A majority of Maplewood city council members no longer support the Purple Line Bus Rapid Transit Project in their city.

Citing traffic concerns, impact on businesses and neighborhoods and expected rider numbers, Mayor Marylee Abrams at a Monday meeting requested staff provide a resolution withdrawing support from both the project’s Bruce Vento trail route and White Bear Avenue trail route as well as lay out plans to further discuss alternative transportation options with Metro Transit.

The project proposes a bus rapid transit line from downtown St. Paul into the northeastern suburbs. Maplewood wouldn’t be the first city to oppose the project as the White Bear Lake City Council in 2022 passed a resolution requesting that the line not enter their city.

Abrams said the project’s adjustments on White Bear Avenue would impact around 23,000 drivers who use it daily.

Other council members exported concerns

Council members Kathleen Juenemann and Rebecca Cave echoed many of Abrams’ concerns with the White Bear Avenue trail and also expressed interest in alternative transit options rather than the Purple Line.

The number of people using public transit since the pandemic has significantly changed, Abrams told the Pioneer Press.

“And I think just using common sense, an investment of $450 million (and) great disruption to our community, it just doesn’t make a lot of sense,” Abrams said.

She added: “We were anchored to a 28-year-old plan that doesn’t fit our community. It doesn’t fit the way people go to work anymore, but there are other innovative ways, and we really can move people where they need to go, and we want to explore those.”

The withdrawal of support doesn’t mean the council is anti-transit, Juenemann said.

“Just because we’re saying, ‘No, we don’t want a Bruce Vento trail and no, it doesn’t make any sense on White Bear Avenue,’ doesn’t mean we want them to go away as far as how do we make transit better for the people in Maplewood,” Juenemann said.

Other transit options

Council members mentioned micro transit — involving smaller buses that provide individualized services, additional buses and autonomously-driven vehicles as possible alternative options to the Purple Line.

“We do not have maximum bus transportation at this point, and they need to work on that,” Juenemann said.

Council members Nikki Villavicencio and Chonburi Lee did not express support for the proposed resolutions.

A resolution — or resolutions — regarding the Purple Line project are expected to be presented to the city council at its next meeting on Sept. 23. They would need majority support from the five-member council. Abrams, Cave and Juenemann expressed were in support for the proposed resolution during the Monday meeting.

Terri Dresen, a Met Council spokeswoman, had the following statement Tuesday on Maplewood’s position on the Purple Line:

“The Purple Line is a strong transit project that would bring significant investments to the east metro, and we are committed to continued engagement with our local partners. We look forward to advancing a regional transit vision that will connect our communities and ensure future prosperity, and we remain steadfast in our vision and commitment to a future with more transportation options for everyone.”

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A former St. Paul charter school substitute teacher was sentenced Tuesday to five years of probation and ordered to serve 160 hours community service for sexually assaulting a 17-year-old student in her classroom.

Caitlin Kalia Thao, 25, of St. Paul, pleaded guilty in July to an added charge of felony fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with assaulting a teenage boy this year at St. Paul City School. She was originally charged May 2 with felony third-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Caitlin Kalia Thao (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

Thao, a married mother of two children, resigned from her job on Feb. 27, four days after St. Paul police received a report of alleged sexual misconduct with the boy and a day after school administration confronted her with the accusations.

The school said Thao was hired as a paraprofessional on Feb. 21, 2023, and became a substitute teacher after getting her license in December.

According to the criminal complaint, police on Feb. 23, 2024, received a report of alleged sexual misconduct regarding Thao and a student. The school’s then-interim executive director told police of complaints from staff and others about Thao having “inappropriate behavior with students,” the complaint says. Thao was asked to meet with a school principal on Feb. 26, then resigned.

Police spoke with the boy on March 13. He said that Thao was “overly nice” and that they would talk through messenger apps. Thao called him handsome and would flirt with him, the boy said, according to the complaint. He said he flirted back “because she would buy stuff for him and his friends.”

The boy told police the sexual encounter occurred in a middle school classroom about a month and a half prior after she had invited him to her classroom through a text before a sports game.

Thao then sent him an Instagram message about it and invited him to her place when her husband wasn’t home. The boy declined the offer.

The complaint says that on March 9 a Regions Hospital social worker completed a child maltreatment form after Thao herself reported that she had a “sexual relationship” with a 17‐year‐old student she met in a class she had taught.

Thao did not respond to requests from police for an interview, the complaint says.

St. Paul City School, located along University Avenue near the Capitol, has operated since 1998. It has 600 students from preschool through grade 12 and employs 64 licensed staff members and 84 nonlicensed staff members, according to a March brochure.

‘Breach of trust’

Thao’s plea deal with the prosecution called for a stayed prison sentence and an executed six months in jail.

Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Wes Abrahamson on Tuesday asked Ramsey County District Judge John Guthmann to give Thao six months of electronic home monitoring, pointing out that she is now pregnant with her third child — and out of a job.

Thao’s attorney, Peter Lindstrom, asked for 30 days of electronic home monitoring.

Guthmann noted how a presentence investigation recommended that her treatment included engaging in “prosocial activities.”

“I’m concerned about your baby,” Guthmann said. “I’m concerned about the life the baby will lead. I’m concerned about other side effects that occur with childbirth, such as postpartum depression. And if I isolate you, whether it be in jail or electronic home confinement, where you can’t get out in the community, is there a risk of unintended consequences that will be counterproductive?”

But Guthmann went on to say her offense a “breach of trust” and “probably about the worst thing a person in your profession can do” and added that “there needs to be meaningful consequence and a commitment to you or and by you to your community.”

“It isn’t perfect,” he said of the sentence. “But I think it is going to be best for you and your family and the community.”

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Classic rock band Arch Allies will headline a fundraiser this month for the Yellow Ribbon Alliance of the Lower St. Croix Valley. The band bills itself as the “ultimate six-pack of rock tribute show” bands playing “hits of Bon Jovi, Journey, Styx, REO Speedwagon, Boston, Def Leppard and a chaser.”

“Field of Bands” will be held noon to 8 p.m. Sept. 21 at the Washington County Fairgrounds in Baytown Township. Also playing: Wayward Boyz Klub, GNO (Girls Night Out) and Westside. Arch Allies is scheduled to play from 6:30 to 8:15 p.m.

The event will celebrate veterans and service members and honor the memory of former Lakeland Shores mayor Randy Kopesky, who helped found the Yellow Ribbon Alliance of the Lower St. Croix Valley, an organization that raises money to provide the annual Veterans Day dinner along with support and assistance for active military members and veterans and their families residing in the Lower St. Croix Valley area.

Kopesky died in November 2019 when he was struck by a driver on the shoulder of Interstate 94.

“This year is the fifth Field of Bands event,” said Cindie Reiter, a member of the alliance. “Randy is missed tremendously at this time year as he was a driving force in the creation of the Yellow Ribbon Alliance.”

Tickets are $25 in advance and $35 on the day of show; children 12 and under are free. Food trucks, wine and beer will be available at the event; no coolers will be allowed.

Attendees are asked to use the south entrance of the Washington County Fairgrounds on 40th Street and to bring their own chairs; limited picnic table seating is available. Parking is free.

For more information, go to 5cityyellowribbon.com.

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Imagine using cooking oil, cover crops, tree limbs, roots, foliage and other nature-based ingredients as a made-in-Minnesota replacement for jet fuel.

When it comes to promoting regional economic development, “sustainable aviation fuel” isn’t necessarily the first image that comes to mind. Nevertheless, a coalition of the state’s leading businesses announced major milestones on Tuesday in developing a supply chain that will begin with a converted ethanol plant in Luverne and rely on a new blending facility in Rosemount to deliver a steady supply of sustainable fuel to the Delta Airlines hub at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

That’s no small undertaking: Delta’s MSP operations alone require 250 million gallons of fuel annually. The airline is aiming to convert 10% of its U.S.-based fuel consumption to sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF, by 2030, and organizers predict other corporate customers are likely to follow.

Key aspects of the end-to-end supply chain are still in early stages of development, including the planned new blending facility at Flint Hills Resources’ Pine Bend refinery in Rosemount.

Still, the progress to date is a culmination of a year-long effort led by the Greater MSP Partnership, a St. Paul-based economic development association that counts St. Paul and Minneapolis as dues-paying members. Key partners in the burgeoning initiative include Bank of America, Ecolab and Xcel Energy.

In June 2023, Minnesota became one of the first states to enact a tax credit and construction incentive to support the development of SAF.

The impact will be showcased this week when the three-day North American SAF conference lands at the St. Paul RiverCentre. Speakers include representatives of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Energy and the Federal Aviation Administration.

A year of SAF work

Proponents believe they’ll be able to reduce the lifecycle carbon emissions of jet fuel by more than 80%. If successful, it will be the first large-scale, end-to-end, sustainable aviation fuel supply chain in the nation, with a target market that could extend beyond Minnesota.

Current certification standards allow up to 50% neat SAF to be blended with regular jet fuel, known in the industry as Jet A. The problem? Experts say there’s not enough sustainable aviation fuel produced today to fuel the world’s airlines for a single week.

To boost production in Minnesota, efforts this past year include:

• Backed by Delta Air Lines, Flint Hill Resources is developing the state’s first SAF blending facility, with the goal of blending up to 30 million gallons of neat SAF annually at the Pine Bend refinery. The goal is to have the facility up and running by the end of 2025, at which point it will likely be the first non-coastal facility in the nation that can blend SAF with conventional jet fuel. The blended fuel will be delivered through the existing Flint Hills pipeline to MSP International, Delta’s second largest U.S. hub.

• Bank of America, Deloitte, Delta, and Ecolab have formed a “demand consortium” to purchase the first several million gallons of SAF each year. The goal is to jumpstart demand, drive down costs and rev up the market while offsetting carbon emissions related to their own employees’ business travel.

• In August, the Federal Aviation Administration announced a $16.8 million “Inflation Reduction Act” grant to convert an existing ethanol and isobutanol fuel facility in Luverne into an alcohol-to-jet fuel facility for SAF production. The plant will support the first conversion of Minnesota crops to SAF within the state.

• The University of Minnesota is developing a novel crop called winter camelina seed that can be used for multiple purposes, including producing oil for conversion into SAF. The goal is to bring the first shipment of camelina-derived SAF to MSP International this fall.

Greater MSP has predicted that key aspects of SAF production, from financing to storage and blending, will be established in Minnesota by the end of 2027, with large-scale production to follow beginning around 2028 and broader industry growth after 2035.

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