Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page B4

B4 METRO STAR TRIBUNE WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2009 (SO) Journalist gives largest gift in UW-River Falls history Willis Miller, who published the Hudson Star-Observer, died last year. He left 1.07 million for the school. I a job with the Hudson Star-Observer, bicycling around town to sell advertising and report the news. To supplement his income, he was a freelance reporter for the Milwaukee Sentinel and sang at funerals and for Western Union's singing telegrams. He was well known for his column, "Along Our Street," which ran for 40 years in the paper.

Miller was elected to the Wisconsin Newspaper Hall of fame in 2004, and a street in Hudson is named for him. Miller, 89, died in St. Paul after having a stroke. Kevin Giles 612-673-4432 versity and its students," said Chancellor Dean Van Galen. The River Falls campus, less than 30 miles from St.

Paul, is the western-most institution in the 26-campus University of Wisconsin system. Forty-six percent of its students come from Minnesota and most of them from the Twin Cities. The university has about 6,000 undergraduate and 500 graduate students. Miller's gift surpasses an estate gift of $1.05 million in 2007 from UW-River Falls alumna Lucile Spriggs. Miller's other bequests included gifts to the Education Foundation of Hudson, Hudson Area Library Foundation, St.

Olaf College, the Wisconsin Historical Society, St. Croix County Historical Society, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Hudson Hospital Health Foundation, Christian Community Home, and the Phipps Center for the Arts. Born in Iowa City on Nov. 28, 1918, and raised in Hudson, Miller's connection to UW-River Falls started in 1939 over summer break from St.

Olaf College in Northfield, where he was a member of the famed choir. He worked for the Norwegian-American Historical Association at the college, and graduated in 1940. After college, Miller secured er, and was well known in the St. Croix Valley region and beyond. Miller's gift will be used to establish endowed scholarships for students in the greater Hudson area, the university said.

His gift and legacy will be honored at a luncheon at UW-River Falls today. "The gift from Mr. Miller's estate is truly historic, not only because it is the most generous gift in UW-River Falls' 135-year history, but because of the impact it will have on our uni By KEVIN GILES kgilesstartribune.com A journalist and historian who became a lifelong friend of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls has left more than $1 million for the university, the largest gift in its history. Willis Harry Miller, who died last November and who took only one summer class at the school in 1939, bequeathed the institution $1.07 million. He is a former publisher of the Hudson, Star-Observ Light-rail running on time Off-sale liquor ordinance altered to welcome Costco UPDATES ALONG THE HIAWATHA LRT LINE Longer trains are being added before Target Field's opening, and Bloomington will get a fourth station.

LIQUOR FROM Bl ry Maglich, owner of MGM Wines and Spirits, located across the street from Burnsville Center. "It's becoming harder and harder for an independent business to compete with the big companies." There are seven liquor stores in Burnsville. The new ordinance would allow that number to grow to 12. MGM figures to be the store affected most by Costco's arrival. "It's an issue that came about due to the negative economy," Maglich said.

"Cities see the level of occupancy of retail space eroding, and they see their tax base shrink. Then a big retailer like Costco comes along and ruffles some feathers." Costco is the fourth-largest general retailer in the nation. Members pay $50 a year to shop at the warehouse for upgrades ger trains and replacing scores of bumpy yellow warning strips dislodged by the annual freeze-thaw cycle. Signals at track crossings are being upgraded to permit trains to run more efficiently in reverse when needed. The agency also is building a new station that had been planned years ago but was dropped because of cost overruns.

The new stop, at American Boulevard and 34th Avenue, will be the fourth station on the line in Bloomington. The total cost of the expansion projects is about $13.5 million. Extending the platforms costs $9.3 million, while the new American Boulevard station is $2.2 million, Abel said. Most of that money comes from federal coffers, with additional funding from the Metropolitan Council, Hennepin County and Bloomington. Questions from board members centered on the artwork for the expanded stations.

Abel said that it will mostly extend and duplicate what's already in place, but some commissioners were disappointed to learn that the original artists were from outside the area. With all the local art communities, Mike Opat said, it seems "ridiculous" to look outside the Twin Cities for people to decorate the stations. Mark Stenglein suggested that the county seek local artists for The construction project, which began in April and is slated to be finished by December, includes building a new station and extending platforms to handle longer trains. 0 Station extension New station 1 Station New American Boulevard station: Crews are building a new station at American Boulevard in Bloomington PLATFORM MAINTENANCE PROJECT CLOSURES Cedar-Riverside Station will close from 9 a.m. on Friday through 3:30 a.m.

on Monday. Please exit trains at Franklin Avenue Station and walk to Cedar-Riverside Station. Abel said. Work on the stations began in April. Light-rail service has been interrupted periodically since then because of construction, and there may be one more such shutdown before the job is finished, she said.

The station at Cedar-Riverside will be closed over the weekend for platform work. Kevin Duchschere 612-673-4455 -Warehouse DistrictHennepin Av. Nicollet Mall I Government Plaza Downtown East Metrodome t-Cedar-Riverside Franklin Av. (94) Lake St.Midtown 12 mile z-. a aotl -46th St.

50th Minnehaha Pari tkV-9 VA Medical- Center Ft. Snelling 'V. Int'l Airport 1 9 Lindbergh 62 Humphrey Terminal Terminal Bloomington Central 0- American Blvd. -28thAv. r1 Mall of America Source: Metro Transit Star Tribune the proposed southwest light-rail line, and Peter McLaughlin said that most of the artists selected for the Central Corridor line are local.

When the Hiawatha line opened in 2004, seven of the then-17 stations were built long enough to handle three-car trains. With all stations now being readied to accommodate them, new trains will be purchased for use by 2012, By KEVIN DUCHSCHERE kduchscherestartribune.com Construction to equip all of the Hiawatha light-rail stations to handle longer trains as well as build another station in Bloomington is ahead of schedule and should be finished by the end of the year, Hennepin County Board members learned Tuesday. That means that trains with three articulated cars, rather than just two, will be on the tracks and pulling into the new ballpark station by the time the Twins inaugurate Target Field in April, Metro Transit engineer MarySue Abel told the board. Why the need for longer trains? Because the five-year-old light-rail line, which connects downtown Minneapolis with the airport and the Mall of America, has become a hugely popular transit option. Last year the line topped 10 million rides, 12 percent more than in 2007.

An average of 37,000 commuters rode the trains daily during weekday rush hours. "The success of the line has really proven that we need to accommodate more ridership," Abel said. So Metro Transit, using funding from federal and local sources, is lengthening the platforms at nine stations, adapting two downtown stations for the lon south STARTRIBUNE.COMLOCAL File photo Willis Miller's connection to the University of Wisconsin-River Falls started in 1939 when he took one summer class there. food, clothing, home goods, beer and wine. It operates stores in Eden Prairie, Maple Grove, St.

Louis Park and Coon Rapids and has identified the south metro as its next Minnesota target area. Burnsville is the logical destination largely because Lakeville, Apple Valley and Savage are served exclusively by city-operated liquor stores. Liquor stores outside the newly created business district will have to adhere to the policy of being a standalone building. The new ordinance changes the minimum distance between liquor stores from 1 mile to three-quarters of a mile. The possibility exists that the five remaining liquor store "slots" could be filled within the new business district, changing the face of the County Road 42 retail strip.

Dean Spiros 952-882-9283 HENN.CO. Mnir- 11 CARVER CO. DAKOTA SCOTT CO. CO. LE SUEUR rice CO.

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