MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Gophers are expected to hire Colorado State’s Niko Medved as their next men’s basketball coach, according to multiple reports. The official announcement is expected on Monday.

Minnesota held off on finalizing the hire until after Colorado State’s NCAA tournament run came to an end. The No. 12-seeded Rams were narrowly eliminated in the second round Sunday night, falling 72-71 to No. 4 Maryland by a buzzer-beater.

Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle had targeted Medved early in the search after firing Ben Johnson, the Star Tribune reported. Johnson finished 15-17 in his fourth season at Minnesota.

“There’s no doubt we need somebody who embraces Minnesota,” Coyle said after Johnson’s firing.

“We need somebody who’s going to generate excitement. At the end of the day, I’m a firm believer: When you’re winning games, people want to be a part of that.”

Medved, 51, is a Minnesota native and Roseville High School alum who also graduated from the University of Minnesota. He began his coaching journey as a student manager under Clem Haskins at Minnesota and later served as associate head coach at Macalester in the late 90s.

He compiled a 143-85 record over seven seasons at Colorado State.

Medved guided the Rams to the NCAA tournament in three of the past four seasons, each time reaching the 25-win mark, and made history by delivering the program’s first consecutive NCAA tournament victories.

Reporting from the Associated Press was used in this story.

The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport will be buying more than $62 million in snow removal equipment to modernize its fleet, officials said.

The Metropolitan Airports Commission will make its single biggest purchase of snow removal equipment when it buys 58 snow removal vehicles to arrive over the next three years beginning in the fall.

The new equipment, which is more up to date, will improve efficiency during the winter at the airport, which is the 18th busiest airport in the country, said MAC in a press release. The airport served 37.2 million passengers and more than 342,000 aircraft operations in 2024.

“We have some of the best field crews in the industry when it comes to maintaining a safe environment during extreme weather events, and their work supports the confidence of our airlines, passengers and other users,” said Joe Harris, MAC vice president of management and operations.

MAC said it anticipates a drop in operation, maintenance and repair costs from having the newer equipment.

The airport receives an average of 55 inches of snow annually.

The plan calls for the commission to purchase 11 runway snow blowers, six runway brooms, 10 liquid deicers,  eight chemical and plow combination trucks and 23 multifunction (runway plow and broom combination) vehicles.

The average age of the airport’s current snow removal fleet is more than 16 years old. By 2027, all vehicles in the fleet will be 4 years old or newer.

Originally Published: March 23, 2025 at 11:05 PM CDT

If a picture is worth a thousand words, Allyssa Woodford Hughes has done a lot of listening.

She’s the mind behind Locket Sisters, a jewelry company based out of north Minneapolis.

“We’ve made thousands and thousands and thousands of lockets,” she said.

It all started as a solution to a problem. Allyssa’s sister Amy — a traveling model at the time — wanted to keep home close. She wanted a locket but couldn’t find a company that both had beautiful necklaces — and did the work of sizing and placing the photo in the pendant. So, the sisters started the small business the kitchen table of their childhood home.

“I think when you can touch and feel it, it’s different than when it’s just a digital photo on your phone,” Allyssa said. “Whatever the photo is, there’s something about holding it or keeping it close to your heart or carrying it with you wherever you go. That makes the experience you had in that image come alive.”

Since the start of Locket Sisters, Amy has left to pursue other passions. Allyssa and her team make about 40 to 50 lockets a week during the slow season, but nearly double the count when Christmas and Mother’s Day roll around.

“We have a spot in the ordering online where you can tell us about the photo,” Allyssa said. “And the people do, they tell us so much.”

Each locket made holds a memory, a moment or milestone — some heartbreaking, others inspiring.

“We see the spectrum of humanity in people’s orders,” Allyssa said. “So, anything from really devastating loss of your somebody’s child, somebody’s partner, their parents, their friends, to celebration like a wedding photo, or a birthday, or somebody’s graduating, or they’re taking off with a Peace Corps, and they want to carry their parents — want them to carry a piece of home with them. And then everything in between, too.”

Allyssa and her team get to facilitate that connection, much like the vintage piece itself, that never goes out of style.

“A photo could pop up and I would still know the story,” Allyssa said. “It just puts a lot of meaning into the work. In a way that’s important to me.”

Most lockets ship four-to-seven days from its order date. Locket Sisters also sells permanent jewelry and resin earrings.