DULUTH, Minn. — From polluted to pristine. This is a story of a new waterfront recreation area in Duluth that opened, or rather reopened, this summer.

It took millions of dollars, coordinated efforts, and lots of hard work to help it come back to life. 

“I think we’re all proud of what this has become,” said Cliff Knettel with Duluth Parks and Recreation.

Cliff is talking about Spirit Lake in the St. Louis River area of Duluth. It’s likely you haven’t visited before, because there wasn’t much to see.  Long ago it was a stopping point for the Anishinaabe people. It became a central part of trading and led to the industrialization of the city of Duluth.

Along with that came U.S. Steel. The company operated a plant there until 1981. However, decades of production contaminated the water and land with heavy metals, putting the St. Louis River on the EPA’s area of concern list. 

In 2010, through the Great Lakes Legacy Act, a plan was hatched to clean it up.

“All in, it was $185 million to get through all those phases of design, investigation, feasibility, actually implementing, so it’s a very large investment from EPA and US steel, those are the two entities that were contributing financially,” said Mark Loomis, with the U.S. EPA – Great Lakes National Program Office.

Remediation started in 2020. Dredging, capping and restoring habitat all while maintaining water depth for the fisheries. Loomis said the work was nearly 24/7 for 38 months.

“We built over two miles of trails, ADA accessible, dedicated fishing areas, pause points, there’s a landing area for kayaks,” he said. “There was a large area, actually a mud flat, that we actually excavated, removed material to create open water. It’s a very unique part of this project.”

The city of Duluth owns much of the shoreline and this project has opened up access for many people who didn’t have it before. If you’re not familiar with the area, this is on the west side of town, not near the lakefront.

“We’re actually working with the St. Louis River alliance and our own parks and rec staff to offer programs that we couldn’t offer before like fishing, like paddling, like nature hikes, like educational opportunities, so those are happening right now and we’re super excited about that,” said Knettel.

The cleanup will eventually lead to the St. Louis River being delisted as an area of concern, but the biggest win for those involved is seeing the space go back to what it should be.

“Watching the people come back to the site, kind of breathing life into it and the river is there and wildlife is responding. Those are the things that really kind of drive me professionally and personally,” said Loomis.

The E.P.A. said it worked closely with tribal communities to preserve the cultural significance during the project. Signage that explains the history and process of the project will go up next summer.  

ST PAUL, Minn. — A day after a “suspicious mailing” forced the office of the Minnesota secretary of state to evacuate, officials released information about what was inside the box. 

According to information from the office of Steve Simon, a nonhazardous white powdered substance was inside the package. The substance was tested by both the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH). It was ruled nonhazardous. 

MDH is running additional tests. 

Multiple agencies, including the FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and Minnesota State Patrol, are investigating. 

Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon issued the following statement on Saturday:

“We are thankful for the quick response by our law enforcement partners to ensure the staff members working in our office were safe. We are also grateful to the Minnesota Department of Health, which completed the initial analysis late into the evening on September 27. 

Fear and intimidation of election workers will not be tolerated. New laws enacted in 2023 make it very clear that it is a crime to intimidate election workers and interfere with the administration of an election. Our focus remains on delivering a free, fair, accurate, and secure election for Minnesotans.”

On Friday, around two dozen people were evacuated from the building around noon. According to a news release, the package was addressed to the office with a return address to the “United States Traitor Elimination Army.” 

The Minnesota Secretary of State is responsible for overseeing the state’s elections. State officials said several other Secretaries of State and state election officials received similar suspicious packages earlier this month. 

RELATED: Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State evacuated after suspicious package delivered

HOPKINS, Minn. — Things have been hard for the Hopkins football team.

“I was still having fun, it’s just the winning aspect of football wasn’t there,” said senior offensive lineman Chase Vagle.

“We worked really hard on instilling a good culture,” said Hopkins head coach Chauncy Williams-Barefield.

Hard is something he’s never shied away from, in fact hard is the foundation of his program.

“Our team philosophy is go hard. Honest, accountable, relentless and disciplined,” said Williams-Barefield.

Those pillars have led to a shift this fall for the Royals.

“Coach Chauncy is a great coach. I feel like I’ve learned a lot. With him being my coach, he’s a great man, teaching me a lot of valuable life lessons,” said junior safety Ignacio Cisneros.

“We feel we have a really talented coaching staff this year, and players. So we knew we could win,”

The Hopkins program entered the season having not won a varsity game since Nov. 11, 2020, with 29 consecutive losses by an average margin of defeat of 42 points.

“For you to put in all of that work, blood, sweat, tears, energy into something and not be able to taste the reward of it with a win for three-plus years, it’s tough,” said Williams-Barefield.

On Sept. 13, 1,402 days after their last varsity win, the Royals beat Eastview in overtime.

“I saw my friend Tanner, who’s also a senior captain, and he was crying, so we hugged each other and cried for five minutes. I don’t think I’ll ever have a greater sports experience than that in my life,” said Vagle.

Two key aspects of the turnaround include star basketball player Jayden Moore playing this fall. He entered this week leading the state in receiving yards this season, joining his freshman brother Tre, who starts at QB for the Royals.

“He’s special. Athletically, there’s not many kids that are as athletic as he is,” said Williams-Barefield.

“It’s been amazing. It’s been great. That brother-to-brother connection has been great. Experiencing this is cool, we used to do this back in our neighborhood, we’d play all the time,” said junior wide receiver Jayden Moore.

Scheming up the dynamic Moore duo is former Gophers QB Bryan Cupito, the Royals’ first-year offensive coordinator.

“He’s been amazing. He’s helped me sleep well at night knowing that I don’t have to worry about the offense,” said Williams-Barefield.

Those ingredients all help propel the Royals to new heights this fall, including a new type of streak.

“I’ve been a part of a lot of teams, and this team is different, this is special,” said Vagle.

“I’m just really happy to be a part of history. Finally breaking the streak, and the best part about it is we just started a new streak,” said Cisneros.