The mayor of Forest Lake and his brother plan to expand the family’s longtime floral business into a new kind of horticulture: cannabis.

Blake and Kelly Roberts, the third-generation owners of Lakes Floral Gift & Garden, last year received a preliminary state license and city approval to open what is expected to be the city’s first cannabis dispensary and one of the first in Washington County.

The Greenhouse Cannabis Company, the city’s first licensed adult-use recreational cannabis retail store, will be located in the same building as the floral shop at 508 Lake St. S. It is expected to open in mid-April.

The Robertses’ grandfather, Harold Waldo, started selling vegetables commercially in Forest Lake in 1930; he later expanded to cut flowers, Blake Roberts said.

“In many ways, this is a natural extension of our family’s work with plants and horticulture — just in a new and emerging industry,” Blake Roberts said.

Blake Roberts (Courtesy of Roberts)

Roberts, who has been mayor of Forest Lake since January 2025, said he was out of town when the measure came before the Forest Lake City Council last summer; the council voted 4-0 to approve it. Since he and his brother started to think about opening the shop, he has abstained from all votes on anything cannabis-related before the council and removed himself from council chambers during any discussions, he said.

“I understand the perception that someone in my position might get a first shot at a (cannabis) license like that, but that just was not the case,” he said. “I worked with city legal staff to ensure that everything has been done above board, and that city staff were comfortable with me moving forward into this industry, and that I was being fully transparent.”

One of three

In accordance with state law and city ordinance, Forest Lake, population 20,700, is allowed to issue one cannabis business registration per 12,500 residents, as determined by the most recent state demographer’s estimate. The cap on registrations does not apply to a medical cannabis combination business or a lower-potency hemp edible retailer.

The Forest Lake City Council in October increased the cap on the number of cannabis retail locations allowed in the city from two to three, and the city has issued three interim-use permits. The other two locations are Smokey Oaks at 115 Lake St. N., in downtown Forest Lake, and Forest Lake Cannabis at 1467 Lake St. S., across from Forest Lake City Hall.

The Greenhouse Cannabis Company expects to begin cannabis sales in April within an approximately 2,200-square-foot section of the existing retail building.

“Our goal is to create a high-end retail experience that focuses on educating consumers about this now-legal product for both medical and recreational use,” Roberts said. “We want the store to have a boutique feel, similar to the customer service you get in our floral store, where customers feel comfortable asking questions and learning about the products available to them.”

City code allows for retail cannabis operations within the city’s commercial, agricultural, business and mixed-use districts, but an interim-use permit must be obtained for zoning compliance.

The city’s distance requirements, which are identical to the city’s alcohol and tobacco restrictions, state that there must be 500 feet between cannabis businesses, and that cannabis businesses must be at least 500 feet from a school, commercial day care or residential treatment facility. They also must be at least 500 feet from an attraction within a public park that is regularly used by minors, such as a playground, athletic field, athletic court, picnic area or restrooms, pavilion or park building.

Lakeside Memorial Park in downtown Forest Lake is excluded from the distance requirements due to the close proximity of downtown to the park, according to city officials.

Older clientele expected

Greenhouse Cannabis still needs to get the final OK from the state Office of Cannabis Management to open. The store’s final plans of record were submitted last month, and the approval process, which includes a final inspection, could take anywhere from two to four weeks, Roberts said.

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Feedback has been positive, he said, “especially from people in the older generation who are using it to self-medicate for aches and pains and sleeping.”

“They’re really pleased about being able to buy something here in Forest Lake, instead of having to drive someplace else,” he said.

Roberts said he does not plan to use the products the store will sell.

“That’s just not what I do,” he said. “We just saw an opportunity. With these mom-and-pop flower shops and any small business, you’ve got to constantly be reinventing yourself, otherwise you’re just going to fail.”

By SHEIKH SAALIQ

NEW DELHI (AP) — The United States and Iran have offered sharply different accounts of the sinking of an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean last week, with Washington rejecting Tehran’s claim the vessel was unarmed and Iranian officials insisting it was operating in a noncombat role.

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The United States Indo-Pacific Command on Sunday rejected Iran’s claim that the warship IRIS Dena was unarmed when it was sunk in a submarine attack in international waters off Sri Lanka on March 4. In a statement on X, INDOPACOM called Iran’s assertion that the vessel was unarmed “false.”

The response followed strong objections from Tehran, which has repeatedly characterized the warship as defenseless, saying it was returning home after taking part in a naval exercise.

An Indian navy official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media, said the Iranian vessel was not “entirely unarmed” and had taken part in drills alongside other countries’ warships.

Some experts have, however, suggested that visiting ships at such events typically do not carry a full combat load of live munitions unless scheduled for live-fire drills. They say even during the sea phase of exercises, ships generally carry only tightly-controlled ammunition limited to specific drills.

Rahul Bedi, an independent defense analyst based in India, said the vessel may have used some limited non-offensive ammunition during the naval exercises, but protocol requires “the participating platforms to be unarmed.”

“The precondition of participating in such a parade, or such a ceremony, is that it (the vessel) comes unarmed. That is the precondition of the Indian Navy and it’s a precondition of most navies when they hold such similar sort of fleet reviews,” Bedi said.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh said Friday that the warship, sunk by a U.S. torpedo, had not been carrying weapons and accused Washington of targeting a ceremonial vessel.

“That vessel was by invitation of our Indian friends, attending an international exercise. It was ceremonial. It was unloaded. It was unarmed,” he told reporters in New Delhi.

The IRIS Dena was sunk on March 4 in the Indian Ocean near Sri Lanka after being struck by a torpedo fired from a U.S. submarine, according to American and Iranian officials. The Sri Lankan navy rescued 32 sailors and recovered 87 bodies.

In this photo released by Sri Lankan President Media Division, Sri Lankan Navy sailors rescue Iranian sailors from IRIS Dena warship after their ship sank outside Sri Lanka’s territorial waters, near Galle, Sri Lanka, March 4, 2026. (Sri Lankan Presidential Media Division via AP)

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth described the IRIS Dena as a “prize ship” and said it “died a quiet death.” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi described the attack as “an atrocity at sea” and stressed that it had been “a guest of India’s Navy.”

Disputes over whether the vessel was armed have intensified tensions over the incident, which occurred as it was returning from multinational naval exercises in India, and raised questions about whether it was operating in a noncombat role when it was attacked.

India’s defense ministry said in a statement after the exercises that “live firings as part of surface gun shoots, as well as anti-air firings, were also undertaken” by participating vessels.

In this photo released by Sri Lankan President Media Division, Sri Lankan Navy sailors take one of the injured Iranian sailors from IRIS Dena warship to the hospital after their ship sank outside Sri Lanka’s territorial waters, in Galle, Sri Lanka, March 4, 2026. (Sri Lankan Presidential Media Division via AP)

The warship’s sinking highlighted how the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran is spreading beyond the Middle East.

Two other Iranian vessels — the IRIS Bushehr and IRIS Lavan — are docked in Sri Lanka and India after seeking assistance from the two countries.

Associated Press writer Aijaz Hussain in Srinagar, India, contributed to this report.

By JULIA FRANKEL

JERUSALEM — The investigative group Bellingcat says newly released video “appears to contradict” U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim that Iran was responsible for an explosion at an Iranian school that killed over 165 people at the start of the war raging in the Mideast.

It comes as mounting evidence points to U.S. culpability for the Feb. 28 strike, which hit a school adjacent to a Revolutionary Guard base in Minab, Iran, in the country’s southern Hormozgan Province. Experts interviewed by The Associated Press, citing satellite image analysis, say the school was likely struck amid a quick succession of bombs dropped on the compound.

The video shared by Bellingcat is a three-second clip of a video taken the day the school was struck and circulated Sunday by Iran’s semiofficial Mehr news agency. The video shows a munition falling on a building, sending a dark plume into the air that mingles with smoke that likely came from earlier strikes on the compound. Trevor Ball, a Bellingcat researcher, geolocated the video to a site near the school, something also done by the AP.

Ball identified the munition as a Tomahawk cruise missile — which only the U.S. is known to possess in this war. It’s the first evidence of a munition used in the strike. U.S. Central Command has acknowledged using Tomahawk missiles in this war and even released a photo of the USS Spruance, part of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier group located within range of the school, firing a Tomahawk missile on Feb. 28.

Complicating any assessment of the incident is the lack of images of bomb fragments from the blast. No independent agency has reached the site during the war to investigate.

When asked by a reporter Saturday whether the U.S. was responsible for the blast, which killed mostly children, Trump responded, without providing evidence: “No, in my opinion, based on what I’ve seen, that was done by Iran.” Trump added that Iran is “very inaccurate” with their munitions. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth quickly chimed in to say the U.S. was investigating.

Janina Dill, an expert on international law at Oxford University, wrote on X that even if the strike was a misidentification — and the attacker believed that the school had been a part of the neighboring IRGC base — it would still be “a very serious violation of international law.”

“Attackers are under an obligation to do everything feasible to verify the status of targeted object,” she wrote.

Several factors point to a U.S. strike.

One is the launching of an assessment of the incident by the U.S. military. According to the Pentagon’s instructions on processes for mitigating civilian harm, an assessment is launched after a group of investigators make an initial determination that the U.S. military may bear culpability.

A U.S. official told the AP that the strike was likely U.S. The official spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to comment publicly on the sensitive matter.

Another is the location of the school — next to the Revolutionary Guard base and close to barracks for a naval unit. The U.S. military has focused on naval targets and acknowledged strikes in the province, including one in the vicinity of the school. Israel, which has denied conducting the strike, has focused on areas of Iran closer to Israel and hasn’t reported any strikes south of Isfahan, 800 kilometers (500 miles) away.

Neither the U.S. military’s Central Command nor the Israeli military immediately replied to requests for comment Monday from the AP on Bellingcat’s analysis.

Speaking about the U.S. operation at a press conference March 2, Hegseth said: “America, regardless of what so-called international institutions say, is unleashing the most lethal and precise air power campaign in history.”

“No stupid rules of engagement,” he said. “No politically correct wars. We fight to win, and we don’t waste time or lives.”

Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani in Doral, Florida, contributed to this report.

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By ALEX VEIGA and ELAINE KURTENBACH

Oil prices spiked near $120 per barrel before falling back Monday as the Iran war intensified, threatening production and shipping in the Middle East and pummeling financial markets.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, surged to $119.50 per barrel early in the day but later was trading near $106 per barrel, up 14%, before the opening bell.

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West Texas Intermediate, the light, sweet crude oil produced in the United States, soared above $119.48 per barrel but fell back closer to $103.

The war’s toll on civilian targets grew as Bahrain accused Iran of striking a desalination plant vital to drinking water supplies. Bahrain’s national oil company declared force majeure for its shipments after an Iranian attack set its refinery complex ablaze. The legal declaration releases the company of contractual obligations because of extraordinary circumstances.

Oil depots in Tehran smoldered following overnight strikes by Israel.

Oil prices have surged as the war, now in its second week, ensnares countries and places that are critical to the production and movement of oil and gas from the Persian Gulf.

Prices moderated after the Financial Times reported that some members of the Group of Seven industrial nations were considering releases of strategic oil reserves to alleviate pressure on the markets.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that “the use of strategic reserves is an envisaged option.” He said G7 leaders could meet this week to coordinate a response to climbing energy prices. France currently holds the rotating presidency of the G7 group. Separately, finance ministers from the G7 nations are meeting Monday by video conference to discuss the repercussions from the war.

On Saturday, President Donald Trump downplayed the idea of turning to America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, saying U.S. supplies were ample and prices would soon fall.

Roughly 15 million barrels of crude oil — about 20% of the world’s oil — typically are shipped every day through the Strait of Hormuz, according to independent research firm Rystad Energy. The threat of Iranian missile and drone attacks has all but stopped tankers carrying oil and gas from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Iran from traveling through the strait, which is bordered in the north by Iran.

Iraq, Kuwait and the UAE have cut oil production as storage tanks fill due to the reduced ability to export crude. Iran, Israel and the United States also have attacked oil and gas facilities since the war started, worsening supply concerns.

The surge in costs for oil and natural gas is pushing fuel prices higher, cascading through other industries and jolting Asian economies that are especially vulnerable due to the region’s heavy reliance on imports from the Middle East.

Iran exports roughly 1.6 million barrels of oil a day, mostly to China, which has called for an immediate end to the fighting. Beijing may need to look elsewhere for supply if Iran’s exports are disrupted, another factor that could increase energy prices.

“All parties have their responsibility to ensure stable and smooth energy supplies,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said in a briefing Monday. “China will take necessary measures to safeguard its own energy security.”

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung warned Monday of strict penalties for refiners and gas stations caught hoarding or colluding on prices, saying it would be wise to find alternatives to supplies that must travel through the Strait of Hormuz.

Across Southeast Asia, the spike in prices has led to long lines outside filling stations.

“Higher oil and gas prices will affect everyone and our economy,” said Le Van Tu, who was waiting outside a gas station in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi. “All activities, including those using petrol based transportation will be affected.”

South Korea’s Kospi tumbled 6% to 5,251.87.

The last time Brent and U.S. crude futures traded near the current level was in 2022, after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Higher energy costs push inflation higher, straining household budgets and denting the consumer spending that is a main driver of many big economies. Those worries have spilled into financial markets, pulling share prices sharply lower.

In the U.S., the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline rose to $3.48 as of early Monday, up nearly 50 cents from a week earlier, according to AAA motor club. Diesel, used heavily in shipping, sold for about $4.66 a gallon, a weekly increase of more than 80 cents.

The price of natural gas in the U.S. also has climbed during the war, though not by as much as oil. It was selling for about $3.34 per 1,000 cubic feet early Monday. That’s up from Friday’s closing price of $3.19.

Kurtenbach reported from Bangkok. Associated Press journalist John Leicester contributed from Paris.