Star Tribune
Pine County is now Minnesota’s fastest growing; state population remains stable
Minnesota’s population grew the most in Dakota County in 2023, expanded fastest in Pine County and nudged up in Hennepin County for the first time in two years, according to U.S. census data estimates released Thursday.
On the other end of the scale, the state’s two smallest counties — Traverse County in west-central Minnesota and Lake of the Woods County on the Canadian border — shrank even more from 2022 to 2023 as their populations fell 3.3% and 2.8%, respectively, marking the steepest declines in the state, the census data showed.
Statewide population remained relatively flat, ticking up a scant 0.4% to 5,737,915 residents as of July 1, 2023, the data said.
More than half of the state’s counties — 47 of 87 — saw population growth. Dakota County in the south metro saw the most, adding 4,168 residents. Anoka County followed with an increase of 3,333 people; Wright, 3,032; Washington, 2,767; and Sherburne, 1,666, the data showed.
Hennepin County, the state’s most populous, grew to 1,258,713 with an increase of 1,647 people. That ended two straight years of population declines but was still about 23,000 residents below its 2020 total, the Census Bureau said.
Across the Mississippi River, Ramsey County — home to St. Paul and the state Capitol — saw its population fall by 1,228 to just more than 536,000. It was the only metro-area county to experience a population loss. Scott County recorded a 1,391 increase, while Carver County’s population rose 937, the data said.
While sheer numbers were largest in the metro area, population growth happened at the fastest rate in Pine County in east-central Minnesota. The county along Interstate 35 between the Twin Cities and Duluth added 664 people last year. That marked 2.2% growth, making it the fastest-growing county in the state.
Most of Minnesota’s growth occurred in the metro and counties just beyond. Wright County saw its population rise by 2% to 151,000 while Sherburne County was up 1.7% and the populations of Chisago and Isanti counties rose by 1.1%. The outlier was Stevens County in western Minnesota, where population increased 1.2%.
Along with Traverse and Lake of the Woods counties, the largest declines were in western, southwestern, northwestern and far northeastern Minnesota. The population fell 1.4% in Cook County in the Arrowhead region, 1.1 % in Mahnomen and Nobles counties, 1% in Lincoln and Polk counties and 0.9% in Pipestone, Renville and Marshall counties, the data said.
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Star Tribune
Harris and Walz will visit all the battleground states in the campaign’s closing stretch
WASHINGTON — Kamala Harris and Tim Walz will crisscross the United States to visit all seven battleground states in the coming days, part of a final blitz before the Nov. 5 election.
Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, will spend Sunday in Philadelphia, attending church services in the morning and visiting a barbershop. The vice president also plans to stop at a Puerto Rican restaurant and a youth basketball facility.
On Monday, Walz, the Minnesota’s governor who is Harris’ running mate, will campaign in Manitowoc and Waukesha, Wisconsin, before a joining Harris for a rally in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where the singer Maggie Rogers is scheduled to perform.
Harris will be in the nation’s capital on Tuesday to deliver what her campaign calls her ”closing argument” in a speech from the Ellipse, a grassy space adjacent to the National Mall. It’s the same place where then-President Donald Trump spoke on Jan. 6, 2021, when the Republican called on his supporters to march on the Capitol.
Walz is scheduled to campaign Tuesday in Savannah and Columbus in Georgia.
Harris plans to visit North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin on Wednesday. The event in Madison, Wisconsin, is expected to feature musical performances by Mumford & Sons and others.
Walz willbe in Charlotte and Asheville, North Carolina, that day.
On Thursday, Harris will be in Nevada for rallies in Reno and Las Vegas, and in Phoenix. The band Maná will perform in Las Vegas and Los Tigres del Norte will perform in Phoenix.
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.
