A new stormwater system at the Highland Bridge development collects run off and filters it before it can reach the Mississippi River.

Nathan Campeau, the vice president and senior water resources engineer for Barr Engineering, said the system removes phosphorus and trash. Traditional stormwater systems generally don’t do filtration and send water directly into rivers or lakes.

“So instead of just rushing off the site very quickly, we’re slowly releasing that clean water. So we’re first cleaning it through those different filtration mechanisms, and then we are holding it back in a pond, basically by filling up the bathtub and letting it slowly drain out,” Campeau said.

Cleaning 64 million gallons of water a year

The underground system cleans an estimated amount of 64 million gallons of stormwater annually. Campeau said the new system protects the Mississippi River and Hidden Falls Creek park from erosion.

Located at the former Ford Motors Assembly plant, the Highland Bridge development has a stormwater system with five rain gardens, five underground filtration centers that collect and treat the stormwater. The clean water will then go into a central pond which goes back in the stream, Campeau said. ​

The reworking of the system started as early as 2007, after it was announced that the Ford Motor assembly plant was closing, according to Melanie McMahon, interim director of the Department of Planning and Economic Development.

McMahon said the city of St. Paul worked with developer Ryan Companies and the Capitol Region Watershed District to put in plans to redesign the area after the plant left.

“It has been a decades-long process really with the plant closure in 2011, the vision for the site adopted in 2017, and then Ryan Companies closing on the land to become the developer in 2019,” McMahon said.

Along with the stormwater system, the development now has a pedestrian and bike paths and a plaza near Hidden Falls according to the city website.

Project Excellence Award

The stormwater system stood out to the Water Environment Federation, a non-profit association that provides education on clean water. Last week Monday, the Highland Bridge Project won the Project Excellence Award for its green stormwater infrastructure system. This is the first time a project in Minnesota has received this award.

The award is meant to highlight innovation in water projects. The applicants are judged based on certain criteria, like the complexity of the system, its relevance and other factors, according to the Water Environment Federation website.

McMahon said the system stood out for the award because it transformed an industrial area into an inviting public space that supports both recreation and improved water management.

“Taking this and turning it into a public amenity, something that is both sustainable, great for the environment, and something that you want to spend time around was a total flip from how stormwater is typically used in development projects,” McMahon said.

Bob Fossum, deputy administrator of the Capitol Regional Watershed District, said getting the national award was rewarding for everyone involved.

“To receive the national recognition that we did was very gratifying to be able to showcase this project on a national stage, which was nice,” Fossum said.

While the city won the award, McMahon said the area is still developing. She said she was glad the city won the award, but was happier that people had a place to relax.

“It was so amazing that you had this whole generation walking through the site, playing, on the playgrounds, going by the water feature, and they can’t even fathom that it could have been 120 acre concrete pad and factory,” McMahon said.

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By SAM MEDNICK and TIA GOLDENBERG, Associated Press

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — For the past two years, it’s been Israel’s ground zero of anguish, uncertainty, torment and despair. But early on Thursday, the central Tel Aviv area known as Hostages Square was a burst of unfettered jubilation.

A Champagne bottle was popped open to cheers from the crowd. Sweets were doled out. Tears of joy mixed with laughter and long embraces as the news sunk in: The struggle to free Israeli captives held in Gaza appears to finally be coming to a close.

“Matan is coming home!” yelled Einav Zangauker, arguably the most prominent face of the campaign to free the hostages, referring to her captive son. Her arms raised to the sky, she shouted out “Thank you!” as a crowd of supporters, families of hostages, and former hostages freed earlier in the war filled the square.

“I want to smell his smell,” she told reporters of her son. “If I have one dream, it is seeing Matan sleep in his own bed.”

After their loved ones were kidnapped in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war, the families of hostages have been thrust into a thankless battle for their freedom. They’ve traveled the world meeting leaders, squared off against Israeli politicians skeptical of their intentions, pled tirelessly for the release of their relatives from a nightmare that would not end.

Until Thursday.

After U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Hamas had struck a deal that is meant to free the remaining hostages, the tension in the square began to lift. Israel says that of the 250 initially taken captive, 20 of the hostages that remain in Gaza are alive and 28 are dead.

The clock flashing the number of days, minutes and seconds since the harrowing October morning that upended their lives — a fixture in the square — still beamed down onto the families and their supporters. But rather than dragging on to what felt like eternity, the ticking seconds now pushed closer to the hostages’ impending release.

“For two years I have been fighting for the life of my man,” Rebecca Bohbot, whose husband Elkana was taken hostage on Oct. 7, 2023, wrote on Instagram. “This is the moment that a little boy will return to hug his father, a moment when my family comes back to life.”

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Central to the celebrations on Thursday was Trump himself, whom many families of hostages and many Israelis credit with pressing their leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to agree to a deal. A person donned a costume of Trump and waved American flags, families expressed effusive thanks for the American leader and some chanted that he deserved a Nobel Peace Prize.

But above all else, the sadness that has settled over Israel since the attack 24 months ago began to dissipate as the square came to life under a night sky. The darkness of that day has never really left the minds of Israelis, with Hostages Square a place where the captives, their families and all Israelis can now feel some relief.

“I get chills all over from head to toe,” said Omer Wenkert, a former captive freed earlier in the war, of the news of a deal. “I can’t even imagine the amount of joy we will be able to feel, as a nation, finally.”

Goldenberg reported from Washington.

PARMA HEIGHTS, Ohio (AP) — Police in northeast Ohio went in pursuit of a runaway inflatable pumpkin after receiving calls of a large, orange inflatable object on the run.

Body camera footage from the Parma Heights Police Department shows the inflatable pumpkin rolling down the street was difficult to grasp.

Officers eventually stopped and detained the inflatable pumpkin Tuesday night. The footage shows an officer holding onto the giant plastic gourd and saying to a colleague that he was “following it” but “it kept blowing away.”

After its capture, multiple officers attempted to deflate the pumpkin but they failed and had to work together to push the giant orange ball in the back of a police car.

“I’ve never seen that before,” an officer can be heard saying of the inflatable Halloween decoration packed tight in the backseat.

The officers then drove the pumpkin back to its home where it is on display “to be enjoyed by all who pass it throughout the remainder of this fall season,” Parma Heights Police Department spokesman Sgt. Eric Taylor said in a statement.

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By ANDREA ROSA and GIADA ZAMPANO

ROME (AP) — For the first time in nearly 2,000 years, visitors to Rome’s world-renowned Colosseum will have the opportunity to walk through a hidden imperial passage that once allowed Roman emperors to reach the ancient amphitheater unseen.

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The once-secret corridor — known as the “Commodus Passage” and named after the Roman emperor turned into a pop icon by Ridley Scott’s movie “Gladiator” — opens to the public on Oct. 27, marking an extraordinary milestone in archaeological preservation and access.

Archaeologists at the Colosseum Archaeological Park explained that Roman emperors would use the passage to enter the arena unseen and protected, leading them directly to their reserved honor box overlooking the games.

The passage was named after Emperor Commodus, who lived between 180 and 192 A.D., when it was initially discovered in the 1810s. Commodus was known to be passionate about gladiators’ games and history relates that while he was passing through the tunnel, someone attempted to assassinate him, but was unsuccessful.

At the passage entrance, archaeologists discovered remnants of decorative elements directly related to arena spectacles, including depictions of boar hunts, bear fights and acrobatic performances. These artistic elements provided a fitting prelude to the brutal entertainments that awaited beyond, they noted.

The corridor is shaped as an ’S’ and continues outside the Colosseum arena, but its final destination remains uncertain.

“Visitors can now have a taste of what it was like to be an emperor entering the arena,” said Barbara Nazzaro, the architect who oversaw the restoration works. “With a little effort of imagination and the help of a virtual reconstruction, they can appreciate the decorations, stuccoes, frescoes and marbles that covered the walls.”

The project — completed between Oct. 2024 and Sept. 2025 — included structural conservation, restoration of decorative stuccoes and plasters and the installation of a new walkway.

A new lighting system recreates the natural light that once filtered through small vault openings, and a digital reconstruction helps visitors visualize the passage’s original appearance.

A second restoration project, expected to begin in early 2026, will involve the section of the tunnel extending beyond the perimeter of the Colosseum.