Firefighters putting out a blaze in a garage in St. Paul found a man dead inside Wednesday night.

The man was taking shelter in the North End garage, which was also the case in a double fire fatality in St. Paul earlier this month, according to the fire department.

In Wednesday’s incident, firefighters responded just before 9:30 p.m. to a report of a detached garage fire in the 1400 block of Mayre Street near Arlington Avenue and Rice Street. They needed multiple fire hoses to extinguish the fire.

A fire department investigation ruled the fire accidental. The roof was already burned off the two-car detached garage when firefighters arrived. Inside the garage, they found a two-burner electric hot plate with food in it and an electric portable radiant heater; either could have started the fire, but the cause is undetermined, said Deputy Fire Chief Jamie Smith.

A man renting the home reported he’d allowed a man he knew to access the garage to stay warm, Smith said.

Two men died in a garage in St. Paul on Feb. 9 on Sims Avenue near White Bear Avenue. The cause of that fire was a space heater that was accidentally knocked over, according to the fire department. One of the men was the homeowner’s son and lived in the garage on and off.

“No one should lose their life trying to stay warm,” Smith said in a statement. “Garages are not meant for living. They lack the proper heating, smoke/CO alarms, and safe exits — making them a death trap. We as a community must take action to prevent these tragic fire deaths.”

— Mara H. Gottfried

Breakaway Music Fest announces headliners

John Summit, Tiësto and Alison Wonderland will headline the second annual Breakaway Music Festival June 6 and 7 outside St. Paul’s Allianz Field.

Tickets start at $134 and go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday via breakawayfestival.com.

The electronic music festival began in Ohio in 2016 and has since expanded into multiple cities across the country. This year will stand as Breakaway’s biggest to date, with festivals in 12 cities.

Festival organizers said the inaugural festival drew 24,000 fans over two days. DJ Illenium topped the bill of more than two-dozen local and national acts for the first major music event at the soccer stadium since it opened in 2019.

Ramsey County emergency dispatch also received some 200 noise complaints that weekend, most of them likely linked to the stadium.

In a written statement last July, festival organizers promised “further sound engineering studies to improve upon the layout of our event, hopefully mitigating more of the impact to local residents” before a “hopeful return to St. Paul in 2025.”

National acts also on the bill include Acraze, Bunt, Cassian, Disco Lines, Grabbitz, Hedex, HOL!, Jev, J.Worra, Kream, Linska, Mary Droppinz, Max Styler, Mojave Grey, Skilah, Surf Mesa and Troyboi. Locals set to perform include Caiked Up, Christian Baca, Gemini Danger and Zella.

— Ross Raihala

Big Time Rush back for Xcel show on Aug. 8

If you were a tween or young teen in the early ’10s, this one’s for you. Reunited boy band Big Time Rush will spend the summer on the road, with an Aug. 8 stop planned at St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center.

Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Feb. 28 through Ticketmaster. Citi cardholders have access to a presale that runs from 10 a.m. Feb. 26 to 10 p.m. Feb. 27.

The group was formed, Monkees-style, for a Nickelodeon sitcom of the same name. Kendall Schmidt, James Maslow, Logan Henderson and Carlos PenaVega played four hockey players from Duluth who move to Hollywood to chase their boy band dreams. (They were chosen via a nationwide casting call and none are actually from Minnesota.)

“Big Time Rush,” the show, was an immediate hit after debuting in late 2009. It ran for four seasons and spawned a 2012 TV movie that drew more than 13 million viewers in the States.

All the while, the group released three albums and found success with the singles “Til I Forget About You,” “Boyfriend,” “Worldwide” and “Windows Down.” They also toured heavily and played the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand in 2011, the KDWB Jingle Ball at the X that same year and Target Center in 2012 and 2013. They split up in 2014, with Maslow going on to compete on “Dancing with the Stars” in 2014 and “Celebrity Big Brother” in 2018.

In the early days of the pandemic lockdown in 2020, the band reunited virtually and released an acoustic version of “Worldwide” that became a viral hit. In 2021, Netflix added “Big Time Rush” and watched it hit the Top 10 trending titles. At the end of that year, Big Time Rush returned to the stage for shows in Philadelphia, Chicago and New York. A sold-out tour followed in 2022 and included a show that July at the Armory in downtown Minneapolis.

— Ross Raihala

With Trump cuts, agency ends 27 jobs

Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota is eliminating some staff positions, after the Trump administration’s suspension of the Refugee Admissions Program in January.

Program officials say 27 staff members are affected. The organization employs 2,500 people.

In a statement, Senior Vice President of Services Alexis Oberdorfer said, “With no federal funding for refugee resettlement services, we are in the unfortunate position of having to reduce our staffing for this work.”

The organization helps legal refugees find employment and safe housing, among other services.

Trump signed the executive order halting the Refugee Admissions Program on his first day in office.

The action disrupted the efforts of refugee resettlement agencies in Minnesota.

Advocates have pointed out misconceptions about the Refugee Admissions Program, which was established in 1980 and has provided a pathway for people to immigrate. Through the program, resettlement agencies were financially prepared to welcome refugees who have been vetted.

Oberdorfer said a core team in refugee resettlement services will remain to support families through state grants and private funding.

— MPR News