A new environmental service center for household waste and other services in Ramsey County is opening just in time for spring cleaning.

Located at 1700 Kent St. in Roseville, the service center opens April 1 and will be accessible year-round. It features a covered drive-through for dropping off hazardous household waste – such as paint and cleaners – and electronic waste. It also accepts food scraps and general recycling and has space for fix-it clinics and a free product reuse room.

Household products that have the words “caution,” “warning,” “danger” or “poison” on their labels and still have product inside are considered hazardous and should not go in the trash, according to the county. Except for propane tanks, all empty containers can go in the trash.

The location also includes electric vehicle charging stations, rain barrels, native plantings and gardens and paths to nearby walking, biking and transit corridors.

“And the facility expands environmental health services, enhances accessibility and aligns with our solid waste management goals. So it will improve equity and environmental justice while operating at no cost to residents,” said District 2 Commissioner Mary Jo McGuire at a board of commissioners meeting earlier this month.

The county broke ground on the $29.7 million center in 2023. It is more than 30,000 square feet, uses solar and geothermal power, and is designed to reduce energy use and keep a low carbon footprint.

The center is part of the county’s “Enhancing Environmental Health Services” initiative, meant to redesign and provide more recycling and waste disposal services to the community, and was developed based on feedback from a 2020 resident survey.

Earth Week, at the end of April, will feature activities at the center like an open house and a fix-it clinic. The first 200 people dropping off household hazardous waste or electronics starting April 22 will receive giveaways.

The center was funded with the county environmental charge on trash bills, which supports most environmental health programs. The charge will not increase as a result of the project and ongoing operations will be built into the Environmental Health Division budget.

Services offered at Bay West, the year-round household hazardous waste site on Empire Drive in St. Paul, will move to the new facility.

What you need to know

• What: Ramsey County Environmental Service Center.

• Where: 1700 Kent St. in Roseville.

• When: Starting April 1, year-round Tuesdays through Fridays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. or Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Closed on county holidays and Christmas Eve.

• What to know: As part of Earth week, the center will host an open house April 24 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and a Fix-it Clinic on April 26 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. See what items the center accepts at ramseycounty.us/residents/recycling-waste/collection-sites/household-hazardous-waste.

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During the Gophers’ pinpoint search for its next men’s basketball coach, Athletics Director Mark Coyle called on football coach P.J. Fleck to chip in.

Fleck chatted with top candidate Niko Medved in the week leading up to his hiring, which became official Monday. Then Fleck attended Medved’s news conference Tuesday, and Medved briefly popped into the U’s football practice later that afternoon.

Neither coach shared too much about their chat during the hiring process, but there were some indications.

“We just talked about how great it is to be a Gopher, my experience here, why I’m here in Year 9, why I love being here,” Fleck said.

It would be wise for Medved to implement what insights Fleck actually had to share. Since Fleck came the U in 2017, football has had sustained success, while men’s basketball is on its third coach, including Richard Pitino and Ben Johnson, in that timeframe.

Medved, a Roseville native, has seen where Gophers football was for decades before Fleck brought the level up in his tenure. Excluding the pandemic year, Fleck has taken the U to six straight bowl games.

Medved said he wanted to hear from Fleck about how “he navigated the new landscape in college athletics.” That means how Fleck has kept going to bowl games despite less robust name, image and likeness (NIL) funding at Minnesota.

The pair of coaches also tossed bouquets of compliments to each other.

“I’m a huge admirer of (Fleck’s) from a distance,” the former Colorado State coach told the Pioneer Press on Wednesday. “He’s so genuine to who he is. I just admire that, the energy and the passion, I can tell he really cares about people and his players. That’s something that I really believe in. And I just think he does that at such an elite level. He has really kind of transformed this program to a place that we haven’t seen.”

Added Fleck: “You watch the way his teams play. They … play incredibly hard, and what a game that was (against Maryland in the NCAA Tournament’s second round). … I think probably one of the best coached and one of the best played throughout that entire tournament. So I think Mark Coyle hit a grand slam right there.”

Initial transfer impact

Gophers football brought in 15 transfers over the winter, and Oklahoma State linebacker Jeff Roberson made his presence felt with multiple run stops in the first open-to-media practice Tuesday.

Roberson wrapped up starting tailback Darius Taylor during one inside-run rep and took him to the ground. While that aggressiveness is frowned upon in most practice drills — especially against a star such as Taylor — it will be welcomed on Saturdays.

As the U moves on from projected NFL draft pick Cody Lindenberg, Maverick Baranowski and Devon Williams are slotted to start at LB, but Roberson’s 670 defensive snaps with the Cowboys last season will come in handy.

“We are able to talk to guys like Jeff Roberson, who has played a lot of football,” linebacker Derik LeCaptain said Tuesday. “You are able to share things. ‘You guys did this when you were there. That is similar to this.’ And you are able to bounce ideas of what you have seen on the field and what you haven’t seen.”

Redshirt junior Joey Gerlach of Woodbury appears ready to provide depth at inside linebacker.

Big plays

One of the most-explosive offensive plays Tuesday came in a long touchdown pass from quarterback Drake Lindsey to wideout Kenric Lanier. The ball was a bit behind Lanier, but he adjusted and it still went for six.

Lindsey is the clear No. 1 QB at the start of spring ball. Backup QB Zach Pyron connected on his own TD toss, with wideout Cristian Driver, but the U’s defense had a massive coverage bust on that play.

One of the most impactful defensive plays came from linebacker Mason Carrier forcing a fumble.

Position switch

The Gophers must replace four starters along the offensive line from last season — three seniors and Phillip Daniels, who transferred to Ohio State. And Minnesota’s one returning starter is going back to an old position.

After moving from guard to center last season, junior Greg Johnson was back at guard during Tuesday’s practice. Ashton Beers was at center.

Beers played 671 snaps at guard and 16 at center in 2024. Johnson played 818 snaps at center last season, following 395 at guard as a true freshman in 2023.

The U had issues with the center-quarterback exchange on Tuesday, their third practice of the spring and first in pads.

Briefly

Injured players included safety Darius Green, wide receiver Tyler Williams, Washington transfer offensive tackle Kahlee Tafai and defensive tackle Riley Sunram … Star defensive lineman Anthony Smith didn’t participate much in practice, but that appears to be a precaution. He was coaching up Illinois State transfer Steven Curtis at one point. … Former U wideout Tyler Johnson, a Minneapolis native who signed as a free agent with the New York Jets, watched practice. … Koi Perich made a brief cameo on offense, catching a pass and getting upfield in a hurry. The all-Big Ten safety might become a more regular sighting on offense in 2025. … Syracuse transfer Brady Denaburg was the No. 1 placekicker on Tuesday, with David Kemp No. 2 … Transfer WRs Javon Tracy (Miami of Ohio) and Logan Loya (UCLA) are ahead of Malachi Coleman (Nebraska). Tracy, in particular, was a popular target for the QBs.

Minnesota’s head coach Niko Medved gestures while arriving for an NCAA college basketball news conference, Tuesday, March 25, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Head coach P.J. Fleck of the Minnesota Golden Gophers is interviewed after the Golden Gophers defeated the Bowling Green Falcons, 30-24, in the Quick Lane Bowl at Ford Field on Dec. 26, 2023 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Mike Mulholland/Getty Images)

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After years of working together to facilitate adoptions and foster care, two St. Paul-based nonprofits that date back to the 1800s have announced a planned merger.

Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota and the Children’s Home Society of Minnesota — both located in St. Paul’s St. Anthony Park neighborhood — are longtime neighbors and close collaborators who will now operate under one roof.

The organizations began working together in 2012, combining administration of their adoption services. In 2014, both signed an affiliation agreement, sharing programs and administration while keeping their brands separate. The next step is to ensure a seamless transition with state and county partners.

The merger is expected to be complete by this fall, and all 62 employees in Minnesota will continue to provide existing services.

Lutheran Social Service, which offers a wide range of human services to adults and children, began finding families for orphaned children in 1865. The Children’s Home began similar children’s services in 1889.

Between them, 5,800 individuals last year received foster care and adoption services, information, training and support, including 354 children and youth in licensed foster families, 103 youth who were placed in homes through domestic and international adoption, and nearly 1,500 individuals who received post-adoption support and care.

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Democrats were against the filibuster before they were for it.

The left continues to rage against Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for casting a vote to avoid a government shutdown. He and a handful of other Democrats, including Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, voted to break the filibuster on the funding bill.

It’s unclear why some Democrats believe a government shutdown would have helped their political fortunes. Almost every Republican would have voted to keep the government open, while almost every Democrat would have supported shutting it down. The disruption probably would have helped the Trump administration shrink the size of government, too.

Schumer didn’t help himself with his waffling. He initially said Senate Democrats would oppose the continuing resolution. In a nod to political reality, he quickly reversed course.

Amid this Democratic infighting, former Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema pointed out another flip-flop. Democrats who previously demanded that the Senate abolish the filibuster are now furious that the party didn’t use it.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., told Senate Democrats not to “betray working families.” Sinema took a screenshot of a previous post by Jayapal. It read, “It’s the filibuster or raising the minimum wage. It’s the filibuster or protecting voting rights. The choice is clear. Abolish the Jim Crow filibuster.”

“Just surprised to see support for the ‘Jim Crow filibuster’ here,” Sinema wrote. Ouch.

She also took aim at Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif. In 2021, he called for ending the filibuster to pass a $15-an-hour minimum wage. Rep. Khanna wrote that the filibuster is “an arcane procedural tool that President Barack Obama recently called ‘a Jim Crow relic.’”

Sinema was having none of it. She chastised him for demanding “that the Senate eliminate the very tool you’re now demanding the Senate utilize to stop Trump. Doesn’t take rocket science to see the blatant hypocrisy here.”

Democrat hypocrisy on this issue goes back for decades. During the funeral of Rep. John Lewis, Obama did indeed label the filibuster a “Jim Crow relic.” Yet as a senator, he supported filibustering more than 20 bills.

Sinema has a personal interest in this fight. In 2022, she refused to support killing the filibuster when Democrats had a narrow Senate majority. The backlash was so bitter that she left the party to become an independent. She didn’t seek re-election in 2024. It’s little wonder she’s taking the time to point out this duplicity.

The country is better off when politicians have principles beyond obtaining and wielding power. When it comes to the importance of the filibuster, too many Democrats don’t.

— The Las Vegas Review-Journal