Aug. 12 election to fill council seat

A special election to fill the Ward 4 seat on the St. Paul City Council will be held Aug. 12.

The city council approved the election date on Wednesday after conferring with Ramsey County Elections. Council Member Mitra Jalali, the former council president, announced her resignation earlier this year, and her last day of city employment was March 8.

Under the city charter, a special election to fill her seat must be held within 180 days of her resignation. State statute requires that municipal special elections can only be held on the second Tuesday of February, April, May or August, or the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

At least three candidates have announced their intent on running for the Ward 4 seat, which represents Hamline-Midway, St. Anthony Park, Merriam Park and parts of Macalester-Groveland and Como.

The council plans to select an interim appointee next week to fill the seat for six months through the election, and four finalists were interviewed on Wednesday.

— Frederick Melo

Shipping season begins on Upper Mississippi

The unofficial start of the Mississippi River navigation season has begun.

The Motor Vessel Neil N. Diehl went through Lock and Dam 2 in Hastings on Wednesday, with nine barges.

Reaching Hasting and having access to St. Paul marks the unofficial start to the navigation season as it is the last port on the Upper Mississippi River to open. This year ice in Lake Pepin caused a delay, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

On average the first tow reaches St. Paul in the third week in March. The Motor Vessel Joseph Patrick Eckstein was the first tow of the 2024 to reach St. Paul, arriving on March 17, 2024. The earliest date for a tow getting to St. Paul occurred on March 4 in the years of 1983, 1984 and 2000.

The river channel provides transportation for fertilizers farmers need to produce corn and soybeans. The St. Paul District maintains the 9-foot-deep navigation channel and operates 12 locks and dams that support boat traffic from Minneapolis to Guttenberg, Iowa.

— Staff report

Lions Clubs planning April 5 ‘day of service’

Volunteers will have a chance to assemble snack packs for children, send greeting cards to senior citizens and make hypoglycemia kits for people who have diabetes during next month’s five-city Lions Clubs’ Community Day of Service.

The free event, which will be held from 10 a.m. to noon April 5 at five different locations in the metro area, features a variety of hands-on service projects “that will make a meaningful impact on the community,” organizers say.

Other activities include making fleece blankets for Sleep in Heavenly Peace, a local nonprofit organization that builds and delivers beds to kids who don’t have a bed of their own, and creating eco-friendly seed pots.

In addition, children can receive free vision screenings during the event, organizers say.

Community Day of Service is being held at the Inver Grove Heights Community Center, Angpetu Teca Education Center in Roseville, the National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 28 in Maplewood, the American Legion in Bayport and the American Legion in Rosemount.

To register, go to https://www.lions5m-6.org/events.

— Mary Divine