With the Wild skating 4-on-4 in a morning practice at TRIA Rink, the puck was dumped into the corner to the right of the goalie. Immediately defenders Jared Spurgeon and Zeev Buium converged, prepared to clear the zone. But they didn’t get the chance.

Hunter Haight crashed the party, wedging himself, at high speed, between the defensemen and refusing to quit the board battle before he’d not only won the puck, but flipped it to the hashmarks for a shot on goal by practice linemate Vladimir Tarasenko.

While some would call that a defensive failing, the play brought a smile to the face of at least one grizzled NHL veteran.

“It’s tough to do it against those guys, so it’s kind of nice when you see your veteran partner get beat by a young kid once in a while, as long as it’s not you,” Wild forward Marcus Foligno said, in praise of Haight. “He’s got that second effort that you want to see. He’s gonna be here sooner or later.”

At this point it’s unknown whether Haight – the Wild’s second round pick from the 2022 NHL draft – will head to Iowa for his second season in the AHL, or be instructed to find a place to live in St. Paul. But for now, the 21-year-old forward is making every effort to crack the opening night line chart in “the show.”

“I feel great. I think I can play with those guys, and we’re making plays out there, and I think we complement each other well,” said Haight, 21, after playing left wing in practice on a line with Tarasenko on the other wing and Joel Eriksson Ek at center. “So it’s an opportunity that I’m trying to take advantage of and make the most of it while I can.”

New opportunities have been coming around in September for the past few years. After four years of major junior hockey in his native Ontario and in Michigan, Haight made the step up to the AHL last season, spending 67 games in Iowa with the Wild’s top minor league affiliate. Haight finished second on the team in goals with 20, and after some adjustment found better competition, and better teammates, to his liking.

“They’re bigger, they’re stronger. It’s more of a structured game, compared to juniors. And it’s a good learning curve for me. I got a lot of new experiences, and I thought I handled a lot of things really well that year,” he said. “When you’re playing with better guys, I think a guy like me, I raised my level up to that, and I think my speed, my hockey sense, all that kind of just ties in really well with better players.”

At training camp, Haight is definitely in a group of “bubble” players whose next team — Minnesota or Iowa — will be determined by injuries and other factors in the coming weeks. But heading into the third preseason game, he has gotten noticed.

“I see a player that’s grown. I think of maturity, physically, competitive-wise, his details, his pace,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “You’re looking at a player now that he’s not like a wide-eyed young guy. I think he gets the gist of what’s going on and what’s going to be required of him to give himself a chance to play.”

He spent the summer working off the ice, in an effort to add size and strength to his frame, which is officially listed as 5-foot-11, 187 pounds. In the Wild’s preseason opener in Winnipeg, Haight showed a propensity to chase the puck with reckless abandon, when he crashed the crease and tied the game with less than three minutes left in regulation.

“I actually didn’t know it went in,” Haight admitted, with a smile. “I was kind of going into the end boards. But the guys came over to congratulate me and help me up, so that was nice.”

In games and in practice during his third Wild training camp, that propensity of going hard toward the puck may earn Haight a NHL roster spot next month.

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A traveling exhibition exploring Julia Child’s delicious journey through life is about to open at the Minnesota History Center, with a local cookbook sampler added to the menu.

Here are five things to know about “Julia Child: A Recipe for Life” and that Minnesota twist:

Blooming in Paris

This icon didn’t only master the art of French cooking that launched her into our American kitchens. Child, who died in 2004 at the age of 91, lived a life as varied as a charcuterie board, a life that included serving in the Office of Strategic Services, the United States’ first intelligence agency, during World War II. Besides serving her country, this is also when she met her husband, Paul Child.

The exhibit, produced by Flying Fish in collaboration with Napa Valley Museum, shares the details of those early years, beginning with her youth in Pasadena, Calif., growing up as Julia McWilliams, followed by college at Smith and the war years.

France, where Julia and Paul moved, came after the war. The timing of this development might surprise you.

“One of the things that I think that people probably don’t realize about her is that she’s in her early 40s when she discovers French cooking,” says Kate Roberts, senior exhibit developer for the Minnesota Historical Society. “People think of her as a lifelong gourmet but actually, it took her awhile to find her footing. I think that’s a great takeaway.”

A lunch to remember

Has a meal ever changed your life?

Child’s first lunch in France changed hers, thanks to the help of a Michelin guide, some good wine (not usually served for American lunches back then) and a menu she later described as the most exciting meal of her life.

The immersive displays in this exhibit include “experiencing” that meal — raw oysters with rye bread, a green salad with vinaigrette, a soft creamy cheese and a filet of Dover sole with a lemony butter sauce — with a projection system serving it up virtually on plates set at a simple table, a place “Reserved for Paul and Julia,” along with the story of that meal at La Couronne in Rouen retold on a screen, with audio.

‘Mastering the Art of French Cooking’

A large digital copy of “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” by Julia Child flips through its pages at the new “Julia Child: A Recipe for Life,” exhibit at the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

A fun photo opp in this exhibit is the giant display of Child’s book, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” the first volume of which was published in 1961 with her French co-authors, Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle. It goes along with handwritten recipe drafts, letters and photos that tell the story of how the book was shaped.

“I think the exhibit does a very good job at explaining Julia’s influence,” Roberts says. “Because you know, Simone Beck was already writing cookbooks for the French market. But Julia was instrumental in saying, ‘No, we need ingredients that Americans can actually get and that aren’t too expensive; we need to really simplify the process and do them step-by-step.’”

As an example of illustrating that process in the days before YouTube: “Here’s a detail I did not know,” says Roberts. “Paul took photos of her doing the steps and then the illustrator used those photos to make illustrations in the book. I love that.”

‘Cook’ in Julia’s kitchen

“Mastering the Art of French Cooking” inspired more Americans to set aside their TV dinners to try and make classics like Boeuf Bourguignon and Quiche Lorraine.

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Child inspired us even more after making a French omelette during an appearance on a show on Boston’s public television station, WGBH. She was a natural, and with people asking for more cooking demonstrations, it led to her own series, “The French Chef.” As a television personality, you can probably recall her encouraging home cooks in that trilling voice of hers. The exhibit’s kitchen, a replica of her set kitchen for her television series, will be fun for kids as well as those of us who have been cooking for long enough to remember Child on TV.

Visitors can man the vintage television camera or pretend they’re cooking on camera at the stovetop while displayed in black and white on the screen. It’s meant to be fun, just like Child’s time in the kitchen.

“I think kids are going to have a blast with this,” Roberts said.

Settle in with a good (cook)book

A wall of Minnesota cookbooks at the new “Julia Child: A Recipe for Life,” exhibit at the Minnesota History Center. The exhibit opens Saturday, Sept. 27 and runs through May 31, 2026. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

The Minnesota ingredient in this exhibit begins when visitors arrive in the lounge area. Settle into the comfy seating with some of the Minnesota cookbooks on display, from a vintage “Betty Crocker’s Cooky Book” to Stephanie Hansen’s new title, “True North Cabin Cookbook Volume Two: Seasonal Recipes from a Cozy Kitchen.”

(Look for the titles published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press in the museum’s gift shop or at shop.mnhs.org).

Minnesota cooks

Iconic Minnesota cooking and kitchen products are on display in the Minnesota Cooks section. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

The Minnesota angle here isn’t limited to published authors, though. By walking into “Minnesota Cooks: Small Bites from the Collections,” visitors can view or virtually scroll through community cookbooks dating back to the 1800s — and one from 1971, “Hot Off the Range” by the Hibbing-Chisholm Chapter of Hadassah, which includes the recipe for fudge bars from Beatty Zimmerman Rutman … also known as Bob Dylan’s mom:

Melt together four squares of unsweetened chocolate and half a cup of butter or margarine. Add to four beaten egg yolks and two cups of sugar.
Mix together and add one cup flour, 1/2 cup of milk and one teaspoon vanilla. Fold in four egg whites beaten.
Put into a greased 13×9 pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes. Frost with chocolate frosting.

“I think the key thing about this is it’s 63 cookbooks, which sounds like a lot, but we actually have thousands in our collection, a little-known collection that is brought to life here,” Roberts says. “And what I think is really beautiful about it is how these cookbooks show cultural change. You can ask questions about who made them, who used them and you really get a sense of Minnesota culture through the lens of cooking.”

The public can also view other artifacts of our cooking culture here, including the Bundt pan, which of course is a Minnesota invention.

Julia Child exhibit

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“Julia Child: A Recipe for Life” opens Saturday and runs through May 31. Admission is free for members and with general admission ($15 for adults). More at mnhs.org/historycenter.

Related events:

• “Mastering the Art of French Cooking in Minnesota” on Oct. 22 ($75). Info/reservations at www3.mnhs.org/events/33379425968.

• “Power of the Press: Recipe Cards Workshop” on Nov. 13 (free). Register at www3.mnhs.org/events/33585376365.

By MEG KINNARD, Associated Press

The reaction over Charlie Kirk’s assassination touched yet another constituency this week: the collection of world leaders gathered at the United Nations.

Two weeks after Kirk was shot and killed in Utah, several of the world leaders gathered at the U.N. General Assembly this week referenced the conservative activist’s slaying — and some of the divisive outpouring of reaction to it — as evidence of deeper fissures in global society.

Decrying the “sick expression of joy for the crime committed against an innocent person,” Serbian President Alexsandar Vucic told assembled leaders on Wednesday that reaction to Kirk’s death represents “the best confirmation of that.”

Social media lit up in the days after Kirk’s Sept. 10 death with people mourning his loss — some of whom said they disagreed with Kirk’s ideological stances but supported his right to voice them — as well as those celebrating it.

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It set off a national discussion about freedom of speech. Comments led to the firings of numerous people, from political analysts and opinion writers to school employees. Several conservative activists sought to identify social media users whose posts about Kirk they viewed as offensive or celebratory, targeting everyone from journalists to teachers.

On Wednesday, Vucic said reaction to the conservative activist’s assassination was demarcated “less by ideological but much more by emotional hate driven differences.”

“Such a development devastates in a deepest and clearest way the world political community much more than conflicts with clear and visible actors,” Vucic said, remarking on how such a seemingly singular event can evoke such strong reactions across the globe.

“He was savagely assassinated just because his killer did not like his ideas,” Vucic said of Kirk, suggesting that some of the reaction in the slaying’s aftermath caused yet more damage in terms of the division it sowed. “He was shot even after death by the same ones who had prepared political and media grounds for his assassination.”

Kirk was assassinated during a Sept. 10 event at Utah Valley University. President Donald Trump and other administration leaders gathered Sunday at a memorial service, where other speakers noted the worldwide reaction to Kirk’s death, mentioning areas around the world where memorials had sprung up.

Paraguayan President Santiago Peña also mentioned Kirk in his speech Wednesday, saying in Spanish that he was “shaken, saddened, and distressed” by Kirk’s killing and arguing that the “macabre response must awaken us from our sleepy state of complacency.”

Earlier in the day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned Kirk, as well as last month’s stabbing death of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on Charlotte’s light rail system, as representative of “headlines about violent attacks happening all around the world.”

“Sadly, his life was short by a bullet,” Zelenskyy said of Kirk. “Once again, violence with a rifle in hand.”

Jennifer Peltz contributed to this report.

By MICHAEL CASEY, Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) — A federal judge in Rhode Island ruled on Wednesday that it’s unconstitutional to require states to cooperate on immigration enforcement actions to get funding for disasters, which is overseen by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

A coalition of 20 state Democratic attorneys general in May filed a federal lawsuit claiming that the Trump administration is threatening to withhold billions of dollars of disaster-relief funds unless states agree to certain immigration enforcement actions.

In a ruling granting a summary judgment to the plaintiffs and denying one for the federal government, U.S. District Judge William Smith found that the “contested conditions are arbitrary and capricious” and that the actions are unconstitutional because they are “coercive, ambiguous, unrelated to the purpose of the federal grants.”

“Plaintiff States stand to suffer irreparable harm; the effect of the loss of emergency and disaster funds cannot be recovered later, and the downstream effect on disaster response and public safety are real and not compensable,” Smith wrote.

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Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha said the ruling was a “win for the rule of law and reaffirms that the President may not pick and choose which laws he and his Administration obey.”

“Today’s permanent injunction by Judge Smith says, in no uncertain terms, that this Administration may not illegally impose immigration conditions on congressionally allocated federal funding for emergency services like disaster relief and flood mitigation. Case closed,” he said.

In their complaint, states argued that for decades they counted on federal funding to prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters. But they argued conditions put forward by the Trump administration requiring them to commit state resources to immigration enforcement put at risk funding for everything from mitigating earthquake and flood risks to managing active wildfires.

The Department of Homeland Security “seek to upend this emergency management system, holding critical emergency preparedness and response funding hostage unless States promise to devote their scarce criminal enforcement resources, and other state agency resources, to the federal government’s own task of civil immigration enforcement beyond what state law allows,” the plaintiffs wrote.

They argued successfully that this not only was unconstitutional but that it violated the Administrative Procedure Act, a law that governs the process by which federal agencies develop and issue regulations.

“The conditions are arbitrary and capricious under the APA because DHS failed to provide a reasoned explanation, failed to consider the reliance interests of the states, and departed from longstanding funding practices without adequate justification,” Smith wrote.

The government had argued that the challenge was moot since it had already decided to exclude 12 of the 18 programs from having to comply with the immigration requirements. For the remaining programs, the government argued that this was a contract dispute that should be resolved in the Court of Federal Claims.

“Even if that were not so, Congress intended for the FEMA grant programs at issue to address national security and terrorism concerns that rely on the cooperation that the conditions promote,” the government wrote in court documents. “Congress did not preclude the placement of the challenged conditions on the grant programs at issue, and Plaintiffs have not established a likelihood of success on the merits with respect to these programs.”