Mold Remediation in St. Paul, MN

St. Paul elected officials, including city council president Mitra Jalali and state pepresentative María Isa Pérez-Vega, assembled a coalition of community advocates on Friday to urge Saint Paul residents to vote “No” on city questions one and two on the 2024 election ballot.

According to these officials, if passed, the proposed measures would "set back" Saint Paul’s schools, families, and democracy.

“Minnesotans and Saint Paul residents deserve real solutions to the childcare crisis that builds on the historic work underway at the Legislature – not diversion of precious public funds to private companies in a lottery system with no accountability,” Pérez-Vega said.

City question 1 would use city taxpayer dollars to build an early childcare and education voucher program, which leaders claim would divert local resources from urgent government needs.

The initiative, known as the St. Paul Early Care and Learning Referendum, would provide additional funding for families with children under five who seek childcare and education services in St. Paul.

It has the support of city councilors Nelsie Yang and Rebecca Noecker, but not that of Council President Jalali and the St. Paul Federation of Educators (SPFE) Local 28, which says it would create a new voucher program to funnel public dollars to private companies.

State lawmakers who helped fund investments in childcare these past two sessions pointed to the actual work underway at the state to expand the childcare tax credit and address workforce issues that hurt families’ ability to access childcare.

"Saint Paul voters deserve a local government that is focused and effective on the issues impacting them most," Jalali said. "Taking precious resources away from city programs and services to fund a state and federal government need will hurt our families. Local elections should not have to compete with national spending and attention for local issues to matter."

According to the city's website, by voting yes to this question, residents would be voting on a property tax increase, with the maximum rising by .006% in year one and is estimated to increase to .060% by year 10.

Mayor Melvin Carter has already signaled his opposition to the proposal, with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz also voting against it.

City question 2 would end Saint Paul’s odd-year election cycle and put local races into even-numbered national election cycle years.

Supporters say that making the move would help boost turnout for city elections, but opponents including Jalali believe moving the election would dilute focus on regional issues and hurt the ability to have direct conversations between candidates and residents.

“In Minnesota, we’ve built a culture and tradition of voting through having elections every year in races big and small," Voting rights advocate and organizer Wintana Melekin said. "Not only is the election proposal not currently possible under state law, but it also stands to undermine our local campaigns and elections by drowning out the issues that matter most every day to residents."

High Schools

St. Paul Academy won the Class 1A final and became the second boys soccer program to take three titles in a row, preceded by Edina at the turn of the century.

The Minnesota Star Tribune

St. Paul Academy won its third consecutive Class 1A boys soccer state title with disciplined defending and a disciplined Halloween.

Coach Max Lipset told the boys they could eat fast food and candy once they won another ring. Senior midfielder Ezra Straub was eyeing McDonald’s after the game, and it was well-deserved.

His two goals gave No. 1 St. Paul Academy its third consecutive state title with a 2-0 victory over No. 3 Rochester Lourdes. The Spartans (17-3-1) became just the second boys soccer team to three-peat in Minnesota, after Edina (1999-2001).

“Every year, we’ve just gotten better and better,” Straub said. “At the start of the season, some of us didn’t believe we could get here. It was having faith and discipline.”

Straub scored his brace 48 seconds apart with a half-hour left in Friday’s match at U.S. Bank Stadium. The first goal came off a corner delivered by freshman Graham Waibel, knocked home by Straub in a crowded 6-yard box.

“A garbage goal,” the players called it after, grinning. The second goal was anything but: a highlight-worthy 25-yard free kick Straub curled inside the near post.

The high-flying Rochester Lourdes offense — averaging 3.73 goals per game — was painfully familiar to the Spartans. They’d seen Eagles sophomore phenom Blake Moynagh net two of his season’s 32 goals when Rochester Lourdes beat the Spartans 3-1 in September.

The midseason loss forced the Spartans (17-4-1) to re-evaluate. Head coach Max Lipset gathered the varsity returners and asked them, “What do we want from this season?”

“It was a big turning point for us,” Lipset said. “Made roster changes, made formation changes. We made changes to our expectations.”

They leaned on the defensive mind and quick in-training corrections of local soccer figurehead Manny “Buzz” Lagos, part of all of the Spartans’ now seven titles. The prior four spanned 1986 to 1994.

“It’s a whole team movement,” senior defender Arlo Zirps said. “Every single person on the team is getting back and defending.”

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High Schools

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High Schools

After that loss, the Spartans only conceded eight goals in 12 games. On Friday, St. Paul Academy often dropped nine, 10 or all 11 players behind the Eagles attack, making Rochester Lourdes’ offense look quieter than the Spartans’ Halloween night.

ST. PAUL - The Minnesota Wild (6-1-2) are back in action tonight against the Tampa Bay Lightning (7-3-0) after seven straight road games.

Ryan Hartman will return tonight after missing the last five games with an upper-body injury. With how well the Wild's third line has been playing, Hartman will play on the fourth line tonight.

Filip Gustavsson will start tonight for the Wild. He last started in Philadelphia against the Flyers. Gustavsson let up six goals that game on 28 shots.

He will look to rebound tonight against a Lightning team that has won three straight since the Wild beat them.

Here are tonight's projected lines (subject to change).

Wild's Projected Lines

Kirill Kaprizov - Marco Rossi - Mats Zuccarello

Marcus Johansson - Joel Eriksson Ek - Matt Boldy

Marcus Foligno - Freddy Gaudreau - Yakov Trenin

Jakub Lauko - Marat Khusnutdinov - Ryan Hartman

Defense:

Jake Middleton - Brock Faber

Jonas Brodin - Jared Spurgeon

Declan Chisholm - Zach Bogosian

Starting Goaltender: Filip Gustavsson

Scratched: Jon Merrill

Scroll to Continue

Injured: None

Lightning's Projected Lines

Jake Guentzel - Brayden Point - Nikita Kucherov

Brandon Hagel - Anthony Cirelli - Conor Geekie

Mikey Eyssimont - Nic Paul - Mitchell Chaffee

Zemus Girgensons - Luke Glendening - Cam Atkinson

Defense:

Victor Hedman - JJ Moser

Ryan McDonagh - Erik Cernak

Emil Lilleberg - Nick Perbix

Starting Goaltender: Andrei Vasilevskiy

Scratched: Darren Raddysh

Injured: None

How to Watch & Listen: Tonight's game will be on Fanduel Sports Network North. Anthony LaPanta will be on the play-by-play with Wes Walz and Kevin Gorg. The radio broadcast will be on KFAN FM 100.3 with Joe O'Donnell behind the mic doing the play-by-play. Tom Reid as the color analyst and Kevin Falness as the Studio Host.

Let us know what you think by commenting below or on the Forum.

Make sure you bookmark The Hockey News' Minnesota Wild page for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns and so much more.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5. Minnesotans not yet registered to vote can do so at their polling location.

Patch Staff

|Updated Fri, Nov 1, 2024 at 10:08 am CT

ST. PAUL, MN — It's hard to believe, but Election Day is Tuesday. On Nov. 5, Minnesotans who haven't already voted early will head to the polls and cast ballots for candidates running for President, U.S. Senator, U.S. Representative, State Representative, local offices, and more.

This year's ballot also includes a state constitutional amendment question.

Early voting numbers

As of Nov. 1, election officials across Minnesota distributed 1,152,900 absentee and mail ballots since voting began on Sept. 20. Clerks have accepted a total of 919,581 ballots sent back to them.

Nearly 195,000 ballots have not yet been returned. All ballots must be received by 8 p.m. on Election Day to be counted. People who have not yet mailed in their absentee ballot are now encouraged to vote in-person.

Find out what's happening in Saint Paulwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"More Minnesotans voted in the past week than during the first four weeks of voting for this election," said Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon.

"It’s clear that our state’s long-held commitment to voting and civic engagement remains. For those who have yet to cast their ballot, now is the time to make your plan to vote in-person on or before Election Day."

Restore the Vote Act

More Minnesotans have regained their voting rights this year.

The 2023 Restore the Vote Act, signed into law by Gov. Tim Walz, restores the voting rights of individuals with felony convictions once they are no longer incarcerated.

To vote in Minnesota, a person must be at least 18 by Election Day, a U.S. Citizen, a resident of Minnesota for at least 20 days, not currently incarcerated for a felony conviction, and not under a court order that revokes their right to vote.

Minnesotans can register to vote online. You can also register in-person on Election Day.

There are several ways to vote in the 2024 election cycle in Minnesota:

What's On My Ballot?

Below are the candidates that will appear on all ballots in Minnesota. For a complete list of elections on your local ballot, use the Minnesota sample ballot tool.

Text or Call with Election Questions

Minnesotans can contact the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State by phone call or text message:

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The ballot question in Minneapolis would raise money for public schools, while the measure in Saint Paul would support child-care subsidies.

MINNEAPOLIS — Voters in Minneapolis and Saint Paul both have questions on their ballots Tuesday asking whether they want to raise property taxes in order to fund public schools and child-care subsidies, respectively.

Here's what you need to know about the measures.

MINNEAPOLIS

The ballot question in Minneapolis seeks to generate $20 million for the Minneapolis Public Schools' technology fund — but don't be confused by the term "technology levy." According to the district, funding for technology would not substantially change if the measure is passed. Instead, the money would help offset cuts to other programs and services and would bolster the district's general fund, at a time when MPS is struggling with declining enrollment, inflation and the expiration of federal COVID funding.

"Deciding on candidates for president and other offices is not the only important decision Minneapolis voters have to make tomorrow," MPS Senior Finance Officer Ibrahima Diop said. "Voters also need to consider this technology levy question. It's just one way MPS is working to raise revenue, stabilize its financial situation and ensure a secure future for all students."

The measure is supported by the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, including Marcia Howard, who said it's critical "in order to make sure our kids have what they need."

Although there are no organized groups in opposition to the proposal, property tax hikes are always a tough sell with the public. In this case, Minneapolis voters would be approving an increase of $8 per month on the median homeowner in order to fund the money for the Minneapolis Public Schools.

"I'll say this, as the president of the MFT teachers' chapter, you best believe the teachers will be holding our district accountable for those funds," Howard said, "and how they're being used. We want transparency and we want accountability."

SAINT PAUL

Across the river in Saint Paul, a ballot question asks voters whether they want to raise property taxes in order to fund $20 million over 10 years, to help largely low-income families pay for child care.

The median homeowner in the city would see a $16 increase per year, if approved.

Daniel Cox, the campaign manager for Yes For Saint Paul Families, canvassed in Saint Paul on Monday and urged voters to support the measure.

"Anyone who has kids, or knows someone who has kids, or has grandkids, understands really viscerally the impact of child-care costs," Cox said. "For a lot of families, child-care is their largest single household expense."

This measure has been subject to a lot of discussion and back-and-forth over the past few years. Council Member Rebecca Noecker is one of the measure's biggest supporters, saying it's a vital need in the city.

But Council President Mitra Jalali, Mayor Melvin Carter, and the Saint Paul Federation of Educators have all come out against the proposal. Carter says the money generated won't be nearly enough to cover all the families that need child-care assistance, while the educators' union has said that the program would lead to a privatized "voucher" system.

RELATED: How to watch KARE 11's live coverage on Election Night 2024