North metro town briefs

Phillips attends first meeting after arrest City Council member David Phillips, who was arrested Feb. 25 in a St. Paul undercover prostitution sting, made his first appearance at a City Council meeting since the arrest.

Initially, Phillips had told the city manager he would not be at the March 11 City Council meeting. Later, Phillips showed up at the meeting. Phillips has not commented to the media about the arrest. He faces a May 1 hearing on a misdemeanor charge.

A few days after the arrest, Mayor Steve Larson told the Star Tribune that community reaction had been largely muted on the issue. Since then, Larson said last week, he has received more than 100 calls and e-mails with perhaps three of them in support of Phillips.

"It's an embarrassment," Larson said. "That's about as point-blank as I can get." He stopped short of demanding that Phillips step down, saying he has private feelings that he cannot share publicly.

Meet the Minnesota Book Award finalists The Northtown Library has invited the public to a "Chat It Up" event featuring the work of Minnesota Book Award finalists at 2 p.m. Sunday.

Catherine Watson, a former travel editor for the Star Tribune, will speak about her nominated book, "Home on the Road: Further Dispatches from the Ends of the Earth." Kevin Kling, Watson's fellow nominee in the memoir and creative nonfiction award category, will be unable to attend, but Kling's nephew Jared is scheduled to read from "The Dog Says How." Rachel Moritz will read from Joni Tevis' "The Wet Collection," which is nominated in the same category.

The library is at 711 County Road 10 in Blaine. For more information, go to www.anoka.lib.mn.us.

Bridging gap between police and minorities Residents are invited to attend a community forum hosted by the cities' police departments, the Greater Twin Cities United Way and other organizations. The discussion will focus on developing relationships between police and residents of minority cultures.

The community groups involved will be the African Assistance Program, Amon-nue Sports and Social Association, Hennepin County, the Liberian Ministers Association, the Liberian Women's Initiative of Minnesota, the Minnesota African Women's Association, the Northwest Hennepin Human Services Council and the Organization of Liberians in Minnesota.

The forum will be held from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Zanewood Recreation Center, 7100 Zane Av. N., Brooklyn Park. Refreshments will be provided and child care can be requested. To RSVP, call Stephanie at 763-493-8267 or e-mail at stephanie.heiberger@ brooklynpark.org

Meeting will address paying for college A representative from the Minnesota Office of Higher Education will host a meeting on how to pay for post-secondary education. The discussion will cover scholarships, grants and other types of aid. Free financial aid resources will be available.

The meeting will be held from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Columbia Heights Early Childhood Family Education, 1440 49th Av. NE. For more information, call 763-528-4517.

Three libraries add noon-5 Sunday hours More libraries in the north metro area will be open on Sundays starting in June. The Rockford Road library in Crystal, the Champlin library and the Brooklyn Park library were selected to be open from noon to 5 p.m. The Hennepin County Board unanimously approved spending $1.53 million a year from a countywide sales tax to expand the library hours.

Senior health fair offers testing, advice A senior citizen health and safety resource expo will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday at the St. Anthony Community Center, 3301 Silver Lake Road. The free event will feature more than 30 booths and five presentations on aging issues. There will be balance testing, blood pressure checks, housing resources, legal assistance and information on scams that target seniors. Sponsors of the event are the St. Anthony Kiwanis Club, St. Anthony-New Brighton Community Services and Autumn Woods Apartments.

LORA PABST

AND ERIC M. HANSON