By Teri Knight, News Director
A Northfield man is charged with possession of a short-barrelled gun after reporting an explosion of a shotgun shell inside his home on Greenvale Place. 21 year old Treyvon Russle Paulson told Northfield police on Tuesday that a 20-gauge shotgun shell went off in the living room when a dumbbell weight fell on the shell and it exploded. Officers could clearly see an indentation in the primer of the shell indicating it was discharged from a firearm. Eventually Paulson admitted the shotgun and a 9mm handgun were in the home and loaded. He told officers he was carrying the shotgun and didn’t know it was loaded. The barrel of the
shotgun was sawed off to 16 and a quarter inches. (To be legal, the barrel must be at least 18 inches long) The charge carries up to a 5 year sentence. His first court appearance is July 8th.
In slim vote, Nfld Council approved temporarily closing Water St. Bridge
In order to help out local restaurants and bars, the Northfield Council amended some zoning laws to allow for more dining space in areas not normally used in that way, such as private parking lots, creating parklets and sidewalks downtown. This week, Northfield council considered other options around Bridge Square to make it easier for people to spread out and enjoy the space to dine and ease pedestrian congestion on the Water St. Bridge near the dam with more people fishing. Administrator Martig said they discussed creating a walking lane, closing the bridge and the road near the dam to the post office. These aren’t new ideas, in fact the Northfield Roundtable has multiple drawings of options that are at least a decade old. In a 4 to 3 vote, Council approved both actions. Martig said, “what it will allow us to do then from a pedestrian standpoint is give people plenty of space to walk through that corridor that leads to the safe crossing on Hwy 3 where we did that rapid flashing beacon crossing”. It will also allow for picnic tables to be set up on the road. This will be in place through July. Those two sections closed down will provide for social distancing. They’ll see how it goes over and what effects it MAY have on the Riverwalk Market Fair. Staff will now start implementing those changes but, Martig said, it won’t be before this weekend. When it does go into place, vehicle traffic will have to use 2nd or 5th streets. Yes votes: Grabau, Nakasian, Peterson White, Zweifel No votes: DeLong, Ness, Pownell
NH&C offers video to answer covid questions
Northfield Hospital and Clinics has put together a video titled “Your Health and Actions in the Era of Covid”. Dr. Jennifer Fischer and Dr. Katherine Helgen answer a multitude of questions about caring for your health in the era of COVID-19. The link is posted on our Updated Covid-19 page in the LOCAL section. CEO Steve Underdahl was on the air with Jeff Johnson this morning. Here is his full interview.
WINGS celebrates 20 years with nearly $83k in grants
WINGS (Women in Northfield Giving Support) recently distributed nearly $83k to local nonprofits this. This year WINGS celebrates 20 years of giving and has granted over $1 million to date. Their 2020 Dare to Dream grant of $20,000 will go to Northfield Healthy Community Initiative: Northfield Community College Collaborative Expansion. WINGS funding will make it possible to convert space in the Northfield Community Resource Center to real college classrooms and study spaces. Additionally, for every $1.00 of funding provided by WINGS, a national funder has agreed to provide a $1.50 match. The full press release with a list of other grant recipients is HERE.
