The Metropolitan Council has secured the final share of federal funding needed to complete the METRO Orange Line bus rapid transit project. The 17-mile transitway connecting Minneapolis and Burnsville will provide access to 198,000 jobs and 121,000 residents, including 56,000 jobs outside of downtown Minneapolis. Construction is well under way.

In June, the Council approved four Livable Communities grants to communities for projects in the predevelopment stage. The grants, which total $432,000, will help pay for activities like engaging residents, planning stormwater management systems, and developing concept plans. "It is this seed funding that helps get the projects off the ground," said Nora Slawik, Council chair.

The Council's Environmental Services division now offers its local government wastewater customers an online portal for getting metered flow data and inflow/infiltration program information quickly and easily. A customizable data dashboard allows for metershed data to be plotted with rainfall to see how wet weather events influence flow. The website responds to needs expressed by a recent community task force.

A fleet of electric buses is serving the METRO C Line, Metro Transit's second bus rapid transit line. The line runs from Brooklyn Center, largely on Penn Avenue, to downtown Minneapolis. "I don't know what magic you are using, but the bus seems to just breeze right through," said one rider on opening day on June 8. METRO bus rapid transit service has many of the same amenities as light rail.

When the state's three largest housing authorities opened their waiting lists for applications earlier this month, they knew demand would be high. Metro HRA received 17,000 applications but has only 2,000 spots available on its waiting list for housing vouchers. Applicants will be chosen by lottery for placement on the waiting list.

Large, colorful butterflies may give you a ride to a regional park this summer. Metro Transit has wrapped two 40-foot buses, dubbed Nature Connectors, with a beautiful painting created by Minneapolis muralist Greta McLain.

• The buses are traveling on routes that lead to some of the region's most popular regional parks. 
• Watch a video showing how the buses were wrapped.

Regional parks in the Twin Cities metro area got nearly 60 million visits in 2018, an increase of 2.6% over the previous year and the most of any year on record. Regional parks in Anoka County had the largest numeric gain in visits, while Dakota County had the highest percentage increase, with 14% over 2017. Parks promote vibrant communities and healthy people.

The letter came in 2010, telling residents of Fridley's manufactured home park that the owner planned to sell the land they lived on, turning their world upside down. A week later, another letter. This one from the Northcountry Cooperative Foundation, offering to help residents buy the property - for a whopping $4.3 million. Listen to the story of how residents met the challenge.

Construction work will begin in August on improvements to an aging regional sanitary sewer tunnel under Minnehaha Creek near East Minnehaha Parkway. To preserve the structural integrity of the 1935 infrastructure, crews will clean the tunnel and install a liner to create a new sewer pipe within the existing tunnel. Construction will occur on the north side of East Minnehaha Parkway and extend across Hiawatha Avenue to the roundabout on Minnehaha Avenue.