The first newly-built fire station in St. Paul in 15 years officially opened Tuesday, replacing a building that dated to 1930.

The $12 million station in Dayton’s Bluff has room for more emergency vehicles and firefighters than the old station, which will mean they can have a bigger impact on the East Side, said Assistant Fire Chief Jeramiah Melquist. It was also constructed with firefighter health and wellness in mind.

“This is more than just a building,” said Fire Chief Butch Inks. “It’s … a promise that help is never far away. … When lives are on the line, seconds matter.”

The new station by the Earl Street bridge is across the street from the old Station 7 on Ross Avenue between Earl and East Seventh streets, though the location wasn’t chosen “simply because there was land available,” Inks said. “We used a data-driven approach.”

Mayor Melvin Carter added: “For years, we’ve experienced … disparities in fire fatalities on our East Side that requires answers, that requires action, that requires investment.”

New station doubles size, room for fire rigs

The old Station 7 was 9,000 square feet vs. the new station’s 19,000 square feet. The land had been a vacant lot, which previously was home to the Viaduct Inn, a bar and restaurant. The St. Paul Port Authority sold the 0.67 acre lot to the city of St. Paul for $233,482.

The previous building had three bays for fire department vehicles, which the department said was increasingly inadequate for serving the community’s needs. The station previously housed a fire engine and ladder truck; an ambulance was moved to the building in 2018, which meant the engine had to relocate to a different station.

The new station’s garage has space for five vehicles: an engine truck and a ladder truck, two ambulances (one for advanced life support and one for basic life support), and a modified SUV for the district chief who is in charge of incidents.

Firefighters at the old Station 7 responded to 11 calls per day, on average, and Melquist estimates they’ll handle 20-25 calls from the new station.

Cancer reduction measures

St. Paul Fire Chief Butch Inks cuts the ribbon for new St. Paul Fire Station No. 7 on Ross Ave. in St. Paul on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. Joining Inks are, from left, Assistant Fire Chiefs Anthony Farina and Jeramiah Melquist, City Council member Cheniqua Johnson, Ward 7, Inks, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, DFL-Minnesota, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter and Assistant Fire Chief Steven Sampson. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

The garage has doors in the front and back, which are “a big safety factor” because a fire equipment operator can drive directly in and out, said Deputy Fire Chief Jamie Smith. At most fire stations in St. Paul, operators have to reverse the large trucks into the station “multiple times a day, 3 in the morning, snow storm,” for instance, navigating pedestrians and traffic, Smith said.

The station was designed with “cancer reduction efforts in mind,” Smith said. A room directly off the garage will house specially-designed washers for firefighters’ turnout gear, which all fire stations in St. Paul have.

“Back in the day, it was a badge of honor to have dirty fire gear,” Smith said. “Now we realize that that soot is actually cancer-causing carcinogens.”

The goal is for firefighters to get out of their gear as quickly as possible and not bring it into the station. All St. Paul firefighters have two sets of gear, so they can use their other set if the first one is still washing or drying.

Firefighters have a 9 percent higher risk of being diagnosed with cancer than the general U.S. population, the Firefighter Cancer Support Network says of national information.

‘Heartbeat’ of the station

St. Paul firefighters work 24-hour shifts and they’re encouraged to rest when they can between calls.

A dorm-style room in the new St. Paul Fire Station No. 7 on Ross Ave. in St. Paul on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

The new station has 12 small, individual dorm rooms and three rooms for supervisors. The old Station 7 and some of the city’s other 15 stations still have communal sleeping areas, with beds separated by curtains.

“Sometimes you sleep for a few hours, sometimes you sleep not at all,” Smith said of firefighters’ shifts.

The station alert system can be heard in each dorm room, so firefighters know when they’re being dispatched to a medical emergency or a fire.

“When that alarm goes off,” firefighters have a minute-and-a-half to get suited up and into their rig, Smith said. The new station has two fire poles, which are intended to save time for firefighters getting from the dorms and kitchen on the second floor to the first floor.

Twelve to 15 firefighters will work at the station per shift, and there’s a large kitchen with enough room for them to eat meals together. On-duty fire crews take turns cooking for each other.

“Firefighting is a tough job, it’s a mentally draining job” and firefighters drink coffee together and share meals, Smith said. “… If there’s a tough call and we need to just talk about it, this is an area where we do it. The kitchen is the heartbeat of any fire station.”

Home to first electric fire truck

St. Paul Fire Engine 7, the department’s new electric fire truck, in its new home, the new St. Station No. 7, on Ross Ave. in St. Paul on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

St. Paul rolled out Engine 7 last year, which increased the department’s fleet of engines by one. It’s the first electric fire truck in the state and is now permanently housed at Station 7. The city is planning to purchase a second electric fire truck with a state grant, Carter said.

It’s not just about cleaner energy — the vehicle is “better,” Carter said. It’s “smaller and narrower, which means it can fit into spaces that other rigs cannot.” It can also get water onto fires faster than diesel-powered fire engines, he added.

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When the city funded the station in 2019, it was expected to cost about $9 million, but costs kept rising and the project had a $10.7 million budget when they broke ground in 2023. “The longer we waited, the more expensive it got” and the final cost was approved by the city at just over $12 million, Melquist said.

It was funded by sales tax bonds and St. Paul’s Capital Improvement Budget, plus $1.7 million in federal funds, according to the mayor’s office. The office hasn’t made a decision about what will happen to the old station.

Firefighters have been working from the new station since April 10, and Tuesday was the day of the ceremonial ribbon cutting.

People 18 and older can now obtain a permit to carry a gun in Minnesota after the U.S. Supreme Court declined this week to take up the state’s appeal in a case challenging the minimum age of 21.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension on Monday notified certified firearms trainers and sheriff’s offices that people between the ages of 18 and 20 can now apply for a firearms carry permit.

The change comes nearly four years after gun rights advocates brought a lawsuit on behalf of a group of legal adults under 21 seeking to overturn the age limit. They argued the age restriction deprived legal adults of a Constitutional right.

A Minnesota federal judge ruled in favor of the group in March 2023, which the state appealed. Last July, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled in favor of gun rights groups.

Attorney general response

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison sought to appeal that decision as well, but the limit is officially gone now that the highest court has turned down the case.

At an unrelated Tuesday press briefing, Ellison said that while the state lost the case and will have to issue permits to young adults now, he didn’t think it would be the last time the issue comes up in court.

“We believe that the state of Minnesota has the right and the authority to pass laws to protect people from gun violence, and we were disappointed,” he said. “We thought that was a good case for the Supreme Court to consider, but there are other cases of that nature, and so we’ll see. This matter will be addressed eventually.”

Courts across the country have come to different conclusions about gun rights for 18- to 20-year-olds in recent years, the Associated Press reported. Though the Supreme Court has been selective about the cases it takes. In addition to leaving the Minnesota decision intact, they also allowed a ban on guns at the University of Michigan to remain in place.

MN Gun Owners Caucus

In a statement on the Supreme Court’s decision, gun rights activists hailed the change it brings to Minnesota law, and reiterated their commitment to challenging restrictions on Second Amendment rights in the state.

“This is a resounding victory for 18-20-year-old adults who wish to exercise their constitutional right to bear arms,” said Bryan Strawser, chair of the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus.

Despite the setback for his office’s efforts, Ellison said he will continue to take action against gun manufacturers and retailers.

The attorney general’s office in December sued Glock, Inc., over its handguns’ convertibility into automatic weapons.  In 2022, he sued Fleet Farm for what the office alleges were inadequate safeguards against “straw purchases” — when someone buys weapons for a person ineligible to do so themselves.

What did judges say about age limit?

In the first 2023 ruling overturning Minnesota’s age limit for carry permits, U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez wrote that a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision requires regulations on guns to be weighed on whether they are consistent with the nation’s “historical tradition” of regulation, rather than public safety concerns.

At the time, Menendez expressed reservations about the required historical analysis sought by the Supreme Court in their ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen.

A year later, an appeal by the state resulted in a unanimous ruling in favor of the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus and other gun rights groups on the lawsuit, including the Firearms Policy Coalition and Second Amendment Foundation

Judges on the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed with the lower court’s finding that Minnesota’s age limit of 21 to obtain a concealed carry permit can not be enforced, as it deprives legal adults of constitutionally guaranteed rights.

“Ordinary, law-abiding 18 to 20-year-old Minnesotans are unambiguously members of the people,” wrote Judge William Duane Benton in the court’s opinion, joined by Judges Lavenski R. Smith and David R. Stras. “Because the plain text of the Second Amendment covers the plaintiffs and their conduct, it is presumptively constitutionally protected.”

MN permit law

Minnesota enacted its permit-to-carry law in 2003.

Applicants must take an approved firearms training course and apply at their local sheriff’s office. The sheriff’s office then investigates the applicant’s background before deciding whether to issue a permit. Permits are valid for five years.

Minnesota doesn’t have a “concealed carry” permit, per se.

The state’s permit-to-carry law allows for the concealed and open carrying of firearms. Other states, such as Wisconsin and North Dakota, allow for open carrying of firearms under certain circumstances without a permit.

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Sweat dripped down Pablo López’s face in the hours before Tuesday’s game, fresh off a bullpen session in which he threw nearly 30 pitches, simulated a couple of at-bats and tested out his hamstring, once again.

That bullpen session went well, López said, as did the rehab outing he made for the Triple-A St. Paul Saints in Des Moines on Saturday. And now, he appears poised to return — possibly as soon as Thursday, though the Twins have yet to make an announcement on when he will next start.

The Twins have listed Thursday’s starter as TBA. That’s the day López is first eligible to return from the 15-day injured list. Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said he had “a loose date” for López’s next start, which he did not yet announce.

“I think he’s in a really good spot to return to the big leagues, not have to make another rehab start and then rejoin the rotation,” Baldelli said. “That’s probably the best I can go with right now. All positive from his rehab.”

López threw 4 2/3 innings on Saturday night, allowing a run on three hits while striking out four. He got a workout in in a hallway “very minor league style,” he said, and catered a meal for the Saints while he was down in Iowa.

Sushi was not his first choice because “Iowa is as landlocked as you can possibly (get),” he said, but clubhouse manager Matt Tramp assured him he knew a good spot, and López made sure the minor leaguers were fed well.

“There were even some people that had sushi for breakfast on Sunday,” he said. “I don’t know how I feel about breakfast sushi … but no, it was good. It worked out, and everyone was thankful for it, which is always a very pleasant thing to feel.”

Bader commits to WBC

Harrison Bader had to pull out of the World Baseball Classic last time around because of an oblique injury, but he’s excited to have another opportunity, announcing on a podcast that was released on Tuesday that he would suit up for Team Israel in the 2026 tournament.

Bader was born in the United States, but per WBC rules, a player is eligible to compete for a country if they meet the eligibility requirements for citizenship. Bader, who is Jewish, does.

“The World Baseball Classic is awesome for so many reasons, and just getting an opportunity to represent Israel on the baseball side and wearing that uniform I think is special for me and my friends and family and a lot of people I love and support tremendously,” Bader said.

Briefly

Royce Lewis (hamstring) did a total body lift, glove work, sprints and hit in the cage as part of his day of work on Monday. On Tuesday, he ran the bases. Lewis was injured more than a month ago running to first base during a spring training game. … Willi Castro was out of the starting lineup again on Tuesday. He did not play this weekend after leaving Wednesday’s game with oblique tightness, but the Twins did not put him on the injured list, and Baldelli said he thought they would benefit from that.

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By PHILIP MARCELO

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump’s border czar joined New York City’s mayor on Tuesday to tout new federal charges against 27 people accused of being Tren de Aragua gang members and associates.

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The joint announcement is the latest example of the close ties between Mayor Eric Adams and the Trump administration, which recently dropped federal corruption charges against the Democrat so he could better focus on the Republican president’s immigration priorities. Adams is now running for reelection as an independent.

Trump, in his nationwide immigration crackdown, has labeled Tren de Aragua an invading force as he invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a little-used authority from 1798 that allows the president to deport any noncitizen during wartime.

“Every member of TDA should be on the run,” declared Thomas Homan, Trump’s border czar, referring to the initials of the gang, which originated in Venezuela more than a decade ago and has been linked to a series of kidnappings, extortion and other crimes throughout the Western Hemisphere.

Adams’ administration recently announced that it would let federal immigration officials operate at the city’s Rikers Island jail complex — and Homan used the news briefing to take a swipe at a City Council lawsuit seeking to stop the plan.

“This is what collaboration looks like,” he said. “I never asked the city or the NYPD to be immigration officers. I asked them to work with us on significant public safety threats and national security threats, and that’s what we’re committed to doing.”

A New York judge ordered city officials on Monday to temporarily halt the plan, which would let Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agencies establish offices at the massive lockup, until an April 25 hearing on the suit.

Adams said Tuesday’s announcement showed he remains “unapologetic” in his desire to rid the city’s streets of violent immigrant gangs.

“The question that we must answer is whose side are you on?” the Democrat said. “Are you on the side of those who are carrying these illegal guns, wreaking havoc, sex trafficking, harming innocent people regardless of their documentation, or are you on the side of hardworking New Yorkers and Americans? I’m clear on which side I’m on.”

Manhattan prosecutors say the case is the first to bring federal racketeering charges, which were famously used to bring down the Mafia, against the Venezuelan street gang. The more than two dozen accused also face charges including sex trafficking, drug trafficking, robbery, and firearms possession.

Prosecutors said those arrested smuggled young women from Venezuela into Peru and the U.S. The women, who they referred to as “multadas,” paid off their debts through prostitution and were threatened with violence and death.

The gang members also committed armed robberies and smuggled illegal drugs, including a substance called “tusi” that contains ketamine, prosecutors said.

Of the 27 charged, 21 are in custody, including five arrested Monday and Tuesday in operations in New York and elsewhere, they said. Six others remain at large.

The charges are broken out into two separate indictments, one for six alleged members of Tren de Aragua and the other charging 19 alleged members of “Anti-Tren,” a splinter faction made up of former Tren members.

Among those named in Tuesday’s indictment was Anderson Zambrano-Pacheco, who was among those arrested back in January in the Bronx during some of the Trump administration’s first efforts to ramp up immigration enforcement in the city.

Authorities say the 26-year-old was part of a group of heavily armed men seen in a now-viral video forcing their way into an apartment in Aurora, Colorado, raising fears that Tren de Aragua was in control of the rundown complex in the Denver suburbs.

Zambrano-Pacheco’s lawyer didn’t immediately comment Tuesday.

FILE – New York City Mayor Eric Adams appears before a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing with Sanctuary City Mayors on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, March 5, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.,File)

Adams rejected the notion that many of those apprehended by immigration and law enforcement officials in recent months are otherwise law-abiding people.

“The American dream is not armed robbery. The American dream is not discharging guns. The American dream is not shooting at police officers. The American dream is not going into homeless shelters and taking the documentation from innocent people and forcing them into sex trafficking,” he said. “That’s not the American dream, and we’re not going to be a safe harbor for criminals.”

Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo.