State plans second veterans cemetery near Duluth

Plans are moving forward for a new state veterans' cemetery near Duluth.

Lawmakers this session approved technical changes that will allow state agencies to hammer out a plan for the facility, inside the Jay Cooke State Park.

Supporters expect federal tax dollars to pay most of the costs. The land is in the state Senate district Tony Lourey, D-Kerrick, whose brother Matt was killed in Iraq. Lourey says he visits his brother's grave at Arlington National Cemetery at least once a year.

"And it's incredibly powerful and that experience has really driven home for me what it means to veterans and their families to have such a resource, and to have one locally is very important," Lourey said.

Lourey says 46-thousand veterans live within 75 miles of the proposed site. The state currently runs one veterans' cemetery in Little Falls. There's also a national veterans' cemetery at Fort Snelling in Minneapolis.

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