When the lights come down and the needles start dropping, St. Paul and east metro residents have a range of convenient drop-off and recycling options for their trees and holiday décor.

Saint Paul

Holiday trees. In St. Paul, the city organizes a holiday tree collection from Jan. 2-15. Residents can set out one tree next to their garbage carts on regular collection days. For homes with up to four units, each unit can set out one tree.

Trees taller than six feet, heavier than 20 pounds, or artificial trees are not included in the special collection.

Residents are asked to remove all decorations and the tree stand, and to not to put the trees upright or leaning against the cart, or blocking other carts.

Holiday Lights. String lights and electrical cords should not be placed in recycling carts because they can cause damage at recycling facilities. Instead, they can be dropped off for recycling at the following locations until January 9:

The Saint Paul Regional Water Services Facility: 1900 Rice St., St Paul, MN 55113
Public Works Solid Waste & Recycling Facility: 60 W Sycamore St., St Paul, MN 55117
Any Saint Paul Public Library

Greenery and garlands. According to city guidelines, holiday greenery and garlands are not accepted as yard waste because of possible metal wires and decorations. Instead, greenery can be put in a plastic bag and put in garbage carts.

Wrapping Paper and Gift Bags. Most wrapping paper and gift bags are recyclable except for:

Wrapping paper with glitter or foil
Tissue paper
Ribbons and bows.

Cardboard Packaging. Any cardboard that doesn’t fit in recycling carts can be flattened and dropped off, for free, at the Ramsey County Environmental Center, 1700 Kent St., Roseville, MN 55113, which is open year-round.

RAMSEY COUNTY

Holiday trees. After they are stripped of lights, ornaments, tinsel and tree bags, holiday trees can be dropped off at the following yard waste collection sites for free:

Arden Hills
Frank and Sims
Midway
White Bear Township

Flocked trees are not accepted.

In addition, some waste management companies will pick up trees. The county recommends checking with the waste company first.

Holiday Lights. Both LED and non-LED string lights can be recycled at the county’s Environmental Center.

WASHINGTON COUNTY

In Washington County, it’s illegal to put Christmas trees in the trash, but there are options for drop-offs and collections.

The county said that some “private waste haulers, cities, or townships may accept holiday trees. Residents can contact them directly for more information.

“Remove tree stands, plastic bags, tinsel, wire, lights, and all other decorations from trees prior to drop-off or collection,” the county website said.

DAKOTA COUNTY

In Dakota County, it is also illegal to put Christmas trees in the trash or recycling.

Residents can call waste management companies and city staff for disposal guidelines.

It was pretty clear from the opening drive on Sunday afternoon at U.S. Bank Stadium that the Vikings were invested in getting star receiver Justin Jefferson over 1,000 yards. He entered the rivalry game against the Green Bay Packers needing 53 yards to once again reach the milestone.

On the first possession alone, quarterback J.J. McCarthy targeted Jefferson a few different times, completing an intermediate pass for 18 yards, a shovel pass for 10 yards, and a pop pass for 11 yards.

After hauling in another reception for a gain of 12 yards, Jefferson casually secured a catch later in the game to go over 1,000 yards.

Though it certainly isn’t the end all be all for Jefferson, he hasn’t been shy about the fact that he wanted to keep his streak alive. It served as a small consolation in what’s been a frustrating campaign for him.

This is the sixth consecutive seasons in which Jefferson has reached 1,000 yards to start his career. He’s now only five seasons away from tying Tampa Bay Buccaneers receiver Mike Evans, who holds the NFL record the most consecutive seasons of a player reaching 1,000 yards to start his career.

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LOS ANGELES — There has been precious little sunshine in normally sunny Southern California as the Minnesota Wild visit. The schedule-makers gave them three games here in four days as part of their season-long seven-game road trip. Those in search of natural Vitamin D have instead been greeted by clouds and rain that have blanketing the Los Angeles basin as the Golden State experiences its annual rainy season.

But there’s no snow. The temperatures are well above freezing. And the Wild have grabbed at least a point in each of the first five games away from Minnesota on this journey so far, going 3-0-2.

“It feels good, especially with my family here,” Wild forward Yakov Trenin said, after his parents traveled from Russia to see him play this week. “It feels like home.”

Following Saturday night’s shootout loss to the Kings in downtown Los Angeles, the Wild are 11-6-3 away from St. Paul this season, and as they continue to accumulate points, have now moved into the drivers’ seat for a second-place finish in the Central Division behind the powerful Avalanche but ahead of the Stars. While we are only barely into the second half of the season, and the playoffs are still more than three months away, a finish ahead of third place Dallas means that the postseason would begin with two games at Grand Casino Arena.

Reinforcing ways to win and collect vital points during two consecutive weeks away from the comforts of home will no doubt be a valuable attribute when the elimination games begin.

“We knew this was going to be a big part of our season where you could say it’s a long road trip, and you play seven games in 14 days,” Wild coach John Hynes said on Saturday, after his team came from behind four times to grab a point. “So, I like the fact that we got off to a good start (on the) road trip. We continue to do it.”

Wild defenseman Brock Faber said the Los Angeles portion of the trip is a bit of a flashback to his days as a Gopher. College hockey teams almost always play two-game weekend series versus the same team, and with visits to the Kings on Saturday and again on Monday, it’s a chance to learn from the first game and do things better in the second game.

“It’ll be good. I’m sure they’ve got areas they want to be better in and we’ve got areas we want to be better in,” Faber said, after scoring his ninth goal of the season on Saturday. “It’ll be fun playing this team back to back. It’s one where we want to leave this part of California with another two points.”

Holed up out of the rain in an oceanfront luxury hotel just down the street from the famed Santa Monica Pier, the Wild plan was to take Sunday to rest, then get a morning skate in Los Angeles on Monday before the rematch with the Kings on Monday night.

“We just played this team, we didn’t find a way to get two points. And we got another opportunity against the same team, which you don’t get a lot of times in the regular season,” Hynes said on Saturday night. “So we’ll take a day to rest up (Sunday) and refocus and see if we can get the two points the next time we play them.”

Simple math when one looks at the standings shows that banking those points now is sure to be helpful in April and May.

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Venezuela’s defense minister on Sunday rejected any notion that the United States would “run” his country, projecting an official line of defiance as the Trump administration said it would seek to exert “leverage” over the country’s leadership.

The White House has said it believes that Venezuela’s government, under interim leader Delcy Rodríguez, will fall in line and largely comply with its demands after the capture of President Nicolás Maduro. The nature of the private conversations between Venezuela’s government and U.S. officials is unclear.

Publicly, Rodríguez and the defense minister, Vladimir Padrino López, have said the government that was in place under Maduro is still in charge. In a fiery speech broadcast Sunday on state television, Padrino López channeled decades of Venezuelan nationalism and said that the country’s armed forces would “continue to employ all its available capabilities for military defense, the maintenance of internal order and the preservation of peace.”

“Our sovereignty has been violated and breached,” he said, backed by uniformed soldiers. Padrino López said that U.S. forces had killed a “large part” of Maduro’s security detail in the raid that apprehended him, part of a death toll of soldiers and civilians that rose to 80 Sunday.

Maduro is in a New York City jail with his wife, who were both indicted on federal drug trafficking and weapons charges. They are expected to make their initial appearances in federal court Monday.

In a series of television appearances Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the U.S. military would maintain a “quarantine” around Venezuela to prevent the entry and exit of oil tankers under U.S. sanctions.

But though President Donald Trump has said the United States intends to “run” Venezuela and reclaim American oil interests after ousting Maduro, Pentagon officials said that there were currently no U.S. military personnel in the country.

In an interview with CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” Rubio said the large U.S. naval force amassed in the Caribbean Sea off Venezuela will remain “until we see changes, not just to further the national interest of the United States, which is No. 1, but also that lead to a better future for the people of Venezuela.”

Trump administration officials indicated that the large U.S. military force, which includes 15,000 troops as well as aircraft and warships, was a signal to the Venezuelan authorities that they must act more favorably toward the United States or risk what Trump called a “second wave” of attacks.

Here’s what else to know:

— Oil reserves: Rubio focused Sunday, as Trump did a day earlier, on the opportunities for American companies in Venezuela’s oil sector, and on the need for Venezuelan officials to clamp down on drug trafficking. Trump made clear his desire to open up Venezuela’s vast state-controlled oil reserves to American oil companies, saying, “We are going to run the country right.” But U.S. intervention could prove complicated and expensive.

— U.S. strike: At least 80 Venezuelans, including civilians and soldiers, were killed in the Caracas raid early Saturday, according to a senior Venezuelan official. No U.S. service members were killed.

— Drug charges: An indictment unsealed by a federal judge in New York City charged Maduro, his wife, Cilia Flores, and four others with four counts, including narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine and possession of machine guns. Despite the U.S. focus on cocaine trafficking, experts say Venezuela’s role in that trade is modest. Maduro was being held at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, and he and Flores were expected to make their first appearance in Manhattan federal court soon.

— Protests and celebrations: Some people took to the streets of Chicago and Washington on Saturday to protest the U.S. military intervention. Venezuelan migrants in New York cheered Maduro’s removal from power.

— Nobel winner: Venezuela’s main opposition leader, María Corina Machado, who recently won the Nobel Peace Prize, posted a statement asking that her political ally, Edmundo González, be recognized as Venezuela’s president immediately. Machado had sought in recent months to curry favor with Trump, but he said Saturday that she lacked the “respect” needed to govern Venezuela.

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