Star Tribune
St. Paul nonprofit to run Hennepin County’s heating and cooling system
Hennepin County leaders are hiring a St. Paul company to run the facility that heats and cools county buildings in downtown Minneapolis.
The County Board approved a 10-year contract Tuesday with Ever-Green Energy worth $40 million to operate the district energy facility on S. 6th Street. across from U.S. Bank Stadium.
The Hennepin County Energy Center provides steam and chilled water to the government center, HCMC, the public safety facility, the forensic sciences building, the juvenile justice center and several private customers.
Under the pass-through agreement, Ever-Green will receive a monthly management fee and the county will be responsible for other operational and maintenance costs.
Ever-Green currently operates District Energy St. Paul, which provides hot and chilled water to most buildings downtown, including the state Capitol complex. The St. Paul site uses wood chips as one of its primary sources of fuel and is one of the few ways to dispose of ash trees in the metro.
Ever-Green also operates facilities across the nation, including: a heating and cooling plant in Duluth, a cooling facility in Cincinnati and district energy for Milwaukee Regional Medical Center.
Previously, Energy Center Minneapolis operated the Hennepin County Energy Center since 2009, under the names Clearway and NRG. County officials put the contract out for competitive bids in 2023 and said Ever-Green was the lowest and best bid.
The Hennepin County Energy Center is different from the district energy facility, between 8th and 9th streets, operated by Cordia. That facility provides heating and cooling to roughly 100 customers downtown.
Cordia is a parent company to the organizations that operated the county’s district energy facility. In a statement, the company said it would “partner with Hennepin County to deliver reliable heating and cooling solutions as our systems are integrated together.”
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Twin Cities, get ready to potentially spot an ex on the Minneapolis season of Love Is Blind, which was officially announced Wednesday night.
The anticipated reunion episode that closed out season 7, set in Washington, D.C., included the surprise announcement. The eighth season will launch on Valentine’s Day.
“This Valentine’s Day 2025 will mark the five-year anniversary of the premiere of Love Is Blind, and it is going to be the launch of season 8, which takes place in Minneapolis,” host Vanessa Lachey said in a moment also posted to social media.
Three of the incoming Minneapolis singles were introduced in the reunion episode. When asked about the challenges of the dating scene in Minneapolis, one contestant shared a sentiment many Minnesotans will be familiar with.
“It’s such a small community, it’s not like a major city but it’s also not a small town. So you kind of see the same people over and over, and it’s a small bar scene,” he said.
Star Tribune
Long Prairie, MN school board dismisses its superintendent, the latest controversy in this small town
LONG PRAIRIE, MINN. — The school district superintendent dressed up as the school mascot, Thor, on football nights. He read the graduation address in both English and Spanish. He even set up office hours in the cafeteria, granting easier approachability to students.
But now, two months into the school year, Daniel Ludvigson is gone. Or, rather, “on special assignment,” according to the terminology of the Long Prairie-Grey Eagle School Board, which voted 4-3 earlier this month to remove him as superintendent. The move came weeks after voting to not renew his contract, which expires at the end of the school year in June.
Four board members — two of whom voted to oust Ludvigson, including Board Chair Kelly Lemke — are up for re-election next week.
The dismissal is the latest blow in this central Minnesota community on the edge of the prairie. Over the last nine months, the town of 3,400 residents and seat of Todd County has lost its mayor, a city manager, two school board members, and now its superintendent.
Students walked out earlier this month in support of Ludvigson. Signs in support of Ludvigson can be seen across town on the lawns of apparent Democrats and Republicans alike. And last week, hundreds packed the American Legion off Hwy. 71 to eat beef sandwiches and sign support letters for Ludvigson, who only swung by to pick up his child for hockey practice.
In a time of great divide in America, this fight has nothing to do with politics.
“You’ve got Harris buttons and Trump hats side-by-side, arm-in-arm,” said Amanda Hinson, a former local newspaper reporter who is concerned the board is not being upfront about why they placed Ludvigson on special assignment. “We want transparency in our government.”
Lawn signs around Long Prairie, Minn., now include people weighing in on the dismissal of Superintendent Daniel Ludvigson by the school board. (Christopher Vondracek)
School board members say Ludvigson has repeatedly shown he is not ready for the prime time of a school district bigger than the one in central North Dakota he arrived from two years ago. They have twice disciplined Ludvigson, but did not state the reason for placing him on “special assignment,” beyond insinuating that staff are fearful to raise official complaints.
