Bloomington officials hope to use a new grant to hire 18 more full-time firefighters as they aim to improve response times across the city.

The Staffing For Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grant, issued by the federal government, is worth nearly $7 million, and officials say it should cover the first three years of the firefighters’ employment.

“The big difference is [in] our ability to provide service to our customers, all the people that call 911,” said Bloomington Fire Chief Ulie Seal. “Our effort to add more full-time people has improved our response time already in the city compared to what it was before, and I hope to continue that.”

The Bloomington Fire Department, like others across the nation, has seen a decrease over the last decade in the number of people who are interested in becoming part-time or volunteer firefighters. The drop-off was especially steep after the COVID-19 pandemic, Seal said.

So, fire chiefs have increasingly tried to hire more full-time employees. The Bloomington department currently has 30 full-time firefighters and 70 part-time firefighters.

With additional full-time employees, response times have improved. Seal said 90% of calls now receive a response within 9½ minutes, a decline from a roughly 12-minute response time.

But he hopes to reduce that time even further and to staff more of the city’s six fire stations consistently. “It’s getting me closer,” Seal said of the grant.

The former manager of a Chick-fil-A at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport has been sentenced to a year in prison for stealing more than $140,000 from the franchise and a sister restaurant, money he later spent on a sex-oriented website and online sports betting.

Timothy Michael Hill Jr., 37, of Brooklyn Park, was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in St. Paul after pleading guilty to wire fraud for embezzling $144,819 from Chick-fil-A and another restaurant, Settebello, in September and October 2022.

Hill’s sentence includes two years of court supervision upon his release and an order to repay the money he stole.

Hill’s defense argued he should have been spared prison and put on probation. Hill’s crime cost him a planned marriage to the mother of his two small children, the defense motion noted.

“I cannot express the regret I feel that I took money from my employer,” reads a passage from Hill in the filing. “I allowed myself to believe I was just borrowing the money and that I would pay it back, but it never happened.”

The prosecution acknowledged Hill’s remorse and nodded to his otherwise law-abiding life, but pointed out that he “continued his fraudulent scheme for over one year and only stopped because he was caught,” according to a court filing.

Hill acknowledged in his plea agreement that he frequently pocketed some or all of the business’ daily cash receipts rather than putting them into a safe deposit box. He tried to conceal his actions by using cash received at a later time to cover past thefts, “thereby creating the false impression that deposits were delayed rather than stolen,” the plea deal read. Hill sent regular emails to Chick-fil-A’s accounting personnel in Illinois representing that he was belatedly depositing cash from earlier dates.

According to Hill’s February indictment, he spent the money on online sports betting, jewelry and OnlyFans, a subscription-based website known for sexually explicit content that includes celebrity performers. Hill also sent tens of thousands of dollars to various people, including several female airport workers, in exchange for explicit photos and videos.

South Washington County Schools officials say a substitute teacher is banned from its schools and under investigation after allegedly reenacting the police actions that resulted in the death of George Floyd during classes at Woodbury High School.

The teacher also mimicked holding up a gun and pointing it at students, stated that police brutality is not real, told sexist jokes and engaged in “inappropriate and racially-harmful behavior” during separate English classes for sophomores and seniors, according to a letter from Woodbury High principal Sarah Sorenson-Wagner sent to parents on Tuesday.

A full report has been filed with the Minnesota Department of Education. The teacher is banned from all South Washington County School District property, and the school is working with the Woodbury Police Department to investigate the incident, Sorenson-Wagner wrote.

Students reported that the unnamed teacher said he wanted them to know about his life as a police officer. On Monday of this week, according to the district, the teacher put a student on the ground as part of a reenactment of Minneapolis police actions that led to the murder of George Floyd in May 2020. Four Minneapolis police officers were convicted in connection with Floyd’s death.

The teacher is not a police officer in Minnesota, Sorenson-Wagner wrote.

The teacher also reportedly twisted a student’s arm behind their back and showed pressure points on the chin and face. The teacher spoke in “disturbing detail” about dead bodies he had seen, shared explicit details about two sexual assault cases he investigated and repeatedly made racially harmful comments, according to the district.

“I specifically want to acknowledge racial harm that occurred when the substitute teacher reenacted the prone restraint that resulted in the murder of George Floyd,” Sorenson-Wagner wrote. “This reported behavior is reprehensible. I am embarrassed, and I am sorry this happened to our students. We will take as much time as students need to listen and create open space for courageous conversations that lead to healing, action and education.”

Sorenson-Wagner said the school has called the company that provides substitute teachers to ensure the teacher does not fill any future vacancies in the district.