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More Thoughts While Weeding: Raised beds for many reasons - Conway Daily Sun

CHURCHILL DOWNS INC. HAS a market capitalization that touches $8 billion.

That's a nice number for a corporation that specializes in little more than gaming pies in the sky and shareholder value.

But its bosses can no longer get this crazy little thing called horse racing right.

In Arlington Heights, Euclid Avenue has turned into a death row as one of the most lush turf courses on the planet awaits extinction.

There is no compelling reason that Arlington Park isn't up and running this summer.

Other than perhaps that CDI CEO Bunker Bill Carstanjen and crew might not have been able to gather their kind of Insane Clown Posse to hover around it.

So this past weekend, the Arlington Million was moved to Churchill Downs, site of one of the most troublesome grass surfaces in America.

And in the end, matching Million Day '21 at Arlington, the event was nothing more than an embarrassment for Carstanjen and Co.

LAST AUGUST AT AP, with the honorable Dick Duchossois approaching his 100th and final earthly birthday, Carstanjen's crew tried to get clever.

They're not very good at that.

The cut the purse of The Million to $600,000. And, to "honor" Duchossois with the cheapened centerpiece, they renamed the race "The Mr. D Stakes."

But they still billed the afternoon as "Million Day" -- without a Million.

Had Duchossois been in his prime, anyone who came up with such low-rent distortion at a staff meeting would have been unemployed within hours.

Instead, the lame event went on. Few really cared about it.

TO CAP THE BIZARRE FAREWELL, a track hireling named Anthony Petrillo petulantly stormed into the press box approximately 90 minutes after "The Mr. D" and ordered nine members of the media -- almost all working on deadline -- out.

No coherent reason for the snit was given since there was no coherent reason.

Petrillo, CDI and Arlington were national laughingstocks.

Again, Insane Clown Posse stuff.

SO, THE TABLE WAS SET for transplanted Million Day '22 in Louisville.

That despite dangerous irregularities with Churchill's re-sod turf course.

A new top was planted last October. Racing on it this spring proved highly problematic.

Those flaws reached tragic proportion in June when a $50K claimer named Gingrich was coasting to victory and his legs suddenly slid out from underneath him.

Jockey Jimmy Graham did his best to avoid catastrophe.

But it wasn't enough for the crippled horse. He was vanned off and "humanely" destroyed.

And turf racing at CD was suspended -- until last Saturday.

INITIALLY, CARSTANJEN AND HIGHWAYMEN planned to move the Million, the Bev D., the Secretariat and the Pucker Up to their base track.

But the Secretariat and the Pucker Up were quietly ditched.

Then, rather than being run consecutively -- as had been tradition at Arlington -- the Million and the Bev D. were spaced 3 hours apart.

That was so the entire turf rail could be moved approximately 24 feet in after the Bev D.

In theory, that would give the eight Million starters fresh -- and safer -- primary lanes to run on.

TO PROMOTE THE BIG DAY, Carstanjen underling Tonya Abeln -- who appears to have power alleys of racetrack recipes and paddock hats -- announced that the oval would be offering "Chicago-style hot dogs" and "Italians beef sandwiches."

Apparently blown away by such imaginative inducements, an on-site paid attendance of less than 3,000 was reported by authoritative sources.

This at a Camptown that regularly claimed pre-pandemic Kentucky Derby attendances of 150,000-plus.

THE CD MILLION ITSELF came across as a colossal afterthought.

The turf looked awful.

The tarnished relic played out as "a merry-go-round race."

That means a few speed horses got out and no one made any chancy moves.

A race like that suggests jockeys were prioritizing their own safety.

A 4-year-old named Santin was among the leaders from the start. He made a mild move to first down the stretch and won.

As racetrack theater, the nine-furlong exhibition was about as exciting as watching Abeln stir up a pot of burgoo on a morning TV show in Kentuckiana.

SO, CARSTANJEN AND SUITE MATES apparently think they've preserved the legacy of the Arlington Million.

They haven't. Last weekend, travesty prevailed.

It's a lot easier to program slots with return rates of 94% or so.

They took the one day of the Arlington season that meant the most to Dick Duchossois and diced it into disrespectful tripe.

On their quarterly earnings calls, the CDI scavengers may continually boast of increased profits and fertile new gaming jurisdictions.

But Carstanjen, Abeln and carnivores will never have the one thing that set Richard Louis Duchossois apart.

And that's class.

Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears Sunday and Thursday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com.

Originally posted here:
O'Donnell: With "Louisville Million," Churchill Inc. dissed the legacy of Dick Duchossois - Daily Herald

What a really silly thing for Darwin Nunez to do. He was probably just frustrated that Liverpool were sh*t.

Dont you just hate it when you accidentally headbutt somebody?We can only really start in one place, and that place is a murky area between fan and journalist which has only got murkier as more outlets have basically become something akin to fanzines. Which is how you arrive here from the Daily Mirrors Merseyside correspondent

He didnt actually mean it! He had literally tried to headbutt Joachim Andersen literally ten seconds before which earned him that shove in the back but he didnt actually mean it just a few seconds later.

If anything, he just turned around too quickly, Jeff.

Frustration!And David Maddock continued that theme in his piece from Anfield on Monday night, as he opened with statistics about Liverpool conceding the first goal far too often and arrived quickly here:

The pressure of trailing so often was painfully evident in the frustrated reaction of Darwin Nunez guilty of missing at least three proper chances when he placed his head into the face of Joachim Andersen, to be dismissed on his home debut.

Leaving aside both the stupidity of that, AND the overreaction of the Palace defender, it all came about because of the home sides inability to take the many chances they createdand the pressure that brings.

So, so much to unpick here.

Firstly, why was Nunez feeling the pressure of trailing so often in literally his second competitive appearance for the club?

Secondly, placed his head!? He headbutted him. He literally headbutted him.

Thirdly, the overreaction of the Palace defender? Now Mediawatch has thankfully never been headbutted but we suspect we might fall down. At the very least we might stumble. It looks like it might smart.

And no, it did not all come about because of thehome sides inability to take the many chances they created. It came about because a man-child lost his temper and needlessly smashed somebody in the face with his head.

Were caught in a trapHeres the headline on MailOnline:

Darwin Nunez endured a nightmare Anfield bow as he fell into Palaces trap with a STUPID headbutt. The meltdown was coming he hasnt yet got the technical mastery of Roberto Firmino

How clever of Crystal Palace to set a trap that gave Nunez almost no choice but to headbutt a fellow footballer.

Crazy, stupid loveThe Liverpool Echo do admit that it was a silly, stupid and mindless sending-off, though at this point we wonder why nobody is condemning Nunez for an act of violence rather than just being silly and stupid, which makes a 23-year-old man sound like a child.

How silly of him to headbutt a man in the face. The big daft sod.

Here is Ian Doyles description:

Eight minutes into the second half, Joachim Andersen had taken umbrage with Nunez and prodded his finger towards the Liverpool striker before invading his personal space. Unwise, yes. But that still wasnt sufficient reason for Nunez to then plant a headbutt on the Crystal Palace defender, who needed no invitation to hit the ground and ensure the inevitable sending-off.

The idea that there is a concept of invading personal space within a contact sport is simply wonderful. And when we say simply wonderful we mean absolute bollocks.

And why had Andersen taken umbrage with Nunez? Why, because he had literally just tried to headbutt him but missed. He really is a silly, silly man.

Defensive masterclassUnlike some of the Liverpool fans masquerading as journalists, Jurgen Klopp had no doubt that Nunez was in the wrong with his headbutt, that did not stop some outlets claiming otherwise. This was Eurosport

HE WAS PROVOKED LIVERPOOL MANAGER JURGEN KLOPP DEFENDS DARWIN NUNEZ AFTER HIS HEADBUTT RED CARD

He really f***ing didnt.

Read the gloomThe Sun website have moved on from Liverpool because the laws of Our Game decree that there can only be one crisis club at any one time and that club is currently Manchester United.

And their biggest story this giddy Tuesday?

Glum Man Utd flops arrive at training as Cristiano Ronaldo and Co look to end horror start to season against Liverpool

So in short, some men have arrived at work and they werent grinning as they arrived at work.

CRISTIANO RONALDO cut a glum figure as he rolled through the gates for Manchester United training this morning.

And his Red Devils team-mates didnt look particularly happy either as they reported for duty at the clubs Carrington HQ.

Lets imagine for a second the headlines if they had looked particularly happy.

Mediawatch did really enjoy the description of Ronaldo arriving behind the wheel of a beefy Cadillac 44. Suddenly, we are craving crisps.

How much is that alleged rapist in the window?Onto more serious matters and we arrive at the front page of The Sun:

If Benjamin Mendy did indeed rape three women in 24 hours then he is simply an evil man. What the actual f*** has that got to do with his transfer fee? Its as irrelevant as his waist measurement.

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What did Darwin Nunez do to get a red card? He turned around too quickly, the daft sod - Football365

Prairies are characterized by grasses and wildflowers, as well as their unique soil composition. (Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie / U.S. Forest Service)

Almost as soon as it was dubbed the Prairie State, Illinois began to lose the very features that inspired the nickname.

In short order, millions of acres of prairie that had gone undisturbed since the retreat of the last glaciers were transformed into some of the most productive farmland in the U.S. or churned to make room for cities and ultimately suburban sprawl. In the process, prairie, which once covered 60% of Illinoiswas all but erased.

Whats left is measured in decimal points. Among conservationistsmost oft-cited stats, only .01 of 1% of high-quality original prairie remains. Indeed, so little prairie still exists in Illinois, most residents of the state have never encountered this rare landscape.

I dont think people have a chance to see and understand prairies, said Kelly Mikenas, assistant professor of biology and director of the environmental studies program at Elmhurst University. There arent that many opportunities to go and visit prairies.

Whereas the word forest immediately conjures up specific images people know what trees look like prairie draws a blank or, worse, the brain serves up uninformed guesses, like faulty search engine results or autocorrect failures.

Unmowed field? Not a prairie.

Rural America? Not a prairie.

Garden plot filled with native plants? Not a prairie.

Swaths of roadside weeds? Not a prairie.

The mistaken association with weeds has been perhaps the most damaging to prairies reputation, and is the impetus behind a movement to reference prairie plants by their Latin names instead of common names: Vernonia gigantea, for example, flat out sounds more desirable than giant ironweed.

A lack of familiarity with or connection to prairies has made whats left of them vulnerable to development. Without a charismatic species to rally around, prairies tend to disappear with little notice. There are no sequoias to stir public sentiment. No dramatic waterfalls, no awe-inspiring cliffs, canyons or snow-capped peaks. No polar bears.

Today, having flown not so much under the conservation radar as completely off it, prairie is one of the most endangered habitats on the planet, according to experts.

To know prairies is to love them, Mikenas said. So here, then, is an introduction.

What is a prairie?

Big bluestem grass creates a colorful burgundy ribbon in a prairie. (Laura Hubers / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

A prairie, by another name, is a grassland. Its primary characteristic, as the name implies, is the presence of native prairie grasses.

Not to be confused with the stuff of lawns, prairie grasses go by names like side-oats grama, prairie dropseed and Canada wild rye.Apart from their much greater height, prairie grasses differ from turf varieties in that they tend to grow in bunches (called clump-forming) rather than spreading like sod. Whiskery plumage, unusual seed heads and striking colors are other prairie grass hallmarks.

Big bluestem, the official state prairie grass of Illinois, is among the most dominant. It can grow taller than an NBA center, glows burgundy in fall and terminates in spikes that look like a turkey foot.

But grasses are only part of a prairies story. Wildflowers are another (technically: flowering plants, called forbs, typically of a non-woody nature), with hundreds of species ranging from familiar coneflowers to rarities like the prairie fringed orchid. Trees occasionally make a cameo, but their notable absence is another prairie calling card. Traditionally, dry conditions, fire and species such as elk kept trees from establishing in prairies.

Though Illinois prairie no longer supports elk, it does provide food and shelter to a host of wildlife, from the tiniest of insects to small herds of reintroduced bison.

This interconnected web of grasses, forbs, wildlife and microorganisms is literally grounded in prairie soil, a complex stew thats perhaps the most critical and yet least understood component of what makes a prairie a prairie.

Its really the foundation, and yet we know so little about it, Mikenas said. Weve done a lot of studying of soil cores and we can extract DNA, but that science only goes so far. We only have the ability to identify a few species of bacteria and fungi, and there are tens of thousands of bacteria in a gram of soil.

Trying to replicate an individual prairies soil is almost impossible, she said. Its not just about calculating the exact amount of certain minerals, or the ratios of sand, silt and clay, but unknowable details like the number of air pockets.

Its like trying to bake a cake, but you dont know the ingredients or the proportions, said Mikenas.

Purple prairie clover. (Jennifer Jewett / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

The most iconic type of prairie and yes, theres more than one kind is tallgrass, said Mikenas. Picture covered wagons rolling through wheel-high grasses, she said. Thatstallgrass prairie.

The soil is usually very deep and so are the roots of tallgrass plants, creating a world below ground as rich and diverse as above, andsequestering carbon as the roots extend down into the earth.

And then theres the color. Grassland may imply an unbroken sea of green, but prairies are rainbow-hued.From spring through fall, prairie flowers bloom in a riot ofpurples, pinks, yellows, oranges and whites, basking in the full sun that beats down on this almost treeless environment.

All that sun means tallgrass prairies are hot. Theres no shade and very little water, Mikenas said, and the irony is that prairies are often at their most beautiful when conditions are the most brutal for visitors.

Theyre inhospitable ... to us, but thats part of what makes them so remarkable,she said. These scrappy plants can live in these places that might be discouraging, bringing immense beauty to inhospitable areas.

Apart from tallgrass, theres mixed and shortgrass prairie, differing in soil moisture, glacial history, topography (spoiler alert not all prairie land is flat) and soil composition. There are sand prairies, gravel prairies and even dolomite prairies, where the soil is so shallow, bedrock is exposed in places.

That same bedrock, gravel or sand frustrated farmers attempts at cultivation and is one reason any prairie remnants can still be found in Illinois.

What is a remnant prairie?

Environmental studies scholar Liz Anna Kozik creates comics that depict and explain the history of prairies and their restoration. Here she illustrates the differences between prairie remnants and restoration. (Courtesy of Liz Anna Kozik)

One definition of a remnant is that its never been plowed, said Becky Barak, a conservation scientist at the Chicago Botanic Garden and an adjunct professor in Northwestern Universitys plant biology and conservation program.Once land has been plowed, everything in the soil that marked it as prairie is gone, she said.

There are some 2,000 acres of remnant prairie in Illinois, which is as close as we can get to the states ancient post-glacial landscape. But to think of remnants as pristine prairie is a bit of a mischaracterization.

Not even remnants have escaped the influence of human activity, including exposure to light pollution, air pollution and herbicides applied to adjacent properties, according to Mikenas.Theres also no getting around the isolated, patchwork nature of remnants compared with what was once an unbroken vista as far as they eye could see.

All remnants have undergone some level of change, Barak said, but the degree of that disturbance varies widely. There are high-quality remnants, the rarest of the rare, which are as intact as a landscape can be considering centuries of proximity to agricultural or urban development.Other sites are so degraded, theyre scarcely recognizable as prairie. Still with care and management they can be brought back from the brink.

What all remnants have in common, regardless of quality, is that the key elements of original prairie, an ecological memory, are still present: seeds, roots and soil that have evolved together over thousands of years.

How is it possible, people might wonder, to know whether a remnant has never been plowed, grazed or otherwise tampered with? Land use records only go back centuries, not millennia.

In some cases, paleoecological studies have been conducted, Barak said, showing evidence of prairie plants dating back 10,000 years.

A far more analog method is the hands-on evaluation of a site. Scientists look for certain markers, Barak said, such as the really deep plant roots characteristic of a remnant. Theyll also catalog species, with biodiversity distinguishing a bona fide prairie remnant from a wannabe. Remnants will contain hundreds of different species in even a small section versus mere dozens in areas that have been altered.

Other indicators include the presence of rare species.

Flora of the Chicago Region is a 1,300-page plant book scientists like Barak and Mikenas use to assess a site. We know there are some species only found in remnants. They need this intact environment, Mikenas said.

Those are the species most at risk of going extinct if remnants are lost, and often the most difficult to successfully establish in a prairie restoration project.

What is a prairie restoration?

Restoration work can involve reintroducing native species to a landscape being reclaimed from agricultural, industrial, residential or commercial use. (Courtesy of U.S. Forest Service)

In some cases, restoration refers to rehabilitating a remnant, one that may have become overgrown with invasive species, for example.

In those instances, restoration can be an exercise in removal by peeling back layers, said Barak, and reintroducing natives.

More typical are situations where agricultural, industrial, residential or commercial acreage is reclaimed as a natural area, such asa farmer donating or selling their property to a land trust. Another example could be the demolition of a factory, where the site is topped off with soil and prepped for native plants, slated to become a preserve.

In these scenarios, prairie restoration is akin to historical recreation the equivalent of presenting a reasonable facsimile of the cabin Abe Lincoln grew up in because the original no longer exists.

This sort of restoration isnt prairie in the same sense as a remnant, most notably because restored prairies are engineered by human hand. Theyre created by us, Mikenas said. And theres so much about these habitats we dont know. Restoration is a scientifically informed field, but were only doing the best we can with what we have.

In a way, restoration specialists are aiming to unlock the key to natures secret sauce recipe. And theres been a lot of trial and error.

People talk a lot about the ratio of grasses to forbs, Barak said, as an example. Early restoration projects would typically include big bluestem the granddaddy of prairie grasses in their planting schemes. But big bluestem doesnt behave the same way in a young restoration as it does in an established remnant, displaying a tendency to overwhelm forbs. Today, big bluestem is planted sparingly, if at all, she said.

Perhaps one of the biggest constraints facing restoration ecologists, Barak said, is the availability of seeds for prairie plants (not cultivars or evennativars). These need to be collected from remnant prairies, where some plants are so rare and few in number, its not possible to gather enough seed to sow elsewhere. Seeds of spring blooming species are also harder to collect, Barak said, and cost is another factor.

As scrappy as prairie plants are, they can also be finicky. Some have proven downright obstinate,refusing to germinate in greenhouses or at restoration sites.

Among restorations white whales are plants called hemiparasites theyre capable of photosynthesis but they obtain water and other nutrients from a host plant. Bastard toadflax is an example of a hemiparasitic prairie plant thats yet to take hold in restorations, according to Barak, but not for lack of trying.

In some cases, hemiparasites can help keep dominant plants under control, Barak said. That and any other benefits they provide benefits scientists, perhaps, have yet to uncover are among the missing puzzle pieces in any restoration.

Given all of the aforementioned constraints, prairie restoration projects tend to rely on a short list of plants that are the easiest to establish and most adaptable to non-prairie soil think of them as restorations greatest hits resulting in far less diversity than would be found at a remnant, not just in terms of flora but also the fauna.

Think of the relationship between milkweed and the monarch butterfly without the former, the latter disappears. That kind of close relationship between species exists many times over in a prairie, Mikenas said.

Milkweed seed scattering at a Chicago Park District natural area. Prairie remnants and restoration projects go hand in hand in preserving biodiversity. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

Gradually a restorations soil and processes will come to resemble a prairie, but the emphasis is on gradual, said Barak. Progress is measured not in years but over the course of multiple generations of human lifespans.

The suggestion that a prairie can be translocated uprooted from a site where its existed for thousands of years and plunked down on a plot of land elsewhere manages to both vastly overestimate what restoration can accomplish and vastly underestimate the complexity of a prairie ecosystem, according to experts.

Even if you dug down 10 feet and could scrape up and move a prairie, youre not going to have the micro-topology, said Mikenas. There are all of these tiny differences. It matters and it does have influences.

Restoration isnt a substitute for remnants but rather the two go hand in hand, according Mikenas. Creating new habitat is as vital as holding onto existing ecosystems,making restoration one of the most important tools in a conservationists toolbox, she said.

The great and critical challenge of our time is the preservation of biodiversity in support of a healthy, functioning planet, Mikenas said.

You may say, This one little habitat doesnt matter. But they all add up, Mikenas said. Thats what led us to this situation now, where we have this patchwork.

The question for humans weigh is whether we can live without prairie. And if we can, do we want to?

Contact Patty Wetli:@pattywetli| (773) 509-5623 |[emailprotected]

Link:
Prairies Are Making Headlines. But What Exactly Are They? Here's an Explainer - WTTW News

By: Zephyr Melton October 30, 2021

Winter golf means you'll draw some less-than-ideal lies.

Getty Images

With the leaves changing and daylight dwindling, another golf season is coming to a close. But for the true grinders among us, the fun is only beginning. For many, winter golf is on the horizon.

Playing winter golf can present some unique challenges. Courses play longer as you lose distance in the cold, and keeping feeling in your hands can be a real battle. Youll also deal with some less-than-ideal lies featuring wet grass and squishy terrain.

These wintery lies will tempt you to pull out your lob wedge to try and lift the ball out of the soppy mess, but often times, youll catch it heavy and lay the sod over it. Thats why you should leave the wedge in the bag and opt to use a hybrid instead.

As GOLF Top 100 Teacher Jonathan Yarwood explained in a recent video, youve got to build in an insurance policy when you encounter one of these lies. That means using a wide-soled hybrid instead of a wedge.

You cant mishit it, Yarwood says. The club is going to skid.

With the more forgiving hybrid selected, youll want to choke down on the club a bit for extra control. Stand a little closer to the ball and then use your putting stroke to hit the ball off the wet lie.

Make life really simple for yourself, Yarwood says. The thing just skips and hops Im not going to mishit it out of this horrible lie.

If you can make a simple putting stroke to hit the ball, your chances of mishitting the shot are drastically lowered.

Try this shot next time you find yourself with a wonky winter lie. Your scorecard will thank you.

Zephyr Melton is an assistant editor for GOLF.com where he spends his days blogging, producing and editing. Prior to joining the team at GOLF.com, he attended the University of Texas followed by stops with Team USA, the Green Bay Packers and the PGA Tour. He assists on all things instruction and covers amateur and womens golf.

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Why you should use a hybrid to chip when playing winter golf - Golf.com

FIFA is currently in the process of finalizing venue selection for the 2026 World Cup, which will be played in the United States, Canada and Mexico. As you surely know, Seattle is among the cities still under consideration and the selection committee will be in town Oct. 31-Nov. 1 checking things out and attending the Sounders-Galaxy match.

In preparation for the visit, Sea2026.com was launched and the executive committee was unveiled. The Seattle Sounders are heavily represented with majority owner Adrian Hanauer, minority owners Ciara, Russell Wilson and Amy Hood. Joining them are outgoing Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, Amazon Web Services CEO Adam Selipsky, and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman.

While all of that is important to the bid being successful, I suspect most of you dont really care. So lets get to the good stuff:

Seattle is one of 17 U.S. cities still in the running and there are officially two more cities in Canada (Toronto and Edmonton) and three more in Mexico (Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey). The other U.S. cities are Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C., Dallas, Kansas City, Boston, Denver, Houston, Baltimore, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Nashville, Bay Area, Cincinnati, Miami and Orlando.

Believe it or not, Toronto is the only Canadian city remaining from the three that were originally proposed after Vancouver dropped out early in the process and Montreal a bit later. Edmonton was actually added later in the process and Vancouver has been making noise about getting back into it, but nothing is yet official.

That has not been officially announced and could be somewhat affected by how many non-U.S. cities are selected. Notably, this will be a 48-team tournament and even if six non-U.S. cities are selected, its expected that the same number of games would be played here as would have been played in a 32-team tournament.

In recent years, FIFA seems to prefer having 12 host venues, but they had 10 in South Africa, while the 2002 tournament that was played in South Korea and Japan featured a whopping 20 venues. A safe guess is that at least eight U.S. cities will be selected, but there are surely scenarios where as many as 14 could be used.

The goal is to wrap up the venue tours by the end of the year theres still at least one more batch to be done after this group of tours is finished and for the final decision to be made in the first half of next year.

The most common criticism of Seattles bid has been that we dont have a permanent grass field here. I wrote rather extensively about this awhile back, but the TL;DR is that I dont think thats a particularly big problem. Half the cities under consideration dont have permanent grass fields and if Seattle is selected, theyll figure out how to make grass work one way or another.

All 17 U.S. venues under consideration house NFL teams with the possible exception of the Rose Bowl, which was presumably just a placeholder for the Los Angeles bid while SoFi Stadium was completed. The most dramatic concession any of those facilities have offered is Bostons Gillette Stadium, where theyve promised to re-install the permanent grass pitch that was there before they put in FieldTurf in 2006. In Dallas, Kansas City and Washington, D.C. theyve promised to take out some seats in order to accommodate a bigger pitch.

Its not yet known exactly what Seattle is planning to do in order to make Lumen Field even more attractive, but it does have the benefit of having hosted not only the Sounders but numerous international matches. It was also built with soccer in mind, unlike many of these other facilities, so they shouldnt need to remove seats or anything like that.

It will be interesting to see how they plan to install grass, however. Hanauer has previously tamped down expectations about installing a permanent grass surface, but simply rolling out sod the way they did for Copa America Centenario or the 2013 World Cup qualifier probably wont cut it.

It has been suggested that the Sounders should try to do something like they have in Las Vegas, Phoenix or Tottenham, where a full grass surface rolls out on top of the artificial one, but that would likely require a nine-figure infrastructure investment and seems unlikely. It might be possible to install something semi-permanent on top of the current pitch since theres at least a couple months between the end of the NFL season and the start of MLS, but that would almost certainly need to be removed when the NFL starts again shortly after the World Cup.

Its not hard to imagine permanent seating being added to the 300 level, signage being installed that allows the stadium to feel less like the Seahawks home when they arent playing and maybe even a permanent soccer locker room. The last two have been on the Sounders wishlist for quite some time and maybe this is the excuse First & Goal needs to make it happen.

My understanding is the Virginia Mason Athletic Center (VMAC) will be one of the primary training facilities. I suspect the University of Washington and Seattle University will also be leveraged. But the crown jewel could end up being a new Sounders training facility. The Sounders have been talking about a need to upgrade Starfire since at least 2015, when GM Garth Lagerwey supposedly nixed expansion plans that would have better accommodated S2 and the academy. The Sounders have gone back and forth about the pros and cons of upgrading Starfire versus finding a new facility ever since, but it seems like theyre finally close to making an announcement. I would expect to hear more about that by the end of the year.

I suppose its possible that theyll stay at Starfire, but the reality is that theres not a ton of space there thats going unused. The two sites that Ive heard speculated about are both in south King County, one at the Kent Midway Landfill site that nearly became the Sounders home in 2003 and the other being the old Weyerhaeuser Corporate Campus in Federal Way. But those are really just guesses. What Im fairly certain of is that the Sounders will want it to be visible, ideally have good access to mass transit, and provide some commercial opportunities.

I dont know if anything is planned expressly around the World Cup potentially coming here, but there are a lot of things already in the works that will make the bid even stronger by 2026. Most notable is the ongoing Link light rail expansion, which will stretch north to Lynwood, south to Federal Way and east to Redmond by then. Between now and 2026, there are supposed to be at least 19 new stations opened and it will be one of the biggest municipal rail systems in the country.

Light rail will be within reasonably easy walking distance of the stadium, airport and most of King Countys 45,000 hotel rooms, nearly 15,000 of which are in the downtown core.

Theres also a pretty significant waterfront reconstruction and expansion that is currently underway and will likely be done by 2026. The highlight of that project will be the Overlook Walk.

Im not going to pretend that doing business with an organization like FIFA is devoid of drawbacks. There will certainly be some accommodations made that rub locals the wrong way. I suspect tickets are going to be super expensive, and well all probably have to tolerate a level of disruption that is annoying.

But theres also reason to think that this tournament could speed up some of these long-planned projects and, at the very least, well get a Fan Fest. Ive only been to one in Germany, but it was a pretty awesome way to enjoy the games without having to spend a bunch of money.

Most journalists who have been handicapping the process seem to think that Seattle is among the favorites. Its hard to beat our soccer culture, weve got ample space to put everyone and getting around the region will be relatively easy, at least compared to many U.S. metro areas.

Maybe the biggest drawback is that Seattle is relatively isolated. Assuming Vancouver is out, the next closest venue might be Edmonton, which is more than 500 miles away. FIFA is also a pretty massive wildcard, and they might just not like whatever it is were selling.

But if its all decided on merit, its hard to see Seattle getting passed over.

Excerpt from:
Everything you need to know about Seattles World Cup bid - Sounder At Heart

Next Tuesday is election day 2021. Auditor Charles Ross says he expects 33 to 34 percent of the ballots to be returned.

If you've waited until the last minute, you still have time to review candidate interviews at Newstalkkit.com You'll find interviews with Yakima City Council candidates and candidates running for the Yakima School District. Auditor Charles Ross reminds voters to sign the ballot envelope and place it in the mail as soon as possible.You don't need a stamp to send your ballot in the mail. You can also drop your ballot in a drop box. Drop boxes are located throughout the county including in city and town halls. To find a location of a drop box near you just click on the linkhttps://www.yakimacounty.us/1136/Where-to-return-your-ballot-and-accessib

Ross says his office sent out 128,423 ballots to registered voters in the county. So far 18,683 or 14.69% of ballots have been returned to the Yakima County Auditors Office. Your ballot is due on election day November 2. Ross says he expects 34% of the ballots sent to voters to be returned by election day.

If you are looking for information about candidates and issues all registered voters were sent both local and state voter guides.

Depending upon where you live itll be a busy ballot with city and county elections as well as propositions in Selah and Yakima. In Yakima city council seats are open in District 2, 4 and 6. A seat on the Yakima County Commission is up for election as well.KIT candidate interviews of city council candidates are available on the KIT website at newstalkkit.com

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Time For Your Voice to Be Heard, Ballot Due Tuesday - newstalkkit.com

Any farm, really any farmright up to the most iconic Bluegrass nurserieswould have been proud to have two juveniles as accomplished as Rattle N Roll (Connect) and Electric Ride (Daredevil) heading towards the Breeders' Cup. And for both to have meanwhile dropped out, in wildly contrasting circumstances, would only have reiterated the odds to be overcome by even the most lavishly resourced operations. Rattle N Roll, winner of the GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity, can regroup next year after a minor foot issue ruled him out of the GI TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile; tragically there is no such comfort regarding Electric Ride, the GII Chandelier S. runner-up, following her freak loss (reportedly to an anaphylactic shock) a couple of weeks ago.

Incredibly, however, the farm that bred both still retains, not one, but two unbeaten contenders for Friday's 2-year-old card at Del Mar. Hidden Connection (Connect), nine-length winner of the GIII Pocahontas S., looks formidable in the GI Netjets Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, while One Timer (Trappe Shot) heads for the GII Juvenile Turf Sprint off a 12-length maiden win and two stakes scores. A banner achievement for any breeder. Impossible, then, to give adequate credit to St. Simon Place, whose scale of operation can be judged from the aggregate cost of the mares responsible for these four youngsters.

Tommy Wente, the man responsible, quickly does the math.

Out of the four mares, you know, I think it's less than $34,000 I got tied up in them altogether, he says.

Actually, it's $32,400.

Wente telephoned his friend Tommy Eastham of Legacy Bloodstock after One Timer won at Santa Anita and Electric Ride ran second in the Chandelier on the same card.

I just want to know, Tommy, Wente said to his namesake. Is this luck, or am I doing something right?

Well, when Hidden Connection won the other day, I guess I might have said a little luck, replied Eastham. But after these two here? You've got be doing something right.

Then, when Rattle N Roll won his Grade I a few days later, Eastham called again. Man, whatever you're doingjust keep doing it!

So what's the secret? When you think about the fortunes being spent by others, it feels like a pretty big question.

Everybody asks me that! says Wente, who runs the breeding division of St. Simon while partners Calvin and Shane Crain concentrate on a parallel sod-growing business. I'm known for going in there and buying cheap horses. But they're not really cheap horses, in my eyes. For me, they're very well-bred horses that come from very good farms. Okay, so they've been culled: this one's got a bad knee, this one's a little sore, this one needs more leg. But that's what I look for, because I can't buy mares that are perfect.

So I look for the kind I can breed to something that can fix them. I see whether I can breed [any issues] out of them, and can get me something on the ground that I can sell. But that's what makes it even more amazing to us, everything that's been happening. Because often you can get by with those kinds of mares if you're racing their babies. But we sell [nearly] everything.

One observable trait, consistent with accepting perceived flaws to meet the budget, is that all four of these mares were very lightly raced. But the real key is to find a filly out of a young mare who has been given a chance with good covers and, ideally, has already achieved prices suggestive of good physicals.

That way I can just sit back on them, Wente reasons. I can let the family grow for a few years.

A perfect example of the modus operandi is One Timer's dam Spanish Star (Blame), picked up for just $1,500 at Keeneland November four years ago.

I knew where she was raised, I knew the owner Tracy Farmer, I knew they did it right, Wente recalls. Okay, she didn't work out on the racetrack, but she was the first foal of a mare that had some stuff going, she had a son by Awesome Again in work. And that turned out to be Sir Winston. A year later he wins the Belmont and, bam, I can sell the half-sister [privately] for $150,000.

Now Wente is hoping to close out the exploding value of a couple of other diamonds found in the rough, with the dams of Hidden Connection and Rattle N Roll both scheduled to enter the ring next week.

C J's Gal (Awesome Again) was discovered at the Keeneland January Sale of 2016, having derailed after a single start. Wente knew that the big spenders would literally overlook her, being on the small side, and landed her for $9,500. Her first foal, a Tourist filly, made $70,000.

So from there, Wente says, we're free-riding.

Okay, so her second foal was a $49,000 RNA weanling who was ultimately let go for $40,000 the following September. But at least that meant Hidden Connection could benefit from the farm regime for another few monthsand that, to be fair, could be as important as any other ingredient in St. Simon's success.

I try to raise a great product, Wente says. I love my feeding program, I love how we wean them. And I don't put horses in a barn. Our horses are outside 24/7, raised in herds of, like, 10. And if they get kicked, they get kicked. If they get snotty noses, they get snotty noses. You know, to me, that's what makes them tough. You have to let them go through all that stuff. In my opinion, we give them too much medicine; we baby them too much. I think we get caught up, with so much money tied up in them, wanting to protect them. 'He's limping today, he doesn't feel too good, better get him inside.' No. Let that horse be a horse, let him figure it out.

C J's Gal is offered as hip 148 (with a Frosted cover) at Fasig-Tipton; while Jazz Tune (Johannesburg) is catalogued as hip 222, in foal to Liam's Map, at Keeneland. Wente picked her up, a $20,000 apple from the tree cultivated by the late Edward P. Evans, at the same sale five years ago. She had won a Parx maiden (though in another light career) in the silks of William S. Farish. Jazz Tune has some wonderful old-school seeding to her family, out of a Pleasant Tap half-sister to two Grade I winners (plus another at Grade II level) out of the Northern Dancer blue hen Dance Review.

Mind you, no matter how much you get right, you always need a bit of luck. How fortunate, for instance, that Jazz Tune did not meet her reserve at $55,000 when Wente returned her to Keeneland, with Rattle N Roll in utero, in 2018. But sometimes it just takes a little time to develop value. One Timer, for instance, made no more than $21,000 as a yearling, his sire having meanwhile been exiled to Turkey. While we've already noted how Hidden Connection struggled for traction.

But the yearling Electric Ride brought $130,000 from Quarter Pole Enterprises at Fasig-Tipton October, some yield for an Indiana-bred daughter of a mare, Why Oh You (Yes It's True), bought for $1,400 deep in the same Keeneland November Sale that produced Jazz Tune. Electric Ride advanced her value to $250,000 through Eddie Woods at OBS the following April, while Rattle N Roll proved a still more profitable exercise for his pinhookers. A $55,000 Keeneland November weanling for Rexy Bloodstock, he made $210,000 from Kenny McPeek in the same ring the following September.

No doubt about it, then, a grounding at St. Simon Place is becoming ever more trusted; and its graduates are punching ever more above weight. Wente has now expanded its broodmare band past 40, some owned with another partner in Scott Stevens, and raised around $750,000 from eight yearlings at Keeneland in September, selling as usual through Machmer Hall.

You've got to surround yourself with good people, people willing to help, Wente stresses. Because I have to reach out every day. I couldn't do what I'm doing without Carrie Brogden. She's opened a lot of doors for me, and she's always No 1 about the horses. People like her and [husband] Craig have been there and done it all. If she's says, 'Tommy, you want to pull that horse from the sale,' I'm pulling the horse from the sale. I'm going to take criticism and use it.

That said, the driving principle remains the sweat of his own brow.

At the end of the day, I truly believe that it's the time you put in raising them, he says. It's the cutting the grass, fixing the fenceboards, fixing the water. It's everything together. If you want to be the person who just sits in the house watching TV, letting everybody else do your work, fine. But I do my books, I do my matings, I do my contracts, I do my registrations. I'm as hands-on as I can be.

They say that necessity is the mother of invention and maybe those big farms that find themselves mere bystanders at the Breeders' Cup can learn something from the strategies Wente has adapted to work his budget. Maybe insisting on perfection, on the very best that money can buy, invites its own fragilities. Maybe it's more important to concentrate on connecting with horses, and connecting them with their environment. Nothing, that way, gets in the way of the passion.

Wente first had his imagination captured when visiting the barn of his stepfather, former Hoosier Park trainer Tom Hickman, some 20 years ago. He was captivated. He simply had to have one of these beautiful animals. The one he bought, an Indiana-bred, ran once and showed nothing. Then one night the phone rang.

We had them boarded over there at the old Quarter Horse track, Riverside Downs, in Henderson, Kentucky, Wente recalls. About two o'clock in the morning I had a call from the trainer. They'd had a barn fire, lost all these horses. Of course, my stepdad's horses were in there, my horse was in there. It was the low of the low. My very first horse, lost in a barn fire. But I knew I was hookedbecause the very next day I was looking for another one to buy. And I've been hooked ever since. The highs are high, the lows are low, and there's no in-between. It's the guys that can take those lows, and keep on going, that are going to make it.

So here's one such, who boards the plane for California on Thursday not just flying the flag for a 400-acre parcel of Kentucky, but for every small breeder striving against the perceived odds.

I'm for the little guy, Wente says. I am a little guy. I started out in Indiana, okay. I raised so much crap over there that nobody wanted. And then I've come over here to Kentucky, but I kept the same mindset. I never changed what I did. I just started buying Kentucky stuff, and dealing with Kentucky stuff, the way I did the Indiana stuff. You don't need to have Justify or Tapit. The highest stallion we've used would be $30,000, tops.

So I want the little breeder to know, keep your head down, keep doing what you're doing. People know me as that crazy guy going in there buying horses for $1,000, $2,000. But you know what, there is some kind of method in my madness. I haven't figured it out yet. But there's something going on, right? I've proved you can do it. You can do it, man. If I can do it, anybody can do it.

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Method in the 'Madness' Connecting Star Juveniles - Thoroughbred Daily News

Fair or not, Coras punishment struck Johnson as further evidence of his former shortstops resilience. Life comes with indelible loss: lost innocence, lost loved ones, broken bonds, broken hearts, faulty choices, fractured dreams.

In Coras case, he is a former Boy Scout turned baseball journeyman who carries the lessons of his troubles as a traveling companion, as if they were his means of finding true north in the wilderness without a compass.

People close to Cora say the lessons he learned in his darkest hours, from losing his father as a boy to the humiliation of losing his livelihood in the sign-stealing scandal, helped him emerge from the woods this year and advance to within two wins of the American League pennant and a World Series berth.

His longtime friends as well as major league managers and executives who opened doors for him as a player and manager say those lessons will serve Cora well as he moves on from his near-miss in 2021 and prepares for another title run in 2022.

Alex has bounced back from a lot of different things in his life, and he has learned from those things in ways that keep making him stronger all the time, said Henry Turtle Thomas, who recruited Cora to play at the University of Miami and has remained a friend.

A Red Sox spokesman said Cora was not available to be interviewed for this story. But Cora has made no secret that he has grown from the pain and shame he caused himself, his family, and others who employed him and believed in him.

What really hurt me was for them to suffer because of my mistakes, he said tearfully after the Sox eliminated Tampa Bay in the Division Series.

As Johnson noted, no one disputes that sign stealing has been part of baseball as long as peanuts and Cracker Jack. Many teams have lived by versions of the refrain, If you aint cheating, you aint competing.

Johnson, now 78, managed the New York Mets in the 1986 World Series, which ended with the Red Sox losing Games 6 and 7 at Shea Stadium in one of the most devastating postseason collapses in franchise history, and he said, We knew they were stealing signs in Boston and flashing them on the scoreboard. Everybody knew what was going on because everybody was trying to get that little extra edge on the other guy.

In my estimation, that was never cheating. It was pushing the rulebook as far as you can.

Dwight Evans, who with Marty Barrett was considered the most adept sign stealer for the Sox in the 1980s and figured prominently in the 1986 World Series, said by telephone from Florida that Johnsons assertion is totally false.

We didnt have their signs, said Evans. I wish we did, but we didnt.

Crushing losses

Johnson, whose 86 Mets were described in Jeff Pearlmans 2005 book, The Bad Guys Won!, as the rowdiest team ever to put on a New York uniform, said its not the fault of todays baseball teams that modern technology has opened new frontiers in sign stealing.

The higher the tech, the more you can do, he said. I guarantee you, everybody in the game is trying to get every little edge.

But MLB, having in recent years banned the use of technology to steal signs, has cracked down on the practice, disciplining not only the Astros but the Red Sox and Yankees. In Coras case, he has said he deeply regrets the anguish he caused his 18-year-old daughter, Camila, who like Cora himself was born the child of a widely respected baseball lifer in Puerto Rico.

By now, Coras story is familiar to many. His father, Jose, was a founder of the Little League program in their mountain valley town of Caguas, 20 miles south of San Juan. Jose, also a baseball writer and scout for the San Diego Padres, taught the game to Cora and his older brother, Joey, who at 21 made his major league debut with the Padres in 1987, when Alex was 11.

A year earlier, while Alex was still playing Little League, Jose was diagnosed with colon cancer. Alex entered the sixth grade believing his fathers treatment had defeated the cancer, but Jose succumbed to the disease on Oct. 5, 1989, at the age of 52, when Alex was 13.

In death, Jose Cora remained a guiding light for his sons. Alex, like Joey, who attended Vanderbilt, followed his fathers advice by entering college, the University of Miami, rather than sign with the Minnesota Twins after they selected him in the 12th round of the 1993 draft.

But Miami proved too much for Cora, a mostly Spanish-speaking teenager, unmoored from his family and struggling in English-speaking classes. He soon retreated to Puerto Rico, homesick and all but defeated.

The first thing he did when he went home was try to sign with the Twins, but it wasnt a possibility at that point, said J.D. Arteaga, his Miami teammate and closest college friend, now the universitys pitching coach. Also, Joey wasnt going to allow that to happen. He made sure Alex was on the next flight back to Miami.

Cora returned stronger and wiser, as he would nearly 30 years later after his suspension. A slick-fielding infielder, he quickly established himself as a leader and served as an unofficial player-coach throughout his three years at Miami an experience that culminated in one of the most crushing defeats of his baseball life.

On an unforgiving Nebraska night in the spring of 1996, Cora broke a tie score with a go-ahead single with two outs in the top of the ninth inning in the final game of the College World Series against Louisiana State.

We all thought it was the game-winning RBI, Arteaga recalled.

But Miamis All-American closer, Robbie Morrison, retired the first two batters in the bottom of the ninth, only to surrender a two-run walkoff home run in the last game of Coras collegiate career.

Cora collapsed in the sod, sobbing inconsolably. He was still sobbing when a teammate lifted him from the grass, and still crying, choking on his words, when he addressed the team afterward, expressing love for his teammates, none more than Morrison.

Thats Alex, Arteaga said. Thats how much he cares.

Cora later was enshrined in the schools Hall of Fame.

Alex had that it factor, Thomas said. He wasnt a great hitter and he maybe wasnt the best student in the classroom, but in my 39 years of coaching college baseball, he was the smartest player and the best defender in the infield Ive ever seen.

Manager in the making

Cora was selected in the third round of the 1996 draft by the Dodgers but would have gone higher if not for his bat. He made his way with other skills, the most tangible being his defensive wizardry, the most intangible his baseball intellect.

In 2000, Johnson chose the 24-year-old Cora as his starting shortstop over Mark Grudzielanek, a proven veteran who had hit .326 the previous season.

Alex was short of physical abilities, but when you looked at his makeup and mental approach, he was the kind of player you want to have on your team, Johnson said.

A former major leaguer himself he played 13 seasons as a second baseman, mostly with the Baltimore Orioles Johnson said Cora reminded him of his Hall of Fame teammates Brooks Robinson and Frank Robinson in how hard he worked to become the best player he could be.

By the time Coras athleticism ebbed around age 30, he had established the leadership qualities that enabled him to spend the second half of his 14-year career as a valued utility player.

Cora left his mark in Boston by helping the Sox win the 2007 World Series, while mentoring the likes of Dustin Pedroia. Afterward, Cora later told the New York Post, he sat alone in a private room and just started crying, because thats something I would have loved to share with my dad.

Cora was 36 when the St. Louis Cardinals released him in spring training in 2011, ending his playing career. He spent a few years as an ESPN analyst before the Sox managerial job opened in 2017. The opening prompted Coras former Dodgers teammate Paul Lo Duca to tweet a sentiment shared by many in baseball.

The smartest player I ever played with was Alex Cora, Lo Duca said. It was inevitable that he was going to manage.

Dave Dombrowski, then Bostons president of baseball operations, came to agree.

Welcomed back in Boston

Cora had weathered other personal challenges between winning a World Series as a player with Boston and returning in 2018 as the franchises first minority manager. They included divorcing Camilas mother and making minor headlines in 2008 when he was booked for a second time at a Florida jail for alleged probation violations stemming from his conviction on a 1999 charge of driving under the influence when he was a 23-year-old Dodgers prospect.

Cora resolved his legal issues, and his probation was terminated in June 2008, during his final season playing for the Sox.

Dombrowski said his research on Cora confirmed Lo Ducas evaluation.

Many people I talked to said he was always the smartest guy on the team and always a leader, Dombrowski said. He also was a great communicator, both in English and Spanish.

Many people I talked to said he was always the smartest guy on the team and always a leader.

Dave Dombrowski on Alex Cora

Coras only drawback was a lack of major league managerial experience. Dombrowski said the Sox signed him on the conditions that he hire a veteran bench coach (Cora chose former Milwaukee manager Ron Roenicke) and agree to work with Dombrowskis special assistant, Tony La Russa, who had 33 years of managerial experience.

The arrangement proved to be historic. The Sox won 17 of their first 19 games under Cora and a franchise-record 108 games overall in the regular season before they blew away the Yankees, Astros, and Dodgers in the postseason.

Coras catchphrase for Bostons offense was doing damage, and he gleefully boasted about the Sox obliterating the Yankees, 16-1, in Game 3 of the ALDS.

We scored 16 at Yankee Stadium, he shouted at Fenway Park before the duck boat parade. Suck on it.

After Coras suspension and self-imposed exile in Puerto Rico, Red Sox executives wasted little time hiring him once they interviewed him in an airport hangar on the island. If the Sox hadnt hired him, Dombrowski said, another team inevitably would have.

Read more: The inside story of how the Red Sox decided to rehire Alex Cora

Alex is a tremendous individual, and the Red Sox are very fortunate to have him back, Dombrowski said.

Cora said he became a better person during his suspension, a better father to Camila, his ex-wifes son Jeriel, his 4-year-old twin sons, Islander and Xander, and a better partner to the twins mother, Angelica.

His watchword for the Sox in 2021 shifted to humility. He refrained from telling anyone to suck on it after the Sox eliminated the Yankees in the Wild Card Game on the 32nd anniversary of his fathers death. And he criticized his pitcher, Eduardo Rodriguez, for pointing at an imaginary watch on his wrist in Game 3 of the ALCS to mock Houston shortstop Carlos Correas signature move, which is meant to signify its our time.

Houston swept the next three games after Rodriguezs stunt, and time was up for Cora and the 2021 Sox. On Thursday, he returned home to Puerto Rico, with more to learn about baseball and life.

Bob Hohler can be reached at robert.hohler@globe.com.

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After a humbling suspension, Alex Coras resilience was evident as he nearly made history with the Red Sox - The Boston Globe

St. Paul, MN (KROC-AM News) - Minnesota's Health Commissioner has set a goal of having all of Minnesota senior citizens at least partially immunized against COVID-19 by the end of next month.

Jan Malcolm made the announcement this morning concerning Minnesotans who are age 65 and older. At last report, a bit over a third of the state's senior population had received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Overall, the most recent report from the state indicates over 710,000 Minnesotans have now received at least one dose and over 264,000 have had both vaccination shots.

State health officials note that Minnesota's allocation of vaccine doses has increased nearly 30 percent since January but recent deliveries have been hampered by the snow and ice storms affecting parts of the country. Yesterday, Olmsted County Public Health had to postpone a vaccination clinic because an expected shipment of the vaccine did not arrive and there have been similar reports of delayed shipments in other parts of the state.

The Minnesota Department today reported 14 coronavirus-related deaths and a Mower County resident between 30 and 34 years old was on that list. The state reported 928 new COVID-19 cases throughout Minnesota, including another 26 infections in Olmsted County. The daily testing positivity rate was down to about three percent based on over 31,000 tests completed on Wednesday.

The overall number of Minnesotans hospitalized due to COVID-19 is the lowest reported in almost 5 months. The latest count from Wednesday was 287 with 54 of the patients in intensive care. It marked the first time the overall hospitalization total has been below 300 since September 21 and the ICU total is the lowest since last spring.

News Update:MN's First Google Office to Open in Historic Rochester Building

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COVID Hospitalizations in MN Below 300 for First Time in 5 Months - KROC-AM