State briefs: Rochester officials surprised by time capsule under Mayos statue

Rochester officials aren't sure how old the big box is or what's inside. Mayor Ardell Brede is now weighing whether and when to open it.

"In the mayor's handbook," Brede joked, "it doesn't say anything about what to do with a time capsule."

The statue was moved to make way for the $85 million expansion of the Mayo Civic Center. The brothers will be cleaned and restored before getting placed by the amphitheater, where they originally stood, Brede said Friday. Once they're spiffed up, the city will celebrate their return.

That event, to be held later this year, might be just the occasion to crack open the capsule, Brede said, perhaps adding pieces that reflect Rochester in 2015.

He wonders whether the box dates back to the statue's original installation or its move to a new spot in 1986. "Maybe there's stuff in there from two time periods," Brede said. "We'll find that out."

Jenna Ross @ByJenna

Students and parents at St. Cloud Tech High School have been invited to a public forum Monday evening hosted by the St. Cloud State Muslim Student Association to talk about a series of incidents at the school targeting Somali students, including the suggestion by one classmate that a Somali student was affiliated with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, the terror group.

The forum will be from 6 to 8 p.m. April 13 at the theater in the Atwood Memorial Center, St. Cloud State University, 720 4th Av. S., St. Cloud. It's free and open to the public.

Matt McKinney @_mattmckinney

Sorry walkers, runners, bicyclists and skaters: A short section of the paved Willard Munger State Trail between Duluth and Carlton is now closed until at least midsummer.

The 600-yard section, about 5 miles south of the Duluth trailhead near Becks Road, will be off limits as workers expand and realign the Canadian National Railroad, the state DNR said. The area is complicated by steep terrain and has no easy shortcuts to bypass construction, officials said.

Visitors can still park in a lot at 123rd Avenue W. and use Becks Road and Hwy. 23 to get around the construction site, officials said. That lot will likely close sometime in late May.