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Govs. Walz, Evers seeking $1 billion in federal funds for Blatnik Bridge upgrade

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DULUTH – Minnesota and Wisconsin’s Departments of Transportation asked for more than $1 billion in federal funding through the U.S. DOT’s Bridge Investment Program to rebuild the Blatnik Bridge, governors from both states announced Monday.

Transportation officials have recommended a complete rebuild of the more than 60-year-old connector between Duluth and Superior, Wis., a project that is expected to cost about $1.8 billion but does not yet have funding. Minnesota and Wisconsin, which jointly share ownership of the bridge, have each committed to contributing $400 million.

“The Blatnik Bridge is a critical connection point for transportation and commerce between Minnesota and Wisconsin — and it needs an upgrade,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said in a news release.

He said the rebuild will foster regional economic growth, bolster national supply chains and strengthen the reliability of the transportation network between the two states. More than 33,000 vehicles use the Blatnik Bridge daily. Per year, 265,000 trucks carrying $2.6 billion in domestic goods and $1.07 billion in international goods use the route that carries traffic from Interstate 535 and U.S. 53 over the St. Louis Bay.

“But as the bridge reaches the end of its service life, its condition continues to deteriorate — and it’s time for us to exhaust every opportunity to replace this crucial connector with a safer, more efficient and more reliable structure for the next generation,” Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers said in the release.

Walz and Evers announced in August that they had jointly submitted an application for funding through the U.S. DOT’s Multimodal Project Discretionary Grant Program which, like the Bridge Investment Program, is part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Between the two, they are asking for more than $1 billion, according to Margie Nelson of MnDOT. The August application is still under review, she said.

President Joe Biden stopped at the Blatnik Bridge during a visit to the Twin Ports in 2022 to promote his $1 trillion infrastructure law — the source of the two DOT grants for which the state is applying.

The Blatnik Bridge was completed in 1961 and intended to last 70 years. Plans for an upgrade began in 2020 — at the time including scenarios that ranged from no rebuild to a complete overhaul.

At a meeting in October, transportation officials highlighted their recommendations for a new bridge that follows the same alignment as the current one, has roundabout interchanges and includes a multiuse path along the side that will benefit alternate modes of transportation and make bridge repairs less disruptive to traffic.

A public comment period followed the meeting and officials will respond to questions about the infrastructure in a Findings of Fact document that is expected to be available in early 2024.

The Blatnik Bridge can only hold 60% of the weight of what a standard highway bridge can hold, according to Pat Huston, major projects engineer at MnDOT. This has led to load restrictions that force trucks to use less efficient routes. He added that the bridge remains safe, but is nearing the end of its life. When construction begins, traffic will be rerouted to the Richard I. Bong Memorial Bridge.



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Augustana football takes over first place in NSIC

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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.



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Timberwolves win home opener over Toronto Raptors

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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.



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Trump denigrates Detroit while appealing for votes in a suburb of Michigan’s largest city

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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.



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