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3 days ago | 
kstp.com | Renee Cooper |Renée Cooper
53 Minnesota communities have elevated levels of the chemical element manganese in their drinking water, according to the latest data from state health officials. It’s an improvement from the 67 communities whose test results showed high levels two years ago, after the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) began recommending the tests. Dave Hokanson, assistant manager for MDH’s Drinking Water Protection Section, said, “That number could go up” as additional systems implement testing for manganese.
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4 days ago | 
kstp.com | Renee Cooper |Renée Cooper
A nearly $10 million request from a metro-based area agency on aging is among the funding requests that hung in the balance Sunday as Minnesota lawmakers approach the final week of the 2025 legislative session.
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1 week ago | 
kstp.com | Renee Cooper |Renée Cooper
Amid a continued sizable backlog of repair requests for copper-robbed streetlights, St. Paul Public Works confirmed it did not renew a request to the city council in 2024 that gave the department an extra half-million dollars to deal with the years-long outage surge.
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1 week ago | 
kstp.com | Renee Cooper |Renée Cooper
Several farmers and shoppers said their wallets were continuing to feel a pinch this year, and they said it’s important to put their money toward supporting local businesses. 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS has been tracking the cost of everyday living, something that has been a top concern for many Minnesotans, and lowering the cost of groceries was one of President Donald Trump’s campaign promises.
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2 weeks ago | 
kstp.com | Renee Cooper |Renée Cooper
Concern over plans for a massive and controversial data center in the City of Farmington has made it to the State Capitol. A group of residents in Farmington recently sued the city as it moves forward with Denver-based development company Tract’s plans to build a more than 340-acre facility on the city’s east side, comprising several warehouse-sized buildings full of computing equipment to store digital data.
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2 weeks ago | 
kstp.com | Renee Cooper |Renée Cooper
Homeowners reflect on destruction a month after plane crashLooking through a windowless pane upon the month-old wreckage of their Brooklyn Park home, Ken Tobacman and Mary Butler watched as remnants of their home appeared in the rubble. “So you look at the rubble, and it’s indistinguishable. And then you keep looking at it, and it starts to take shape,” Butler said on Tuesday. “Every time we come here, I find another piece of wreckage that looks familiar,” Tobacman added.
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2 weeks ago | 
kstp.com | Renee Cooper |Renée Cooper
Brooklyn Park unveiled a first-of-its-kind youth violence prevention team on Monday. The Community Intervention Team was established last year and has hit the ground running in the last couple of months, according to Community Intervention Manager LaTreasure Dickson. “As you know, intervention and law enforcement don’t usually live in the same house, and so this is the first of its kind that we know of,” Dickson said.
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3 weeks ago | 
kstp.com | Renee Cooper |Renée Cooper
People in the City of Mound have expressed concerns for years about unsafe levels of a chemical called manganese in their drinking water. Some level of manganese is healthy, but exposure to elevated levels can cause neurological issues, especially for infants and older adults, according to an advisory from the City of Mound. These two cities are far from alone.
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3 weeks ago | 
kstp.com | Renee Cooper |Renée Cooper
Staff and volunteers serving up Easter lunches on Sunday at the Catholic Charities Dorothy Day Place campus were a well-oiled machine. About 350 people were served for the holiday meal. Generally, they dish up roughly 300 plates per meal, or about a thousand a day, a spokesperson said. This year, the holiday tradition was shadowed by a financial pinch facing non-profits across the country.
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3 weeks ago | 
kstp.com | Renee Cooper |Renée Cooper
Young people considering a career as police officers, firefighters and EMTs responded to a staged four-vehicle pile-up involving a school bus in the parking lot of Hennepin Technical College in Eden Prairie on Saturday. They’re called “explorers.”Minnesota Fire Exploring Association President Kate McKay said it was the first time they’ve carried out a mock mass casualty incident with police, EMS and fire explorers together as they would be in reality.
