The ongoing wildfires in Northern Minnesota that have caused the closure of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area are threatening areas outside of the protected wilderness, as well. An evacuation order was issued Monday for a portion of Lake County — the first evacuation outside of the BWCA, reports the Star Tribune. And the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency issued a “very unhealthy” air quality alert through 11 a.m. Thursday for Cook, Lake, Itasca, Koochiching and St. Louis counties.

There are at least 20 active fires in the Superior National Forest, which includes the BWCAW, according to the Star Tribune’s ongoing reporting. Dangerously dry and extremely hot conditions are expected throughout the week.

Some Minnesotans who were adopted from outside the country have been tangled up in recent Immigration Customs and Enforcement actions, according to a feature in the Sahan Journal. According to some national estimates, up to 200,000 adoptees born since 1968 lack U.S. citizenship because their parents didn’t complete the required paperwork. “Getting formally adopted is a state court issue,” said Arissa Oh, a professor of immigration history at Boston College, in an interview with Sahan. “But some adoptive parents don’t realize that there’s another federal level for naturalization.” Even adoptees secure in their citizenship have had to overcome bureaucratic hurdles to prove it and have faced racial profiling and threats of deportation.

The Minneapolis City Council is set to vote on Thursday to approve controversial construction plans along South Lyndale Avenue, according to MPR News. Business owners in the affected area worry the construction will deter customers, pointing to nearby Hennepin Avenue’s struggle to regain foot traffic following a period of construction. But Hennepin County staff say the road needs upgrades including bike lanes, medians and improved lighting. The vote comes as the deadline to use federal funding for the project looms. If the plan is approved, construction will begin in 2028.

In more construction news, MPR News reports that the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission approved site permits for Geronimo Power to begin work on a solar power generation and energy storage project. The Lake Charlotte Solar project will be located in Rutland Township, Minn., about 50 miles southwest of Mankato in Martin County. According to documents, the site will generate 150 megawatts of solar energy and store 600 megawatt hours of power in a battery energy storage system.

Supporters believe the site will provide economic benefit to the area and help Minnesota reach its 2040 clean energy mandate, while the opposition is worried about fire risks and threats to agriculture and property values. Construction on the project will begin in late 2027.

As summer hits its stride, the American Red Cross is facing a blood shortage, reports KARE 11. Donations typically decrease during the summer due to busy summer schedules and a reduction in organized blood drives, so all blood types are needed. As an incentive, the Red Cross is awarding a movie ticket to anyone who donates blood through the end of July.

Minneapolis native, St. Paul Academy graduate and NASA astronaut Anil Menon will launch into space Tuesday morning from a base in Kazakhstan, where he will join colleagues on the International Space Station, according to Space.com. For the next eight months, Menon will conduct research, including work “to refine in-space production of semiconductor crystals to enable the large-scale manufacturing of components needed for high-performance computers, artificial intelligence, and improved medical devices.” You can watch the launch live, beginning at 8:45 a.m. CDT, on NASA’s YouTube channel.

Lily Kopp is a student at the University of Iowa and MinnPost’s summer reporting intern.

This story was originally published by MinnPost.

Lily Kopp

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Wildfires rage on, causing unhealthy air and evacuations

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