Star Tribune
St. Paul firefighters earn state-wide award for after saving family from blaze
Investigators believe an unattended candle started that January blaze, devastating Pa Cheng Vang’s family and community members who mourned for his deceased children. Vang was at work at the time of the fire. Twin daughters Ntshiab Si and Siv Ntshiab, 5, and 4-year-old son Mauj Tshau Ntuj and 1-year-old 1-year-old Mauj CagTxuj Vaj died from the blaze. Surviving the blaze were 6-year-old Cag Kub Vaj, 6, and 3-year-old Hnub Qub Vaj, along with their mother, Ker Lor.
Mayor Melvin Carter worked with Lor when she interned at his office years ago. Carter said visits to meet their children in the hospital were gut-wrenching, but he felt inspired when Vang asked him to spread awareness so that fewer families suffer like his.
“[That was] very much a defining moment for our city, very much a defining moment for me, and very much a defining moment for the St. Paul Fire Department,” Carter said, thanking Ryks and Conlin. “Our first responders are the ones who run in to a situation when everybody else is running away. It sounds just like a sentence until you find yourself in the position that you two were in on Jan. 3 … but not only did you choose to go back in on that night, but you choose to go back in, everyday, on behalf of our community.”
Ryks and Conlin are now close friends. They sometimes talk to Vang and his family, and brought them gifts earlier this year. Fire department union officials also announced plans to donate $10,000 to the family.
When Conlin thinks back to the fire, he feels thankful that his training prepared him to help Vang’s family and others. He has been with the department 1 1/2 years, while Ryks has 5 1/2 years of service.
“I remember after the call I had an overwhelming sense of ‘Wow, I was prepared for that.’ I didn’t feel like I didn’t know what I was doing. It was an extremely, honestly overwhelming, circumstance, but it’s our job and we all knew what to do,” Conlin said.
Star Tribune
Maple Grove remains undefeated with an exclamation point, routing Edina 35-0 in Class 6A high school football playoffs
Consider the question answered. Perhaps not officially, but as close as it gets.
The question: Can anyone beat Maple Grove? After the Crimson pummeled Edina 42-12 in Thursday’s Class 6A quarterfinal at Park Center, it appears the answer is no.
Edina seemed positioned to challenge the No. 1-ranked Crimson’s dominance, but Maple Grove took control of the game early.
The Crimson scored 21 first-half points on an 18-yard run by Charles Langama, a 29-yard pass from Kaden Harney to Oliver Walseth and a 1-yard run by Harney and led 21-0 at halftime.
Maple Grove cemented its victory with a pair of Bo Draheim touchdowns early in the third quarter. He followed a 1-yard scoring run with a 30-yard reception for a TD and a 35-0 lead.
Edina made the score a little more respectable in the fourth quarter with touchdowns by Chase Bjorgaard and Meyer Swinney.
Maple Grove improved to 11-0. Edina fell to 8-3.
”If we leave the conference room after a meeting and somebody leaves trash on the table, Susie’s the person to grab the trash and put it in the trash can,” said Chris LaCivita, who served as campaign co-chair along with Wiles.
Another of her three posts on X this year was in the closing days of the campaign, clapping back after billionaire Mark Cuban remarked that Trump didn’t have ”strong, intelligent women” in his orbit. After Wiles’ selection as White House chief of staff, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a Trump backer, quipped on X that the president-elect had chosen a ”strong, intelligent woman” as his chief of staff.
She can control some of Trump’s worst impulses
Wiles was able to help control Trump’s worst impulses — not by chiding him or lecturing, but by earning his respect and showing him that he was better off when he followed her advice than flouted it. At one point late in the campaign, when Trump gave a widely criticized speech in Pennsylvania in which he strayed from his talking points and suggested he wouldn’t mind the media being shot, Wiles came out to stare at him silently.
Trump often referenced Wiles on the campaign trail, publicly praising her leadership of what he said he was often told was his ”best-run campaign.”
”She’s incredible. Incredible,” he said at a Milwaukee rally earlier this month.
Star Tribune
Prolific record-breaking angler Art Weston, with help from Minnesota’s Nolan Sprengeler, caught 54-inch muskie on Mille Lacs
To that Sprengeler yelled back, “I know!”
After netting the fish, the fishermen looked at each other and Weston remembered shouting in excitement, “It’s long!”
In similar fashion, Sprengeler responded, “I know!” telling Weston “I think this is the one.”
After measuring and taking photos, the massive muskie was released safely.
Sprengeler, who didn’t respond to requests for comment Thursday, is no stranger to huge muskies. In November 2021, Sprengeler, of Plymouth, landed a massive muskie of his own on Mille Lacs that measured 57 3/4-inch and weighed 55 pounds and 14 ounces. For that catch, Sprengeler and two friends had to break the ice for about 100 yards to get his boat into open water on the lake’s west end.
The weather was more cooperative during the most recent trip.
84-year-old arrested 50 years after Minneapolis woman murdered
Maple Grove remains undefeated with an exclamation point, routing Edina 35-0 in Class 6A high school football playoffs
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84-year-old arrested 50 years after Minneapolis woman murdered
Maple Grove remains undefeated with an exclamation point, routing Edina 35-0 in Class 6A high school football playoffs