Minneapolis, MN
Maintenance crews encounter unique challenges in keeping Webber Natural Swimming Pool open
The Webber Natural Swimming Pool in north Minneapolis is back open after it was closed for nearly two weeks because someone threw an unknown substance into the water.
Over the years, the pool has had issues with staying open — usually because of high levels of bacteria in the water — and that’s something the staff at the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board has been hard at work trying to solve.
Staff say they face new challenges because of just how unique this pool is, the only natural public swimming pool in the United States.
“It’s hard to say what’s coming next because we’ve had a lot of unusual challenges,” said Rachael Crabb, water resources expert with the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board.
Crabb says because the pool is treated using a natural process instead of chlorine, they get plenty of unwanted visitors like waterfowl.
“They’re a big source of bacteria for us,” Crabb said.
But if you take a look around you can see several steps they’ve taken to keep them out like black netting on the fence outside the pool. They’ve also removed nests in the spring. But this summer, it’s the turtles causing problems.
“These turtles were born in old Webber pond and when they are old enough to reproduce they try to come back to where they were born and nest,” Crabb said.
Flooding along Webber Parkway used to be an issue, but they’ve since built a floodwall.
“If that water gets in the pool and the [regeneration area], we would definitely be closed because stormwater is very dirty,” Crabb said.
So why not just convert it to a chlorine pool? Crabb stresses it’s not that simple.
“There would need to be some significant redesign, and it would be a significant cost to do that,” Crabb said.
Crabb agrees it’s no fun closing for high levels of bacteria, but she fully believes the work they put in greatly reduces the days they are forced to close.
“Every year is different and when we find problems we figure out ways to solve them,” Crabb said.
Webber Natural Swimming Pool will shift to modified hours on Aug. 19 and close for the season after Labor Day.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – A high-speed crash involving a stolen car and a state trooper’s squad car sent the patrol car into a Minneapolis home, leaving several people in the hospital.
How the crash unfolded in south Minneapolis
What we know:
Investigators say the crash happened at the intersection of West 46th Street and Aldrich Avenue South in south Minneapolis, where a stolen vehicle slammed into a state trooper’s squad car at nearly 80 mph. The impact sent the squad car crashing into a home, leaving debris scattered across the yard and causing major damage to the house.
Tom Abresch was inside his home Friday night, just falling asleep, when the squad car came crashing in. “I was just laying right by that second window, and I just laid down, and all sudden, it went boom. My ears just popped. I mean, the compression from the car hitting us, and I thought we were being attacked,” said Abresch.
The crash left the front of the squad car stuck underneath part of the house. Abresch described the aftermath, saying, “It looks like over my whole porch, half the home, is gonna have to be taken down and be rebuilt.”
Police say the trooper had to be extricated from the vehicle and was taken to the hospital, along with passengers from the stolen car. All three people in the suspect’s car suffered serious injuries, as did the trooper.
The moments leading up to the crash
What we know:
Investigators say the incident started around 10:45 p.m. in St. Paul’s Highland Park neighborhood, when a Ramsey County sheriff’s deputy spotted a stolen Hyundai. The deputy tried to stop the driver but called off the pursuit after losing sight of the vehicle.
A state patrol helicopter then tracked the suspect’s car from above. “I looked out the back window, and the first thing that I did see is a helicopter was right above us,” said Abresch.
Police say the driver was going recklessly and didn’t have headlights on. The driver blew through a stop sign at 80 miles an hour, crashing into the trooper’s squad car and sending it into Abresch’s house.
The 19-year-old driver tried to run but was quickly taken into custody. “There’s three people, and one of them had taken off and ran around the back of our building, ran all the way down,” said Abresch.
Minneapolis, MN
Sheriff: Driver of stolen vehicle flees traffic stop in St. Paul, hits State Patrol car in Minneapolis
The driver of a stolen car fled a traffic stop Friday night in St. Paul before crashing into a Minnesota State Patrol car in Minneapolis, according to the Ramsey County sheriff’s office.
A Ramsey County sheriff’s deputy attempted to stop the stolen Hyundai sedan at about 10:30 p.m. in the Highland Park neighborhood of St. Paul. The driver fled and crossed the Ford Parkway Bridge into Minneapolis before the deputy lost sight of the vehicle and ended the pursuit, according to the sheriff’s office.
The suspect was then observed driving recklessly and ran a stop sign at West 46th Street and Aldrich Avenue South at 80 mph. The vehicle collided with a State Patrol squad car, causing significant injuries to the trooper and passengers in the stolen vehicle, the sheriff’s office said.
The 19-year-old suspect was quickly arrested after attempting to flee on foot. The driver has two prior arrests for fleeing police and is being held at the Ramsey County jail, according to the sheriff’s office.
Police say the same vehicle was involved in a pursuit Thursday night in the west metro, during which it reportedly swerved at emergency vehicles but did not hit them.
Police in Minneapolis are investigating after city officials said four people were injured in a shooting at Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Park on Friday night.
According to the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, officers responded to a report from an individual of a suspicious person around 8:38 p.m. The caller said there was a large gathering of young adults in the parking lot of the park, which is located at 4055 Nicollet Ave.
According to city officials, multiple gunshots were fired before the officers arrived at the park.
A 19-year-old woman was taken to the hospital by ambulance with serious injuries, city officials said. Three other people, whose ages have yet to be disclosed, self-transported to the hospital with gunshot-related injuries
No suspects in the shooting have been arrested, officials said.
Park police are working with the Minneapolis Police Department to investigate the incident.
This is a developing story.
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