Stories from October 12, 2024

WNBA Finals: Lynx-Liberty set to tip-off Sunday afternoon
Breanna Stewart and her New York Liberty teammates were confident they can rebound from the Game 1 collapse that put them down a game to Minnesota in the WNBA Finals. 
Spotty showers possible; windy and cold Sunday
Reinforcing cold air will arrive Saturday night, cooling us down for several days. Winds will pick up behind the front, with gusts reaching up to 35 mph. Isolated to scattered rain showers possible this weekend.
7-Eleven to close over 400 stores in North America
The ubiquitous convenience store owed its recent revenue drops to inflation, declining cigarette sales and a shift in palates toward fresh food and specialty drinks.
Hunting for male voters: Walz steps into the field for the pheasant opener
Gov. Tim Walz had more pheasant hunting companions than usual for this year’s opener near Sleepy Eye, on Saturday. Flanked by a team of earpiece-wearing Secret Service agents and roughly a dozen members of the press, Walz and his 4-person hunting party set out into a golden, sunlit field on private land as soon as the season officially opened at 9 a.m.
Heavy Israeli bombardment in northern Gaza as UN peacekeepers in Lebanon are hit again
Palestinians in northern Gaza are describing heavy Israeli bombardment in the hours after airstrikes killed at least 22 people. Israel continues to tell people there and in southern Lebanon to get out of the way of its offensives against the Hamas and Hezbollah militant groups. 
What the Harris campaign is doing to try to win over more Black men
Former President Barack Obama bluntly told Black men this week that they need to get over it if they "just aren't feeling the idea of having a woman as president."
Harris releases medical report, drawing another contrast with Trump
The two-page letter says that Vice President Harris is in excellent health and has “the physical and mental resiliency required to successfully execute the duties of the presidency.”
WNBA has just 1 Black head coach but more could come from a pool of strong assistants in the league
The WNBA has been praised in the past as a leader for its diversity hiring practices. At the end of the 2022 season, half of the 12 head coaches in the league were Black. Two years later, Seattle’s Noelle Quinn is the only one left after Tanisha Wright was let go in Atlanta and Teresa Weatherspoon was fired in Chicago. 
Minneapolis Police Department applications continue to signal rebound
The department’s numbers took a significant dive after the police killing of George Floyd and the unrest that followed. But applications are up 45 percent this year compared to all of 2023. The department has received 1,014 applications so far this year — up from 697 last year. 
Seasonal temperatures for Saturday; cooler on Sunday.
Expect filtered sunshine and temperatures in the low to mid-60s this Saturday. Rain showers may develop north of Interstate 94 into Sunday. A surge of cooler Canadian air will bring temperatures down to the mid-50s for Sunday.
Walz returns to Mankato to reprise role as coach, deliver football pep talk and campaign a little
The governor stopped through on a campaign visit marking the 25th anniversary of the season the Mankato West football team won the state championship with him as assistant coach. He will attend the Governors Pheasant opener in Sleepy Eye Saturday.