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St. Paul City Council approves 18-month contract extension for residential garbage collection

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:14:55 GMT

At the urging of St. Paul Public Works Director Sean Kershaw, the St. Paul City Council approved an 18-month contract extension for residential garbage collection, with price increases intended to reflect higher tipping fees and other costs passed along by a consortium of five trash haulers.The goal, said Kershaw, is to buy the city more time to negotiate for better rates and services for one-to-four-unit properties after the city’s recent request for proposals drew few viable responses.The council voted 6-0 on Wednesday to approve the short-term contract extension, despite reservations voiced by Council Member Jane Prince and general concerns raised over the status of negotiations with the consortium. Council Member Nelsie Yang was absent.Prince said she was “disappointed … Did we try in this negotiation for the next 18 months to get cart sharing or opting out, which were things that were really big requests, and the whole city expressed a desire to have?”Ke...

Source: Vikings trade for running back Cam Akers in deal with Rams

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:14:55 GMT

As soon as running back Cam Akers was placed on the trade block, the Vikings started to feel like a potential landing spot.Not only did head coach Kevin O’Connell have a past relationship with the Akers, general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has shown a willingness to take a swing on players that haven’t panned out.So, it was hardly a surprise that the Vikings acquired Akers on Wednesday night in a trade  with the Los Angeles Rams. A source confirmed the deal to the Pioneer Press.Originally a second-round pick by the Rams in the 2020 NFL Draft, Akers had a strong rookie season, then tore his Achilles tendon the following summer. Though he was able to make a pretty speedy recovery in the grand scheme of things, Akers hasn’t looked like the same player since then. He had 188 carries for 786 yards and 9 touchdowns last season.Why did the Vikings make the move? Look no further than the fact that they only have amassed 69 yards on the ground so far this seaosn.As much conf...

Finally with the Vikings, offensive lineman Dalton Risner vows to do whatever is needed

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:14:55 GMT

Dalton Risner made some waves on social media a couple of weeks ago.Maybe the NFL’s most coveted free agent on the market at the time, Risner posted a picture from the airport, sending multiple fan bases into a frenzy as they theorized where Risner might be headed.The funny thing is Risner was simply heading back to his house after touching down at Denver International Airport.“I’m like, ‘I’m going to try and make something up, man,’ ” Risner said with a laugh. “One of these GMs has to have a Twitter, right?”In the end, Risner was able to strike a deal with the Vikings this week, bringing 62 games of NFL experience to a team that desperately needs help on the offensive line. He visited the Vikings about six weeks ago and met different members of the front office including, general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, as well as head coach Kevin O’Connell. That made his decision pretty easy for Risner when they finally called back.&#...

Minnesota added 4,400 jobs in August; unemployment rate at 3.1%

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:14:55 GMT

Minnesota added 4,400 jobs in August, marking six consecutive months of growth in the labor force, according to the state Department of Employment and Economic Development.Employment in the state grew at 0.1% over the month, matching the U.S. rate.More than 3,200 people entered the labor force in August, and the labor force participation rate remained steady at 68.5%.The unemployment rate ticked up 0.1 percentage points to 3.1% in August.DEED said Minnesota’s job growth likely remains restrained by an extremely tight labor market and the high rate of labor force participation. The national participation rate, at 62.8%, is nearly 6 points lower than Minnesota’s.Seeing job gains in August were the large sectors of Construction; Education and Health Services; Leisure and Hospitality; Manufacturing; and Other Services.The losses were in Financial Activities; Government; Information; Professional and Business Services; and Trade, Transportation and Utilities.Related ArticlesBusiness | ...

Wild goalie prospect Jesper Wallstedt enters camp with ‘a lot of things to prove’

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:14:55 GMT

Wild prospect Jesper Wallstedt is unlikely to earn a spot on the NHL roster in training camp, which starts Thursday at TRIA Rink in downtown St. Paul. Not with Filip Gustavsson and Marc-Andre Fleury around.Those two veterans backstopped the Wild into the playoffs last season, and Gustavsson signed a three-year, $11.25 million contract extension on July 31 after going 22-9-7 with a 2.10 goals-against average and .931 save percentage in 2022-23.That doesn’t mean Wallstedt, the Wild’s first-round pick in the 2021 entry draft, will be spinning his wheels in camp. After playing in 38 games for AHL Iowa last season — going 18-15-3 with a 2.68 GAA, .908 save percentage and one shutout — he’s in line to get his first regular-season action as a potential injury replacement this season.“I definitely feel like I have a lot of things to prove,” he said.Wallstedt, who turns 21 in November, spent his summer working in his hometown of Västerås, Sweden, after playing three games in the IIHF World C...

Producers looking to the sky for snow after hard summer

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:14:55 GMT

By Anna SmithSunny South NewsLocal Journalism Initiative ReporterWhile he’s fortunate to irrigate his potato crops, Forty Mile Councillor Allen Kuizenga admits that without a hard winter with heavier precipitation, even irrigation will be in trouble come next year.“This is a bad one. This is where we had two and a half inches of rain all year from April 1,” said Kuizenga. There were other parts of the county that received even less, approximately one inch of precipitation, throughout the entirety of the growing season.While they were ultimately found to not meet all of the requirements for a state of agricultural disaster, the County still saw it as a necessary measure, said Kuizenga, to help raise awareness of just how bad the situation had become for dryland farmers in the area.And now, should things not change, the drought is likely to impact irrigation growers net year as well.“The supplies or the water reservoirs are all empty, and if we don’t get a significant amount of snow t...

Potato Growers of Alberta celebrate significant growth indicators

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:14:55 GMT

By Erika MathieuSunny South NewsEarlier this year, the Potato Growers of Alberta (PGA) published an in depth analysis on the economic impact of the potato industry in Alberta.The report, “The Alberta Potato Industry – Growing Success in 2022” summarizes how the province’s potato industry has grown over the past few years and quantifies the economic impact of this growth on Alberta’s overall economy.The quantitative data gleaned from the study was validation for key industry players who were keenly aware growth had been ramping up, but did not have a comprehensive study of the industry’s current economic impact.In a news release issued by the PGA on July 4, James Bareman, Chair of the PGA said, “We knew our industry has seen accelerated growth in recent years, but we had no way of measuring its overall impact on our economy.”Bareman added, “We are pleased that we now have an accurate assessment of our industry’s contribution and delighted with the result. The industry could not have ...

New greenhouse showcasing the benefits of vermi-composting

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:14:55 GMT

By Erika MathieuSunny South NewsA Lethbridge County-based business is leading the way in sustainable practices for their locally-grown produce.The Venue of New Hope, a coffee shop, greenhouse, and event venue space located just minutes from Park Lake, is doubling down on environmentally-sustainable practices as they grow their business.The venue is working toward growing its own produce for the cafe/coffee shop at their on-site greenhouse, which, in addition to producing locally-grown produce, uses the power of red wriggler worms to divert compostable waste from landfills, while producing high-value, nutrient-packed soil “castings”, covered by the worker worms in on-site composting bins.This process, known as vermi-composting, is essentially utilizing earthworm digestion and aerobic decomposition to produce rich organic matter containing a wide range of plant nutrients and beneficial microorganisms for growing plants and new produce.“These worms are different than your everyday gard...

Local craft garlic growers hoping to double yield for 2024 harvest

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:14:55 GMT

By Erika MathieuSunny South NewsA locally-owned and operated garlic farm is hoping to double the number of seeds planted this fall.Located in Lethbridge County, DeGraaf Garlic grows garlic without synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, hormones, or antibiotics. With the exception of tilling the land, the family-run operation does all planting, weeding, and harvesting by hand in an effort to reduce the chance of damaging the product.Owner Nico de Graaf said, “I started about I think it was seven or eight years ago with just a few plants,” he explained. Slowly adding plants over the years, De Graaf began producing enough to sell in 2022.This year, de Graaf said he grew “roughly 13,000 plants, which was right around one acre.”Garlic is seeded in the fall, before the ground freezes for the winter, where it remains dormant until longer days in the spring defrost the ground and allow the plants to germinate and grow.“We plant in the fall. Usually we try to watch the weather a little bit, and ...

Copperheads go 1-1 in HJHL preseason play

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:14:55 GMT

By Garrett SimmonsSunny South NewsThe regular season is upon us for the Coaldale Copperheads.Heritage Junior Hockey League action gets going to real this Saturday, as the Snake Pit Arena will be rocking as the Copperheads host High River in a 7 p.m. battle.Sunday’s home game in Coaldale will feature a 5 p.m. against Medicine Hat, as part of a two-game opening weekend.But before the regular season kicks off, the Copperheads had some preseason business to take care of, as Coaldale had a pair of exhibition games.On Saturday, the Copperheads fell 4-2 to the Medicine Hat Cubs, in the preseason opener in Coaldale. It was a low-event game, as Coaldale outshot the Cubs 21-17. The home side fell behind 2-0 after 20 minutes but rebounded with a strong second period. However, despite outshooting the Hat 10-3 in the middle frame, the score remained 2-0 heading into the third.The teams traded goals in final 20 minutes, as Medicine Hat left town with a two-goal victory.Sunday, back in Medicine Ha...