After Minnesota closed within 102-100, Victor Wembanyama, as part of a 16 point fourth quarter masterpiece, captained a 13-8 finish, and San Antonio righted the wrongs of their earlier free throw shooting woes to put away the Wolves 115-108. With Anthony Edwards inserted into the starting lineup for game 3, it was a tale of two first quarters as the Spurs surged to an 18-3 advantage and promptly ceded nearly all of it back to the Wolves in the closing four minutes. Despite the teams being knotted at 51 at the half, San Antonio was able to grab a hold of the lead through most of the second half before Wembanyama’s crunchtime takeover.
Minnesota
Minnesota House candidates vie for 8A seat
DULUTH — The race to fill
former Rep. Liz Olson’s District 8A seat
in the Minnesota House heated up on Tuesday as the candidates answered questions in a debate hosted by the News Tribune and Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce at The Garden in Canal Park.
Both candidates leaned into their backgrounds in public service as evidence of their fitness for the office.
Pete Johnson
has been a firefighter for 23 years, 19 of those in Duluth. He’s been the union officer for the Local 101 firefighters union for the past 16 years. He said his experiences “responding to folks when they’re at their most vulnerable times” is a big driver for his political perspective.
Mark McGrew
is a lifelong Duluthian, born and raised in the Piedmont Heights neighborhood. He retired last spring after 28 years in law enforcement, 24 with the Minnesota State Patrol. He’s also a Navy Reserve veteran. He said he brings experience with “meeting people at difficult times,” and he’s running to “hold the government fiscally responsible” as his top priority.
Steve Kuchera / 2020 file / Duluth Media Group
“The Legislature last session spent $17.5 billion in a matter of five months,” McGrew said. “I think we need to be able to curb spending and bring it down, which will hopefully help with inflation.”
Johnson’s top priorities are to “focus on the core issues tied to housing, education, health care and paying jobs.”
“A lot of the things we get called to are rooted somewhere else. … They’re not something I can solve in a couple of minutes,” Johnson said. “I really feel focusing on those four key pieces will lift everybody out, including those who are in the middle class and folks on the margins.”
Both agreed that they could work to foster bipartisanship based on their experiences. Both served as negotiators for contracts with their public safety organizations and said the skills earned there would help them compromise as representatives. Both candidates were disappointed with the lack of a bonding bill from the last legislative session and said they’d support one in the next session.
Regarding education investment, McGrew stated he supported funding education, though not at the risk of seeing the state going into deficit, but that “we need to bring local control back to the school districts.”
“Let the local school boards handle that money and use it however they feel,” McGrew said.
Johnson agreed with funding education, which he said has been “chronically underfunded for decades.”
“Even with the investments made in the last few years, they’re still underfunded,” Johnson said.
Both candidates agreed on the existence of a housing crisis but cited different causes. Johnson served on the Center City Housing Corp. for nine years.
“It’s more than just units,” he said. “It’s the support that’s tied to those units, such as mental health, physical health support, child care, a controlled door for 24 hours. That has a huge impact on those folks remaining stably housed.”
McGrew said the issue is more closely related to the high cost of homes, high property taxes and over-regulation.
“I think we need to deregulate some of the housing things and move forward from there to let people buy cheaper houses,” McGrew said.
When it comes to population growth or lack thereof, McGrew said the state’s high corporate tax rates and mandates were pushing businesses away.
“If you’re trying to attract business, and you have the highest corporate tax rate, and you have all these mandates on different companies and businesses that want to come here,” McGrew said. “Why would they come to Duluth when they could go to Superior, Wisconsin, across the bridge, and maybe have lower tax rates and lower fees and all these other things?”
Johnson said having a highly trained workforce, access to child care and accessible housing would attract population growth.
“If workers here are highly skilled and motivated, they’ll draw those businesses here, regardless of the tax rates. If we can produce those best workers and keep them here, it’s going to be a huge piece of that,” Johnson said.
When it comes to allowing
copper-nickel mining,
Johnson said the issue was about building trust.
“The folks on the labor side don’t necessarily trust the corporations to take care of their workers and that their conditions will be safe unless they have contracts in place,” Johnson said. “The folks on the clean-water side are the same way in that they want things in place to make sure that it’s done safely and, if not, that there’s money set aside to make that cleanup possible.”
McGrew said he was “absolutely in favor” of copper-nickel mining but also wants it to be “environmentally safe.”
“I was out talking to door knocking, and I ran into somebody who brought up this, and I said, ‘Do you want to do that in Minnesota, where we have regulations, we have OSHA, and probably the highest working standards around?’” McGrew said. “Would you rather have that done in Africa or child workers being used and no regulation? The person said they’d rather see it done here where we can monitor it.”
McGrew said he did not support abortion and that he wished there was a Roe v. Wade standard in Minnesota.
“I think that where we’re at right now is that you have basically abortion … up until the point of birth. And I think that that is on the same level as North Korea and China. And I think we need to draw that back,” McGrew said.
Johnson took issue with McGrew’s statement on late-term abortions.
“The reality is that those late-term abortions make up a very tiny percent of abortions, and often when there is new information found,” Johnson said. “Such as fetal viability, the health of the mother or other issues which delayed getting treatment. I fully support everyone’s right to choose.”
Teri Cadeau is a features reporter for the Duluth News Tribune. Originally from the Iron Range, Cadeau has worked for several community newspapers in the Duluth area, including the Duluth Budgeteer News, Western Weekly, Weekly Observer, Lake County News-Chronicle, and occasionally, the Cloquet Pine Journal. When not working, she’s an avid reader, crafter, dancer, trivia fanatic and cribbage player.
San Antonio, despite its early success, struggled for some time to find sufficient support of Wembanyama (39 points, 15 rebounds, and 5 blocks). Running mates Stephon Castle (13 points, 12 assists, and 4 rebounds) and De’Aaron Fox (17 points and 5 assists) started slowly, but both of them worked through the kinks when it mattered most. Devin Vassell (13 points and 6 rebounds) made just the right plays on both ends. Rookie Carter Bryant (6 points and 2 rebounds) made the most of his first half minutes to help the Spurs stay ever so slightly ahead of the Wolves. Keldon Johnson (11 points) worked through an ineffectual playoffs thus far and had a much-needed burst late in the third quarter. Dylan Harper (8 points and 4 rebounds) figured meaningfully in the closing minutes.
Minnesota’s Edwards (32 points, 14 rebounds, and 6 assists) led the way as expected with Jaden McDaniels (17 points and 7 rebounds) reprising his standout role from the Denver series. Former Sixth Man of the Year Naz Reid (18 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists) had an excellent effort off the bench, while Ayo Dosummu (11 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists) also helped the Wolves nearly pull off the upset.
San Antonio picked up where it left off from Wednesday night showcasing its defensive clamps – Edwards’ free throw was the only Minnesota scoring as they missed their first 11 shots. Wembanyama again set up shop in the paint and scored four early ones and netted 9 of the team’s first 11 points. The Wolves stayed glued to one point until the 5:09 mark when a Gobert tip-in roused the crowd from slumber. The Spurs reached zenith at 18-3. Despite the early San Antonio advantage, both teams shot a combined 9-for-36 (25%) over the first nine minutes, which was a foreboding lurch into Minnesota’s closing run. Gobert generated surprising offense, which emboldened Edwards to seek out his offense and the Wolves closed within 22-23 after one.
Three quick Minnesota field goals threatened to cause the Target Center to ’go crazy,‘ but the Spurs’ veterans – Wembanyama and Fox – stabilized them over several tense possessions. Bryant saw first half action and hit a pair of timely threes. Despite wresting the lead back, San Antonio left plentiful points on the board with its free throw misses. The teams fought and clawed to stay within 1-2 possesions of each other until fireworks from Minnesota and San Antonio resulted in a 51 tie at the half.
The teams put up a flurry of threes during a whirlwind third period. San Antonio remained ahead by a handful after the artillery exchange. The really interesting thing was that different players accounted for each three on both sides. The Spurs pushed their lead to as high as seven until Edwards and Dosummu connected on several quick field goals. Wembanyama, while having his left arm behind held by Gobert, swatted away Edwards’ floater with his right hand, and then the Wolves star held his right side as the center tried to run upcourt to join his tammates. After the pace slowed to a veritable crawl, San Antonio still found itself up seven going to the final 12 minutes.
- This was the second game this series where Randle made hostile contact to Castle, and the Spurs guard was whistled for the foul. Tonight’s call, however, was overturned after review.
- If Gobert continues to stay long stretches on the bench, that may effectively consume any meaningful Kornet minutes.
- My friend said, “remember when Ginobili would get fouled… his hair would fly everywhere? That’s Castle” And all I could reply with was “until 2007.”
- Does the Amazon arrow change directions depending on who’s leading?
- It makes sense why the Spurs tried to sell tickets to people within 150 miles of San Antonio in Round 1. The Philadelphia / New York game very much sounded like a pro-Knicks crowd.
- My three sisters and I ended our respective eulogies for my dad with ‘Go Spurs Go.’
- Sequence of the Game #1: Several minutes in, Wembanyama swatted away Randle’s attempt, sped past other Wolves down the floor, and and converted an and-1 over McDaniels. #wemblock
- Sequence of the Game #2: After a Reid three, Fox slithered down to the other end and got a layup over three Timberwolves.
Wembanyama dunked home successive lob passes from Vassell and Castle for San Antonio’s first four points. Fox deflected a pass on the first Wolves possession. (Wembanyama’s first block looked like a goaltend but we’ll keep that between you and me.) Wembanyama’s turnaround banker made it 11-1. The only negative for the Spurs was getting into the foul bonus in less than five minutes. Johnson’s catch-and-shoot triple made it 14-1. Reid’s three caused Mitch Johnson to burn his late period timeout. Gobert’s second and third buckets kickstarted a 9-0 run late in the stanza. Vassell’s floater salvaged a series of fraught moments. Edwards went on a personal twelve point explosion to draw Minnesota within one.
Another Wembanyama lob provided momentary relief from the Wolves’ onslaught – as Edwards, Reid, and McDaniels connected early on in the second period. Bryant hit a corner three to put San Antonio ahead for mere seconds. Bryant’s next one – a shotclock beating three – put the Spurs back up four. Minnesota again drew San Antonio into the foul bonus halfway through. Right as I was muttering to myself that he was settling for too many threes, Castle’s pull-up jumper in the paint put the Spurs up six. An offensive foul on Reid – who elbowed Kornet in the face – was overturned due to the Spurs’ center holding with his left hand. San Antonio challenged an offensive foul whistled on Castle and it was unfortunately upheld. Reid’s corner three put Minnesota back up. but Castle drew Reid’s third foul shortly after. After Castle swiped it clean from Randle, Fox hit his second straight field goal, but that was matched by a McDaniels three tying the game at 51.
Dosummu replaced Mike Conley in the starting lineup, and San Antonio made some decent stops to start the second half. Threes from Castle and Wembanyama put the Spurs up six. After the Wolves bigs used Wembanyama as a punching bag, the referees finally whistled Randle for an offensive foul on an elbow extension. Vassell threw down a thunderous lefty jam seconds later. Edwards hit two baseline floaters and Dosummi followed with a corner three. Castle and Kornet ran pick and roll action to get the center a runner. Harper took a shot to the head on a loose ball situation and stayed down on the court for minutes, while Castle and McDaniels were assessed technicals. San Antonio got into the foul bonus but continued to put up ‘1-for-2s.’ Johnson paired two freebies with a wing three and the Spurs were relieved to head to the fourth up 86-79.
For the Wolves fan’s perspective, please visit Canis Hoopus.
San Antonio stays in the Twin Cities for Game 4 with Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday night at 6:30 PM CDT on NBC.
Police in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota, are searching for a suspect after an individual was injured in a shooting following an altercation on Friday morning.
Officers responded to the 3300 block of 76th Street around 2:45 a.m. for a report of shots fired and a person who had been hit by gunfire, according to the Inver Grove Heights Police Department. They found the 911 caller, who was struck by a bullet. They were taken to a hospital and is expected to survive, officials said.
Investigators said the suspect was trying to get into the vehicle of the caller. Both individuals shot at each other after a short verbal altercation, according to police.
The suspect, whose description has yet to be disclosed by law enforcement, left the scene on foot.
Police are asking area residents who have video of the shooting or the suspect to email the footage to them.
Anyone who sees the suspect is urged not to approach them and to call 911. According to police, they are considered armed and dangerous.
Can you park in your own driveway with a pickup truck? HOA answers
Can you park in your own driveway with a pickup truck? HOA answers
A bipartisan bill limiting homeowners’ association fees, implementing new transparency and conflict-of-interest rules and establishing a path to dissolve some HOAs passed the Minnesota Senate Wednesday. The bill (SF1750) now heads to Gov. Tim Walz’s desk for final approval.
Homeowners in Minnesota have faced massive charges from their HOAs for questionable construction projects, like new roofs and siding. A 2025 Reformer investigation found that some HOA management companies hired their own subsidiaries to complete expensive construction projects. In at least one case, a homeowner wound up in foreclosure due to hefty assessments.
The bill passed by the Senate — and previously, by the House — would cap HOA fines at $100, with exceptions for repeat violations, health and safety risks, property damage or illegal rentals. It would require board members and property managers to disclose their financial relationships and recuse themselves from decisions from which they could financially benefit.
If signed into law by Walz, it would also require HOAs to make budgets available prior to meetings and to provide copies of contracts to residents upon request.
Multiple homeowners interviewed by the Reformer said that their questions for their HOA were referred to the board’s attorney — and then the resident was charged legal fees for the lawyers’ time.
The bill would bar HOAs from charging residents legal fees for questioning fines or charges unless a formal hearing is held and the fine or assessment is upheld.
The legislation is the product of years of collaboration and negotiations among homeowners, HOA board members, lawmakers and property management companies. In 2024, the Legislature created a working group tasked with proposing reforms to the state’s laws governing HOAs and similar organizations. Lawmakers on the task force held several listening sessions to hear homeowners’ horror stories (and support for HOAs via some dedicated board members).
The recommendations from that group became the foundation of the bill passed Wednesday.
“The reforms in this bill will rein in abusive HOAs by empowering residents with more information, more rights and more protections,” said Sen. Eric Lucero, R-St. Michael, the top Republican on the Senate housing committee and a member of the HOA working group. “This bill is a true bipartisan compromise — in addition to adding consumer protections, nearly every concern raised in good faith was addressed.”
Minnesota Reformer is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
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