Minnesota
This Northern Minnesota town is a gemstone hunter’s dream
MOOSE LAKE, Minn. — Fall is hunting season in Minnesota, but folks walking near the Moose Lake Airport aren’t looking for pheasants or deer — they’re hunting for a gemstone.
“There’s a pretty nice one. Got some nice lines in it,” said John, a local agate hunter.
It’s a hobby that’s been unearthed in Moose Lake, also known as the Agate Capital of the World.
“It’s a big deal right here in this area,” said Michaela Anderson of the Moose Lake Agate and Geological Center. “If you want to find a good agate, I would say this is generally the area I would suggest going to look for one.
For some people, it’s like finding a piece of gold. Some of that “gold” ends up at the Moose Lake Agate and Geological Center.
Hundreds of thousands of years ago, a glacier created these stones — the silica-rich water helped to give them wavy and colorful lines.
“The glacier spread them literally from what would be Duluth to Cloquet, Barnum, Moose Lake, Hinckley and such. I have found a Lake Superior agate in Hannibal, Missouri,” said Roger Biebl, Carlton County Gem and Mineral Club.
Beibl got hooked on agate hunting when he was a kid.
“This is not polished. This is exactly how I found it at 5 years old. I’m 68 now so I’ve kept this for 63 years,” said Beibl while holding up the first agate he ever found. “This actually led me to become a geologist.”
Spotting these stones takes a trained eye. Sun helps, but so does rain. They become glass-like when touched by raindrops. Gravel pits and gravel roads around Moose Lake are agate-picking hot spots.
“Along the dirt roads now. It used to be you would never see anybody. Now, after a rain, you might see eight or 10 cars. It’s really become popular,” said Beibl.
Agates are collectors’ items that also hold a lot of value. The bigger and more colorful they are, the more they’re worth. Especially when it comes to eye agates, which can be eye-catching.
The town has embraced the stones so much that every summer they have Agate Days, also known as the largest rock show in Minnesota, with over 100 vendors. People show up to buy, trade, polish and cut agates. They also have an agate stampede where they dump hundreds of gemstones in downtown Moose Lake, and let people go hunting for them.
“It is insanity,” said Beibl. “We are putting 600 pounds in there. That’s about $3,000 worth.”
Year-round First National Bank in Moose Lake flaunts a more than 100-pound agate in their entryway.
“This is just eye-catching and I think that’s the total thing about agates is just how beautiful they are,” said Beibl.
Many vendors at Agate Days turn the gemstones into jewelry, belt buckles, bolo ties and even clocks. Next year’s festival will be held July 19 and 20 in Moose Lake.
Minnesota
Minnesota investigators say child care centers captured in viral video were operating as expected
Minnesota
Game Recap: Kings 5, Wild 4 (S/O) | Minnesota Wild
Matt Boldy scored late in the third to tie it and ultimately send the game to overtime, helping the Wild (25-10-8) extend their point streak to six games (3-0-3). Brock Faber had a goal and an assist, Jake Middleton and Joel Eriksson Ek also scored, and Jesper Wallstedt made 34 saves.
It was the second game of a back-to-back for Minnesota, which is coming off a 5-2 win at the Anaheim Ducks on Friday. The Wild and Kings will play again in Los Angeles on Monday.
“It was far from perfect of a game from us,” Faber said. “I thought we could have played better. With that quick turnaround, we’ll take the point. Now we need two in the next.”
Kempe put the Kings up 1-0 at 6:08 of the first period, scoring on a wrist shot from close range off Anze Kopitar’s cross-slot pass from below the goal line.
Middleton tied it up 1-1 at 8:28, getting his first goal of the season in 36 games on a snap shot from the left circle set up by Mats Zuccarello.
“I think he thought I was Kirill (Kaprizov) in the slot there, so it was nice to get one,” Middleton joked. “I normally have a few goals before I take 35 games off from scoring, so this one was getting a little stressful but we got it out of the way.”
Perry gave Los Angeles a 2-1 lead at 16:57 of the second period when Byfield’s shot struck him in the wrist and redirected in for the power-play goal.
Eriksson Ek tied it 2-2 at 18:23 on the power play, taking Quinn Hughes’ stretch pass at the offensive blue line for a short breakaway, fending off defenseman Joel Edmundson and scoring on a wrist shot from the left circle.
Byfield put Los Angeles back in front 3-2 at 4:54 of the third period. He shot the puck caroming off the boards back into the crease, where Wallstedt lost it in his skates and it was eventually knocked in by a Wild stick during the ensuing scramble in front.
“Shouldn’t be, that was terrible,” Byfield joked when asked if he knew it was his goal. “No, it’s good. I think it’s two now that were liked that, so I’ll take them how they come.”
Minnesota
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on the defensive as fraud allegations mount after viral video uncovered Somali aid scheme
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz pushed back against the ever-growing fraud allegations levied against him in the disastrous aftermath of a viral video where an independent journalist cracked open a crucial part of the alleged Somali aid scheme.
A spokesperson for Walz, a Democrat who frequently provokes President Trump’s ire, addressed a bombshell video posted by conservative YouTuber Nick Shirley.
“The governor has worked for years to crack down on fraud and ask the state legislature for more authority to take aggressive action. He has strengthened oversight — including launching investigations into these specific facilities, one of which was already closed,” the spokesperson told Fox News.
The spokesperson added that Walz has “hired an outside firm to audit payments to high-risk programs, shut down the Housing Stabilization Services program entirely, announced a new statewide program integrity director, and supported criminal prosecutions.”
In the 43-minute video published on Friday, Shirley and a Minnesotan named David travel around Minneapolis and visit multiple childcare and learning centers allegedly owned by Somali immigrants.
Many were either shuttered entirely, despite signage indicating they were open, or helmed by staff who refused to participate in the video.
One of the buildings they visited displayed a misspelled sign reading “Quality Learing Center.” The ‘learning’ center is supposed to account for at least 99 children and funneled roughly $4 million in state funds, according to the video.
Shirley appeared on Fox News’ “The Big Weekend Show” on Sunday evening and boasted about his findings. He joked that the alleged scheme was “so obvious” that a “kindergartener could figure out there is fraud going on.”
“Fraud is fraud, and we work too hard simply just to be paying taxes and enabling fraud to be happening,” Shirley said.
“There better be change. People are demanding it. The investigation have been launched just from that video alone. So there better be change, like I said we work way too hard to be paying taxes and not knowing where our money’s going,” he added.
Many officials have echoed Shirley’s calls for change, with FBI Director Kash Patel even announcing that the agency surged extra personnel to investigate the resources doled out to Minnesota. He said this is one of the first steps in a wide-reaching effort to “dismantle large-scale fraud schemes exploiting federal programs.”
Federal investigators say half of the $18 billion granted to Minnesota since 2018 could have been stolen by fraudulent schemes — amounting to up to $9 billion in theft.
As of Saturday evening, 86 people have been charged in relation to these fraud scams, with 59 convicted so far.
Most of those accused of fraud come from Minnesota’s Somali community.
Shirley’s mega-viral video cracked 100 million views Sunday night.
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