By Lulu Jaeckel

Minnesota has relocated its emergency operations center from downtown St. Paul to Blaine, expanding space and adding modern energy systems to strengthen statewide disaster response.

The new 36,650-square-foot center replaces its predecessor at 445 Minnesota St. with upgrades in safety, resilience and energy performance, said Kat Barrett, communications specialist for the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.

“The old St. Paul facility was getting worn out, was limited by where it was located and wasn’t designed to handle the stronger, more modern systems needed for today’s emergency management,” Barrett said.

The new facility also houses the department’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management division headquarters.

Storm-worthy, energy efficient

Designed and built by Wold Architects and Engineers, a national architecture and engineering firm, the new center features an exterior built to withstand 165 mph winds and power systems that can keep it operating for up to 72 hours during an outage.

The new Minnesota State Emergency Operations Center has a tornado shelter and is built to withstand up to 250 mph gusts. (Claudia Staut / Pioneer Press)

The center also uses a geothermal heating and cooling system and a large solar array, which help regulate the building’s temperature and provide renewable power for computer systems, communication systems and lighting. This reduces energy costs and minimizes environmental impact.

“During an emergency, reliable power isn’t just helpful, it’s critical to keeping Minnesotans safe,” said Riley Slimmer, project manager for the new building. “That’s why the new state EOC was built to stay running no matter what, using smart, sustainable energy systems that protect both people and resources.”

The Legislature appropriated $29,545,000 in 2020 and $11,392,000 in 2023 for this project, Barrett said. The center officially opened on Aug. 22.

Activated for ‘worst days’

The previous Emergency Operations Center in St. Paul was activated for 459 consecutive days during the COVID-19 pandemic, Barrett said.

State EOCs activate for natural disasters, severe weather, public-health emergencies and major infrastructure failures.

When the EOC is not active, it’s always in watch status, Barrett said. During watch status, they track power outages, watch weather-related events and train staff, state agencies and local jurisdictions to prepare them for when the EOC becomes active.

“When disasters strike and local resources are overwhelmed or exhausted, we’re called into action and in to help,” said Kristi Rollwagen, director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, in a press release. “This new facility gives us what we need to keep Minnesotans safe – not only on their worst days but for the long haul.”

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The new EOC in Blaine has 70 employees, five more than the old EOC in St. Paul.

Wold designed the center to ensure uninterrupted operations during crisis, regardless of outdoor conditions, Barrett said.

“In times of crisis, one of the best resources we have to protect Minnesotans is our dedicated team of emergency managers who coordinate with local, county and federal partners,” said Gov. Tim Walz, in the press release. “The new State Emergency Operations Center will be the hub for state agencies and their partners to come together and prepare for and handle any emergencies that come our way. This is an investment in the safety of every community across the state.”

JC Stroebel became something of a cult hero within the Timberwolves fan base during the playoff run from a couple of years ago. That’s when Stroebel and his good friend Jesse George started inking $20 tattoos with the namesake of Timberwolves big man Naz Reid.

Now the Timberwolves fan base is giving back to the man who started the movement.

After recent tests revealed that Strobel has a brain tumor the size of a golf ball, a GoFundMe page has been set up to help him and his family navigate the unforeseen circumstances. The online fundraiser has already amassed more than $44,000 with a growing list of donations.

“While the exact diagnosis and prognosis of the tumor type won’t be known until after surgery, it’s clear that our friends have a long road of uncertainty in the months ahead,” wrote good friend Kellyanne Anderson, who set up the GoFundMe page.

In a recent post on social media, Stroebel said he’s set to have surgery at Mayo Clinic in Rochester next week to remove a brain tumor, then will have to undergo chemotherapy and radiation in the aftermath.

“I’m kinda at a loss for words,” Stroebel wrote. “I know we’re gonna fight this and win.”

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Wearing secondhand skates purchased for the occasion, St. Paul’s next mayor completed puck-handling drills Tuesday at the downtown TRIA rink as she weighed joining the Northland Cup, the annual hockey game between employees of the city and Ramsey County.

Kaohly Her has plenty of experience as an ice skater and rollerblader, but the intensity of a hockey game — even one played as a friendly fundraiser to benefit victims of domestic violence — is an entirely different arena. The same could be said for a policymaker suddenly holding executive office in a city government spanning more than 3,000 employees and serving over 300,000 residents.

The city’s “strong mayor” system of governance leaves key decisions directly in Her’s hands. Rather than contribute to a collective body like the House, the former state representative will take center stage in the contact sport that is city politics: hiring and firing city leaders, wrestling the city council over budget matters and setting the municipal agenda at a tumultuous time for the city, state and nation as a whole.

As a result of the city’s transition to even-year elections in 2028, Her’s term will span three years, giving her especially little time to do all of the above and more.

Her, the city’s first Hmong mayor and its first female mayor, will be sworn in during an inauguration ceremony Jan. 2 at St. Catherine University. That same day, she’ll attend a private ceremony with her family and members of the city’s Hmong community, where Hmong leaders will lead her through their own cultural swearing-in of sorts.

Her’s transition team still is choosing the venue for an inaugural gala, Jan. 30. In the meantime, she’s been active, if not prolific, on social media, especially Facebook, where her “Kaohly Her For St. Paul Mayor” page reads like a roadmap through the city’s cultural organizations.

In one social media post, she’s lighting a giant Hanukkah menorah. In another, she’s visiting with the West Side Community Organization about air-quality concerns. In yet another, she’s congratulating Meg Luger-Nikolai for winning the DFL primary in House District 64A, the seat Her gave up just weeks ago.

“Today I spent time helping deliver groceries to families who are fearful of leaving their homes,” Her wrote Wednesday from her “MayorKaohlyHer” account on Instagram, in a caption beneath pictures of herself at a Latin grocery. “Less than a month ago … our friends at this Eastside Mercado were stopped by ICE and interrogated. They were targeted because of how they look.”

“Thankfully but sadly, they had passports on hand and ICE could not apprehend them,” she wrote. “Many people are looking to their elected officials to do something about the chaos this federal administration is inflicting on our communities, but in all honesty, there is not much we can. What we can do is show up in community and help those in need.”

Re-evaluating city programs

Her, who won 48% of the vote in the five-way mayoral race after ballot reallocation Nov. 4, unseated two-term incumbent Melvin Carter, the city’s first Black mayor, who in his first term eight years ago also was its youngest mayor and arguably its most progressive.

Will Her stay the course on Carter’s progressive agenda, refocus it or abandon it completely? That remains uncertain, perhaps even to her. At a time of rising property taxes, growing questions about neighborhood quality-of-life issues and vacant and foreclosed properties downtown, she’s promised to reevaluate potentially duplicative services, on top of rebuilding connections with key partners, including state lawmakers and the Ramsey County Board.

So far, she hasn’t indicated whether she’ll overhaul Carter’s slate of department directors or some of the mayor’s projects and Cabinet roles, though some turnover has long been in process. Current directors have been asked to stick around for now.

Her “extended an invitation to department directors to continue in their current positions into the new year,” said Matt Wagenius, her campaign and transition team spokesperson, in a written statement on Wednesday, “so they can continue getting to know one another, ensure continuity of service across the departments, and make a proper evaluation of whether they are a good fit in their current capacity for our new administration.”

Still, some department leaders already have left, and several positions have long been in a kind of semi-permanent transition.

Fire Chief Butch Inks retired from city employment this month, and some departments — such as the Office of Financial Empowerment, which Carter created in his first term, and the department of Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity — have been led by interim directors or co-directors for more than a year. Brooke Blakey recently stepped down as director of the city’s Office of Neighborhood Safety, another Carter innovation.

Her, who was Carter’s policy director in his first term, worked closely on establishing the city’s $15 minimum wage and college savings accounts for the city’s newborns, two initiatives she’ll now be in the position of reevaluating, alongside many others.

With regard to program priorities, Wagenius said Her received “detailed briefings from all 15 city departments as of late last week, and now she is in the evaluation phase. No decisions have been made regarding changes to existing programs.”

Hiring timeline

Applications closed Dec. 24 for a handful of positions internal to the mayor’s office, including associate of constituent services, policy aide, and the mayor’s scheduler and executive team coordinator.

Her spent two days last week at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., meeting with other mayors from across the country for a crash course in municipal leadership through the Bloomberg Center for Cities.

“We’ve been diving deep into case studies on building high-performing teams and modernizing organizational structures,” Her wrote Dec. 17 on Facebook. “I’m walking away with new tools for city management and a roadmap for fresh funding and foundation partnerships. I can’t wait to put these insights to work for Saint Paul!”

Her has also kept busy since Election Day visiting the city’s seven political wards, meeting with city council members and community leaders.

She toured Highland Park and Macalester-Groveland with Council Member Saura Jost, the Midway and surrounding areas with Council Member Molly Coleman and part of the East Side with an aide to Council Member Cheniqua Johnson, who is on family leave following the birth of her first child.

Among those she encountered during her Ward 7 tour were Latino business owners concerned about federal immigration enforcement operations scaring away their customers, shop owners worried about a state road construction project along Arcade Street, a church leader raising money for a community center, and nonprofits like St. Paul Urban Tennis, which has big plans for a former dumping ground.

In the final week of December, the new mayor will tour downtown, Grand Avenue, the West Side and surrounding areas with Council President Rebecca Noecker, and the Frogtown and Summit-University neighborhoods with Council Member Anika Bowie.

In the first week of January, Her will visit the East Side with Council Member Nelsie Yang and the North End and Como area with Council Vice President HwaJeong Kim.

The professional life of a mayor isn’t a clear-cut 9-to-5 job, and Her’s semi-social calendar already is filling up outside of business hours. The World Junior Ice Hockey Championship skates into downtown Dec. 26 to Jan. 5, bringing the best skaters under age 20 from 10 countries to Grand Casino Arena and the University of Minnesota along with 250,000 hockey fans, press and entourage.

On New Year’s Eve, as thousands of visitors exit the U.S. vs. Sweden game at Grand Casino Arena, Her plans to be there to greet them.

In a festive and early start to the new year, Visit St. Paul — the city’s tourism bureau — will drop a giant, disco-themed hockey puck in downtown Rice Park around 8 p.m., immediately followed by fireworks. It’s perhaps as fitting a metaphor as any for the optimism and concerns surrounding new beginnings and tumultuous times.

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By ADITHI RAMAKRISHNAN, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — People stop reading in adulthood for lots of reasons. But it’s never too late to turn the page on old habits and start again.

Curling up with a good book can reduce stress, increase creativity and boost empathy. A recent analysis of U.S. government data found that the percentage of Americans who read for pleasure during an average day has fallen to 16% in 2023 from 28% in 2004. That includes not just books but audiobooks, e-books and periodicals like magazines.

Some people say they’re fatigued from years of assigned reading in school. Others don’t have the time or would rather zone out by doom-scrolling on social media. And many just got out of the habit.

“It’s difficult for people who are really tired and busy to think about getting into reading if it’s not something they’re used to,” said Jacqueline Rammer, director of Menomonee Falls Public Library in Wisconsin.

For those looking to set reading goals or resolutions in 2026, here’s how to get back into the habit.

Choose the right book

When picking your next book, avoid dense nonfiction or a 500-page doorstop.

“Your first book should be something that you think will be joyful,” said Jocelyn Luizzi, a software engineer from Chicago who blogs about books.

Everyone’s taste is different, so get recommendations from a variety of places including friends, booksellers and online communities like BookTok.

Rammer and her staff ask library visitors: What was the last book, TV show or movie that you really enjoyed? Then, they look for similar genres or themes.

Many libraries offer access to a service called NoveList which suggests “read-alikes” for various books and authors.

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Set a reading routine

To create a habit that sticks, “start by scheduling reading into your day,” said Gloria Mark, an attention span expert with the University of California, Irvine. Read five pages during a lunch break or right before bed.

If you’re reading a physical book, Mark said to avoid distractions by keeping phones and laptops out of sight.

But experimenting with other formats can make reading more convenient. E-books are portable and audiobooks are a good candidate to accompany chores or the morning commute. You can likely access both for free by downloading an app called Libby and signing in with a library card.

Try to read in a quiet setting, but don’t be afraid to make it a social activity. Many cities in the U.S. and around the world host silent book clubs where people read their own books together in coffee shops and libraries.

Setting a reading goal for the year or joining a local library’s winter reading challenge can help with motivation — but if it feels like added pressure, don’t do it.

Shannon Whitehead Smith, a book blogger from the Atlanta area who also works in marketing, says scrolling through lists of other people’s reads on social media and trackers like StoryGraph encourages her to keep the habit.

“Seeing all these other people reading motivates me to put my phone down and pick up this book that’s sitting beside me,” she said.

Feel free to skip a read

If a book feels particularly sluggish, it’s OK to put it down and start another. Reading “shouldn’t feel like a burden,” said Jess Bone with University College London, who analyzed the survey data about American adults reading for pleasure.

Routine readers say the habit helps them stay curious and release the stress of the day. Rammer, the library director, reads mysteries rife with twists and turns, and romances that cycle through roller coasters of emotions.

Most of all, she likes books that end with a “happily ever after.”

“I think the guarantee of knowing that things are going to end up OK is really reassuring,” Rammer said.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.