Star Tribune
Trump names fossil fuel executive Chris Wright as energy secretary
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump has selected Chris Wright, a campaign donor and fossil fuel executive, to serve as energy secretary in a second Trump administration.
Wright, CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, is a vocal advocate of oil and gas development, including fracking, a key pillar of Trump’s quest to achieve U.S. ”energy dominance” in the global market.
Wright has won support from influential conservatives, including oil and gas tycoon Harold Hamm. Hamm, executive chairman of Oklahoma-based Continental Resources, a major shale oil company, is a longtime Trump supporter and adviser who played a key role on energy issues in Trump’s first term.
Hamm helped organize an event at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in April where Trump reportedly asked industry leaders and lobbyists to donate $1 billion to Trump’s campaign, with the expectation that Trump would curtail environmental regulations if re-elected.
Wright has been one of the industry’s loudest voices against efforts to fight climate change and could give fossil fuels a boost, including quick action to end a year-long pause on natural gas export approvals by the Biden administration.
Wright has criticized what he calls a ”top-down” approach to climate by liberal and left-wing groups and said the climate movement around the world is ”collapsing under its own weight.”
The Gophers women’s hockey team contained longtime WCHA rival Minnesota Duluth, winning 3-2 Saturday afternoon to sweep a series at Amsoil Arena. The No. 3 Gophers haven’t lost to the No. 4 Bulldogs since the NCAA regional final in mid-March 2022.
Peyton Hemp, Gracie Graham and Emma Connor scored for the Gophers (10-3-1, 6-3-1 WCHA), with Abbey Murphy getting two assists. UMD’s Kamdyn Davis and Nina Jobst-Smith scored for the Bulldogs (6-55-1, 5-4-1 WCHA).
Gophers freshman goalie Hannah Clark had 31 saves; UMD’s Eve Gascon had 35.
UMD freshman defender Davis scored her first career goal off a backhanded pass from sophomore winger Grace Sadura. Davis skated in from Clark’s left side and lofted it to the right corner in the first five minutes of the opening period. Freshman defender Graham whipped the puck past Gascon midway through the period to tie the game. Peyton Hemp scored a power-play goal in the final two minutes of the first period, poking the puck in low on a rebound of a shot by Nelli Laitinen. The Gophers closed the period with a 2-1 advantage.
UMD’s Sadura left the game near the end of the second period after taking a major misconduct penalty for making contact with an opponent’s head. The Bulldogs were able to kill the penalty to close the period.
Gophers junior winger Connor scored midway through the final period, putting a rebound past Gascon. The Bulldogs had a 5-3 power-play advantage when Jobst-Smith sent the puck sailing high past Clark in the final five minutes of play. UMD pulled Gascon in the final minute but wasn’t able to tie the game.
The Gophers eased past the Bulldogs 4-1 in Friday’s opener, helped by two goals by Ella Huber, one shorthanded, the other an empty-netter, and two assists by Natalie Mlynkova. UMD’s Gascon had 48 saves, tying a personal best.
The Gophers host No. 8 St. Cloud State for a home-and-home series next weekend. The Bulldogs host unranked Bemidji State.
Dassel-Cokato went 79 yards in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter, scored on a 5-yard run by Kobee Thielen with 51 seconds left and tacked on a two-point conversion to rally past Pequot Lakes 29-26 in the first Class 3A semifinal game Saturday at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Pequot Lakes built a 19-point lead early in the third quarter, then tried to cling to that advantage, but Dassel-Cokato’s rushing attack proved too potent.
The Patriots (11-1) scored the first time they touched the ball, on a 13-pass from Mike Oseland to Bryar Nordby for a 6-0 lead.
Dassel-Cokato (11-1) responded two drives later, Thielen scoring on a 1-yard fourth-down run. Thielen had carried the ball on each of the two previous runs and appeared to have scored on each, but officials didn’t see it that way. Thielen’s score gave Dassel-Cokato a 7-6 lead early in the second quarter.
It was the last time the Chargers had the lead until the final drive.
Pequot Lakes, making its first state tournament appearance since 2017, leaned on the arm of Oseland to build that 19-point advantage. Oseland went 15-for-22 in the game for 196 yards and three touchdowns.
Dassel-Cokato rallied in the second half, getting rushing touchdowns of 30 and 2 yards from running back Caleb Smock, cutting the Pequot Lakes advantage to five, 26-21, early in the fourth quarter.
Star Tribune
In their final meeting, Xi tells Biden that China is ready to work with a new US administration
LIMA, Peru — In their final meeting, China’s leader Xi Jinping told U.S. President Joe Biden that ‘’China is ready to work with a new administration,” as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take over.
The two leaders gathered Saturday on the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Biden was expected to urge Xi to dissuade North Korea from further deepening its support for Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Biden said that he was proud of the work the nations had achieved since their last meeting, which was last year on the sidelines of the conference held in San Francisco.
”Over the past four years, China-U.S. relations have experienced ups and downs, but with the two of us at the helm, we have also engaged in fruitful dialogues and cooperation, and generally achieved stability,” Biden said.
It’s the last time they will meet; Biden is leaving office and making way for Trump. There’s much uncertainty about what lies ahead in the U.S.-China relationship under Trump, who campaigned promising to levy 60% tariffs on Chinese imports.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
LIMA, Peru (AP) — President Joe Biden is expected to use his final meeting with China’s leader, Xi Jinping, to urge him to dissuade North Korea from further deepening its support for Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Saturday’s talks on the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Peru come just over two months before Biden leaves office and makes way for Republican President-elect Donald Trump. It will be Biden’s last check-in with Xi — someone the Democrat saw as his most consequential peer on the world stage.
