MInnesota briefs

Store may have sold contaminated bratwurst State officials say consumers should avoid smoked pork and beef bratwurst made by J&B Meats of Barnesville because it may be contaminated with Listeria bacteria.

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture said there are no reports of illnesses from the product. The contamination was found through routine testing.

J&B Meats sold the bratwurst at its retail store in Barnesville, about 20 miles southeast of Moorhead. The sausages are often sold frozen.

The affected bratwurst bears the lot number PBB30306, and Minnesota State Establishment Number 1198.

Any meat with those labels should be returned to the store.

School's new heating system disrupts sledding Cleveland Elementary School students aren't excited about a new geothermal heating system being installed here.

Construction on the new system means the sledding hill at the school will be out of commission for a month.

R.A Morton Construction manager Michael Beach said students are already complaining.

"I had a couple of kids corner me about it," Beach said. "They said, 'You're taking away our sledding hill,' and I said, 'You're right.'"

The hill will soon be home to 80 180-foot wells that will serve the new heating system, system designer Mike Brown said.

The hill will be back to normal when the project is done, Beach said.

"When we've finished the area we'll have it seeded and sodded and you won't even know we've been there," he said.

But in the meantime, Cleveland students will have to spend their recess on playground equipment and a flat area near the ice skating rink.

ASSOCIATED PRESS