Star Tribune
Cougar living in Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, city, DNR warn
Cougar tracks were spotted in the snow in a Minneapolis neighborhood Tuesday morning, one day after the big cat was captured on home security video footage.
The cougar sauntered across the driveway of a Lowry Hill home about 3:30 a.m. Monday, surprising the homeowner, who was at his Wisconsin cabin when he saw the alert on his smart phone.
“I thought it was one of those morning dreams where you doze off and it seems really realistic,” said Rick, who asked that his last name not be used to avoid further commotion in the neighborhood.
Late Tuesday afternoon, officials with Minneapolis Animal Care and Control and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said they had confirmed that a cougar was living around the 1700 block of Logan Avenue S., in the Lowry Hill neighborhood not far from Lake of the Isles and Cedar Lake. They warned the public in that area to be cautious.
“Parents of small children should pay increased attention when outside,” said Caroline Hairfield, the city’s animal control director, in a statement. “Pet owners with small dogs or cats should supervise their animals when they are outdoors.”
The agencies were working together on tracking the cougar, and reminded the public that it’s against the law to hunt a non-game animal. The DNR and other licensed peace officers may remove the cougar if it poses a threat to public safety.
Rick, the Lowry Hill homeowner who captured the cougar on his home video, said he has seen a few cougars — also known as mountain lions — before. But having one pass his house in the city was surreal, he said, and didn’t properly sink in until after his morning coffee.
Rick said he called police and sent the footage to the DNR. He worried about whether the cat would be able to find its way out of the city, and for the safety of his neighbors and pets.
He and his wife woke up Tuesday to find a bloody trail in their driveway, stretching from the garage to the street, that he suspected was left by a mutilated raccoon.
Rick sent the video to neighbor Dan Bruggeman, who said he was shocked to see the apex predator on his block.
“There’s a sense of excitement, to have something like that in your neighborhood, but also a sense of concern,” he said.
Even more surprising was seeing cougar tracks in the street Tuesday morning after Monday night’s snowfall, he added.
Robyn Bruggeman posted the video Monday on the neighborhood website Nextdoor, eliciting more than 50 comments from people expressing shock, awe and concern for the animal. She wrote that authorities had been notified about the sighting.
The video shows the cougar leaping over a 4-foot fence. Rick said it would’ve also had to jump the house’s 6-foot fence, not shown on the video, to make it by the garages.
This marks only the second time a cougar has been spotted in Hennepin County since 2004, though a cougar was found dead in Bloomington in 2020 after it apparently was hit by a vehicle on a freeway.
A cougar was spotted on video in Duluth this summer, and another was seen a few weeks ago in Carver County. A Wisconsin bowhunter fearing for his safety shot and killed a cougar last month east of Alma, Wis., just downriver from Wabasha, Minn.
There have been over 80 verified cougar occurrences in Minnesota since the DNR began tracking them around 2007. Seeing one of the big cats in a densely populated urban area like Minneapolis is “extremely rare,” said Dan Stark of the DNR.
This year has seen an estimated 16 to 20 occurrences in Minnesota, the most ever. Verified sightings have increased in recent years, though it’s not clear whether that’s due to more cougars passing through or more home security cameras, Stark said.
Occurrences have been scattered across the state, from Duluth to Bemidji, from the Rochester area to Aitkin County, he said.
If you run into a cougar, don’t approach or corner it. The best thing to do is to appear bigger by holding your hands above your head, waving a hat or jacket and throwing rocks or sticks at the animal, Stark said. Make a lot of noise, and pick up small children and pets. Whatever you do, don’t run; if the cougar attacks, it’s recommended to fight back.
Encounters and sightings should be reported as soon as possible to a conservation officer or local law enforcement so that evidence — such as tracks, hair and scat — can be documented. Hairfield said residents should report sightings to 311 or the DNR at 651-296-6157.
Northern State 35, Concordia (St. Paul) 34: Wyatt Block’s 2-yard TD run and the PAT with 10 seconds remaining lifted the Wolves past the host Golden Bears. Block’s touchdown capped an 11-play, 72-yard drive by the Wolves, who trailed 24-7 in the second quarter. Jeff Isotalo-McGuire’s 34-yard field goal with three minutes, 32 seconds remaining gave the Golden Bears a 34-28 lead.
Winona State 31, Bemidji State 28: Cade Stenstrom rushed for two TDs and passed for 150 yards and a TD to help the host Warriors outlast the Beavers. Stenstrom’s 1-yard TD run and the PAT with two minutes, 10 seconds remaining gave the Warriors a 31-21 lead. The Beavers responded with an 11-play, 93-yard drive to pull within 31-28 with 18 seconds remaining but the Warriors recovered the ensuing kickoff.
Div. I-AA
North Dakota State 59, Murray State 6: The top-ranked Bison built a 42-3 lead in the first half and went on to defeat the host Racers in Murray, Ken. CharMar Brown ran for 97 yards and three TDs for the Bison.
South Dakota State 20, South Dakota 17 (OT): Amar Johnson’s 3-yard TD run in overtime lifted the host Jackrabbits to the victory. The Coyotes opened the OT with a 40-yard field goal.
Youngstown State 41, North Dakota 40 (OT): The host Penguins went first in OT and scored and then stopped North Dakota’s two-point conversion to hold on for the victory. The Penguins sent the game into OT on a 35-yard field goal with 12 seconds remaining.
Div. III
Augsburg 35, St. Olaf 34 (OT): The host Auggies stopped a two-point conversion in overtime to outlast the Oles. The Auggies went first in the overtime and scored on a 25-yard pass from Ryan Harvey to Tyrone Wilson. It was Harvey’s fifth TD pass — the fourth to Wilson. After the Auggies’ PAT, the Oles scored on a 25-yard TD pass from Theo Doran to Braden Menz. But the Oles’ pass attempt for the conversion failed.
After splitting their two-game West Coast trip to begin the season, the Wolves improved to 2-1 with a 112-101 win over Toronto in their home opener. It was a wire-to-wire win that featured some strong bursts of play from the Wolves and other times when their decision-making was suspect. But those moments when they were on, specifically the start of the game and most of the third quarter, were enough to carry them against a shorthanded Raptors team that was without RJ Barrett, Bruce Brown and Immanuel Quickley.
Julius Randle had 24 points while Anthony Edwards had 24 on 21 shot attempts. Donte DiVincenzo had 16 off the bench. Nickeil Alexander-Walker left the game in the fourth quarter and did not return, though he was in the bench area for the final minutes after going to the locker room briefly.
The Wolves’ starting lineup had its best stretch of basketball on the season after that unit started off sluggish in the first two games. Mike Conley, who was 3-for-16 to open the year, hit two early threes to set the tone, though Conley would finish 2-for-8.
Donte DiVincenzo replaced him at point guard halfway through the quarter and continued the hot shooting from the point guard slot with three threes of his own. The Wolves forced five Toronto turnovers and had a 32-18 lead after one.
Coach Chris Finch toyed with some different lineup combinations in the first half as he had Conley and DiVincenzo begin the quarter together while having Joe Ingles run the point later in the quarter. It led to an uneven second, and the Wolves led 56-44 at halftime.
But the Wolves played inspired coming out of the break. Jaden McDaniels, who didn’t take a shot in the first half, had nine points in the opening minutes of the third. Edwards hit a pair of threes as they pushed their lead to 22. The Wolves weren’t sharp closing the night, and the Raptors had the game within right inside of two minutes, but the Wolves had built enough of a cushion.
Rudy Gobert. Gobert had 15 points and 13 rebounds and was the beneficiary of some lobs from his teammates like Edwards, Conley, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Joe Ingles. Gobert also finished with four blocks.
Gobert had two blocks on one possession in the fourth quarter that got the crowd off its feet and Gobert pounding his chest. Gobert blocked D.J. Carton and Jamison Battle.
Star Tribune
Trump denigrates Detroit while appealing for votes in a suburb of Michigan’s largest city
NOVI, Mich. — Donald Trump further denigrated Detroit while appealing for votes Saturday in a suburb of the largest city in swing state Michigan.
”I think Detroit and some of our areas makes us a developing nation,” the former president told supporters in Novi. He said people want him to say Detroit is ”great,” but he thinks it ”needs help.”
The Republican nominee for the White House had told an economic group in Detroit earlier this month that the ”whole country will end up being like Detroit” if Democrat Kamala Harris wins the presidency. That comment drew harsh criticism from Democrats who praised the city for its recent drop in crime and growing population.
Trump’s stop in Novi, after an event Friday night in Traverse City, is a sign of Michigan’s importance in the tight race. Harris is scheduled for a rally in Kalamazoo later Saturday with former first lady Michelle Obama on the first day that early in-person voting becomes available across Michigan. More than 1.4 million ballots have already been submitted, representing 20% of registered voters. Trump won the state in 2016, but Democrat Joe Biden carried it four years later.
Michigan is home to major car companies and the nation’s largest concentration of members of the United Auto Workers. It also has a significant Arab American population, and many have been frustrated by the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s offensive in Gaza after the attack by Hamas against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
During his rally, Trump spotlighted local Muslim and Arab American leaders who joined him on stage. These voters ”could turn the election one way or the other,” Trump said, adding that he was banking on ”overwhelming support” from those voters in Michigan.
“When President Trump was president, it was peace,” said one of those leaders, Mayor Bill Bazzi of Dearborn Heights. ”We didn’t have any issues. There was no wars.”
While Trump is trying to capitalize on the community’s frustration with the Democratic administration, he has a history of policies hostile to this group, including a travel ban targeting Muslim countries while in office and a pledge to expand it to include refugees from Gaza if he wins on Nov. 5.
