State briefs: Chisholm mine could become mountain bike park

A $28,900 grant from the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board will help the city of Chisholm design a mountain bike park out of an abandoned mine pit.

Officials say the Redhead Mountain Bike Park would draw locals and tourists to the former mining pits just south of Chisholm. The Laurentian Vision Partnership grant covers the planning, design and engineering of about seven miles of trail in the 650-acre property.

The IRRRB also granted $25,000 to Cohasset to help build trails in the Tioga Mountain Bike Park and Recreational Area, about five miles west of Grand Rapids.

Matt McKinney

A new alert system can push text messages out to every cellphone in a given location, allowing emergency management coordinators to more quickly alert the public, St. Louis County officials said last week.

The alerts from the St. Louis County 911 emergency communications center would be reserved for disasters like flooding, fires or severe weather when people's lives could be in danger.

The system, which includes Duluth, Hermantown, Hibbing and Virginia, does not require phone users to opt-in like previous versions.

Matt McKinney

Brainerd will face off against nine other cities nationwide for a $500,000 prize to help revitalize its downtown, after finalists in the "Small Business Revolution-Main Street" competition from Shoreview-based Deluxe Corp. were named last week.

Brainerd is the only Minnesota city to make the top 10. A winner will be chosen by public vote in February.

The competition, now in its third year, includes an online video series about the winning city and how it used the money.

Matt McKinney

Before his promotion, Corell served as deputy adjutant general of the Iowa Army National Guard, which is home to the 34th Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade Combat Team. He served as brigade commander from 2010 to 2012 and led the brigade during a deployment to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

The Rosemount-based division, known as the Red Bulls, includes 23,000 soldiers in eight states. It is preparing for a deployment to Kuwait in the fall of 2018.