FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. (FOX 9) – The Minnesota State Fair set another attendance record for Wednesday at the Great Minnesota Get-Together. 

How many people attended on Wednesday?

A total of 145,531 people passed through the gates on Wednesday, Aug. 28, beating the previous record of 144,940 set in 2018, according to the State Fair’s website. 

In 2023, more than 1.8 million people attended the Great Minnesota Get-Together. The record for total attendance was set in 2019 when 2,126,551 people attended the fair. 

So far, the Minnesota State Fair has recorded just over 980,000 people attending the Great Minnesota Get-Together this year, with several days still to go. 

Dig deeper

The fair set back-to-back records to start in 2024, with high attendance on both opening day (138,875 people) and the first Friday (171,233 people). 

On Aug. 26, the state fair had its lowest attended Monday and first Sunday since the 1980s, likely due to a mixture of extreme heat and impending storms. Tuesday rebounded slightly, but attendance was still lower than in 2023. 

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – The University of Minnesota football team opens its season at home against North Carolina on Thursday — a game you can watch on FOX 9. 

READ MORE: Gophers football: 5 Questions entering the 2024 season

How to watch 

Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m., and you can watch the game on FOX 9. 

Before the game, FOX 9 will get you ready for the action with a Gophers Tailgate streaming show live from campus from 4-5 p.m. on FOX9.com and FOX LOCAL. You can also watch it in the player above. Then, tune into FOX 9’s Gopher Pregame show starting at 5 p.m. on FOX 9, as well as streaming on FOX9.com, FOX LOCAL and in the player above. 

READ MORE: Gophers’ Quinn Carroll: ‘The excitement is through the roof’

FOX College Football Pregame is at 6:30 p.m. on FOX 9, before kickoff. 

DETROIT LAKES, Minn. — A Minnesota state senator has pleaded not guilty to burglarizing the home of her estranged stepmother after her father’s death.

Sen. Nicole Mitchell, a Democrat from the St. Paul suburb of Woodbury, was charged in April. She told police at the time that she broke into the home in the northwestern Minnesota town of Detroit Lakes because her stepmother refused to give her items of sentimental value from her late father, including his ashes, according to the felony criminal complaint.

In a joint court filing Tuesday, defense and prosecution attorneys said Mitchell was pleading not guilty, and was asking the court to schedule both a settlement conference and jury trial.

The two sides also agreed that prosecutors won’t be able to argue that Mitchell stole a laptop computer that police seized when they arrested her. Ownership of the laptop had been in dispute. The agreement says that prosecutors can, however, use evidence from the laptop if the case goes to trial.

Mitchell’s arrest roiled the 2024 legislative session, which came to an acrimonious end, and ethics proceedings against her remain on hold pending developments in her criminal case. She denied stealing and rejected Republican calls for her resignation. Gov. Tim Walz and DFL Party Chair Ken Martin also said she should resign, though her attorney said she intends to stay in office as her criminal case proceeds.

Mitchell was removed from her committee assignments and caucus meetings but remained the key vote for Democrats to pass their agenda in the latest legislative session with their one-seat majority, including many last-minute end-of-session bills.

Mitchell was dressed all in black and wearing a black hat when she was arrested, the complaint said, and it quoted her as saying, “I know I did something bad.”

Her attorney has said that her dispute with her stepmother arose out of a “fractured relationship” that was aggravated by age-related issues.

Mitchell’s father died in March 2023 at the age of 72, according to his obituary. He had been married to Mitchell’s stepmother for 40 years, it said.

Mitchell, who has also been a TV meteorologist and a commander with the Air National Guard, was elected in 2022 and is in her first term.