Star Tribune
Axel Henry sworn in as St. Paul’s next chief of police
A unanimous St. Paul City Council endorsement preceded Police Department veteran Axel Henry’s swearing in Wednesday. He will now take the helm of a force where he’s served myriad roles and spent nearly all of his professional career.
Henry entered the council chambers to applause, and after the 7-0 confirmation vote, he was immediately sworn in before a crowd of more than 150 people, including family, friends, uniformed officers and civilians.
“As I look around this room and I look around our city, I know that we have the potential to do things at a level that could really set the bar for the entire country,” Henry said as he was sworn in. “I think that’s the type of work the mayor wants to see. That’s the type of work our officers want to see, and that’s the type of work that I want to see. We know it won’t be easy, but we can’t lose sight of the fact that it’s going to be attainable.”
Wednesday’s decision is the culmination of a selection process, led by a 39-member citizen committee, which spanned more than five months. Through that process, candidates underwent several interviews, answered questions about their experiences, and interacted with residents in two public forums.
Mayor Melvin Carter thanked those candidates and interim Chief Jeremy Ellison, who declined to apply for the position, adding that the search process showcased talent within the Police Department.
“We need a chief who understands our need to — to use a hockey reference — ‘skate where the puck is going’ with regards to public safety and keep us on the cutting edge going forward. We need a police chief who understands,” Carter said. “I was looking for a chief who embodied all of those things. In Axel Henry we have someone who has been at the forefront for years, keeping St. Paul in the forefront.”
Third Ward Council Member Chris Tolbert, whose territory covers the city’s southwest side, offered Henry both congratulations and support as he inherits “the best Police Department in the state of Minnesota.”
“It’s a modern, reformed Police Department that continues to try and get better every single day to offer community-first public safety to every person that comes to St. Paul,” he said. “And I know that takes work every day of the women and men of the Police Department as well as the leadership, and I trust and I know that you’ll continue to work on that every single day to have trust in the community, and have trust with all the officers and civilian staff who work in your department.
“Best of luck to you, but also know that we are all here to help and let us know what we can do to help you to succeed. Because we need you to succeed and we need to do well.”
Henry, 54, has spent decades climbing the ranks of the St. Paul Police Department. His father was an English professor at Macalester College, and he says the city basically raised him when his mother was “out of the picture” at age 11.
Henry currently lives in the Little Bohemia neighborhood, and his partner Mikeya Griffin is the executive director of the Rondo Community Land Trust, which works to provide affordable housing and commercial opportunities for people with low or moderate income. Henry previously served as commander of St. Paul’s narcotics, financial intelligence and human trafficking division before applying for chief.
Among his priorities as chief, Henry says public safety and rebuilding trust with communities are central. His swearing-in comes more than a week after that of Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara, 43, a veteran law enforcement official from New Jersey.
Henry said he exchanged numbers with O’Hara, although they’ve not yet sat down together.
“We’re going to work together to make sure that collaboration is successful and is done in a way that represents the kind of public safety we want here in St. Paul,” he said.
Henry will take the helm for a six-year term that pays between $130,000 to $182,000 a year, based on experience and qualifications.
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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