Two men who died in a garage fire in St. Paul were publicly identified Thursday as a 39- and a 63-year-old.

David John Orlando, the younger of the two, and Frank Allen Piele were found in a weekend fire in the Eastern Hazel Park neighborhood on the East Side.

Piele was the son of the homeowner and lived in the garage on and off, according to the fire department.

Firefighters were called to the detached garage fire on Sims Avenue near White Bear Avenue about 12:15 p.m. Sunday. The garage was completely engulfed in flames and, during a search of it, firefighters found Orlando and Piele.

The fire likely started when a space heater was accidentally knocked over, said Assistant Fire Chief Jeramiah Melquist. Improper heating is a leading cause of fatal fires in Minnesota during lower temperatures.

The St. Paul Department of Safety and Inspections, police and fire departments, firefighters’ union and St. Paul Vulcans have been helping Piele’s brother and elderly mother who live in the house on the property, including with getting furniture and other household needs, Melquist said.

— Mara H. Gottfried

County crisis response team will expand

Washington County will expand its crisis-response team to include a crisis telecommunicator who will be housed in the county’s Emergency Communications Response Center in Stillwater under the terms of a pilot program approved Tuesday by the County Board.

The board approved a $200,000 grant agreement Tuesday with the Minnesota Department of Public Safety to fund the pilot position. The grant runs from March 1 through June 30, 2026.

Washington County Community Services, in collaboration with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, was awarded the funds to embed a full-time social worker in the role of crisis telecommunicator to work alongside the county’s 911 dispatchers, said Kathy Mickelson, adult services division manager for Washington County Community Services.

The pilot program’s goal is to assist county officials in meeting Travis’ Law, which was passed in 2021 and requires 911 dispatchers to send mental-health crisis workers to a critical law-enforcement situation whenever possible, Mickelson said.

The pilot program also aims to enhance coordination between the sheriff’s office and community services for mental-health support and streamline referrals to the county’s Crisis Response Unit and Coordinated Response Team.

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety’s Office of Justice Programs provided funding to local law enforcement and governments to support or expand crisis-response teams, where social workers or mental health professionals are sent as first responders to mental-health crisis calls.

— Mary Divine

Bach Festival invites public for sing-along

During the Minnesota Bach Festival next month, community singers can have the chance to perform onstage at the Ordway alongside the Bach Society of Minnesota’s choir and orchestra.

Singers of all ages and ability levels are invited to join the society’s two-day community sing-along: In the evening of Saturday, March 8, artistic director Matthias Maute will teach participants passages from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Requiem” and “Ave Verum.” Then, on Sunday, March 9, participants will perform both pieces during the Bach Festival’s flagship Mozart Requiem concert.

Participation in the sing-along program is free, but singers must register by March 1 on the Bach Society’s website.

The March 9 concert, open to the public, begins at 4 p.m. Tickets — $16.50 for students, or starting at $50 otherwise — are available via the Ordway box office at 651-224-4222 or ordway.org/events/mozart-requiem/.

Events for the 2025 Bach Festival run from Feb. 28 to March 30. On Feb. 28 and March 1, musicians are hosting free pop-up “mobile mini-concerts” in public spaces to be announced. Later, in honor of composer Johann Sebastian Bach’s birthday, the society is hosting a keyboard masterclass March 22 and an all-skill-levels community play-through and recital March 29. Finally, the society is partnering with the local Charles Gorczynski Tango Quartet for a March 30 performance bridging tango and baroque styles.

Full details for the 2025 Minnesota Bach Festival can be found online at bachsocietymn.org/minnesota-bach-festival-overview.

— Jared Kaufman

Evers audit faults city’s school system

The Milwaukee public school district struggles with a “culture resistant to change” that has undermined its ability to function properly, disproportionately harming its most vulnerable students, an audit ordered by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers released on Thursday found.

Evers, who served as Wisconsin’s superintendent of schools before becoming governor, ordered the independent audit last year after it became known the district failed to submit financial reports to the state leading to the resignation of the district’s superintendent and the withholding of funding by state officials.

The audit found that the district, which is the state’s largest, with more than 66,000 students, must make sweeping, high-level changes to be more transparent with parents and taxpayers.

“MPS must make systemic changes to ensure that students—particularly the most vulnerable—are at the center of every decision,” the audit by MGT of America Consulting said. “Ultimately, this work is in service of students, whose future success hinges on a district capable of delivering equitable, high-quality education.”

Evers, in a statement, urged the district to quickly accept the audit’s 29 recommendations.

The school district said in a statement that the audit will serve as a guide for improvement.

— Associated Press