The City of St. Paul is no stranger to purchasing shop buildings, and the municipality’s collection of such structures may possibly grow following a vote by city leaders earlier this month. Last Monday night, at the tail end of the St. Paul City Council’s first meeting of the month of August, members of the council came out of executive session and voted unanimously to offer Howard County $115,000 for the county-owned building located on the northeast corner of Fifth and Elm streets in St. Paul.

A new business is celebrating a month of operation in the St. Paul area this August. In July, Rock Hard Blessings moved into the old St. Paul Development Corporation office at 602 Howard Avenue after the development corporation moved its offices into the St. Paul Civic Center. “On July 1st, we opened our doors,” said Jessica Murphy, who owns and operates the business with support from her husband, Levi Walz. So far, Murphy said, business had been going “absolutely wonderful,” with awareness largely having been spread by word of mouth. “People are just welcoming,” she said. “We’ve had a lot of people come in, and books are filling up with scheduling and clients coming in for sound therapy.”

CHI Health St. Francis Foundation awarded ten area fire and rescue departments and a stroke education program $44,050 in grant funding on Friday, August 5th at the hospital. The majority of the funds, $41,242, were made possible by the foundation’s annual premier fundraiser– Ticket to Win. The following first responders received grants totaling $23,429 for the purchase of emergency lifesaving equipment and/ or training expenses.