Good morning and TG it’s Friday.

After nearly a year on the job, Minneapolis community safety commissioner Cedric Alexander is retiring. MPR News reports  a statement Thursday from Mayor Jacob Frey’s office said Alexander will leave the job on Sept. 1. He started last August. In an interview with MPR News, Alexander said he worked to increase community engagement around public safety But he said many of the reforms needed to create a comprehensive system will take more time to develop. He added the U.S. Department of Justice report on Minneapolis police will help guide change. “[It will] create new partnerships, keep that trust going between our public safety officials and our communities. And that takes work and it takes all of us to do it,” Alexander said. “And I think that's the trajectory we're on and now we have a settlement agreement, we have a consent decree, that's all going to be part of helping us to stay on track.” He said there is work to be done with the federal agreement, but that the work shouldn’t rely on one person.

Xcel Energy says a small amount of water containing radioactive tritium has reached the edge of the Mississippi River in Monticello, MPR’s Kirsti Marohn reports. Xcel has been pumping contaminated groundwater since a broken pipe at its Monticello nuclear plant leaked water containing tritium last November. So far, no tritium has been detected in the Mississippi. But Xcel says monitoring systems detected groundwater containing very low levels in a sample about 30 feet from the river. Xcel says it detected about 1,000 picocuries per liter, far below the federal standard for safe drinking water of 20,000 picocuries per liter. Tritium is a mildly radioactive form of hydrogen that occurs naturally in the environment, and also during nuclear power production. State officials have said the leak does not pose a health risk to nearby drinking water supplies. Xcel says it's recovered about three-fourths of the leaked tritium. Most of the remaining contamination remains on the plant site.

Rep. Dan Wolgamott is apologizing for a drunk driving arrest and says he is "committed to doing the work" to ensure it doesn't happen again. MPR News reports Wolgamott, DFL-St. Cloud, said in a statement Thursday that he was attending a weekend wedding when he was arrested on July 7. "I wholeheartedly apologize to my family, my friends, my colleagues, and my constituents, and thank the law enforcement officers who made sure I got home safe," Wolgamott said in the statement. "I take full responsibility for my actions, and I ask for your forgiveness," the statement said. Wolgamott has not been charged and said the Kanabec County Attorney is waiting for the results of a test before deciding on further action. He declined to answer questions from MPR News Thursday. 

Minnesota’s Republican members of Congress say they still want answers about the Feeding Our Future food program scandal.  They sent a letter Thursday with some other congressional leaders to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack following up on questions they posed last September. They’re asking for documents and communications with the Minnesota Department of Education, which was charged with overseeing the food program that was defrauded by an alleged $250,000. “Secretary Vilsack’s woefully inadequate response to our previous inquiry makes it clear that the USDA is uninterested in addressing this fraud. The buck stops here: Minnesotans want answers about how their tax dollars were allowed to be stolen at the expense of kids and families. It’s time for this issue to be addressed with the seriousness it deserves,” Rep. Tom Emmer said in a statement. 

Gov. Tim Walz told MPR’s Dan Kraker that he plans to attend the funeral Saturday of Fargo police officer Jake Wallin, who was killed in a shooting last week.  Two other officers were critically injured and a bystander seriously hurt. A fourth officer shot and killed the assailant. Wallin was also a member of the Minnesota National Guard. "He's a son of Minnesota and North Dakota, our states are one in the same,” Walz said Thursday. “And I think the one thing you see in his father, he talked about the Fargo Police Department and the community, they're wrapping their arms around the family in a way that they wouldn't have thought was possible in a time that's this tragic." Walz made his comments during an event at the Duluth Police Department to promote efforts to recruit more officers. The funeral for Wallin is scheduled for tomorrow morning in Pequot Lakes.