Minnesota briefs: Lower Sioux Indian Community will build its own lacrosse field, thanks to a $100,000 Super Bowl grant

The Minnesota Super Bowl Host Committee Legacy Fund has granted $100,000 to the Lower Sioux Indian Community for a new lacrosse field.

The project is part of a broader effort by American Indians in Minnesota to revive old-style lacrosse, the "Creator's game," for health and tradition. The grant will also pay for a new canning kitchen, resurfacing of a gym floor and new equipment for an exercise room for the tribe, which has 1,200 members.

The $4 million Legacy Fund is backed by $1 million from the NFL. The rest comes from businesses, foundations and community groups across the state. The money is doled out in grants ranging from $10,000 to $100,000 leading up to next month's big game and focuses on reducing health disparities — from St. Paul to northern Minnesota.

The Lower Sioux reservation is located in Morton, about two hours southwest of the Twin Cities in the Minnesota River Valley.

Kelly Smith

The Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center in Finland is one of 80 groups nationwide to win honey­bees, a beehive and beekeeping equipment from the Honeybee Conservancy's national Sponsor-A-Hive program.

The center has a pollinators class at its school farm, where some 13,000 K-12 students visit annually for stays lasting up to five days. The bees will arrive this spring.

The Honeybee Conservancy has created 165 bee sanctuaries nationwide since 2015.

Matt McKinney

The St. Cloud City Council wants state lawmakers to restrict tobacco sales to people who are 21 or older.

The recommendation, on a 4-3 vote last month, comes after a packed November meeting in which the council voted 4-3 to raise the city's tobacco sales age from 18 to 21 — making St. Cloud the first city outside the Twin Cities to pass such a measure.

Mayor Dave Kleis quickly vetoed the ordinance over concerns it wasn't the city's role to implement the change. The council failed to get enough votes — five of seven — to override the veto. A major concern of some city leaders and residents was that the tobacco sales age is a state — rather than city — issue and should be consistent across all cities.