A Dave’s Hot Chicken franchise will open later this year in the former Taco John’s in Oak Park Heights, officials said Thursday.

Officials with the popular chain, known for its Nashville-style hot chicken sandwiches and tenders, said the restaurant will have a drive-thru.

Minnesota Chicken LLC, doing business as Dave’s Hot Chicken, has submitted an application for a conditional-use permit and design guidelines/site plan review with the city of Oak Park Heights.

In the application, Alex Humphries, the owner of Minnesota Chicken LLC, wrote that he was requesting a variance to allow mural artwork throughout the exterior of the building at 5910 Neal Ave. N.

“While the city’s design guidelines do not  specifically reference murals, this design element is a central part of the Dave’s Hot Chicken brand and an important factor in creating the guest experience that our guests expect,” Humphries wrote. “Dave’s Hot Chicken restaurants nationwide feature mural artwork that reflects the brand’s energy, authenticity, and urban roots. These murals are not optional embellishments — they are an essential component of our franchise design standards.”

City staff is recommending that wall signage should be limited to one per façade for a total of four wall signs, city officials wrote in a planning report.

“The applicant may determine which sign to use on each façade, and two signs may be placed on one of the facades,” city officials wrote. “At the time of sign permitting the applicant shall provide the square footage of each of the facades to assure compliance with the 10 percent limit of signage.”

The Oak Park Heights planning commission was expected to hear the matter on Thursday night.

Humphries and his cousin, former NBA star Kris Humphries, and his aunt and uncle, William and Debra Humphries, brought the Los Angeles-based chain to Minnesota in 2023. Other Twin Cities locations are on in St. Paul (Ford Parkway), Apple Valley (near Cedar Avenue and County Road 42), Minneapolis (North Loop) and Minnetonka (Plymouth Road).

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“Mayor Mamdani has established that New Yorkers are hungry for a city that is affordable. Although a younger generation swept him to victory, it may be older adults who are looking to his affordability agenda to ensure their well-earned independence and dignity.”

A resident at one of Selfhelp’s senior buildings. (Photo via Selfhelp Community Services)

When pundits discuss new Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s affordability policies, they talk about the benefits to his base of young supporters. They imagine how the call for cheaper groceries and rent freezes will help 20- and 30-somethings navigating early adulthood and parenthood.

But Mamdani’s core message on housing and food prices applies just as much to older New Yorkers, and his affordability agenda can deliver for them, too. They cared for us, now it’s our turn to care for them.

Nearly 1.5 million older adults call New York City home. Among those over age 70, nearly three in five reported no stable source of retirement income, and a similar share of older tenants are rent-burdened. And when grocery and housing prices rise, that poses a threat to their health and safety.

The urgent solution is to expand options for affordable homes and low- and no-cost nutrition.

On housing, supply is badly outstripped by demand. A 2024 report pegged the total number of adults 60-plus with pending applications for affordable housing at a head-spinning 520,000. Though the city has made promising strides to build more affordable units for older adults, we’re miles short of where we need to be.

That’s because we aren’t using the tools at our disposal. Take Senior Affordable Rental Apartments (SARA), a promising program to fund construction of 100 percent affordable housing for lower-income New Yorkers 62 years or older. Even though the former mayoral administration touted its unprecedented record on affordable housing, this initiative remains badly underresourced, creating just 7,300 new homes since 2014. Last year, the administration secured just 336 of these units.

We must scale up, and nonprofit organizations can help us get there. In the past two years at Selfhelp Community Services, we have delivered or broken ground on almost 500 deeply affordable homes for older adults. These projects were the product of close collaboration between a nonprofit, city and state government, and private developers.

To build out our supply of affordable homes for older adults, the new mayoral administration must pursue more public-private partnerships, as well as cement a persistent, significant investment in SARA.

That’s only half of the equation. We must also subsidize demand, as there is no incentive for developers to build and maintain housing without tenants who can afford rent. Mayor Mamdani should expand older adults’ access to housing vouchers to fill vacancies and reduce turnover.

What’s more, the mayor’s trademark rent freeze can easily include older adults. We already have a program on the books: the Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption (SCRIE). The Department of Housing Preservation and Development should coordinate with case managers to ensure residents eligible for the exemption apply for and receive it. With greater numbers of older tenants using the program, developers can bank on more consistent rent payments. It’s a win-win situation.

But a roof over one’s head won’t mean much without food at the table. A 2023 report found that 200,000 New Yorkers over age 60 were food insecure; that is nearly double the number from the mid-2000’s. Given the volume of people asking for our support, we recognize the landscape of hunger insecurity has become much worse, and there is no end in sight.

Nonprofits are vital to providing accessible nutrition services for older adults. At Selfhelp, our five Older Adult Centers (OACs), funded by the city’s NYC Aging, offer free hot meals, removing a significant cost burden for their more than 8,000 members. And 60 percent of those receiving home-delivered meals, which are crucial for those with limited mobility, reported food insecurity. But funding pales in comparison to the demand. We encourage Mayor Mamdani to invest in OACs and home-delivered meals to meet the demand across the city.

The mayor has an opportunity to work with the Council to put food on plates by prioritizing these services in the budget.

Mayor Mamdani has established that New Yorkers are hungry for a city that is affordable. Although a younger generation swept him to victory, it may be older adults who are looking to his affordability agenda to ensure their well-earned independence and dignity. Nonprofits like Selfhelp can play a key role in delivering on that promise.

Stuart C. Kaplan is the CEO of Selfhelp Community Services.

The post Opinion: Mamdani’s Affordability Agenda Can Serve Older Adults, Too appeared first on City Limits.

By DEREK GATOPOULOS

Cross-country skiing, the rugged grandfather of snow competition, will give its brightest stars a defining stage at the Milan Cortina Winter Games.

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Sporting greats such as Jessie Diggins of the United States and Italy’s own Federico Pellegrino arrive at the Feb. 6–22 Games still in form but nearing the end of their careers.

A cornerstone winter event, cross-country skiing traces its roots to centuries-old Nordic traditions and is considered one of the purest tests of endurance.

How it works

The biggest change at these Olympics is the equalization of race distances for men and women — extending the women’s longest event from 30 kilometers to 50. Twelve competitions are split evenly between genders, with distances ranging from the 1,585-meter sprint to the grueling 50-kilometer race.

The sport features two primary techniques: the classic style, with skiers racing in parallel tracks, and the faster freestyle skating method. The demanding skiathlon blends both styles over a 20-kilometer course, with athletes switching skis mid-race.

Who to watch

Norway has long dominated cross-country skiing, and its powerhouse team is once again led by Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo — already a legend at 29. The five-time Olympic champion, renowned for explosive climbs and all-around versatility, arrives in Italy chasing more medals.

On the women’s side, Diggins remains a standout as the most decorated U.S. cross-country skier in history. This will be her final competitive season. Federico Pellegrino — who will be one of Italy’s four flag bearers at the opening ceremony — is also in his final season. The 35-year-old world champion sprinter is seeking a long-awaited Olympic gold after silver-medal finishes at the past two Games.

Sweden’s Jonna Sundling is the one to beat in the women’s individual sprint, having won three consecutive world titles in the discipline as well as Olympic gold in 2022.

FILE – Italy’s Federico Pellegrino is seen in action during the 10km men’s mass start race of the Tour de Ski cross country in Val di Fiemme, Italy, Jan. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati, File)

Venues and dates

The 2026 Olympic venues are spread across the broccoli-shaped northern tip of Italy, with cross-country skiing held in Val di Fiemme, a valley in the heart of the Dolomites.

The Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium, a regular host of elite competitions, will be familiar terrain for many athletes.

Events begin the day after the opening ceremony and conclude on the Games’ final day, starting with sprints and finishing with the women’s 50-kilometer mass start.

Memorable moments

Cross-country skiing has produced some of the Olympics’ most enduring moments.

FILE – Tour de Ski winner Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, celebrates after the 10km men’s mass start Tour de Ski cross-country race in Val di Fiemme, Italy, Jan. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati, File)

In 2018, Jessie Diggins and Kikkan Randall delivered a dramatic photo-finish to win gold in the team sprint at the PyeongChang Winter Games. Their breakthrough ended the United States’ medal drought in the discipline and inspired a new generation of American skiers — many even copying Diggins’ trademark glitter makeup.

The Sarajevo Games in 1984 were electrified by 22-year-old Swede Gunde Svan, who became a winter sports icon by winning four medals, including two golds, across events from sprints to relays.

Fun facts

Snow sports — cross-country skiing in particular — owe much to the Norwegian military. Soldiers on skis held races as part of their training more than 200 years ago, helping shape the sport into formal competition. Norwegian dominance has continued ever since: cross-country great Marit Bjoergen retired in 2018 as the most decorated Winter Olympian, with 15 medals, including eight golds.

The physical demands of cross-country skiing are among the most extreme in sport. Top athletes often post some of the highest oxygen-uptake scores ever recorded, reflecting the extraordinary cardiovascular capacity needed to drive both arms and legs across varied terrain for hours.

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Dakota County faces a year of “hard conversations and tough choices” regarding its budget, according to the new board chair.

Laurie Halverson was elected Dakota County Board Chair on Jan. 6, 2026.

Dakota County Commissioner Laurie Halverson was elected by her fellow commissioners on Tuesday to serve as Board Chair for 2026.

“2026 is going to be a big year — it’s going to be a ‘buckle-up’ year,” Halverson said in a county news release. “It is a year that we’re going to ask everybody to do their very best, and I know they will.”

Halverson, who represents Mendota Heights, Mendota, Sunfish Lake, Lilydale and parts of Eagan, has served on the board since 2021. She succeeds Commissioner Mike Slavik as board chair.

In the coming year, the county plans to reopen West St. Paul’s renovated Wentworth Library, construct a new recycling facility in Lakeville and expand greenways in Mendota Heights and beyond, per the release.

The county also plans to administer elections, finish transportation projects and find ways to make social service resources more accessible for residents.

Last month the board passed a final 2026 budget of $528 million, with a 9.9% levy increase and warnings of similar tax hikes likely next year.

“It’s going to be a big year, but we’ve got a lot of expertise to bring to the table,” Halverson said in the release.

Commissioner Bill Droste, who represents Inver Grove Heights, Rosemount, Empire and parts of Eagan, will serve as board vice chair for 2026.

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