Stillwater officials have disclosed that they shut down one of the city’s wells more than a year ago after tests from the Minnesota Department of Health showed the water from the well had levels of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances above health-based guidance values for drinking water.

At a Stillwater City Council workshop on Wednesday afternoon, city officials will discuss a PFAS communications plan from consulting firm TKDA. The well — Well No. 6 — is one of eight city wells and is located in the southeastern part of the city, said Public Works Director Shawn Sanders.

“Once we got the first reading from the Department of Health, even though they were going to do more testing, we shut the well off,” Sanders said. “It’s a well that the city uses primarily in the summertime when we have high usage, so we were able to get by without it.”

City officials will continue to work with health department officials as additional testing is undertaken, Sanders said.

“The city is considering a study to evaluate strategies to replace well No. 6 or treat water produced by well No. 6,” a memo from TKDA states. “The city will be seeking financial assistance for the planning study as well as future capital projects.”

PFAS contamination was first measured in the east metro in the early 2000s. Maplewood-based 3M Co. began making PFAS at a facility in Cottage Grove in the 1940s and historically disposed of PFAS wastes in four east metro locations, the source of identified PFAS impacts in Washington County groundwater.

PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals,” do not break down in the environment and can build up and stay in the human body for many years. Immediate risks are believed to be low, but long-term exposure to the chemicals can result in immune suppression, changes in liver function and lower birth weight, according to experts.

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Memorials outside Burnsville City Hall will be removed Sunday, which will be the three-week anniversary of two Burnsville police officers and a firefighter/paramedic being killed in the line of duty, as people continue to move forward in their grieving, the city said Tuesday.

Two squad cars and an ambulance have been parked on the lawn outside the police station and City Hall since Feb. 18, the day the men died, and people have covered them with flowers, balloons, signs and other mementos.

“We are truly grateful for everyone who came to show their support and shared in our grief,” the city said in a statement. “Our community came together and made this space a place for unity.”

The city is asking people who still want to pay their respects at the memorial site do so by Saturday.

“We have made a thoughtful plan with our Police and Fire teams to care for the items,” the city’s statement said. “We ask that you respect Sunday as a private day for us to come together for the decommissioning.”

A gunman, who was barricaded in a home with seven children, opened fire on Officers Paul Elmstrand and Matthew Ruge and Firefighter/Paramedic Adam Finseth after they responded to a 911 call about a domestic incident.

A sculpture that was temporarily placed outside near the memorial site will go back into the care of the Burnsville Community Foundation. Called “Homage” and commissioned by the foundation as a gift to the city to honor the public safety teams, Burnsville artist Mary Pat Lutz created three life-size bronze sculptures of a firefighter, paramedic and police officer.

The foundation and city continue to make plans for a permanent installation of the statue.

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The boys state hockey tournament kicks off Wednesday with Class A quarterfinal action in St. Paul.

All winner’s bracket games throughout the tournament will be played at Xcel Energy Center and aired locally on television on KSTC-Channel 45 and streamed on prep45.tv.

Here are a few things to watch in Class A competition:

Mahtomedi set to defend title: Mahtomedi is back after winning last year’s state title in dramatic fashion, topping Warroad in double overtime to hand Warroad its first loss of the season.

The Zephyrs have proven to be a bit of a giant slayer in Class A in recent years, though it’s about time Mahtomedi is viewed in such a light. And yet still, Mahtomedi enters this week as a bit of an underdog, at least to win the whole thing.

The Zephyrs are seeded fourth. They did beat their quarterfinal opponent — fifth-seeded Orono — 5-2 earlier this season.

There’s a decent chance if Mahtomedi is to defend its title and lift the trophy again on Saturday, it’ll have to top Orono, Hermantown and Warroad in succession.

Sure, Mahtomedi fell to Warroad and Hermantown earlier in the season, but history tells us the Zephyrs are consistently much better in March than they are in December or January.

The Zephyrs — who edged Southwest Christian in overtime of the Section 4 final — are led by senior forward Jake Hodd-Chlebeck, who has 25 goals and 22 assists this season.

Warroad looks to take final step: Warroad has played in the final game of the Class A season in each of the past two campaigns, without a state title to show for it in that span.

Warroad fell to Hermantown in the 2022 title game, then to Mahtomedi last season. But while last year’s team was dominant up to the state tournament, this year the Warriors had to top East Grand Forks in double overtime of the section final to get back to St. Paul.

That doesn’t make Warroad any less dangerous this week, though. It again touts a potent offense, featuring three players with 50-plus points this season. The charge is led by Carson Pilgrim. The senior forward is a North Dakota commit with 29 goals and 34 assists.

The gang is all here: There is seemingly no one missing from this year’s Class A field. The traditional powers of Hermantown, Warroad, St. Cloud Cathedral and Mahtomedi are all in attendance — all seeded No. 1-4. If the seeds hold, the semifinals figure to be rather memorable.

And, should an upset occur Wednesday to shake up the status quo, that would be a memory in itself.

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By CHRISTINE FERNANDO and KIM CHANDLER (Associated Press)

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — More than 6,000 voters in a newly formed congressional district drawn to heighten Black voting power in Alabama received postcards with incorrect voting information ahead of Tuesday’s primary, alarming advocates concerned about the potential impact on a race seen as crucial to boosting Black representation and Democrats’ hopes to flip the U.S. House in November.

James Snipes, chair of the Montgomery County Board of Registrars, said 6,593 county voters received postcards listing the incorrect congressional district after the county’s election software misidentified some people living in the 2nd Congressional District as living in the 7th.

Snipes said voters arriving at the polls were still able to vote for the correct candidates. The county had sent about 2,000 notices to affected voters as of Tuesday evening and will send out an additional 4,000 on Wednesday, he said.

“Everyone who came to their precinct was able to vote for the correct candidates,” Snipes said, attributing the incorrect information to a “software glitch” made when adjusting to the recent shift in state congressional districts. “This was a good-faith effort.”

Montgomery County, home to about 159,000 registered voters, now falls in the 2nd Congressional District after a federal court drew new congressional lines in November. That was in response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the state had diluted the voting power of Black residents, violating the Voting Rights Act.

The three-judge panel decided that Alabama, which is 27% Black, should have a second district where Black voters comprise a large share of the population. The move has sparked a congested and competitive primary contest as Democrats hope to flip the congressional seat in the fall.

The redrawn map could lead to the election of two Black congressional representatives from the state for the first time. After the districts were redrawn, Black residents will comprise nearly 49% of the 2nd district’s voting-age population, up from less than one-third.

“For many Black voters in that district, this is the first election where they have the opportunity to elect a representative who looks like them,” said Camille Wimbish, national director of campaigns and field programs for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “This could have caused many Black Alabamans to just stay home and not vote at all.”

State Rep. Napoleon Bracy Jr., one of 11 Democratic candidates running in the 2nd District primary, said “it is disappointing to see that voters in Montgomery County are facing classic disenfranchisement.” He noted it came days after the state marked an anniversary of key events that led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act.

Election officials caught an error in the cards sent to voters in January and attempted to update their systems so voters would be listed in the correct congressional district, said Snipes, of the county elections board.

“We thought we had it all fixed,” he said, adding that officials didn’t realize that more voters had been affected. “We can’t figure out how the software did that to us.”

Laney Rawls, executive assistant for Alabama’s secretary of state, said the office was not involved in sending the postcards to voters.

It was one of the few issues reported on Super Tuesday, the biggest day of the primary calendar. Only sporadic voting problems surfaced, most of which were resolved quickly. In Texas’ Travis County, which includes Austin, some voters had problems checking in when they tried to cast their ballots.

The Travis County Clerk’s Office said about 1% of registered voters were affected. Officials blamed a “data issue” but did not offer more details. Affected voters were asked to either wait while the problem was resolved or were told they could cast a provisional ballot if they couldn’t wait.

“Our team quickly identified the issue and pushed out a solution,” the clerk’s office said in an email.

___

Associated Press writer Juan A. Lozano in Houston contributed to this report.