Efforts to combat a wildfire in northern Crow Wing County are beginning to wind down as officials try to pinpoint what caused the massive blaze that burned more than 1,600 acres.

On Tuesday, fire crews continued working to put out remaining hot spots, and residents who live in the evacuation zone were able to return to their homes.

Officials with the Minnesota Incident Command System team said the Flanders fire was 95 percent contained as of Tuesday night, up from 60 percent earlier in the day — a positive development that Crow Wing County Sheriff Eric Klang had anticipated.

“There’s absolutely no fire,” Klang said Tuesday morning from the command center in Crosslake. “There’s smoke in some stumps and stuff like that that are kind of just smoldering, but for the most part it looks good. I’ve even seen some green growth popping through that blackness.”

He said the Incident Management Team is preparing to transfer firefighting duties back to local authorities.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is leading the investigation into what caused the Flanders Fire, which started Saturday morning and quickly erupted due to dry, windy conditions.

The DNR said on Tuesday that it has located the origin of the fire near the north shore of Flanders Lake in Mission Township, southeast of Crosslake.

The agency said it has identified people of interest in connection with the fire. They could face criminal charges.

Investigators are asking people who live in the area and have trail cameras, doorbell cameras or other information to contact the DNR.

Klang said he believes the source may have been a campfire started near the lake, either Saturday or the night before.

"It looks to me that they probably couldn't be on the lake because it was too windy, so they kind of moved into the woods to get away from that wind,” Klang said. “And then at some point, that started.”

The fire didn't destroy any homes, but a few sustained damage. It did burn some secondary buildings, such as garden sheds.

It tore through acres of forest, some owned by Crow Wing County or the state of Minnesota. Rows of charred trees and blackened ground are visible from County Road 11.

At one spot deep in the woods, some people had been camping when the fire broke out. They apparently left in a hurry, abandoning camping gear and an all-terrain vehicle.

“They didn’t have time to take anything, because that fire was moving that fast with that amount of intensity,” Klang said.

Homeowners return

Property owners in the evacuation zones were officially allowed to return to their homes on Tuesday, although many had already gone back.

Larry Roberts has owned a cattle ranch in Crosby for nearly 40 years. On Saturday, he was planting corn up the road from the ranch when he smelled something burning, then heard fire trucks.

"I was worried,” Roberts said. “You don’t know what's going on or how bad it is. All you see was smoke and flames."

Firefighters told Roberts and his partner, Linda Hill, to leave their home. They drove down the road to watch the fire from a safe distance.

The fire roared right up to the edge of their driveway, close enough to melt the siding on the garage.

Fire crews sprayed the house to keep it from burning. It survived, along with his herd of 75 cattle.

With the surrounding woods now blackened, Roberts’ farm looks much different.

"That's the hardest part,” he said. “You can rebuild a house, but you can't put trees back."

Melanie Simonson had to flee her home on Loon Lake in Mission Township on Saturday, as the fire grew closer. She was relieved when her partner, Ty Nyberg, called her on Sunday to tell her the house was still standing.

“I didn’t know what to expect. I was expecting the worst,” Simonson said.

Nyberg told her the fire “didn’t touch a thing of ours.” Although the surrounding woods were burned, the house, garden and nearby fuel tank were undamaged. Simonson can’t believe they were so fortunate.

“I started to cry so hard,” she said.

Minneapolis police say two suspects are in custody in connection with an attempted auto theft that turned deadly.

It happened last Friday afternoon on 43rd Avenue South, near East 54th Street. Police said 38-year-old Amos Ferrier confronted two people who were trying to steal his vehicle.

“The suspects abandoned the attempted theft and ran to the vehicle they had arrived in,” Minneapolis police said in a news release. “As the suspects attempted to flee, the victim was either struck by the suspects’ vehicle or jumped onto the hood. The suspects continued driving evasively causing the victim to be thrown from the hood of the vehicle and sustain a serious head injury.”

The suspects fled. Ferrier died from his injuries at a hospital on Sunday.

Authorities announced Tuesday night that two women — ages 18 and 19 — were arrested in St. Paul for alleged involvement in the incident. Police did not provide further details. Charges are pending.

“The loss suffered by the family and loved ones of Amos Ferrier in this horrific incident cannot be undone,” Police Chief Brian O’Hara said in a news release. “But the apprehension of those believed to be responsible brings hope that justice will be achieved. I am grateful for the coordinated efforts of investigators and community members that led to these arrests.”

Ferrier was a veteran, and he was internship director at the Minneapolis nonprofit Every Third Saturday, which helps vets find new purpose after their military service.

The nonprofit operates Rick’s Coffee Bar, which employs veterans and serves as a gathering place for veterans — and the surrounding community — not far from the Minneapolis VA.

The coffee bar is at the corner where Ferrier was injured on Friday. There’s now a memorial along the street, with American and American Legion flags.

“He was decorated for bravery due to actions he took while serving as an army medic in Afghanistan and was credited with saving multiple lives. During his time at ETS, he impacted all of our lives with his humor, infectious laugh, and abundance of knowledge,” the nonprofit posted on its Facebook page. “Amos was the kind of person you always wanted to see and have a chat with. He will leave a hole in both his biological family and his ETS family that can never be filled.”

The parents of the child who brought what is believed to be THC-laced candy to a Moorhead middle school have been arrested following a search warrant, according to a statement from the department.

Twelve students at a Moorhead middle school got sick Monday after eating the candy. The Moorhead Police Department said in a statement that two of the students from Horizon Middle School were sent to a medical facility and the rest were sent home.

A search warrant executed Wednesday morning led to the arrest of the parents

“Investigators recovered prohibited amounts of suspected THC products in the form of flower, cartridges, and wax, along with psychedelic mushrooms and large amounts of cash,” the department said.

The parents were each charged with a first-degree felony and have been taken to Clay County Jail, and multiple juveniles residing in the home have been referred to Clay County Social Services.

A police spokesperson told MPR News Tuesday that officers believe the candy contained THC, the main compound in cannabis that gets people high, because of the students' reactions when observed by officers and medical personnel.

The department said in an earlier statement that the students involved were not cooperating with investigators. In a press conference Wednesday morning, Police Chief Chris Helmick said that changed.

“I think, initially, what happened was kids were maybe afraid to talk, or, you know, the common occurrence with middle-aged kids is they don't want to be a narc,” he said. “But over time, with the parents' help, we were able to get some more information from those kids to help further the investigation.”

Jessica Tellinghuisen’s niece was one of the students that consumed the candy. She said her niece had no idea that the candy had THC in it.

“Her friend just had came up and said, 'Do you want some candy?’ It was like a sour strip, and she took it.” she said. “She had took a bite off it and it didn't taste like candy, so she threw it away. And before she got to class, she got really dizzy and didn't feel good, thought she was gonna throw up.”

She told MPR News that her niece immediately cooperated with officials and told them who she got the candy from but is still suspended from school until Friday.

“I'm really pissed off,” Tellinghuisen said. “It is not their fault, I mean, they took a piece of candy from a friend. If my friend asked me, ‘Do you want a piece of candy,’ I would probably take it, because I trust my friend.”

She said she’s concerned about whether her niece’s suspension will hurt her ability to continue playing sports. Moorhead Area Public Schools declined to comment, citing student privacy.

Police Chief Helmick urged parents to remind their children about the importance of not consuming unknown substances.

“This is a really unfortunate situation,” he said in a statement. “As a parent with children in the (Moorhead Area Public Schools) system, I understand and relate to the concerns being raised within our community. We will continue to work with Moorhead Area Public Schools as we investigate the incident and determine how we can prevent something like this from happening again.”

Late last year, a student at the same school was arrested for allegedly bringing 1,500 fentanyl pills to school.

Note: The Moorhead Police Department initially said, “Approximately 10 students ate the candy.” The department updated that number to 12 on Wednesday morning.

County workers who administer federal safety net programs such as SNAP and Medicaid are looking forward to a slightly easier work load in the coming months, now that the Minnesota legislature has allocated $90 million to upgrade the outdated technology they use.

State lawmakers struck a budget deal that includes the funding needed to overhaul Minnesota’s social services computer systems that some say are from the “Oregon Trail era.” For those who don’t remember when that game was popular, the MAXIS system that counties use was new at about the time the Minnesota Twins last won the World Series. That was 35 years ago.

The package also includes $15 million to improve technology designed to help state agencies detect fraud in social services programs. The technology funding bill passed during the flurry of action during the Minnesota legislature’s final hours last weekend, receiving broad bipartisan support in both chambers. Gov. Tim Walz is expected to soon sign the bill.

County workers said they’re both relieved and pleased with the deal that was reached.

Emily Mumford, a human services financial supervisor for Blue Earth County, said she hopes that the technology upgrades will make administering benefits more streamlined and efficient.

“I think there’s a lot of opportunity from where we’re at now to where we could go in terms of technology,” she said. “Our partners at the state and lawmakers have done a good job listening to what counties are saying and what we need.”

Mulford walked MPR News through the tedious and time-consuming process of entering information to determine if someone qualifies for Medicaid and SNAP food assistance benefits and meets new work requirements imposed by the “One Big Beautiful Bill” act Congressional Republicans passed and President Trump signed into law last summer.

“What I'm doing is updating what someone's job information is,” Mulford said as she painstakingly tapped on her keyboard. “So this would be a place where we record how much they make, how often they get paid, any information that's needed to determine eligibility.”

Mumford showed us how she must mind-numbingly enter and reenter the same data several times into different fields in the antiquated MAXIS system.

“They haven't been able to get this system updated, so every time a worker has to do that, they have to go through an extra set of manual steps to make sure the eligibility is correct. That makes more room for error because the staff have to remember that there's a set of extra steps.”

Employees must double- and triple-check everything they enter; all that extra time laboring over a keyboard and computer screen costs taxpayers more money.

"It's frustrating for workers, it's time-consuming for workers," said State Rep. Paul Torkelson, R-Hanska, as he advocated in committee for passage of the IT bill last weekend. "And it means that it's hard to keep employees in place. What young person would like to sit down in front of a green screen and watch the wheel of death for a while before they can even enter an address the first time? And in many of these applications, they have to enter the same address three or four times."

The bill lawmakers ultimately passed also establishes an ongoing technology fund for counties and tribes so they don’t have to wait decades for the state to appropriate more dollars to make future upgrades. And the legislation will establish the Human Services Modernization Advisory Council and a legislative commission to lead statewide technology revamps.

Julie Ring, executive director of the Association of Minnesota Counties, said that while the funding is welcome, the effort to modernize the technology counties use will take some time.

“Even the fastest short-term stuff, we’re still talking [about] in the scheme of a couple years,” Ring said. “There are some things that we think can be fixed in the system today quickly, but a lot of it is going to take planning.”

Many counties around the state struggled with increased workloads navigating the outdated systems, as the federal government shifted more of the administrative burden onto states and counties while, at the same time, slashing funding for the programs.

Counties said it took more employees and more time to comply with new requirements for safety net programs, so the need to update the antiquated technology was urgent. Some raised concerns about needing to raise property tax rates to cover the increased administrative costs or cut services, such as reducing how often they plow snow and cutting public library hours.

However, Ring said there are lessons to be learned about investing in the infrastructure that helps administer benefits to the residents who rely on them.

“We have to think about how all of us, together — federal, state and local — can be delivering the best services the most efficiently to Minnesotans,” she said. “When there are changes, the ripple effect through all the levels of government and all the workers who touch those things is complicated and messy and something that we struggle to figure out the best way to make policy around.”

MPR politics fellow Cait Kelley contributed reporting for this story.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey announced Wednesday that he’s selected Reginald Freeman to be the city’s next fire chief.

Freeman holds a PhD in emergency and protective services and has previously led fire departments in Oakland, California, and Hartford, Connecticut.

In his first public appearance as the official fire chief nominee, Freeman talked about why he wants to lead the Minneapolis Fire Department.

"Minneapolis is a nationally recognized city and the opportunity to serve as its next fire chief is both professionally meaningful and personally motivating for me,” he said.

Frey touted Freeman’s decades of experience and his leadership approach.

“But what truly sets Reggie Freeman apart is his commitment to people, his mentoring of firefighters, his understanding of the very difficult job that they do day in, day out, and making sure that those incredible public servants are able to get home safely to their families,” he said.

The nomination will head to the City Council for approval. Frey said he expects Freeman’s nomination will receive a public hearing in July. If approved, Freeman will replace former chief Bryan Tyner, who retired last year.

In a studio workshop inside the Northrup King Building in Minneapolis, Maria Bartholdi adjusts microphones and cameras while her cohost Meghan Wolff climbs up on the bright colored table to adjust the lighting. Wolff uses a tried-and-true method: duct tape and cardboard.

When you’re running a podcast and YouTube channel, you use what you have to make it work.

While their guests for the night chat about the latest cards and games they plan to play, Bartholdi and Wolff bounce between lights, cameras and the set to prep for their game night, which will eventually be shown to thousands of fans.

The pair are the cohosts for a show called “Good Luck High Five,” a podcast focused on the popular and complicated card game: Magic: The Gathering.

The podcast — where the hosts talk about the various facets and news of the game — has over 13,000 listens per month. And their new “Commander Arcade” YouTube show — where the two invite guests to play a game with them — averages nearly 32,000 views a month on YouTube.

Through their work on the podcast, the two have also become a large influence in expanding the hobby’s reach beyond the white-male demographic that the game is known for, encouraging women and femme-presenting players to shuffle their best decks for complex strategy competitions at the national level.

Friendship, laughs and a love of a game

The friendship preceded the podcast, when Wolff and Bartholdi met at a comedy improv show audition.

“I was like ‘I’m going to make this person my friend,’” Wolff said. The two even set up a shared Google document they used to secretly chat while at work.

They also shared a love of games, and a mutual friend at a board game night showed Wolff and Bartholdi “the best game.”

“He did phrase it like that,” Wolff said.

“It turned out it was Magic: The Gathering. And sure enough, we became immediately addicted to it,” Bartholdi said. “We played on the floor of various parties, ignoring everybody else in the room, just playing Magic. The bug had bit us hard.”

The game has several different formats that can be played by two or four players, but they tend to use 60- or 100-card decks with cards featuring creatures, sorceries and enchantments. Players take turns trying to whittle down their opponent’s health points to zero and be the last player standing.

Each card can have different effects, and players build their cards to craft different strategies. Bartholdi also said the five colors that are a pinnacle of the game design —– white, blue, black, red and green —– have various themes underlining their cards, allowing players to express their identity.

“Like black is all about ambition and control, and blue is about using your intellect to outsmart your opponents, and green is about smashing face with big monsters,” Bartholdi said. “So you can kind of craft a deck that feels in line with your personal identity, which is also something I don't think you can get in any other game that exists.”

The two launched the podcast soon after, first under a different name — Magic the Amateuring — before rebranding as Good Luck High Five. Bartholdi had a background in media production, so they set up microphones on a kitchen table.

While there were other podcasts focused on the game, Wolff and Batholdi saw an opening with a show focused on new players hosted by women and trained with a comedy background.

“Aside from being an all-female podcast, and my memory is not perfect here, but maybe the first all-female Magic podcast, they brought a level of professionalism to the craft that really leveled up everyone around them,” Blake Rasmussen, the director of communications for Magic: The Gathering, said.

“The thing I always appreciate about them is they are very focused on newer players. That's not to say they don't do content for experienced players, but they always do content with the newer player in mind. And I don't think that's as common in the community as it maybe should be.”

Thirteen years and nearing 700 episodes, plus nearly 50 YouTube videos of their new show “Commander Arcade,” the two have created a media company based on the 32-year-old trading card game. They also added a third host on the team, Tyler Mills.

And there are few other shows that can claim the same staying power.

“Many Magic podcasts have come and gone over the years. I feel like there's only one which has been consistently running longer than we have,” Bartholdi said.

The ‘sigh’ that opened doors

Ten years ago, Wolff wrote an article about the challenges of being accepted into the hobby’s community, based on both her and Bartholdi’s observations.

“I wrote an article for a Magic website that was like ‘hey, there’s not a lot of women playing Magic. And here are some experiences that we’re having. It boils down to, people don’t treat you well. So hey, consider treating women better when they’re playing Magic: The Gathering in these spaces,’” Wolff said. “It… didn’t go over great.”

“This article lit a match, and then we threw gasoline on that match by recording a podcast episode about it as well,” Bartholdi said, “which became our most listened to episode of all time.”

It also caused Wizards of the Coast, the company that owns Magic, to pay attention. The company reached out to the pair, asking for advice.

“We had a meeting with them, and we said, ‘Well, you can hire women to be in your Magic event coverage.’ And they're like, who?”

They offered a few names to Wizards, women who made content or had played competitively. At first, they didn’t offer their own names.

“There's no reason why we didn't put our own names on it, except that sometimes, when you're socialized as a woman, you don't put yourself out there like that,” Wolff said.

Fortunately, they reached out and said “actually, us too.”

And Wizards went with them, along with a few other content creators.

Now, both Wolff and Bartholdi are involved in professional event hosting with pro tournaments, travelling around the globe.

“Anytime you tune into a Pro Tour, you’re very likely to see Maria on the broadcast,” said Rasmussen. “She brings that high-level professionalism to the broadcast. And Meghan, who you don’t see on camera, is often working on a lot of our social and web content to bring that to life. Both have been part of the Pro Tour ecosystem for quite some time.”

Since they released the episode about the barriers for women to play in tournaments, Wolff and Bartholdi have seen changes in the hobby, with organizations promoting inclusion, tournaments for players who are marginalized, and people who show up at events to provide safe spaces.

Wolff recently went to a tournament event in Baltimore and was struck by how much the scene has changed.

“It would literally be you'd walk into this room of 1,000 players, and it would be like, I can count the number of like, femme-presenting people here on one hand.” Wolff said. “And I walked into [this event] in Baltimore, and I’m walking around the tables. I had a real moment about it, because the landscape looked so different. There’s so many femme-presenting people playing at this event.”

“Just the change in overall attitude is night and day between 10 years ago and now, not to say there's not more work to be done,” Bartholdi said “Because, of course there is. But it's truly incredible, in that short amount of time, how much headway that we've collectively made.”

Content creation career for a niche hobby

As the podcast grew and the work continued for tournament coverage, Wolff was laid off from a job in 2016. She realized that the work she was doing on the podcast was the same workload as a full-time job.

For Bartholdi, there were tournaments to cover, episodes to record and edit, flights around the world, then rolling into her job right after a flight, sometimes with a suitcase in tow.

“It was exhausting.” Bartholdi said. “So we had to make a decision.”

The two decided on becoming freelancers, with the GLHF podcast and Magic being the main focus.

But that still means playing the cards the economy deals you. Changes in health care policy, being reliant on a product from a completely independent company and being in tune with an audience that donates funds to support their content.

“Ever since we've been freelancing, I have been more in tune with what is happening in the American economy than I ever have in my life,” Wolff said.

“When people think about Magic: The Gathering, if they're not familiar, a lot of them will think of the ‘90s, but the truth is that Magic: The Gathering is bigger now than it has ever been,” Bartholdi said.

According to reports, Wizards of the Coast generated $547 million in operating profits in 2021, and its parent company Hasbro reported that Magic: The Gathering became the company’s first billion-dollar brand in 2022.

That’s even before a huge year in 2025, when sets of cards featuring new characters and art from the long-running Final Fantasy video game series , brought new players to the table. That release generated $200 million in revenue in a single day. The company has also branched out into cards made with intellectual properties with cross-promotional appeal, like Lord of the Rings, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Marvel Comics.

“In 2026 [there] is going to be the most Magic sets released of all time,” Bartholdi said, “Which is good for us as content creators, because there’s a lot of material to work with.”

Wolff said the internet also demands authenticity, so they have to walk a fine line between being excited and being honest about the cards that come out.

“It's a delicate dance,” Wolff said. “We're talking about Magic because we love the game, and we always, at the end of the day, want to be producing a show that is about the joy of the game. We have to balance that with the fact that we also are going to be honest with people. If Wizards makes a bad product that people don't like, we're not going to go out and pretend to like it, because that would be disingenuous.”

But Bartholdi adds that growth in the interest of the game doesn’t mean their shows are secure. She worries that listeners can feel burned out on their hobby — or economic pressures cause hobbyists to pull back on spending.

Even with the success of the podcast, the YouTube channel, and being a tournament announcer, Bartholdi worries about how long it will last.

“Being a woman in an esports space, or even a sports space, who's over 40 is kind of a terrifying prospect, because once again, you have to see it to be it, and you don't see a lot of it,” she said.

She’s also acutely aware that the same standard is never applied to her male counterparts.

“So I’m like, what does that mean for the future? Can you be a woman on the internet past 40? I don't know, but I'm going to try.”

Wolff, with a chuckle, pipes in to reassure her co-host.

“I'm gonna beat the snot out of anyone who tries to tell you otherwise,” she says, laughing with her co-host.

The podcast releases new episodes every Thursday, with new “‘Commander Arcade”’ videos twice a month.

Highway 61 along the North Shore of Lake Superior has reopened and wildfire evacuations have been lifted. It comes just in time for Memorial Day weekend and the start of the crowded summer tourist season in northeast Minnesota.

The busy thoroughfare that extends northeast from Duluth along the shore, linking communities and several popular state parks between Two Harbors and Grand Portage at the tip of Minnesota’s Arrowhead, reopened to traffic Tuesday at noon — shortly after the Stewart Trail Fire was declared 100 percent contained.

The road had been closed northeast of Two Harbors since the blaze erupted Friday afternoon, requiring drivers to take a long detour inland. The highway is a lifeblood for the region, both for locals and the throngs of tourists who flock to the shore with the high season starting this weekend.

“The fact that the highway is open and everybody can still come up north and enjoy all the things that they love on the North Shore, that’s a blessing to us,” said Janelle Jones, president of the Lake County Chamber of Commerce. “Businesses are still open, state parks were not impacted. We are open for business,” Jones said.

That includes Betty’s Pies, the landmark restaurant on Highway 61 just outside of Two Harbors that reopened Tuesday. It had been closed since the fire started last Friday. Owner Carl Ehlenz was at the restaurant that afternoon when his wife called to tell him the power was out at their home, down a long driveway behind the restaurant.

He went to check, and saw smoke and flames across the Stewart River at a neighbor’s property. Then he saw fire burning in the trees surrounding his home. “I’m like, ‘holy cow, this is bad,’” he recalled. He called 911. “I don’t think they knew it was on this side of the river at that time.”

Three minutes later, Ehlenz said, firefighters arrived. The sheriff came and told him he had to evacuate. He closed the restaurant at about 3:30 p.m. on Friday. Then he left and he wasn’t allowed to return until Sunday evening.

Ehlenz was shocked by what he saw. The fire had burned all the way to the edge of the large parking lot behind the restaurant. It jumped his driveway and came to within 15 feet of his home. But both his home, and the restaurant, were safe.

When the fire first started, the wind was pushing it toward his home and Betty’s Pies, Ehlenz said. But about an hour and a half later the wind switched to the north.

“And that’s what pushed it away from us and away from Betty’s and towards the North Shore,” he said. The fire burned about two miles up the highway toward the Silver Creek Cliff tunnel. It destroyed more than 30 structures, including eight homes and cabins.

On the other side of the fire, another destination pie shop and restaurant on the North Shore, the Rustic Inn Cafe in Castle Danger, has remained open for business throughout the ordeal. It also acted as a community hub of sorts and people are still dropping off cases of bottled water, food and other donations.

One of the restaurant’s employees, LouAnn Johnson, lost her home and nearly all her family’s possessions in the fire. Her son, Gavin, also works at the cafe. A GoFundMe campaign has raised more than $30,000 so far to help the family recover.

Rustic Inn General Manager Callie Hoff said people are also still bringing cash donations to the restaurant. Last weekend a group of people on a tour bus stopped for slices of pie. “When they heard about the tragedy, they actually passed a hat around the bus and collected over $450 for the Johnson family,” Hoff said.

“They are so appreciative, they can’t thank everybody enough for every donation,” Hoff said, adding that the Johnsons eventually plan to come back to work, as this stretch of the North Shore begins the long process of recovery.

Federal officials said they were targeting the “worst of the worst” when immigration agents flooded Minnesota over the winter. But that wasn’t the case.

Data later released through a federal lawsuit showed fewer than one-quarter of the more than 4,000 people arrested in Operation Metro Surge had a criminal conviction on their record; a little more than 13 percent of those arrested had pending criminal charges.

The trauma generated by the immigration raids, however, was widespread. Three months after the surge officially ended, some families still feel the fear.

“My girls are still scared. If someone comes to knock at our door, they run. They run because we witnessed when ICE was knocking on doors and taking people,” said Estrella, a woman who lives in a mobile home park in the Twin Cities suburbs.

MPR News agreed to use her nickname because she said her family remains afraid of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement presence still in the region.

She and her husband do not have permanent legal status in the United States. They moved to the United States from Mexico more than 25 years ago. They came to Minnesota in 2016 because they believed it would be a safe place to raise a family and make a living.

She keeps videos on her phone of the chaotic arrests of friends and neighbors, including some she witnessed. She said that a friend was detained in December “in a horrible manner, worse than an actual criminal.”

Estrella said she realized then that she could be detained even driving on the highway. She called her boss to say she couldn't come to work. Her husband left his job too.

At times during the federal raids, she said she and her husband would tell their daughters to lock themselves in their room and turn on the TV because if ICE came to take their parents, “I wouldn’t want my girls to witness that.”

While immigration agent levels in the Twin Cities have receded, “we are still seeing much more heightened ICE activity today than we did prior to Metro Surge, and certainly much higher than it was under prior administrations,” said Michael Davis, an area attorney who’s been practicing immigration law for nearly 40 years. In some ways, he added, the winter raids were “ just the tip of the iceberg.”

Estrella said she and her husband have returned to work but their finances have been strained. Out of pride, she said they never relied on food stamps or government assistance. Food deliveries from strangers kept them afloat for a time, something she said she’s grateful for.

“I'm an immigrant, and I came to the United States to work and to work hard, and I'm not expecting handouts,” she said.

For the past month or so, she and her husband have sparingly begun to visit the grocery store. They still watch their backs.

She said she dreams of gaining legal status in the U.S. so she can get a better job and feel more financially stable and she hopes a future president will create opportunities for immigrants to get legal status.

The surge didn’t extinguish their will to build a life for themselves in Minnesota, Estrella added.

Despite the trauma, she said her husband always reminds her that “God is good.”

Last month, Minnesota cattle producers were asked to vote on a proposed refundable increase to the state beef checkoff.

On Tuesday, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture announced that the statewide referendum failed, falling three votes short of passage.

Since 1986, cattle producers in the state have been paying a $1 beef checkoff fee for each head of cattle sold. A proposed fee increase would've raised that amount to $1.50, with the option to request a $0.50 refund per head.

According to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, a total of 3,477 ballots were mailed to producers. Out of eligible ballots submitted, 380 ballots were submitted in opposition and 377 votes were in favor.

Currently, half of every dollar generated through the checkoff goes to the Minnesota Beef Council. The other half goes to the national Cattlemen’s Beef Board, the organization that oversees the collection of the National Beef Checkoff.

Both nonprofits use the revenue to help fund advertising, marketing, public relations, education, research and product development aimed at increasing beef consumption at the state and national levels.

The National Beef Council reported that for every dollar collected through the national checkoff, about $13 is returned to producers in higher beef prices due to increased demand.

A spokesperson for the Minnesota State Cattlemen’s Association previously said the increase was intended to keep up with rising operating costs.

A previous $1 checkoff raise was also rejected by producers over 10 years ago, with 63 percent of voters opposed.

The message to the Minnesota Timberwolves from the championship tier of the NBA has been delivered clearly and forcefully with their elimination from the playoffs three straight times: You're not there yet.

Nobody was listening more carefully than Tim Connelly.

“We have a lot of confidence in our guys, but it would be disingenuous to sit in front of this group and say we’re happy with the sixth seed, we’re happy with not being a home-court playoff team, we’re happy that our last three closeout games have been lopsided,” the Timberwolves president of basketball operations said. “We have to be realistic about what we have, which is way more good than bad, but we know that we’re not good enough right now.”

The San Antonio Spurs ousted the Timberwolves last week, taking the second-round series with a 30-point win. Last year, the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Timberwolves in five games in the Western Conference Finals on the way to the NBA title, finishing that series with a 30-point victory. The Timberwolves were beaten in five games in the 2024 Western Conference Finals, too, by the Dallas Mavericks when they still had Luka Doncic. They lost the clinching game that year by 21 points.

Now the Spurs and Thunder have begun what could be a conference final for the ages, two young teams with mental toughness, defensive acumen and a superstar player. So how can the Timberwolves catch up to that? Some of the improvement effort will come from within, be it expanding roles for young players or new responsibilities for established starters. And some of the actions toward trying to keep up with the Western Conference powers will come from the outside.

“We know our competition is not going to sit still, and nor will we,” Connelly said Tuesday during his season-ending news conference. “If we mess up, we’ll mess up loudly. We’re going to try to be as aggressive as possible.”

The Timberwolves have the 28th overall pick in the first round and the 59th overall pick in the second round in this year's draft, assets that won't move the needle much in trade talks, so they'll likely have to give up a key player or two to get one. The other disadvantage they have in building the roster for next season is the Achilles tendon injury to starting guard Donte DiVincenzo that will keep him out indefinitely in the final year of his current contract.

“Donte is one of the most competitive guys in the league. We've got to certainly find some more shooting in his absence,” Connelly said. “We think he's going to be back. We don't know when.”

Much of the offseason roster speculation will center around the status of power forward Julius Randle, who had a dismal performance over the final five games of the playoffs. His combined plus-minus rating over the four losses to the Spurs was a minus-93, but Connelly sidestepped questions about whether Randle still fits into the team's long-term plan.

“We don’t win because of one player, lose because of one player. I think when we lost in the fashion we lost to San Antonio, they were clearly the better team, and we have to look at the collective, me included, the whole building,” Connelly said. “What can we all do better to ensure that we don’t see the same result next season?”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has signed the nation's first law banning prediction market sites from operating in the state, and in response, the Trump administration has sued, teeing up a legal battle over the most far-reaching crackdown on popular services like Kalshi and Polymarket.

It comes as states confront a growing standoff with the Trump administration over how to regulate the industry, which allows people to bet on virtually anything.

The new state law makes it a crime to host or advertise a prediction market, which it defines as a system that lets consumers place a wager on a future outcome, like sports, elections, live entertainment, someone's word choice and world affairs.

The prohibition extends to services supporting prediction markets, like virtual private networks, that could allow consumers to disguise their location and get around the ban.

It would force prediction market sites like Kalshi and Polymarket to leave the state, or face possible felony charges. The law takes effect in August.

"We as a state should decide how best and what regulations we think should attach to gambling, to protect public safety, to protect our kids," said Minnesota Rep. Emma Greenman, the Democrat who introduced the measure.

The law has a carve-out for event contracts that serve as an insurance policy in the event of "harm, or loss sustained" and for the purchase of securities and other commodities.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's lawsuit seeks to block the law before it starts, arguing the prediction market industry should be exclusively regulated by federal officials.

"This Minnesota law turns lawful operators and participants in prediction markets into felons overnight," said CFTC Chairman Michael Selig. "Minnesota farmers have relied on critical hedging products on weather and crop-related events for decades to mitigate their risks. Governor Walz chose to put special interests first and American farmers and innovators last."

An updated version of the prediction market bill will allow trading on weather, an exception that followed pushback from the agricultural industry, which has historically used futures trading on weather as a hedge against storms and other inclement weather that can affect a harvest. The bill passed over the weekend.

Besides Minnesota, bills cracking down on the prediction market industry have been introduced in seven other states, according to the National Conference of State Legislators. Two of those states, Hawaii and North Carolina, have pending bills seeking to ban the industry statewide.

Experts say the cloud of legal uncertainty hanging over prediction markets apps have not slowed their rapid growth.

"The states are using any tactic they can to go after the prediction market companies," said Melinda Roth, a professor at Washington and Lee University's School of Law, who studies the industry. "But they've embarked on a too big to fail strategy and have become quite mainstream," she said. "It will be hard to put that genie back in the bottle."

A legal fight over the Minnesota ban is expected. Questions over whether states or the federal government should oversee the prediction market industry have already triggered more than 20 lawsuits. One of those cases, in Nevada, led to Kalshi pausing its sports betting in the state after a judge found it "indistinguishable" from state-regulated sports gambling.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has filed federal lawsuits against five states, including Arizona, Wisconsin and New York, attempting to override state regulators' attempts to rein in the betting sites.

The CFTC has argued it has exclusive jurisdiction over prediction markets, even though former CFTC members and legal experts say bets on football games, words President Trump might say during a press conference and whether Ricky Martin will make an appearance at the Super Bowl are matters far outside its traditional scope.

In a statement to NPR, Kalshi spokeswoman Elisabeth Diana said banning prediction markets is a "blatant violation" of the law.

"Minnesota banning prediction markets is like trying to ban the New York Stock Exchange," said Diana, adding that "this actively harms users because it reduces competition and drives activity offshore."

A Polymarket spokesman told NPR that Minnesota's ban runs counter to the federal government's "established framework" for regulating prediction markets.

Tribal-owned casinos operate in Minnesota, but online gambling and sports betting are not legal in the state.

Prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket have given access to sports betting to people in states where the activity is prohibited, since the Trump administration regulates the sites as a type of "event contract," rather than gambling, which typically is overseen by state gaming authorities.

Nonetheless, sports gambling powers the sites. On Kalshi, for instance, more than 85 percent of trading activity is related to a sporting event, some of those trades being "parlays," high-risk wagers that multiple things, points scored, fouls, passes, will all happen.

Bettors on the sites are making billions of dollars in trades every week, even as questions around insider trading and how the markets can create perverse incentives for people to manipulate real world outcomes continue to vex the companies.

Minnesota Public Radio News reporters Dana Ferguson and Peter Cox contributed reporting to this story.

Copyright 2026, NPR

B was born in Mexico and had lived in the U.S. for more than 20 years before finally deciding to apply for U.S. citizenship this winter. MPR News is identifying him only by his first initial out of concern about immigration enforcement.

He built a life in the U.S., raised three children, and became a lawful permanent resident. But until recently, he says he never felt urgency to become a citizen.

“I didn’t see the need. I mean, if I can work and live here legally, that’s enough,” B said.

That changed this winter during the ICE surge in Minnesota.

B says for months, fear shaped nearly every part of his daily life. He even had to close his used car business after customers stopped coming in.

“Well it’s been the toughest time in my life,” he recalls.

At his current job, he says supervisors told him to hide in the back when ICE agents were nearby. And eventually, he started carrying a GPS tracker hidden in his shoes so his family could find him in case he was detained.

Now 55 years old, B applied for citizenship for the first time just months ago. He started to worry his legal permanent residency might no longer protect him from deportation.

Past year has brought significant changes to application process

Unlike B, immigration advocates say that fear, combined with policy changes and processing delays — is discouraging some eligible immigrants from applying for citizenship at all.

At the International Institute of Minnesota in St. Paul, staff help immigrants navigate the naturalization process, from legal screenings to English and civics classes.

Corleen Smith, the organization’s director of immigration and anti-trafficking services, says the past year has brought changes unlike anything she has seen in more than two decades of immigration work.

“We are definitely seeing a decrease in people applying,” Smith said. “People are just discouraged from applying.”

Smith says the organization typically helps submit between 50 and 70 citizenship applications each month. Recently, she says, that number has dropped closer to 20 to 25 applications a month — a decline of roughly 50 percent.

The Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota says it is seeing similar trends. The organization reported 108 naturalization intake cases between Jan. 1 and mid-May of 2025. During the same period this year, that number dropped to 42.

According to federal data cited by the New Americans Campaign, more than 840,000 people became U.S. citizens nationwide in 2025. The total number of naturalization applications filed and approved that year was slightly lower than in 2024, while denial rates increased by almost 15 percent.

The Immigrant Legal Resource Center, which leads the initiative, also reports a sharp drop in both applications and adjudications in November and December 2025. It attributes the decline to recent policy changes that have added new barriers and made the naturalization process more difficult to access. The organization warns these trends could lead to significantly fewer new citizens in 2026.

Applying for citizenship has always involved challenges. Applicants must complete lengthy forms detailing years of personal history, pass background checks and pay filing fees that can exceed $700. Many must also pass English and civics exams.

“There’s always kind of those normal hurdles,” Smith said. “Answering history and government questions, being able to read and write in English … the legal process itself.”

But attorneys and advocates say the current political climate has introduced new fears – even for immigrants with straightforward cases and no criminal history.

“What I’m really hearing from immigrants and other clients that are approaching us talking about citizenship is they don’t want to be on the radar of this administration,” Smith said. “Despite not having any red flags, any issues, they just don’t want to have to go through the increased scrutiny.”

Immigration attorney Peter Nagell says while some of his clients are choosing not to interact with the immigration system, other clients who would previously have completed the citizenship process on their own are now seeking attorneys because they fear making mistakes or attracting scrutiny.

“So we are seeing more, in some ways, more straightforward applicants seeking legal assistance. But we certainly are seeing people who just would rather not interact with the immigration system, even if they’re very clearly eligible to pursue some kind of benefit, whether that's citizenship or anything else,” Nagell said.

Delays, stricter scrutiny and changing policies

Immigration advocates say processing delays and policy changes are contributing to those fears.

The Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota says naturalization cases that once moved from filing to oath ceremony within a few months are now commonly taking nine months or longer. Some applicants interviewed last year are still waiting for final decisions or oath ceremonies.

Advocates also say immigration officers are applying greater scrutiny to applications involving fee waivers or disability exemptions.

Last year, some applicants reportedly received unannounced home visits from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officers after requesting medical waivers or fee waivers. During those visits, applicants were questioned about employment, income, public benefits and their ability to speak English.

“We haven’t seen home visits since last fall,” the Immigrant Law Center said in a statement. “Applicants do express concern about enforcement actions during screening calls and often ask if it is the right time to apply for citizenship.”

Smith says new federal guidance has also made medical waivers more difficult to obtain.

“There’s been some new guidance that essentially gives immigration officers more opportunities to deny applicants that are requesting medical waivers,” she said.

Those waivers are intended for applicants whose disabilities or medical conditions make it impossible to complete the English or civics requirements.

According to the American Immigration Lawyers Association, a revised citizenship test introduced for applications filed after Oct. 20, 2025 expanded the civics question bank and increased the number of questions applicants must answer correctly to pass.

“The question bank has expanded from 100 to 128 items, and during the interview, officers now ask up to 20 questions instead of 10,” Cristina Santiago Ruitort, an American Immigration Lawyers Association member, said in a statement to MPR News. “To pass, applicants must correctly answer at least 12 questions. While the test remains oral, the new content places a much heavier emphasis on federalism, recent constitutional interpretations, and civic responsibilities.”

Nagell says attorneys are also seeing broader changes in how immigration officers evaluate “good moral character,” a legal standard required for citizenship.

“In the past, if somebody had no prior issues or encounters with immigration or law enforcement and they had been living and working in the United States, it’s sort of presumed that they were a person of good moral character,” Nagell said. “Now they have indicated that they are going to really put that onus more on the applicant to establish that.”

Advocates say applicants are also hearing reports that the English reading and writing portions of the citizenship test have become more difficult and that officers are more strict about spelling and comprehension.

The strongest protection — but still a difficult choice

Advocates and attorneys stress that citizenship remains the strongest legal protection available to immigrants who qualify.

“Anyone that essentially is not a citizen has the potential for removal,” Smith said. “Citizenship is really the ultimate security and stability.”

But attorneys also acknowledge that deciding whether to apply has become emotionally complicated for many immigrants.

“There is a lot of fear in the community,” Nagell said. “Although I do caution people to take it seriously and to ensure eligibility and understand any potential risks, I do also routinely put things into context for people and say, ‘Look, you are clearly entitled to this.’”

Nagell encourages immigrants considering citizenship to seek advice from licensed attorneys or accredited legal organizations rather than relying on misinformation or social media.

“There is both great information on social media and also distorted and incorrect information,” he said. “Consuming information carefully is important.”

After 20 years as a green card holder, B says that even with legal status, fear of deportation outweighed the fear of interacting with the legal system during a time of uncertainty.

“Being with my children, safety, peace. I’m applying for jobs. I have a job right now, but I want to restart my business,” he said.

He says music and dancing have helped him regain a sense of normalcy after months of fear and uncertainty. He especially enjoys live cover bands playing music from the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, and says he tries to go out dancing every weekend — sometimes Friday, Saturday and even Sunday if there’s a show.

Now that his citizenship paperwork has been submitted, he says life has slowly started to feel more stable again. While other personal challenges remain, he says things are improving little by little.

For now, B waits to learn whether he will become a U.S. citizen. He says the process has already given him a new perspective on how fragile his sense of security can feel, even after decades in the country.

Federal prosecutors on Wednesday announced charges against former Cuban President Raúl Castro in the 1996 downing of civilian planes operated by Miami-based exiles as the Trump administration escalated pressure on the socialist government.

The indictment was related to Castro’s alleged role in the shootdown of two small planes operated by the exile group Brothers to the Rescue. Castro, now 94, was Cuba's defense minister at the time. The charges included murder and destruction of an airplane.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and other top Justice Department officials made the announcement in Miami at a ceremony to honor those killed in the shootdown.

“For nearly 30 years, the families of four murdered Americans have waited for justice,” Blanche said. “They were unarmed civilians and were flying humanitarian missions for the rescue and protection of people fleeing oppression across the Florida straits.”

There was no immediate reaction from the Cuban government.

Marlene Alejandre-Triana, whose father, Armando Alejandre Jr, was among those who died, said the charges were “long overdue.” She said her father only wanted to bring freedom to his Cuban homeland.

Over the years, she spoke to multiple federal investigators about charging Castro. She referred to him as “one of the main architects of the crime.”

President Donald Trump has been threatening military action in Cuba ever since U.S. forces captured the Cuban government’s longtime patron, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. After ousting Maduro, the White House ordered a blockade that choked off fuel shipments to Cuba, leading to severe blackouts, food shortages and an economic collapse across the island.

Since Maduro's capture, Trump has ratcheted up talk of regime change in Cuba after pledging earlier this year to conduct a “friendly takeover” of the country if its leadership did not open its economy to American investment and kick out U.S. adversaries.

Trump’s first administration indicted Maduro on drug-trafficking charges and used that to justify removing him from power during a surprise military raid in January that whisked the Venezuelan leader to New York to face trial.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday urged the Cuban people to demand a free-market economy with new leadership that he said will chart a new course in relations with the U.S.

“In the U.S., we are ready to open a new chapter in the relationship between our people,” Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, said in a Spanish-language video message. “Currently, the only thing standing in the way of a better future are those who control your country.”

Cuba’s deputy foreign minister, Carlos F. de Cossío lashed out at Rubio on X, saying he “lies so repeatedly and unscrupulously about Cuba and tries to justify the aggression he inflicts on the Cuban people.” Rubio "knows full well that there is no excuse for such cruel and ruthless aggression.”

Raúl Castro believed to wield power behind the scenes

There’s no indication Castro will be taken into U.S. custody anytime soon.

He took over as president from his ailing older brother Fidel Castro in 2006 before handing power to a trusted loyalist, Díaz-Canel, in 2018.

While he retired in 2021 as head of the Cuban Communist Party, he is widely believed to wield power behind the scenes, underscored by the prominence of his grandson, Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro, who previously met secretly with Rubio.

Last week, CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Havana for meetings with Cuban officials, including Castro’s grandson. Two other senior State Department officials met with the grandson in April.

“The symbolic nature is absolutely crucial,” said Lindsey Lazopoulos Friedman, a former prosecutor at the U.S. attorney’s office in Miami who handled national security cases and crimes involving Cubans.

“Even though Raúl Castro will likely stay and die in Cuba, you can use the indictment as a pressure point, a tactical advantage, to extract other concessions like the release of prisoners or to keep Russia out,” she added.

The investigation into Castro stretches back to the 1990s

Starting in 1995, planes flown by members of Brothers to the Rescue, a group founded by Cuban exiles, buzzed over Havana dropping leaflets urging Cubans to rise up against the Castro government.

The Cubans protested to the U.S. government, warning that they would defend their airspace. Federal Aviation Administration officials also opened an investigation and met with the group’s leaders to urge them to ground the flights, according to declassified government records obtained by George Washington University’s National Security Archive.

“This latest overflight can only be seen as further taunting of the Cuban Government,” an FAA official wrote in an email to her superiors after one intrusion in January 1996. “Worst case scenario is that one of these days the Cubans will shoot down one of these planes.”

But those calls went unheeded and on Feb. 24, 1996, missiles fired by Russian-made MiG-29 fighter jets downed two unarmed civilian Cessna planes a short distance north of Havana just beyond Cuba’s airspace. All four men aboard were killed.

Raúl Castro faced earlier indictment

Guy Lewis, who was a federal prosecutor, uncovered evidence linking senior Cuban military officials to cocaine trafficking by Colombia’s Medellin cartel. Following the shootdown, the investigation expanded, and prosecutors pursued charges against Raúl Castro for leading a vast racketeering conspiracy by Cuba’s armed forces.

“The evidence was strong,” Lewis said in an interview.

In the end, the Clinton administration indicted four individuals, including the MiG pilots, the head of the Cuban air force and the head of a Cuban spy network in Miami — the only one to see the inside of a U.S. prison — for providing valuable intelligence about the flights.

The incident led the U.S. to harden its position against Cuba, even though the Cold War had ended and the Castros’ support for revolution across Latin America was a fading memory.

But Castro himself was spared as the Clinton administration — which had quietly sought to expand relations with Cuba prior to the incident — raised foreign policy concerns about such a high-profile indictment.

“Raúl was definitely one who slipped through the noose,” Lewis said. “The crime is notorious. Three U.S. citizens and one legal permanent resident were killed in a premeditated orchestrated murder. That should never be forgotten.”

Crews have successfully smothered much of the Flanders Fire in Crow Wing County and completely contained the Stewart Trail Fire near Two Harbors.

Man-made firebreaks, like dozer lines created by heavy machinery and hand lines dug by firefighters, help stop flames from spreading — but so do natural barriers like beaver ponds.

Emily Fairfax, assistant professor of geography at the University of Minnesota, says while there’s a good number of beavers in Minnesota, they’re not evenly distributed and are less common nearer to the Twin Cities compared to their abundance in the Boundary Waters.

Beaver ponds help stop wildfires because they both slow down and spread out water, giving it time to sink into the soil.

“We get a lot of precipitation here in Minnesota, but more and more it's coming in these big, flashy events, a storm, and then that water rushes through and it's gone,” Fairfax said. “So, instead of just having this quick-moving blast of water, you get this great big sponge that is the earth filling up with water and staying too wet to burn.”

Man-made firebreaks are created to be as wide and connected as possible.

“And that's actually the beaver's No. 1 goal, is to make a great big wide connected wetland that maybe spans for kilometers and kilometers and kilometers. They're basically building firebreaks out of every single stream they work on,” Fairfax continued.

Listen to the full conversation and learn about ways to conserve beaver habitats by clicking the player button above.

Jeremy Peña singled off Zebby Matthews (1-1) to open the game and Paredes followed with his fifth home run — on a 3-2 pitch — for a 2-0 lead.

Alexander (1-0) walked one and struck out four after allowing 10 runs in 6 1/3 innings in his first two outings this season.

Astros reliever Bryan King struck out Brooks Lee on his 13th pitch to begin the ninth and Victor Caratini grounded out on the next pitch.

Orlando Arcia had a two-out single that chased King. Bryan Abreu entered and hit pinch-hitter Luke Keaschall with his second pitch.

Arcia and Keaschall runners advanced on a wild pitch before Abreu retired Byron Buxton on a pop-out in foul territory at third for his third save in three opportunities.

Buxton had a one-out double in the eighth off Enyel De Los Santos and Josh Bell drove him in with a two-out single to cut it to 2-1. King replaced De Los Santos and surrendered a single to Kody Clemens before retiring Austin Martin on a groundout to keep the Astros in front.

Matthews worked six innings and never gave up a run after the first in his second start this season. He allowed six hits, didn't walk a batter and struck out six.

The Twins optioned 2017 No. 1 overall pick Royce Lewis to Triple-A St. Paul before the game and placed catcher Ryan Jeffers on the injured list.

Houston placed RHP Lance McCullers Jr. on the IL before the game with right shoulder soreness. The Astros have 13 players on the IL, most in the majors.

Astros RHP Mike Burrows (2-5, 5.72 ERA) starts Wednesday's series finale opposite Twins RHP Joe Ryan (2-3, 3.20).

Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday appointed Associate Justice Theodora Gaïtas to serve as chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, following the retirement of current Chief Justice Natalie Hudson in September.

The move leaves an associate seat open on the bench, which Walz said he will fill with the appointment of Ramsey County District Court Judge Reynaldo Aligada Jr. A ceremony announcing the appointment of both justices is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

Gaïtas has previously served on the Minnesota Court of Appeals and the Fourth Judicial District Court. Walz appointed her to the Supreme Court in 2024. The DFL governor said her experience as the only Supreme Court justice to serve at all three levels of the judicial branch, as well as the first former public defender to lead the court, would serve the state well.

“Justice Gaïtas will be an exceptional chief justice, leading the Judicial Branch with wisdom, resolve, and fairness,” Walz said in a news release. “She brings a rare breadth of experience, having served at every level of our state’s judiciary, and will be the first public defender to serve as chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court. That perspective will be invaluable, guiding her leadership as she takes on this profound responsibility to serve all Minnesotans.”

Gaïtas said she is honored to be appointed to lead the state’s high court.

“I’m committed to a judiciary that all Minnesotans can access, trust, and rely on. These commitments will guide every decision I make as chief justice,” she said. ”I look forward to working alongside the talented judges and court professionals across this state, whose dedication makes justice possible every day.  And I want to recognize and thank Chief Justice Hudson, who has provided outstanding service to the judicial branch and the people of Minnesota.”

Aligada will fill the vacancy left by Gaïtas when she is elevated to the chief justice post. He currently chairs the Minnesota Supreme Court Advisory Committee on the Minnesota Rules of Evidence. Prior to serving on the Ramsey County District Court, he worked in the Office of the Federal Defender and as an associate at the firm Robins, Kaplan, Miller and Ciresi.

Walz said Aligada “is someone who leaves a lasting impression on everyone he meets, pairing a keen legal mind with genuine humility and compassion.”

“He will be a justice who truly sees and listens to the people who come before him, ensuring every voice is heard and respected,” Walz continued in a news release. “In addition to his outstanding judicial background, he will bring a perspective not yet represented on this court, the voice of Minnesota’s Asian Pacific Islander community, further strengthening the court’s connection to the people it serves.”

Aligada said he’s humbled and honored to join the court.

“I am so grateful to the governor and his team for entrusting me with this great responsibility. I recognize the impact the Court’s decisions have on the lives of Minnesotans, and I will strive to do justice and protect the rule of law,” Aligada said.

Members of the Commission on Judicial Selection and the governor’s administration reviewed seven candidates and recommended that four interview for the associate justice position. And three current associate justices — Gaïtas, Anne McKeig and Paul Thissen — interviewed for the chief justice position.

When Gaïtas is elevated to the chief post and Aligada joins the court, five of the justices will be Walz appointees. And all seven justices on the court will have been appointed by Democratic governors, as is currently the case.

Target reported the largest jump in comparable sales in four years Wednesday, but a cautious outlook overshadowed convincing evidence that changes under the company's new CEO are resonating with customers.

Customers spent money across all of Target’s main merchandising categories and helped deliver better-than-expected sales. Comparable sales — those coming from stores and digital channels operating for at least 12 months, rose 5.6 percent in the three-month period ended May 2. It was the biggest gain since early 2022, and the first positive read after three consecutive quarters of negative comparable sales.

Target raised its annual revenue outlook, saying it expected momentum to continue the rest of the year. Yet the upgraded sales expectations were still below the pace of the first quarter and investors reacted negatively.

Shares fell 5 percent Wednesday.

CEO Michael Fiddelke, a 20-year company veteran who took over in February, said he remained guardedly optimistic given where the company is in its operational overhaul.

“We’re encouraged to see a strong guest response so far,” Fiddelke said, adding: “We’re maintaining a cautious outlook given the work we know we have in front of us and ongoing uncertainty in the macroeconomic environment.”

In March, Fiddelke unveiled a $6 billion plan to reverse three straight years of sales declines. Target said it would remodel stores as part of an attempt to reclaim its reputation for stylish clothing on a budget, while it improved staffing and worker training.

New collaborations with labels like Roller Rabbit, an apparel and home goods brand known for its whimsical, block-print designs, resonated with shoppers, according to Target.

Target is one of the first big retailers to report financial results and industry analysts are watching closely to determine whether surging gasoline prices due to the Iran war have altered consumer behavior.

The chain was struggling long before the U.S. and Iran attacked Iran in February, however. Customers complained of disheveled stores that lacked the fashionable yet affordable niche that had earned Target the nickname “Tarzhay.”

Fiddelke reshuffled the leadership team at Target and on Tuesday, Target named a former Walmart executive as its new head of supply chain, another problematic area.

Some of Target's problems were self-inflicted. Its decision to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives led to protests and boycotts. And this winter, Target stores became another flashpoint with a federal immigration crackdown in its own hometown of Minneapolis.

Fiddelke acknowledged in an interview with The Associated Press in early March that boycotts had taken a toll, but said this week that increased store traffic in the first quarter was broad-based. He noted that more shoppers are picking Target more often, and “that’s a positive sign.”

Analysts, however, say Target's first-quarter performance offers a positive sign for the company.

Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail, wrote that the results “represent an early win for Michael Fiddelke and his team.”

Saunders believes Target's lackluster sales had more to do with failing on execution than being caught up in cultural crosshairs like DEI.

“As important as that matter is, and as much as it does have some impact, it has never been the main issue,” Saunders wrote.

Target posted first-quarter earnings of $781 million, or $1.71 per share, for the three-month period ended May 2. That easily topped the $1.47 per share that analysts had expected, according to FactSet, but it was down from $1.04 billion during the same time last year.

Net sales rose 6.7 percent to $25.44 billion, also topping expectations.

For the full year, Target said it expected earnings per share near the high end of $7.50 to $8.50, the guidance it offered in March. Analysts are expecting $8.12 per share for the year, according to FactSet.

Target said it now expects net sales growth to be up 4 percent for the year, up from the previous forecast of 2 percent. That would bring sales to $108.97 billion.

Over the span of a few days, public health officials went from announcing a new Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo on May 15 and Uganda to declaring it an international public health emergency two days later.

By that time, the toll was notable. More than 200 people had been infected, and more than 80 had died before the disease was identified as a rare strain of Ebola, the viral hemorrhagic fever that sparked a global outbreak in 2014.

There are two critical questions about timing: When did this outbreak actually start? And why did public health officials detect it so late?

And there's another key question to consider: Has the U.S., which has traditionally been a key player in emerging outbreaks, been hampered in its response by its withdrawal from the World Health Organization?

When did it start?

The early data on the outbreak — 246 suspected cases and 65 suspected deaths in the initial report — raised the eyebrows of some infectious disease experts.

"My immediate impression was that this is an extraordinarily large number of deaths and suspected cases that was being reported in what was supposed to be a new outbreak," says Boghuma Titanji, an infectious disease physician at Emory University. "My immediate instinct was that this has been ongoing for a couple of weeks and has taken some time to identify. That sent off alarm bells in my mind."

Since then, the toll has risen to at least 88 deaths and more than 330 suspected infections. Health officials now believe that the first known case was a health worker in Bunia, DRC, who began experiencing fever, hemorrhaging, vomiting and intense malaise on April 24. That person later died, according to WHO. But it would take another three weeks before health officials officially said Ebola was spreading.

Why did it take so long to detect?

That delay has allowed the virus to spread, says Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees International and former director of the United States Agency for International Development's Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance during the Obama administration. "This outbreak has a lot of momentum."

The species of Ebola that's spreading is partly to blame for the delay. It's called Bundibugyo, and it's relatively rare, with a genetic sequence that's about 30 percent different than Ebola virus species that typically cause outbreaks, says Titanji. That also means there are no approved vaccines or treatments.

"Some of the initial testing that was done didn't pick up this Bundibugyo virus," she says, since those tests were designed for more common versions of Ebola. As a result, samples had to be sent to more specialized testing centers. That can take time, especially in this region of DRC, where ongoing conflict and difficult travel conditions can delay shipments.

What's been the U.S. role?

At least one American who worked in the DRC for a nongovernmental organization has been sickened in this outbreak, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed in a press call May 18. Six additional Americans are considered high-risk exposures.

The CDC is working with the State Department to move these individuals to Germany for monitoring and treatment. "Given the previous experience with caring for Ebola patients, coupled with the flight times being significantly shorter, this allows us to get these persons to points of care quickly," said CDC Ebola response incident manager Satish Pillai in the call.

Pillai also said the agency was surging technical and field experts requested by the DRC, beyond the 25 or so staff members in the CDC DRC Country Office. "Anything that the country office and the Ministry [of Health] is requesting for support, we will be providing," he said.

But cuts made by the Trump Administration to U.S. domestic and international health agencies raises questions about whether the U.S. is continuing to support disease surveillance across DRC.

"The U.S. invested in disease surveillance capacity in Congo because it is such a hotbed of known novel outbreak risks," says Konyndyk. "That disease detection surveillance architecture has been badly weakened."

The U.S. CDC and the United States Agency for International Development both played key roles in surveillance. USAID had staff all across the country who could gather disease intel. And CDC staff, both in DRC and the U.S., helped transport samples and analyze them.

CDC has been battered by funding and staffing cuts over the past year and a half. And USAID's DRC mission was shuttered last year, limiting the U.S. response, says Konyndyk.

In a statement to NPR, the State Department said "It is false to claim that the USAID reform has negatively impacted our ability to respond to Ebola," adding that funding and support to combat Ebola would continue.

Other moves by the Trump administration are having an impact, say the disease doctors. A shrinking budget at the World Health Organization – most notably because of the administration's withdrawal from the U.S. body – have reduced the size of WHO's international emergency division, says Konyndyk.

At a May 17 press conference, CDC's Pillai did not respond to a question about whether funding cuts to CDC contributed to the delay. He did say that CDC only learned about the outbreak on May 14th, the day before it was announced.

That relatively late-in-the-game notification struck Demetre Daskalakis, a former high-ranking official at CDC. "We used to be like the first or second call for many of these things," he says. "Though I'm not on the ground at the DRC to tell you what happened, it does seem weird that we accrued a couple 100 cases of this before CDC got any inkling of information."

On the press call, Pillai said the difficult conditions of the outbreak's epicenter likely account for the delay. Cases are concentrated in the Ituri province of northeastern DRC, a mining area experiencing ongoing conflict.

In the past, humanitarian programs operating in such areas have acted as informal disease surveillance networks.

Aid workers, providing medical care or food in conflict regions, can often flag unusual outbreaks of diseases in areas outside of the government's reach, says Konyndyk.

U.S. funding for such programs "has been almost wiped out," he says. "Total humanitarian funding in Congo was over $900 million in the last year of the Biden administration, that dropped by close to 80 percent down to 179 million during the first year of the Trump administration."

It's difficult to say for certain whether aid cuts caused the delayed reporting, says Konyndyk. But "at every level, international response capacity has been badly undermined by the U.S, and also wider global funding cuts."

What the future holds

Overall, the delayed detection of this outbreak will make it harder to get under control., say the infectious disease specialists interviewed by NPR.

Right now, international health agencies — including the U.S. CDC — are scrambling to send staff and supplies. They're focused on identifying cases, caring for patients and isolating their contacts to limit the spread.

"I'm very worried," says Konyndyk. "The whole international response architecture is much weaker than it was a few years ago."

Copyright 2026, NPR

Gerald and Wally are Black men who live in the suburbs of Atlanta. Both grew up voting for Democrats and voted for President Joe Biden in 2020. Then in 2024, they switched to voting for President Trump.

Gerald, 51, is very happy with the president.

"Listen, I am so pro-Trump, people just don't even understand," said Gerald, sitting at the kitchen table he and his wife share with their blended family after a long day at work as a truck driver. "The dude is amazing because he's not following the script."

He gives Trump an A++ for his performance on the job. When asked the same question, Wally, 44, gave Trump an F.

"Like, what do we have that we can hang our hat on right now?" Wally asked rhetorically. "We have higher gas prices."

Gerald and Wally are among a dozen swing voters in swing states who have agreed to regularly speak with NPR over the next three years as part of a project we are calling Swing Shift. We agreed not to use their full names and commissioned an artist to illustrate portraits in order to allow them to speak more freely about politics, without being concerned facing personal or professional repercussions.

In political reporting, polls provide a snapshot in time. Focus groups and interviews in diners are typically one offs, where we can't delve too deeply into what any one voter is thinking. Swing Shift is an ongoing conversation with a group of voters who could be pivotal in both this year's midterms and the 2028 presidential election.

The participants live in swing states and don't always vote for the same party. Most of them voted for Biden in 2020 and then Trump in 2024. A couple swung in the other direction. At some point in the past decade, they have all voted for Trump.

"How they vote is how America will vote," said pollster Frank Luntz.

In a polarized country, these are the people who help decide elections. The goal is to really get to know these voters and how the issues dominating the national political conversation are playing out in their daily lives. Their stories are the stories of a critical piece of the electorate.

"This 7 percent of America that goes back and forth and not just back and forth between Republicans and Democrats – they'll vote for an independent candidate and they may not even vote. And that is the margin of success in the states and districts that matter," Luntz added.

So, how are these voters feeling? We will regularly check in with them, asking a baseline set of questions, including how they grade the president's performance (and that of Republicans and Democrats in Congress too). We also asked them one word or phrase to describe the current state of the country.

Gerald and Wally are the first Swing Shift voters we visited at home. Their reasons for supporting Trump and their views of his performance now couldn't be more different.

Wally can't think of a positive line item out of the Trump presidency.

"I think with Trump, we're just trying to weather this guy," Wally said. "We can't get to 2029 fast enough. The problem is what shape will we be in once we get there."

Wally sat in his backyard by a fire pit, near the swing set he said his kids are getting too big for. His family is financially secure, he has a good job in technology, but he wants a better country for his children. And he just can't see it.

"Everyone's drowning, and like we just need to come up for air," Wally said. "No one's really just trying to swim to shore. We're just trying to get our head or our noses above the water."

Is he surprised? Not really. He didn't have high expectations for a second Trump term, but he was fed up with the incremental change Democrats were offering. Trump enjoyed more Black voter support than any Republican presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan's election in 1980, according to the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at Cornell University.

In Feb. 2025, 36 percent of Black voters approved of the job Trump was doing as president. Today, that number has dropped to 26 percent. Wally's view of the American political system is dark. He believes the country needs to hit rock bottom, so he voted for maximum chaos. "I feel if people get mad enough, they'll force change," said Wally. "They'll force it somehow."

Wally said his wife was not on board with his political change or his nihilist view of what the country needs. Gerald's wife supported his shift and is right there with him, he said. And Gerald's vote in 2024 was a hopeful one. He swung to Trump after researching and doing more critical thinking.

"And to me critical thinking means, what if I'm wrong about what I've been told?" Gerald asked.

Gerald credits his children, too, with helping him challenge his views, especially as he learned more about history. Now, he said, he's never going back to the Democrats, even as he's lost friends over his pro-Trump social media posts.

He's a big fan of using AI and gets his news from YouTube, TikTok and ABC's World News with David Muir. For him, switching parties was like switching phones.

"I was a [Samsung] Galaxy phone user," he said.

And he was all in on the Galaxy until he picked up an iPhone. He pointed to the phone on the table in front of him.

"This thing is amazing. You know, when I find the truth out, you will not represent it better than I can. It's just how I am," Gerald said.

Gas prices are kicking his butt right now. His personal vehicle is a big dually pickup that takes diesel. But diesel is even more expensive than regular unleaded, so he's been trying to use his wife's car to get around when he can, to save money on fuel. Still, Gerald has faith in Trump, and said the current economic pain will be worth it if the threat from Iran is resolved.

"I just try to do the cutting back to do, to survive, 'til we make it through it," said Gerald. "It's like anything else. It's a season."

He uses apps to find discounts on gas and noted there are other ways to cut back, like not eating out at restaurants all the time. Or even eating less.

"Cook. Fast. I mean me and my wife have been fasting, and there's a lot of benefits, including one of those benefits is saving money on groceries," Gerald said.

The latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll finds 8 in 10 Americans say the high price of gas is causing them economic strain. Nearly two-thirds blame Trump for those higher prices.

But these are sacrifices Gerald is willing to make. It hasn't soured his view of the president.

NPR's Lexie Schapitl and Bria Suggs contributed to this story.

Copyright 2026, NPR

One of professional sports’ biggest spectacles is heading to Minnesota in two years.

The National Football League announced Tuesday that the 2028 NFL Draft will be held at U.S. Bank Stadium, with associated fan events taking place over several days around the Twin Cities and beyond.

“For three days, Minnesota will become the center of the football world,” Mark Wilf, owner and president of the Minnesota Vikings, said in a news release. “The 2028 NFL Draft will give us an opportunity to showcase not just U.S. Bank Stadium, but the energy, hospitality and pride that define Minneapolis-St. Paul and the entire state and region. We have no doubt the community will deliver a world-class event that is unique to Minnesota.”

The Vikings will host the draft in partnership with the NFL and Minnesota Sports and Events.

The draft used to be held in New York each year — but since 2015, it has rotated to different host cities, and the event has grown. This year’s draft, held in Pittsburgh in April, drew more than 800,000 fans.

At Tuesday’s announcement at the NFL Spring League Meeting in Orlando, Fla., Wendy Williams Blackshaw — the president and CEO of Minnesota Sports and Events — was asked whether the Twin Cities can match that.

“Around the stadium, there is room, depending on the stage layout, for somewhere in the 100,000 (range) — and then again, layer on top of that the watch parties, all of the other things that are happening in the community, and we feel really confident that we will have a huge crowd,” she said. “We’re competitive.”

The 2028 NFL Draft will take place a decade after Minneapolis hosted the Super Bowl. Exact dates are yet to be announced.

The 2027 draft will be held in Washington, D.C.

Authorities say the destructive Stewart Trail wildfire northeast of Two Harbors is now fully contained, and State Highway 61 reopened to traffic Tuesday after a four-day closure.

Wildland firefighting crews on the North Shore — and also battling the large Flanders Fire in Crow Wing County — have been aided by cooler, more humid weather and light rain.

The Stewart Trail Fire was sparked by a downed power line amid windy, dry conditions on Friday — and quickly spread across more than 350 acres. It burned more than 30 buildings, including eight homes or cabins.

The fire is now reported as 100 percent contained — meaning that crews have created lines around the entire perimeter, that they believe will keep the flames from spreading.

Lake County officials reported Tuesday that Highway 61 — which had been closed since Friday between Two Harbors and Silver Bay — has reopened, along with some county roads that also were closed due to the fire.

“Motorists are asked to use caution while traveling through the area and remain alert for firefighters, emergency personnel, heavy equipment, and crews that may still be working along roadways and within the fire area,” the county reported.

The county has also lifted all remaining evacuation orders.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz traveled to Two Harbors on Monday and thanked firefighters, first responders and local officials for their work combating the Stewart Trail fire and safely evacuating residents.

“These are days we don’t ever want to happen, but when they do, the response we’ve seen so far up here is one that we should all be very proud of,” Walz said at the incident command center at the Two Harbors fire station, where he made remarks and held a briefing with local, county and state officials and fire officials.

State incident commander Mike Hill said Monday that he anticipated turning the fire’s management over to local officials “sometime midweek.”

“There’s not much smoke left in the air, but the next phase is lifting evacuations, opening the highway, and trying to get people back to normal to the degree that we can,” Hill said Monday. “That’s our primary focus right now.”

On Monday afternoon, before the evacuation zone was lifted, county officials escorted 42 residents to their properties within the burn area.

We “gave them that time to see what they had, and then really sit back and and take it in at their own pace, and go through those feelings in their own private time,” said Tim Luoma, chief deputy for the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.

“A lot of people were shocked, a lot of people were a little bit relieved,” but all of them expressed concern about their neighbors, he said.

The fire ignited Friday just north of Betty’s Pies, a North Shore institution along Highway 61 outside Two Harbors. It burned for about two miles along the highway between the Stewart River and the Silver Creek Cliff tunnel.

Stretches of forest along the highway are now scorched black, the trees standing like charred toothpicks.

That stretch of highway is lined on both sides by cabins and homes. Some of those residences are now completely gone. On one property only the chimney remained Monday, with husks of burned-out vehicles surrounding what once was a house.

Down the road there were still concrete steps visible at another lot, but no house remained. A burned refrigerator was all that was left at another property.

But many homes were untouched by the blaze, even though in some cases the fire appeared to burn almost right up to them.

“Fire is kind of a mystery,” said Luoma. “There’s no rhyme or reason how it behaves the way it does, why stuff gets burned, why stuff doesn’t.”

Fire crews from Two Harbors and other neighboring departments saved countless structures from being destroyed in the fire, Two Harbors Fire Chief Mark Schlangen told Gov. Walz and other officials. He said it was “pretty personal” work for crews trying to keep the flames away from homes in their own community.

“You could see siding that was burning that was extinguished, could see eaves that were started that were extinguished,” Schlangen said. While the homes lost are a tragedy, he said, “I want all the crews to know that their efforts really mattered.”

Lake County Sheriff Nathan Stadler also thanked neighboring law enforcement agencies for their help in the stressful first hours after the fire ignited.

“A lot of people ask how many houses were evacuated,” Stadler said. “We did it so quickly, we have no idea. We weren’t able to take numbers, we just wanted to get people out safely.”

Walz thanked Stadler and other officials for their work. “No one died, no one’s injured at this point, and that is the ultimate responsibility,” he said.

“Evacuation is a tough thing,” Walz added. It “comes fast, can cause a lot of confusion, but by all of the reports coming in, (was) just done incredibly professionally.”

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Sarah Strommen said more than 500 wildfires have ignited across the state so far this year, many of them in recent days. But the public doesn’t hear about most of them, because most are extinguished quickly.

“It starts with the training, it starts with fire prevention outreach and education,” said Strommen. “This is an ongoing year-round effort that folks at the local level, state levels, and federal levels are engaged in.”

In Two Harbors, Walz highlighted the role that first responders in a small, rural community played in keeping people safe.

“I appreciate listening to the stories and understanding what it takes for volunteer firefighters and a small sheriff's department to evacuate people in a very dangerous situation, and to do so with no injuries, no death. That’s an amazing story,” Walz said.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said Tuesday it has located the origin of the Flanders Fire near the north shore of Flanders Lake.

The fire started early Saturday afternoon and grew to more than 1,600 acres. The fire is now 60 percent contained, and an evacuation order for the area lifted at noon Tuesday.

Crow Wing County Sheriff Eric Klang said individuals seem to have started a campfire next to Flanders Lake, possibly on Saturday or the night before, which led to the blaze.

“It looks to me that they probably couldn't be on the lake because it was too windy, so they kind of moved into the woods to get away from that wind, and then at some point that [fire] started,” he said.

The DNR, which is leading the investigation, said it has identified people of interest tied to the fire.

The agency is asking residents and others in and around the Flanders Lake area who have trail cameras, ring doorbell cameras, or other relevant information to contact the DNR.

Klang said it’s possible that someone could be charged with arson in connection with the Flanders fire.

As crews continue to improve the level of containment, firefighters and equipment are starting to get demobilized.

“The fire is really not actively burning along the edge,” said Tim Engrav, public information officer for the Minnesota Incident Command System team managing the fire response. “So it’s allowing fire crews to really work directly along that fire edge … to cool that edge and work towards containment.”

The Incident Management Team is preparing to transfer firefighting duties back to local authorities.

“Crews are working very hard and diligently at mopping up hot spots, which means anything that is smoking, any flames, any embers, to make sure that we don't have a flare up or a reoccurrence of a fire restarting,” Crosslake Mayor Jackson Purfeerst told MPR News on Monday afternoon.

County Road 11 also reopened to traffic from Crosslake to Minnesota Highway 6. Officials asked the public to avoid the area for their own safety and to allow fire crews to work.

“It’s important that folks aren’t just going there to go look at things,” Engrav said. “There’ll be time later to see the effects of the fire. The effects will be there for a while, unfortunately, so (we) just ask that people refrain from doing that if they don't have a reason to be in there.”

The fire burned in an area that is mostly rural forest and not heavily populated. But it’s dotted with homes and cabins.

As of Monday, the fire hadn’t destroyed any homes or other primary structures, and there were no injuries. A few sheds and outbuildings burned, Purfeerst said.

“We did have one old-school, hand-built cabin that did get hit by the fire,” he said. “But other than that, we are very thankful, because this fire could have been way worse.”

The cause of the Flanders Fire is still under investigation. Engrav said a drought spanning multiple years has left trees and fallen logs tinder dry.

“It’s just not a time to do any outdoor burning,” he said. “With the winds and these low relative humidity levels, fire can get away really fast.”

Residents who live near the fire were told Saturday to evacuate the area. Others were put on alert to be ready to leave if necessary.

A shelter was set up at the Crosslake Community Center to house people who had to leave their homes. On Monday, the location was moved to the Log Church in Crosslake.

Kara Terry, director of community services for Crow Wing County, said several local businesses have donated food or offered other help.

“Crosslake is a pretty amazing community, and Crow Wing County overall,” she said. “We have a lot of great folks here.”

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Crews are also working to contain a second large wildfire in northern Minnesota — the Stewart Trail Fire near Two Harbors.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Sunday declared a peacetime emergency and authorized additional state help for the wildfire response in the northern part of the state — including, potentially, personnel and equipment from the Minnesota National Guard.