North metro town briefs

New County Road 14 bridge is set to open After a five-month disruption, many commuters will be happy to see the new County Road 14 bridge over Hwy. 65 in Blaine, which is scheduled to open Friday afternoon.

County Road 14 has been closed since March 31 for construction of a bridge and interchange at Hwy. 65. The new single-point diamond interchange brings all traffic to a single traffic signal in the middle of the bridge.

The intersection was ranked as the ninth-most accident-prone in the state by a 2005 study by the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

The bridge construction was just one part of the MnDOT project to ease congestion around Hwy. 65. As the bridge construction comes to an end, work on new overpasses on Hwy. 65 at 121st and 129th Avenues will begin, shutting down those two intersections. Traffic will detour on 117th Avenue, County Road 14 or 131st Avenue. Construction is expected to wrap up by fall 2009.

Large field of mayoral candidates in forum The League of Women Voters has invited all the candidates in the Ramsey mayoral and council races to a pre-primary candidates forum from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday in the council chambers at the Ramsey Municipal Center, 7550 NW. Sunwood Drive.

Mayor Tom Gamec is not running for reelection. Bob Ramsey, Keith Kiefer, Terri Cleveland and Bruce Bachler will run for the position.

In the council races, Jeff Wise, Irene Hedtke, Mary Ann Kiefer and Melody Shryock are running for an at-large council seat; Colin McGlone and Andre Champagne will run for the Ward 2 seat; and Thomas Towberman is challenging Council Member David Jeffrey for the Ward 4 seat.

Items accepted for disposal will include appliances, furniture, car tires, batteries and electronics such as computers and TVs. Large items will be priced separately, such as a box spring ($12). Mixed trash and debris will be priced by the load, such as $9 for car trunk load or $40 for trailer load. A complete list of prices is available at City Hall and on the city's website, www.newbrightonmn.gov, under City Services.

Proof of city residency, such as a valid driver's license, is required. The event is at the New Brighton Maintenance Garage, 700 NW. Fifth St.

5K 'Stampede' part of annual Prairie Fest It's a stampede through the woods, prairie and wetlands of Anoka County.

The Second Annual Bunker Prairie Fest and Bunker Run will be held Sept. 13 at the Bunker Hills Activity Center in Andover. The Bunker Stampede, a 5K walk/run, begins at 9:30 a.m.

The cost of the event is $15 for registrations before Sept. 5 and $20 after. Call 763-757-3920 or go to www.anokacountyparks.com. A free kids fun run follows at 11.

Railroad employees learn lifesaving CPR More than 100 Canadian Pacific Railway workers were trained on Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) this summer by Take Heart Anoka County, according to the staff at Unity and Mercy Hospitals.

Take Heart Anoka County is a coalition of doctors, community leaders, nurses, health educators and paramedics trying to connect the public with the health-care community. Each year, an estimated 350,000 people in the United States die from sudden cardiac arrest.

Nyle Zikmund, chief of the Spring Lake Park, Blaine and Mounds View Fire Corps, also works for the Canadian Pacific Railway. He wanted to share this CPR program with his railroad coworkers.