Minnesota briefs: Memorial to honor slain officer Tom Decker, others on 10th anniversary

Officials will memorialize Minnesota's fallen officers with a 1 p.m. ceremony on Sunday at St. Boniface Catholic Church in Cold Spring.

A public reception will honor the lives of slain officers Tom Decker, a Cold Spring officer shot as he responded to a report of a suicidal person in 2012; Brian Klinefelter, a St. Joseph officer shot while pursuing a robbery suspect in January 1996; and Scott Patrick, a Mendota Heights officer shot during a traffic stop in 2014.

Invited to the memorial are the families of the fallen officers, as well as U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer and state legislators, former Cold Spring Police Chief Phil Jones and other local officials.

The event comes just before the 10th anniversary of Decker's death on Nov. 29. At the event, organizers who have been raising money for a $60,000 bronze statue commemorating Decker and other officers will give an update on fundraising efforts. The statue is to be placed outside the Cold Spring Police Department.

The event will be livestreamed at christcatholic.com.

JENNY BERG

RED WING

U.S. Supreme Court allows garbage plans to proceed

The U.S. Supreme Court is allowing Red Wing and Goodhue County to move ahead with plans to coordinate solid waste disposal from throughout the county at the city's waste campus.

Several years ago, the city reached an agreement with the state of Minnesota to take ownership of and responsibility for its old Bench Street landfill. If the city and county agreed to coordinate waste disposal and resource recovery at the new facility, the state would be responsible for any issues that might arise from the old landfill, which would close.

After the county and city passed ordinances putting the new disposal plan in place, several local trash haulers sued. They lost in state court, then appealed to the U.S. Eighth Circuit, where they also lost. Finally, the trash haulers appealed the Circuit Court ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case.

"There's no other way for the [haulers] to continue with this litigation," Jeff Schneider, the city's deputy director of solid waste, told the City Council in a presentation at a recent council meeting.

JOHN REINAN

NORTHEASTERN MINN.

State grants awarded for water projects

Several northern Minnesota cities will receive grants and loans from the Minnesota Public Facilities Authority's Clean Water and Drinking Water program.

They include $33.5 million to rehab a wastewater treatment plant and upgrade the treatment process in Two Harbors; $2.2 million to construct a wastewater treatment pond in Floodwood; and $800,000 to replace a sanitary sewer, water main and hydrants in Eveleth.

JANA HOLLINGSWORTH