When a Transitway is in the way. The Minnesota Daily’s Kelly Busche reports: “The University of Minnesota Transitway – connecting East Bank to the St. Paul campus – may be relocated. … The University of Minnesota and the Prospect Park Association have held conversations in support of moving the roadway to allow further development in the neighborhood. … PPA included the relocation in the planning framework that it will submit by the end of the year for the Minneapolis 2040 Plan — the City’s outline for projects for the upcoming years.”

On the growing fentantyl problem. The Pioneer Press’ Christopher Magan reports: “Jason Roberts knows he’s lucky to be alive. … A longtime heroin addict, Roberts overdosed twice on drugs laced with the man-made opioid fentanyl. He’s convinced he’d be dead today if he hadn’t been arrested for aggravated robbery in 2015 and entered an addiction recovery program. … ‘It’s a plague,’ Roberts said of fentanyl, which is 50 times more powerful than other pharmaceutical opioids like morphine and is highly addictive. … ‘It’s going to be death, one way or another. Either your soul or your body will die. It’s going to kill you,’ he said.”

What happens when the clinic leaves town? MPR’s Catharine Richert reports: “This tiny southeast Minnesota town doesn’t have even 1,000 people living in it. But it did have a Mayo Clinic until this fall. … Mayo announced this summer that it would close its LeRoy clinic after key staffers left, though its pharmacy remains open. … That has people like Eileen Evans worried, wondering where they’ll get basic care. The 86-year-old said her closest option is 20 minutes away, a long drive for her. …‘I felt very, very lost. And I still feel lost,’ she said. … This scenario is playing out in towns across the state as Mayo closes or trims service at smaller clinics throughout its Minnesota health care network, leaving some Mayo patients concerned about getting to a doctor and questioning the clinic’s commitment to the people in its service area.”

Looks like someone’s going to be playing devil’s advocate. The Star Tribune’s Liz Sawyer reports: “A Satanic monument commissioned for Belle Plaine’s Veterans Memorial Park never made it across state lines before the city reneged on an agreement allowing its display on public grounds. … The Satanic Temple had sought to install a memorial at a newly sanctioned free-speech zone in the park as a counterpoint to a tribute depicting a soldier kneeling by a fallen comrade’s grave, marked by a cross. … The city approved the Satanic Temple’s memorial — a black cube inscribed with inverted pentagrams and crowned by an upturned helmet — and agreed to help install it this summer. … It was to be the first Satanic monument erected on public property in the nation. But city leaders, responding to dueling religious protests, called off the installation. … The Satanic Temple’s attorney, Martin Flax, argues that the city’s decision violated his client’s First Amendment rights and constitutes a breach of contract. The nonprofit entity seeks $35,000 in damages — the cost of commissioning the piece.”

In other news…

Impressive! “Man creates 4-foot-long replica of U.S. Bank Stadium using 6,400 toothpicks” [Star Tribune]

New apple alert: “The Pazazz Apple” [Heavy Table]

In case you missed this last Friday:

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