On Thursday night in Pittsburgh, the youth-filled Gophers got a front-row seat to the level of play they’ll aspire to reach in the years to come.

Minnesota made an impressive late-season run to reach Thursday’s NCAA Regional semifinals, but the Gophers fell in straight sets to Pittsburgh, 25-16, 25-23, 25-22.

The Panthers (29-4) — the No. 4 ranked team in the country and top seed in the region — hit .271 in the victory. Pitt hasn’t lost at home since Sept. 14, 2023.

The Panthers will host the regional final on Saturday with a spot in the Final Four at stake.

Minnesota’s Carly Gilk (left) and Jordan Taylor attempt to block a shot from Pittsburgh’s Olivia Babcock during an NCAA Tournament regional semifinal in Pittsburgh on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (Courtesy of Gophers Athletics)

The Gophers, seeded fourth in the regional, put up a fight. After Pitt controlled the first set, Minnesota pulled to a 23-23 tie in the second set after a kill from senior star Julia Hanson. But the Panthers responded to score the next two points to secure the set.

Minnesota led the third set 21-19 after a kill from Lourdes Myers, but the Gophers followed that point up with three consecutive errors, though one of those miscues came on the heels of a remarkable Pitt rally to keep a point alive.

Olivia Babcock finished with 19 kills to pace the Panthers, including three straight to close the match.

Minnesota’s season certainly didn’t go to plan, as a bevy of injuries shook up the Gophers’ lineup this fall. But Gophers coach Keegan Cook was able to lean heavily upon a slew of freshmen.

Kinney and Carly Gilk, both freshmen, led Minnesota (24-10) with nine kills apiece Thursday. Jordan Taylor proved to be a strong middle blocker, while Stella Swenson ran the offense as a setter and McKenna Garr, who tallied 10 digs Thursday, played a large role in Minnesota’s defense.

All played key roles in the Gophers’ 7-2 finish to the season, including a strong close to the regular season that netted Minnesota a first weekend of the NCAA tournament on campus. All still have three years of eligibility remaining.

Minnesota will surely miss the likes of Hanson, a program pillar who served as the backbone of this year’s squad and finished with eight kills against Pitt, and Myers next fall.

But the future looks bright for Minnesota, who just reached the second weekend of NCAA Tournament play for the first time in three years. Cook has a young core that could potentially elevate the program back to true national title contender status.

Pittsburgh showed Minnesota the standard necessary to reach such heights. That experience could do the Gophers wonders in the years to come.

Minnesota outside hitter Kelly Kinney attempts to tip a ball past Pittsburgh’s Brooke Mosher during an NCAA Tournament regional semifinal in Pittsburgh on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (Courtesy of Gophers Athletics)

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Snow is on the ground and there is a chill in the air. That means it’s only a matter of time before the Holiday Train is coming around the corner.

The Canadian Pacific Kansas City Holiday Train will find itself in the east metro on Friday and Saturday and the west metro on Sunday with free musical performances from American Authors and Pynk Beard.

In its 27th year, the Holiday Train program has raised over $26 million and more than 5 million pounds of food for North American food banks.

Here’s where to expect the train and when.

The Holiday Train is expected to roll into Hastings at 8:45 p.m. Friday at 500 E. Second St.
Cottage Grove will welcome the Holiday Train at 5:15 p.m. Saturday at 7064 West Point Douglas Road.
The Holiday Train will stop at the St. Paul Union Depot at 7 p.m. Saturday at 214 E. Fourth St.
Golden Valley is expecting the train at 5 p.m. Sunday at Golden Hills Drive.
St. Louis Park will get in on the festivities at 6:15 p.m. Sunday at Lake Street and Library Lane.
The Holiday Train will stop in Minneapolis at 8:15 p.m. Sunday at 37th Avenue and Stinson Boulevard.

For more information, go to: www.cpkcr.com/en/community/HolidayTrain.

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By JONATHAN J. COOPER

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday aimed at blocking states from crafting their own regulations for artificial intelligence, saying the burgeoning industry is at risk of being stifled by a patchwork of onerous rules while in a battle with Chinese competitors for supremacy.

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Members of Congress from both parties, as well as civil liberties and consumer rights groups, have pushed for more regulations on AI, saying there is not enough oversight for the powerful technology.

But Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that “there’s only going to be one winner” as nations race to dominate artificial intelligence, and China’s central government gives its companies a single place to go for government approvals.

“We have the big investment coming, but if they had to get 50 different approvals from 50 different states, you can forget it because it’s impossible to do,” Trump said.

The executive order directs the Attorney General to create a new task force to challenge state laws, and directs the Commerce Department to draw up a list of problematic regulations.

It also threatens to restrict funding from a broadband deployment program and other grant programs to states with AI laws.

David Sacks, a venture capitalist with extensive AI investments who is leading Trump’s policies on cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence, said the Trump administration would only push back on “the most onerous examples of state regulation” but would not oppose “kid safety” measures.

What states have proposed

Four states — Colorado, California, Utah and Texas — have passed laws that set some rules for AI across the private sector, according to the International Association of Privacy Professionals.

Those laws include limiting the collection of certain personal information and requiring more transparency from companies.

The laws are in response to AI that already pervades everyday life. The technology helps make consequential decisions for Americans, including who gets a job interview, an apartment lease, a home loan and even certain medical care. But research has shown that it can make mistakes in those decisions, including by prioritizing a particular gender or race.

States’ more ambitious AI regulation proposals require private companies to provide transparency and assess the possible risks of discrimination from their AI programs.

Beyond those more sweeping rules, many states have regulated parts of AI: barring the use of deepfakes in elections and to create nonconsensual porn, for example, or putting rules in place around the government’s own use of AI.

The Minnesota Wild got a sample of life without Mats Zuccarello in October. It left a bitter aftertaste.

But as they get into the heart of their December schedule, which has Minnesota at home for seven of its next eight games, they will have to find ways to work around the veteran forward’s absence once again.

At Thursday’s morning skate, before the Wild hosted Dallas, head coach John Hynes confirmed that Zuccarello is out for the foreseeable future with an upper body injury.

After taking a hard open-ice check from Seattle defenseman Vince Dunn in the opening period of the Wild’s 4-1 win over the Kraken, Zuccarello left the game and did not return.

With Zuccarello out of the lineup for all of October, Minnesota won three of its first dozen games. The Wild placed him on injured reserve on Thursday, and Hynes said the timeline is “more than day-to-day” for Zuccarello, who has two goals and 10 assists in 15 games thus far.

“Usually on some certain injuries you have to wait a few days to get a grasp of what it’s gonna be,” Hynes said. “But I would say that it’s definitely not day-to-day.”

Zuccarello is far from the only injury the Wild are dealing with as they return to Minnesota following a four-game western road trip. They also placed defenseman Jake Middleton in injured reserve Thursday, after he also left the Seattle game early with an upper body injury.

They have been without forwards Vinnie Hinostroza and Marcus Foligno since Thanksgiving, and top-line forward Marco Rossi, who has been out for the past month, just returned to practice on Thursday.

“This was his first team skate. I don’t have a timeline on him yet though,” Hynes said of Rossi.

With Zuccarello out, the team loses a productive leader on the ice and in the locker room, and his chemistry with star forward Kirill Kaprizov is the engine that drives much of the Wild’s offense.

Repeating a mantra he has had to deliver too many times already this season, Hynes said the absence means others will need to step up.

“When certain guys come out of the lineup, obviously you miss what they bring. But I think that the guys that are in the lineup have to be able to play to their strengths,” Hynes said. “I think if you can play a strong structured game and you play the way that we want to play, then I think we have enough capable guys that can have good chemistry together and be really effective players.”

When healthy, the Wild’s top line has usually been Rossi at center between Kaprizov and Zuccarello. With two-thirds of them unavailable, Hynes constructed an all-Russian top line with rookie Danila Yurov centering Kaprizov and veteran Vladimir Tarasenko.

To fill the Zuccarello and Middleton roster spots, the Wild on Thursday recalled forward Nicolas Aubé-Kubel and defenseman Matt Kiersted from Iowa of the AHL.

Gus’ two in row

As hot as the start has been for rookie goalie Jesper Wallstedt, Hynes took a pause from the “every other game” rotation on Thursday versus Dallas and started Filip Gustavsson in goal. Gustavsson had backstopped the Monday win in Seattle with 24 saves.

The two goalies had rotated for the previous 14 games. With the Wild playing three games in the coming four days, the coach decided to mix things up.

“I thought (Gustavsson) played well against Seattle. Then we have a travel day and the day off, then get Wally back, practice a little bit today, we’ve got a back-to-back coming up so both guys are going to get in,” Hynes said. “We just felt like it was going to be their rotation, but in certain circumstances would change that. But we’re going to need both guys tonight and over the weekend.”

Gustavsson entered the Dallas game with a 8-8-3 record, while Wallstedt is off to a 8-1-2 start.

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