Community

Investigators say Christmas lights likely sparked a blaze that heavily damaged Eagan’s Grace Slavic Church — leaving a hole in the roof, burned gutters and boarded windows while the sanctuary cross remains — and forcing the congregation to relocate Christmas services, with another church offering space and revised schedules. The fire also displaced Baitul Hikmah Academy classes, which shifted to e‑learning and temporary host/interim spaces, as leaders and families (including many Ukrainian immigrants the church has served) cope and a recovery GoFundMe has raised about $3,700.

West St. Paul Police Department has adopted an abandoned eight-month-old black lab found in April at the Thompson Park pavilion and named him Rocky. Officer Isabelle Lalor is training Rocky with Soldier’s Six to serve as a therapy dog on the department’s peer-support team; training is ongoing and a K-9 foundation fundraiser is scheduled for Oct. 5 in Lilydale.