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Brad Ness, Board Chair of Northfield Area Fire & Rescue Services (NAFRS), comments on the recent report submitted by a consultant who examined NAFRS operations and administration.

Event date: January 13, 2022
Event Time: 06:00 PM - 08:00 PM
Location:
801 Washington Street
Northfield, MN 55057

This week, for the final edition of Christmas on the Cannon in 2021, Rich and Corey discuss definitive Christmas Songs, great movie soundtracks, and the difference between a carol and a hymn. Happy Christmas to all, and a very happy New Year! – Rich and Corey

State Senator Rich Draheim said one of his goals when the state legislature reconvenes next month will be to motivate people to go back to work. With nearly 200,000 open jobs on the market right now, he said the state must find ways to fill them.   Employers statewide are desperate to find employees and are looking for

Host Jon Olson talks with retired Foreign Service Officer Mark Canning, and retired CIA officer David Sauer about the increasing tensions over Taiwan.

Joan Spaulding talks about Christmas Dinner at the Hideaway.  Since 2013, the Spaulding family has hosted a free Christmas dinner on Christmas Day for anyone who wishes to join them.  They will be serving from 1:00 – 5:00 p.m. in the restaurant as well as providing take-out orders (call ahead for take-out).

Click on map for larger version

Back in October, there was a Federal Register notice published that the Forest Service has made an application to withdraw 225,378 acres from NEW (not existing) leasing, land in the Rainy River Watershed and near the BWCA. This application to withdraw the land from leasing follows the prior administration’s quashing of Obama administration withdrawal, thus opening up land for mineral leasing in 2018 — from press release (linked):

And now there’s another application to turn that around and again stop leasing Minnesota land for minerals exploration! GOOD! Let’s undo their undoing!

And some movement forward — on December 14, 2021, the Superior National Forest Supervisor’s Office issued Notice of three meetings for public comment.

CLICK HERE for the Superior National Forest page on this Application

There’s an article in the STrib now: Meetings set to gather public input on proposal to halt new mineral leases near Boundary Waters

The meetings a rather weird set up — you have to register to get the Zoom link, and specify if you want to comment, and then they’ll do a drawing to see who can comment! No guarantees that you can!

Here are the meeting dates and links to register for comment:

Register for the Meeting on Wednesday, January 12, 2022, 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM, CST at https://blm.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_z0ihp2ikSkSug9QnsaLjag

Register for the Meeting on Saturday, January 15, 2022, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., CST at https://blm.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_q9OWw5P3TSuvACoQ2o6gnQ

Register for the Meeting on Tuesday, January 18, 2022, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., CST at https://blm.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_rs2ueUYaQ-CoRO25s2bLqA

When you register, you’ll get a link to zoom right away, and then you’re notified whether you’ve been selected to make a comment 3 days before the meeting.

Documents thus far — only scoping:

Scoping

• 12-07-2021 2021-22958 BLM Federal Register Notice 10-21-2021 (PDF 204kb)
• 12-07-2021 Superior NF Mineral Withdrawal Request Letter 2021-09-28 (PDF 194kb)
• 12-07-2021 Superior National Forest Withdrawal Application 2021-09-28 (PDF 392kb)
• 12-07-2021 Appendix A Land List 2021-09-16 (PDF 134kb)
• 12-07-2021 Withdrawal Regulation 43 CFR 2300 (PDF 220kb)
• 12-07-2021 Appendix B Withdrawal Area Map 2021-09-16 (PDF 1379kb)
• 12-13-2021 2021-27036 BLM Federal Register Notice 12-14-2021 (PDF 192kb)
• 12-15-2021 Scoping Letter 12-15-2021 (PDF 141kb)

Something I’m wondering about is what exactly is affected, is it the brown on the map, is it everything within the red boundary, or is that brown existing leases that will not be included in this withdrawal? I’m just starting to look into this, so I’ll update this post as I figure it out.

Event date: January 20, 2022
Event Time: 06:30 PM - 08:30 PM
Location:
Northfield, MN 55057

As the Rice County Salvation Army heads into the final week of their annual Red Kettle fundraising campaign, they are still looking for people to volunteer as bell ringers to encourage donations.  Jim Dale, the Rice County Kettle Volunteer Coordinator said there are four shifts open at Cub Foods in Northfield and 2 at Family

And AGAIN! It’s the Power Plant Siting Act Annual Hearing! You can attend in person, MASKED, or via webex or phone. Primary documents are posted below.

December 20, 2021 @ 9:30 PUC Large Meeting Room 121 – 7th Place East – 3rd Floor St. Paul, MN

Comments? BE SURE TO NOTE DOCKET NUMBER FOR COMMENTS:

PUC Docket E999/PR-21-18 & OAH Docket 65-2500-37832

Written comments will be accepted through January 10, 2022, by 4:30 p.m.

202111-180224-32_Notice & Service ListsDownload 202112-180829-01_PresentationDownload 202112-180356-01_EERA-SummaryDownload

Note notice only to those “who have requested notice” above? Nope, notice should be to all who are on service and project lists for projects active in the calendar year. Thankfully EERA does give notice to a lot more than just those “who have requested notice” (see “Notice & Service Lists” link posted above).

From the EQB Monitor:

Here are the projects EERA’s Summary says were approved — note that for wind it does NOT list applicable parts of 216E, such as Minn. Stat. 216E.03, Subd. 7!

Meanwhile, the update of rules for PPSA siting, Minn. R. ch. 7850, is stalled out again, WITHDRAWN by the PUC last Thursday, supposedly based on many comments made over the last few weeks by a bunch of people and orgs who were utterly absent through the NINE YEARS of this rulemaking proceeding. My grits are FRIED! The PUC Agenda Item starts at the very end of the meeting, and note the bogus statements about the “why” of this rulemaking. Let’s be clear here — it’s due to the 2005 legislative changes, SIXTEEN YEARS AGO. See PUC Docket R-12-1246. Good grief… Discussion starts at 2:48:28:

Does the dream home you envision include a home bar? If you enjoy hosting and crafting cocktails or serving up a cold beer, a home bar might be the one luxury that takes your space to the next level. The good news is that you don’t need much room to create an amazing home bar.....

The annual Marjorie McNeely Conservatory holiday flower show at Como Park in St. Paul is underway and it features holiday poinsettias you are unlikely to see in the grocery store or local flower shop. This year’s show highlights plants in autumnal oranges and yellows as well as deep reds. First, some poinsettia basics. The holiday ... Read More about New Shades of Holiday Poinsettias

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“It’s always worthy of our notice when we don’t feel precisely the way we thought we would.” -Richard Ford, Let Me Be Frank With You (2014)

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