Star Tribune
Plans for new EV chargers form in Washington County
A handful of Holiday Station stores applied for permits this week to install high-speed EV chargers at locations around the metro, including in Washington County, where a dearth of such chargers give electric-car drivers few options for quickly filling up.
The permits, filed with the state Department of Labor and Industry, show that Circle K, the Canadian owner of Holiday, plans to install two chargers apiece at 10 locations, most of them along major highways.
The company had no comment Thursday on the permits or construction timelines, but if the sites include the Holiday at 215 Manning Av. N. in West Lakeland, it would make it just the third location in Washington County with high-speed charging.
The county has few public chargers of any speed, with just two locations offering high-speed charging: a bank of Electrify America chargers at the Woodbury Walmart and eight Tesla Superchargers at the Oakdale Hy-Vee.
Washington County Planning Director Lyssa Leitner said the county just applied for a $500,000 grant, with a $100,000 local matching requirement, to build a network of 30 Level-2 chargers throughout the county. If the grant is awarded, the chargers would go in some of the county’s rural areas in parks and transit centers to give EV drivers more options for local charging, she said.
The application to the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program faces stiff competition, including from the state of Minnesota, and there’s no guarantee the county will be awarded any support, said Leitner. A decision on the grant isn’t expected for months, and it would take more time to plan and build the stations after that.
At an April workshop meeting of the County Board, the county opted to do a feasibility study on EV charging, added Leitner. If the county doesn’t win the NEVI grant, it will pursue a phased-in approach of adding chargers where and when it can. The feasibility study should begin within a couple of months, said Leitner.
For now, talk of private businesses pushing ahead with more high-speed charging was met with enthusiastic support among followers of the MN EV Owners Facebook page, where the Circle K/Holiday permits were first mentioned by user Mike Doyle. The Holiday stores include several around the metro area, plus locations in Mankato, Brainerd and Alexandria.
The state had some 34,000 registered electric vehicles as of January, according to the state Public Utilities Commission.
When the Minnesota Supreme Court this week declined to hear an appeal by the University of St. Thomas regarding the environmental impact of its new hockey/basketball arena under construction, neighbor and arena foe Dan Kennedy said the “ethical” thing for the university to do was stop construction until neighbor concerns are addressed.
Not going to happen, university officials said Thursday.
While a public review of a revised Environmental Assessment Worksheet continues through Nov. 7, construction of the 5,000-seat Lee and Penny Anderson Arena continues. In an e-mail Thursday, a university spokesman said the arena is expected to be completed in fall 2025.
“The University of St. Thomas is aware of the Minnesota Supreme Court’s decision to deny its petition to appeal and is reviewing the potential impacts of this decision,” an emailed statement from St. Thomas said. “Last week, the City of St. Paul published an updated EAW for public comment, and that process will continue. Construction of the Lee & Penny Anderson Arena will also continue, as permitted by law.”
But Kennedy said he believes that decision is not only wrong, but illegal. Because the state Court of Appeals this summer ruled the project’s first environmental review was inadequate, its site plans and building permits are invalid, said the president of Advocates for Responsible Development.
“We need somebody to specifically tell the University of St. Thomas that they must comply with the law,” Kennedy said. “This is an institution of higher learning, with a law school. They should comply with the law.”
Kennedy said he thought the Minnesota Court of Appeals had insisted on exactly that. In August, the appellate court ordered the city and university to conduct a new Environmental Assessment Worksheet. The previous assessment didn’t do enough to study the arena’s potential harm to the neighborhood’s parking, traffic and air quality, the court ruled.
“The reason why is that more sunlight in the morning time helps reinforce waking up, and having less light in the evening is less stimulation,” he said. “So when we’re winding down, preparing for sleep, having fewer hours of sunlight in the evening can help promote that process of falling asleep.”
Akingbola acknowledges that it can be sad to walk out of work or school when it’s already dark out, but in the long run, standard time is the way to go.
The U.S. already tried daylight savings year round in 1974
Despite the medical advice, there have been calls in recent years to make daylight savings time permanent.
Sen. Mary Kiffmeyer, R-Big Lake, tried to pass a bill as recently as 2021 to make daylight savings time permanent, but it did not pass the Legislature.
The U.S. tried once before. According to Minnesota Star Tribune archives, due to an energy crisis, President Richard Nixon passed a law in January 1974 that made daylight savings a year-round thing.
A month into it, the Minneapolis Tribune ran an article saying there were calls to reverse the decision because there were more accidents in the pre-dawn darkness, particularly involving school children waiting for the bus. Under daylight savings time in January, sunrise wasn’t until well after 8 a.m. in Minnesota.
Karl-Anthony Towns may be in New York City, but his heart is in Minnesota.
On Wednesday night, Towns had some sweet seats for a Billie Eilish show at Madison Square Garden with his partner, Jordyn Woods, when she caught him watching the Timberwolves play the Chicago Bulls in a preseason game on his phone. Her video, posted to her Instagram story, made rounds on social media Thursday.
In the video, flames are literally spewing out from Eilish’s stage, lights are flashing all around and others in the crowd are head bobbing. And there is Towns, holding his phone in both hands and muttering to himself as the Timberwolves are down 88-75 late in the third quarter in a meaningless game.
“I promise he was enjoying the concert,” Woods wrote in the video’s caption.
The Wolves would go on to lose that game, 125-123. A nail-biter.
Towns’ trade to the New York Knicks for Julius Randle and others stunned the NBA world and all of Minnesota, where he was a beloved player for nine seasons and a leader on a team rapidly ascending toward championship contention.
“It was a lot of emotions,” Towns said. “Some amazing moments and times in nine years of my life in Minnesota, a place that I’ve called home. Guys who are not just teammates to me but brothers. We were like brothers. It definitely was a wild day, definitely coming to work.”
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