Minnesota
NY Liberty vs. Minnesota Lynx preview: A Saturday matinee
Every day is a learning opportunity. And for the New York Liberty, Thursday night will provide one they’ll keep in mind for the future. Teresa Weatherspoon brought her Chicago Sky back into her old stomping grounds, and Chicago outworked the Liberty on the way to handing NY their first loss of the year.
The opponent today has been one of the pleasant surprises of the season so far. The Minnesota Lynx have been pretty excellent to start the year as they try to go on a big run this year. They were able to get Thursday’s game into overtime, but the Connecticut Sun proved to be a bit too much to handle as they beat the Lynx by one point.
Where to follow the game
CBS is the place to be. Brunch and basketball so we getting the party started at 1 PM.
Injuries
All clear for the seafoam.
Diamond Miller left Thursday’s game with a knee injury. She had knee surgery during the off-season, and the team has been working her back into things slowly. Last night, the team announced that she will be out indefinitely after undergoing and MRI. Dorka Juhasz had overseas obligations, but she was activated last night. She’ll be available today.
The game
The Lynx have played a lot of basketball in the past week and change. They went to OT vs. the Sun and the game before that, it took them two overtimes to beat the Seattle Storm. Prior to Thursday’s game, they had a few days off, but the minutes do start to add up after a while. Luckily for them, they’ll be staying home for a while before they return to action on Wednesday vs. the Las Vegas Aces.
Foul trouble made things hard for Jonquel Jones on Thursday as she couldn’t get things going. Without Jones, the Liberty didn’t have their usual rhythm and crispness that they typically do. The rim protection wasn’t where it usually is and everything was off just a hair. When you have a game like Jones did, you always want to get back out there and get back on the good foot. With Juhasz likely on a minutes restriction and rookie big Alissa Pili getting comfortable in the pros, look for the team to place some extra emphasis on getting Jones the ball early and often.
Sabrina Ionescu has been getting downhill more often, and it’s helped keep the Liberty offense going. That increased success at the rim helps against a Lynx team that has kept teams off the three point line. Through the first week and change of the season, the Lynx are first in opponent’s three point attempts and third in percentage. Ionescu’s three point shot hasn’t joined the party yet, so look for her to keep attacking downhill to find those quality shots for herself and her teammates.
On the other side, Kayla McBride will try to match Sab shot for shot. McBride has been in the top 25 in three point attempts in each of the past three seasons and is currently ninth this season. Cheryl Reeve and the coaching staff trust her to find her shot late in close games and to guard players like Ionescu. With Miller out for the foreseeable future, they’ll have to count on her even more to handle shooting guard duties.
Player to watch: Napheesa Collier
It’s always great to watch a player break into the top tier of the league. After finishing fourth in the MVP vote last year, Napheesa Collier is back and picking up where she left off. Phee was named Western Conference Player of the Week, and she’s done everything well for her team. How good has Phee been?
That’ll do. After the game on Thursday, she was asked about a tough foul call and said
Napheesa Collier on the foul called on her at the end of overtime tonight:
“I thought that call at the end of the game was bullshit.”#Lynx #WNBA
— Mitchell Hansen (@M_Hansen13) May 24, 2024
Well alright!
Phee will be matched up with her pal from UConn, Breanna Stewart! It’s hard to see an 18/10/5/4/1 and say it was a C+ game, but that’s what Thursday was for Stew York City. The team missed its fair share of shots at the rim, and when you miss layups, it allows the opponent to go on back-breaking runs. Look for New York to get Stewart those shots at the rim within the flow of the offense so she can keep Minnesota on its heels.
From the Vault
Over in the NBA, the Minnesota Timberwolves are trying to make it to the Finals for the first time in franchise history as they face the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals. It’s been a minute since a Minnesota sports team made it this far in the playoffs. Let’s take a trip back into time and relive some Minnesota glory
More reading: Canis Hoopus, Swish Appeal, The Strickland, The Local W, New York Daily News, New York Post, The Athletic. Fansided, Just Women’s Sports, SI All Knicks, Winsidr, Her Hoop Stats, CBS Sports, and The Next
Minnesota
Minnesota’s fourth marijuana dispensary opens near Red Wing
PRAIRIE ISLAND INDIAN COMMUNITY, Minn. — Minnesota’s fourth marijuana dispensary is now open just about an hour from the Twin Cities.
Island Pezi, which means “grass” in the Dakota language, is on Prairie Island Indian Community land in Welch, owned and operated by the tribal nation.
“Being able to diversify our economy and bring in other revenue sources for our community that relies on these type of businesses to have our government function is very important,” said Blake Johnson, the president of Prairie Island CBH Inc.
Johnson says the money made from the dispensary will go toward healthcare and education for the tribe.
The shop employs about three dozen people.
“We have a couple [tribe] members that have never had a job before,” Johnson said. “This opportunity gives them that, and they’re excited to be employed.”
The business has a quirk, though. The Prairie Island people don’t yet grow or cultivate marijuana on their own.
They’ve entered a unique business arrangement to stock their shelves. They buy flower from the White Earth Nation.
“Long time ago, tribes used to have intertribal agreements to trade goods,” Johnson said. “It helps support each other and be able to move in a way that is good for everybody.”
Minnesota’s Native American tribes have been first into this budding industry, and until the floodgates of competition eventually open, Johnson says they’re excited about being able to immediately supply Minnesotans.
Island Pezi will have a grand opening celebration on Saturday.
Minnesota
After months stuck in Brazil, Minnesota family arrives home with newborn
Lori Tocholke waited nervously near baggage claim carousel 11 Tuesday afternoon at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, her heart “beating a thousand miles per hour.”
On March 12, Tocholke’s newest grandchild, Greyson Leo Phillips, was born, 2 pounds 2.6 ounces and 12 weeks ahead of schedule.
The premature birth was traumatic enough for Tocholke’s daughter, Cheri Phillips. Worse was the fact that Greyson was born while Phillips and her husband, Chris, were vacationing in Brazil.
Because of a technicality, Brazilian authorities refused to issue his birth certificate. Without a birth certificate, Greyson couldn’t get a U.S. passport. And without a U.S. passport, Greyson couldn’t go home to Minnesota.
The family’s travails caused a storm in Brazilian media, held up as an example of how the country’s bureaucracy can tie up daily life for no good reason.
At the airport Tuesday, a half-dozen news cameras encircled the entry to baggage claim.
All Tocholke wanted?
To hold her newest grandchild for the first time, 105 heart-wrenching days after he was born. Tocholke told the other waiting family members she had first dibs.
The plane landed at 1:48 p.m., seven minutes early. Tocholke bided her time as Chris, Cheri and Greyson gathered their things from the plane and made their way from gate G19 to baggage claim.
Suddenly, a stroller burst through the doors, then Cheri, then Chris: a happy, exhausted family, finally home. Applause erupted. Tocholke hugged her daughter, then she got down to the business at hand: That sweet baby boy.
Greyson’s silver-blue eyes peered up at his grandma as she scooped him out of the stroller and cooed. He cried a few times. “Oh, I know!” his grandma soothed. She snuggled him and jiggled him, and he quieted. She held him like a football, then passed him to another family member, who passed him to another, then another.
“Everybody’s here, everybody’s safe, my heart is full,” Tocholke said.
A few feet away, tears and sweat streamed down Chris Phillips’ face and chest, exhausted after three days of travel and months of uncertainty. The family had gone to Brazil to visit Chris’ 8-year-old daughter, who lives with her mom in the Brazilian coastal city of Florianópolis.
“It was an ordeal, and not something we ever expected,” he said. “We went down for 17 days, just to visit my daughter on her birthday. Along this entire process, it seems like every time we made one step forward, it was three steps back.”
During their sojourn in Brazil, the family did interviews with a slew of Brazilian media outlets, focusing on the gaps in Brazilian bureaucracy. Their story resonated. Three days after Minnesota media first published the family’s story, two representatives from the Brazilian cartorio, like a public notary, came to their AirBnb with Greyson’s birth certificate.
“We love Brazil; this wasn’t us hating Brazil,” Chris said. “I go there three times a year. My daughter is half Brazilian. Now my son’s been born in Brazil. I feel part Brazilian. It’s a wonderful place. But what do I hope changes? I hope Brazilian bureaucracy is behind us, but for hundreds of millions of Brazilians, it’s not.”
Before they left the airport for the hour drive to Cambridge — to the new home they closed on remotely from Brazil — Cheri pulled out a bottle and fed Greyson.
“He’s been alive for three and a half months and never been home,” Cheri said.
“We’re home, bud,” Chris said, patting his head. “We’re home.”
Minnesota
Minnesota companies fund election deniers despite vowing not to • Minnesota Reformer
In the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, many leading Minnesota businesses announced they were pausing their political donations to review their giving strategy.
Some went further, vowing not to bankroll political candidates who supported Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
But today, three and a half years later, nearly all of them have resumed giving money to politicians engaging in election denial, according to an analysis by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a nonprofit that investigates government corruption.
Among them were some of Minnesota’s blue-chip mega corporations: UnitedHealth, Target, Best, Buy, 3M, U.S. Bancorp, Ameriprise and Ecolab, which all promised not to donate to members of what CREW calls the “sedition caucus.”
But as of today, they’ve given hundreds of thousands of dollars to politicians who voted against certifying the 2020 election, opposed the establishment of the Jan. 6 committee, or otherwise supported Trump’s attempt to undo the 2020 results.
A number of other Minnesota companies, including CHS, C.H. Robinson, Thrivent and Polaris, never promised to suspend donations and have continued giving money to candidates who sought to undermine the rightful, peaceful transfer of power after the 2020 election.
One of those companies, Moorhead-based American Crystal Sugar, has for years been one of the biggest financial supporters of the sedition caucus. According to CREW’s analysis, they’ve given over $1 million since 2021, the third highest amount in the nation. Among other things, they’re focused on maintaining the federal program that keeps sugar prices high and undergirds their profitability.
Only one current Minnesota lawmaker voted against certifying the 2020 election results: Rep. Michelle Fischbach of the 7th District, who falsely told Fox News shortly after the 2020 election that vote tabulators were “finding votes” when in fact they were counting them.
In a sign of the state Republican Party’s post-Jan. 6 radicalization, she was unable to obtain the party’s endorsement this year and is now facing a primary challenge from a Christian nationalist who says his goal is to “harness God’s power to lead ordinary Americans and their legislators in Washington back towards the Lord.”
CREW said the companies should mind the value of a stable democracy.
“Corporations depend on the stability and laws of a strong democracy in order to do business,” CREW writes. “Taking a stand against lawlessness aligns with the long-term interests of companies benefiting from government protection of intellectual property, contract enforcement and support for American business interests at home and abroad.”
According to their analysis, just one Minnesota company has so far upheld a promise to not give money to election deniers: Golden Valley-based Cheerio maker, General Mills.
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