MN Court of Appeals demands new environmental review of St. Thomas arena

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When the city of St. Paul examined the potential environmental and community impacts of a new Division I hockey and basketball arena at the University of St. Thomas, it identified five general steps the university could take to offset parking and traffic concerns, such as monitoring event attendance for two years and “keeping the community informed of events.”

That’s not good enough, according to the Minnesota Court of Appeals.

At least four of the five “measures are not specific, targeted and certain,” according to a three-judge Court of Appeals panel, which on Monday ordered the city to redo the Environmental Assessment Worksheet it published in June 2023.

Just as importantly, the judges found, the city should have considered the cumulative impacts of multiple construction projects rolling out in stages. The Schoenecker Center, a $110 million science, technology, arts and math building, opened in February almost directly adjoining the future sports arena, and it too has an impact on parking.

The appellate court decision represents another potential construction delay for St. Thomas, which had demolished buildings in March and soon after set the footings and foundation for the future 4,000-5,500 seat arena. Yet, the decision is only a partial win for arena opponents.

Also: Minnesota Court of Appeals sides with city on Summit Avenue bike trail review

Arena construction was put on hold when neighbors, many of them older homeowners, banded together as Advocates for Responsible Development and filed multiple appeals, including unsuccessful site plan appeals to the St. Paul Planning Commission and then the St. Paul City Council.

Construction resumed in mid-June after the city council denied the site plan appeal, 4-0.

State regulations require an Environmental Assessment Worksheet for new sports or entertainment facilities expected to accommodate 5,000 or more people at peak attendance. The neighbors called for a more thorough type of review known as an Environmental Impact Statement, or EIS, which can be much more costly and time consuming, but the judicial panel did not issue an opinion on whether the project warranted that deeper review.

The judges did find that the city’s EAW overlooked the likely increase in spectator traffic when it considered the potential uptick in greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the arena.

The city found that maximum-capacity basketball games attracting up to 5,500 attendees, which would occur once or twice a year, would produce a shortfall of 742 parking spaces. Similarly, hockey games attracting up to 4,000 attendees likely would occur up to four times per year and leave the area 330 parking spaces short.

“Based on our review, these findings about parking deficits caused by the arena are supported by the transportation study,” Presiding Judge Diane Bratvold wrote. “The transportation study does not consider what impact, if any, events at Schoenecker Center would have on the parking-deficit analysis. This shortcoming must be addressed on remand.”

This story will be updated as further details become available.

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MN Court of Appeals sides with city on Summit Avenue bike trail review

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The proposed off-street bicycle trail along Summit Avenue does not require a formal environmental review, according to a panel of three Minnesota Court of Appeals judges.

Monday’s ruling favored the city of St. Paul, which concluded it does not yet need to complete the Environmental Assessment Worksheet that project opponents had demanded.

Still lacking in funding and a specific design, the five-mile trail is more of a concept than a formal “project,” and would not yet trigger the need for an environmental review, according to the eight-page judicial opinion.

Opponents, many of whom are homeowners living along Summit, banded together under the banner Save Our Street, calling for a thorough environmental review that would consider impacts on trees in the sidewalk boulevard, as well as parking and other considerations. Officials with St. Paul Public Works, Parks and Recreation and Planning and Economic Development had noted that the off-street trail could take several forms, with varied widths in different sections, and it was too soon to review an unfunded project with no final design in place.

The judges agreed.

“The lack of a funding source for the project makes it quite uncertain that the plan will be undertaken. … (The trail) does not have a final plan, no plan is on the construction calendar, and the city has yet to approve the plan,” Judge Randall Slieter wrote. “As the city notes, the plan is incomplete because there are still three potential options for the trail’s width. … This is not a minor detail because the width would clearly impact the very issue SOS raises — how the (trail) could disrupt the tree canopy and cause environmental harm.”

The City Council voted 6-1 in March 2023 to support general planning for the Summit Avenue bike trail, under the premise it would offer better bike and pedestrian connections between downtown St. Paul and the Mississippi River corridor along the river parkway.

Officials at the time said the bikeway could add $12 million to the estimated $100 million cost of road reconstruction, which likely would roll out in phases over 10 to 15 years.

Public Works estimated that of the 1,561 trees corridor-wide, 132 trees in the draft plan would be considered “high vulnerability” because of their condition or location. In two construction segments, the bike trail could move the curb lines 1.5 feet on each side. That increases the potential tree removal from 8% up to 14% of the corridor, for a total removal of 221 high vulnerability trees, according to the city.

Save Our Street hired an arborist who predicted as many as 950 trees would be impacted.

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Biden says he’s staying in presidential race ‘to the end’ in letter to House Democrats

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President Biden defiantly sought to stop the political bleeding Monday, saying he is “not going anywhere” even as support from Democratic lawmakers wavered over his debate debacle.

As Congress returned to Washington, D.C., Biden wrote a letter to House Democrats vowing to stay in the race against former President Donald Trump “to the end.”

“The question of how to move forward has been well aired for well over a week. And it’s time for it to end,” Biden said in the letter. “We have one job. And that is to beat Donald Trump.”

“I am not not going anywhere,” Biden added in a live call to MSNBC’s Morning Joe show.

Several senior Democratic House lawmakers, including Manhattan Rep. Jerrold Nadler, told colleagues in a weekend virtual meeting that Biden should drop out of the race.

Top Black lawmakers said Biden should stay in the race and Democrats should rally behind him.

House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries has so far remained supportive of Biden, but did not take sides in the virtual meeting. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a fellow Brooklyn Democrat, has taken a similar stance.

An in-person House Democratic caucus meeting was planned for Tuesday where members may hash out their differences over Biden. So far five Democrats have publicly called on Biden to pull the plug on his campaign.

Biden reportedly planned to work the phones vigorously as he seeks to firm up support among wavering Democrats.

The 81-year-old incumbent shocked voters with a halting and at times incoherent performance at his debate with Trump last month.

He has sought to bounce back with a series of energetic campaign speeches and a one-on-one interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. But the effort has not convinced all his Democratic doubters.

Polls have offered a mixed picture. Some surveys showed Trump opening up a modest lead in the neck-and-neck race after viewers mostly declared him the winner of the debate.

Biden loyalists point to some polls that show Democrats rallying behind Biden amid the calls for him to step aside.

The political calendar leaves little time for Democrats to consider their options.

The Republican National Convention is scheduled for next week and will spotlight GOP unity behind Trump. It will also offer Trump a triumphant platform to further deride Biden as too old to serve in the White House.

Democrats will gather for their own convention in early August where Biden holds the overwhelming majority of pledged delegates.

If Biden were to pull the plug on his campaign, the most obvious successor would be Vice President Kamala Harris, his top lieutenant and the first Black woman to serve as veep. But others could jump into the race if he drops out.

Israeli protesters block highways, call for cease-fire to return hostages 9 months into war in Gaza

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By MELANIE LIDMAN and SAMY MAGDY Associated Press

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Marking nine months since the war in Gaza started, Israeli protesters blocked highways across the country Sunday, calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to step down and pushing for a cease-fire to bring back scores of hostages held by Hamas.

The demonstrations come as long-running efforts to broker a truce gained momentum last week when Hamas, which has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union, dropped a key demand for an Israeli commitment to end the war. The group still wants mediators to guarantee a permanent cease-fire, while Netanyahu is vowing to keep fighting until Israel destroys Hamas’ military and governing capabilities.

“Any deal will allow Israel to return and fight until all the goals of the war are achieved,” Netanyahu said in a statement Sunday that was likely to deepen Hamas’ concerns about the proposal.

Sunday’s “Day of Disruption” started at 6:29 a.m., the same time Hamas launched the first rockets toward Israel in the Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war. Protesters blocked main roads and demonstrated outside of the homes of government ministers.

Near the border with Gaza, Israeli protestors released 1,500 black and yellow balloons to symbolize those fellow citizens who were killed and abducted.

Hannah Golan said she came to protest the “devastating abandonment of our communities by our government.” She added: “It’s nine months today, to this black day, and still nobody in our government takes responsibility.”

Palestinian terrorists killed some 1,200 people in the surprise attack and took 250 others hostage. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 38,000 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.

About 120 hostages remain captive after more than 100 hostages were released as part of a November cease-fire deal. Israel has already concluded that more than 40 of the remaining hostages are dead, and there are fears that the number will grow as the war drags on.

The United States has rallied the world behind a proposal for a phased cease-fire in which Hamas would release the remaining captives in return for a lasting cease-fire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. But Hamas wants guarantees from mediators that the war will end, while Israel wants the freedom to resume fighting if talks over releasing the last batch of hostages drag on.

Israel continues to battle pockets of Palestinian fighters across Gaza after months of heavy bombing and ground operations that have devastated the territory’s main cities and displaced most of its population of 2.3 million people, often multiple times. On Sunday, Israel issued new evacuation orders for parts of Gaza City, which was heavily bombed and largely emptied early in the war.

Bodies found with hands tied

The Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis said the bodies of three Palestinians were retrieved from the area of the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel. A hospital statement said they were handcuffed, and an Associated Press reporter saw one of the bodies with bound hands.

Abdel-Hadi Ghabaeen, an uncle of one of the deceased, said they had been working to secure the delivery of humanitarian aid and commercial shipments through the crossing. He said he saw soldiers detain them on Saturday, and that the bodies bore signs of beatings, with one having a broken leg.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports.

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Thousands of Palestinians have been detained since the start of the war, and many of those who have been released, as well as some Israelis who have worked at detention facilities, say detainees have been tortured and held under harsh conditions. Israeli authorities have denied abusing prisoners.

Israeli airstrikes overnight and into Sunday meanwhile killed at least 13 Palestinians, including the undersecretary of labor in the largely dismantled Hamas-run government.

Ihab al-Ghussein was among four people killed in a strike on a school-turned-shelter in Gaza City, according to the Civil Defense, a first responders group under the Hamas-run government. Hamas mourned his loss in a statement and said a strike earlier in the war had destroyed his house and killed his wife and daughter.

The Israeli military said it had struck a militant complex “in the area of a school building,” as well as a nearby Hamas weapons-making facility in Gaza City after taking steps to mitigate harm to civilians.

The military separately announced that one of its officers was killed in battle in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, bringing the total number of Israeli soldiers killed to 680 since the start of the war.

Israel trades fire with Hezbollah

The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said early Sunday that it launched dozens of projectiles toward northern Israel, targeting areas more than 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border, deeper than most launches. A 28-year-old man was seriously wounded, Israel’s national rescue service reported.

Another attack near the border wounded three people, one of them seriously, according to the Galilee Medical Center. Israeli media reported that the critically wounded individual was an American citizen. There was no immediate confirmation from the army.

Hezbollah began launching rocket and mortar attacks after the outbreak of the war in Gaza. The range and severity of the attacks and Israel’s counterstrikes have escalated in recent weeks, raising fears of an all-out war that would have catastrophic consequences for people on both sides of the border.

Mediators from the United States, Egypt and Qatar have intensified their efforts in the past week to broker an agreement between Israel and Hamas. Hezbollah has said it will halt its attacks if there is a cease-fire in Gaza.

The compromise on Saturday by Hamas could lead to the first pause in fighting since November and set the stage for further talks, though all sides still warned that a deal is not yet guaranteed.

Washington’s phased deal would start with a “full and complete” six-week cease-fire during which older, sick and female hostages would be released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. During those 42 days, Israeli forces would withdraw from densely populated areas of Gaza and allow the return of displaced people to their homes in northern Gaza.

War-weary Palestinians in the Gaza Strip appeared pessimistic, after previous instances in which the two sides appeared to be closing in on a deal.

“We have lived nine months of suffering,” said Heba Radi, a mother of six children living in a tent in the central city of Deir al-Balah, where she has been sheltering since they fled their home in Gaza City. “The cease-fire has become a distant dream.”

Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Natalie Melzer in Jerusalem contributed to this report.