FREEBORN COUNTY
Tobacco use banned on county properties
Freeborn County has joined a growing number of Minnesota counties that have gone tobacco-free, prohibiting smoking on county properties.
The new ban in the southern Minnesota county took effect in July after it was approved unanimously by the County Board earlier this year. The ban excludes the county's parks and fairgrounds but prohibits all tobacco use, including e-cigarettes, by county staff and visitors on the rest of county properties.
The county said the new policy will promote healthy workplaces and contribute to reducing the harms of secondhand smoke. Visitors who violate the policy may be asked to leave the properties while county staff members who violate it could be disciplined.
In 2011, Hennepin County gained national attention when it prohibited tobacco use on all county properties, except roads and right-of-ways. Across Minnesota, several other counties have followed up with their own tobacco-free policies for county properties.
KELLY SMITH
Virginia
Bridge festival goes on, open bridge or not
Planners were excited to organize the first-annual Bridge Daze festival in Virginia after hearing the much-anticipated Hwy. 53 bridge would be open and dedicated on Aug. 18, months ahead of schedule. Then Mother Nature intervened.
With rain slowing construction, the bridge will likely open in mid-September. Nevertheless, organizers decided Bridge Daze would go on.
This weekend's festival to celebrate the "engineering marvel" uniting Virginia, Eveleth, Mountain Iron and Gilbert will no longer include an organized community walk across the bridge Sunday evening. Instead, 400 people will get to take bus tours midday Sunday. Other events, including a silent film festival and beer tasting, were slated to go on as scheduled.