: Place the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor, fitted with the metal blade. Add the cubed cold butter and pulse a few times, until the butter is evenly mixed in and resembles peas. Slowly add the water and pulse until the dough becomes crumbly and starts to stick together. Remove the dough from the food processor and put onto a clean surface. Form the dough into a ball and cover with plastic wrap. Chill the dough for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator.

Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to about ⅛” thick. Transfer to tart pan. Lift up the edges and allow the dough to slump down into pan, don’t stretch the dough. Gently press into corners and trim excess. Freeze until firm, 15–20 minutes, or cover and chill in the fridge for up to 12 hours.

Cut sweet potato and red onion in half lengthwise, then thinly slice crosswise with mandoline or food processor. Drizzle remaining 2 tablespoons of oil over vegetables and season with kosher salt.

Brush mustard over chilled dough, then sprinkle with cayenne (from up high, but more even distribution). Layer in the cheese, then top with the caramelized onions in an even layer.

Arrange vegetables (alternating the squash, sweet potato and red onion) in concentric circles, with rounded edges facing up, starting from the outside edge, leaning slices against the crust, and working your way inward.

Loosely cover with foil and bake tart until edges of vegetables are browned (a few spots may even get deeply browned) and crust is golden brown, 60–75 minutes. Melt thyme and butter in a small saucepan and cook just until butter is bubbling. Baste the tart with the butter and thyme mixture a few times while it bakes. Sprinkle with crunchy salt, place back in the oven, uncovered for 10-15 minutes until the crust is golden brown and veggies are soft.

*Use a mandoline, a very sharp knife, or food processor, to thinly slice squash, sweet potatoes and onions.