The Shakopee Economic Development Advisory Committee on Wednesday signed off on a multimillion-dollar tax-increment financing (TIF) package for Amazon.com Inc.

Though city staff members don't yet have exact figures for the total revenue that the TIF district would produce, it's expected to generate about $6.4 million total. Of that, Amazon would be left with about $3.4 million in revenue over nine years.

Courting major companies with this kind of incentive isn't unusual for Shakopee — the city in recent years has awarded millions of dollars in tax incentives to bring in new companies and keep old ones — but those financing packages were smaller than what's being offered to Amazon. City staff members say Amazon's $225 million investment in its planned 820,000-square-foot distribution center justifies a larger investment from the city.

The online retailer plans to employ about 1,000 people up front at the distribution center, located south of Hwy. 101 at Shenandoah Road. It's expected to open in early 2017.

The committee's vote paves the way for decisions this month from the Scott County Board and the Shakopee City Council.

Emma Nelson

Minneapolis

Police demonstrate use-of-force training

Minneapolis police held a use-of-force learning session Wednesday to give journalists a taste of what officers go through in their training.

"There's a lot going on in a short amount of time that we're asking officers to handle," said Sgt. Tony Caspers, police range master.

"We have fractions of seconds oftentimes to make decisions, and a lot of things have to factor into those moments," Minneapolis Police Chief Janeé Harteau said after the session.

Harteau said that "most of the time [police] get it right" but that there are times when officers make "egregious" errors.

"These are uniforms; they're not superhero costumes," she said. "And we're human beings and we're trying to do the right thing in the right time and sometimes with limited information."

Nicole Norfleet

WEST METRO

Hennepin County adopts 2040 bicycle plan

Hennepin County and the Three Rivers Park District have developed a bicycle plan that tries to reflect the increased use of cycling in the region by expanding the system and increasing safety.

The 2040 plan replaces one from 1997. Since the initial plan, the county has built more than 136 miles of bikeways and closed 59 gaps in the network. Commuting by bike has doubled since 2000 from 0.8 percent to 1.6 percent of the trips to work.

The latest plan seeks to quadruple the number of bicycle commuters from 12,000 in 2012 to 48,000 by 2014. The goal is to increase the bike system by an average of 20 miles per year and close an average of five bike gaps each year. Under the plan, every home in Hennepin County should be within one-half mile of a bikeway or within a mile of the enhanced network by 2040.

ROCHELLE OLSON

ST. PAUL

U justice center chosen to audit police review board

The St. Paul mayor's office has chosen a University of Minnesota think tank to do an independent audit of the board that weighs citizen complaints against officers.

The university's Center for Restorative Justice and Peacemaking will lead the review, with preliminary findings expected by this fall, the mayor's office said Friday.

Talk of an audit arose last fall after the city's Police-Civilian Internal Affairs Review Commission exonerated three officers who had been involved in the arrest and use of a stun gun on a black man in a downtown skyway.

After St. Paul NAACP President Jeff Martin questioned the independence of a review board that includes two police officers and five citizens who report to the chief, Mayor Chris Coleman pledged to seek outside auditors to determine how well the board functions.

KEVIN DUCHSCHERE