On Monday evening, Amelia Santaniello did something she hasn’t done in ages. She left work for the day while the sun was still shining.

The longime WCCO-TV anchor began her new schedule this week, which saw her move to anchor the 4 p.m. newscast and depart the 5 and 10 p.m. newscasts she had co-anchored with her husband, Frank Vascellaro, for more than two decades. They are continuing to anchor the 6 p.m. news as a pair.

“It’s really great, I’m really enjoying it,” said Santaniello, 60. “Working nights, there are a lot of people I haven’t seen in a while and that’s great. I like the energy and I like doing the (4 p.m.) show. I think it’s exactly what I needed. After doing 40 years of hard news, and 30 years here, it’s just nice to have this variety. This change is good.”

At 4, Santaniello is working with Erin Hassanzadeh, whose former on-air partner Jeff Wagner has taken over the station’s popular “Good Question” segment. The hour favors features and longer interviews over breaking news, which appealed to Santaniello.

“I had foot surgery this summer and I was off for four weeks. I think that’s when is started to think about the grind of doing the news. I feel like since the pandemic, the news cycle has been nonstop and just sort of relentless. Being off for that month made me realize I need a break, a mental break, from it,” she said.

Santaniello said she had previously talked to the 4 p.m. producer about her interest in the time slot. When the position opened up, the station’s news director came to her with an offer.

“At first, I thought I was going to do the 4, 5, 6 and 10,” she said. “I’ve done that before, filling in. But then they told me I wouldn’t be doing the 10. It didn’t take me long to say that sounds good to me. I thought this is what I need. And I would love to change my hours.” (Santaniello’s workday went from 2:30 to 10:30 p.m. to 11 a.m. to 7 p.m

Given her high profile in the community, it wasn’t a surprise to see Santaniello post a video to Facebook making it clear there were absolutely no issues going on with her husband. She laughed when asked about it.

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“Oh, my gosh, it’s funny. No, there’s no trouble in this marriage. In fact, we do laugh about it. And perhaps this will make it stronger. You know, a little time apart. And he’s been extremely supportive because he knows I’m happy. I think he was maybe a little hesitant because we’ve been a team for 20 years here. I love working with the team, too, but I (still) work with him at 6. It’s strange not being with him at 10, but I think that was his only concern.”

So what did she end up doing Monday evening?

“I went home and a friend called and said they were watching the Vikings game and do I want to come over? So I went over to watch the Vikings game,” Santaniello said.

“Just being able to come home, wind down and just kind of have my evening, you know? I can settle in with a book or watch a movie or go to bed early. I will watch the 10 p.m. news, but if I go to bed early, I’m not going to feel guilty.”

Current and former elected officials who have experienced political violence directly in the United States reacted with sympathy and horror Wednesday to the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at an event in Utah. Kirk served as chief executive and cofounder of the youth organization Turning Point USA.

Nancy Pelosi

Former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, posted that “the horrific shooting today at Utah Valley University is reprehensible. Political violence has absolutely no place in our nation.” Pelosi’s husband was seriously injured at their California home in 2022 by a man wielding a hammer, who authorities said was a believer in conspiracy theories.

Donald Trump

President Donald Trump, who suffered a minor ear injury when he was shot at a campaign event last year, posted on Truth Social describing Kirk as a “great guy from top to bottom. GOD BLESS HIM!” He also posted, “No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie.”

Gabrielle Giffords

Former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, a Democrat who suffered a serious brain injury from a 2011 shooting in Arizona, said she was “horrified” to hear of Kirk’s shooting. “Democratic societies will always have political disagreements, but we must never allow America to become a country that confronts those disagreements with violence,” she said on social media.

Steve Scalise

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican who was shot at practice for a charity baseball game in the Virginia suburbs in 2017, asked people on the social media platform X to “please join me in praying for Charlie Kirk after this senseless act.” The man who attacked Scalise had grievances against Trump and Republicans and was later fatally shot by police.

Josh Shapiro

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat and potential national candidate, said on X, “We must speak with moral clarity. The attack on Charlie Kirk is horrifying and this growing type of unconscionable violence cannot be allowed in our society.” A fire was set at his house earlier this year while Shapiro and family members were asleep.

Gretchen Whitmer

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat who was the subject of a kidnapping plot, said on social media that “we should all come together to stand up against any and all forms of political violence.” Two men were imprisoned for their 2020 plot to kidnap the governor during her first term.

By ED WHITE, Associated Press

DETROIT (AP) — A young Chinese scientist interrogated for hours after an international flight to Detroit and held in jail for three months was sentenced to time served Wednesday for illegally shipping biological material to the U.S. that nonetheless wasn’t a threat to the public.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Leitman acknowledged that federal agents have a critical role in stopping “bad actors” from trying to get “bad stuff” into the country. But he also noted that Chengxuan Han, who was headed to a one-year job at a University of Michigan lab, doesn’t appear to fit that category.

“That’s the appropriate balance to strike here,” the judge said in declining to keep Han locked up for another three months as the government had suggested.

Han cried as she spoke to the judge in Mandarin and expressed regret for a “very painful” lesson. She said her career will be “destroyed” when she soon returns to China.

“Government agents are doing their duties here. … I really have no intention to harm anybody and create a security hazard,” Han said through a translator.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit has used unflattering language in promoting the case against Han, even referring to her as an “alien from Wuhan,” a Chinese city that became notorious as the possible source for the global spread of COVID-19.

Han is “not some sort of Chinese operative,” defense attorney Sara Garber said in a court filing, describing her as a “nerdy, kind and polite academic.”

Han, who is in her late 20s, pleaded no contest to smuggling and making false statements. Before her arrival in the U.S., authorities said she made three shipments to someone in Ann Arbor, Michigan, including a book with a hidden envelope that contained filter paper with 28 shapes containing plasmids, which are found naturally in bacteria.

“Hello! This is a fun letter with interesting patterns. I hope you can enjoy the pleasure within it,” Han wrote.

Han was also accused of sending petri dishes that contained nematode worms, known as C. Elegans. Authorities said the packages were not properly labeled and that Han didn’t have approval to ship them.

“C. Elegans is easy to obtain, easy to study, nonharmful,” Garber said.

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She said Han’s research focuses on how organisms detect light, touch and temperature.

“This is not a case of smuggling in some sort of virus or a crop-destroying something or other,” the judge said. “From what I can tell, this material was not a threat at all.”

Han’s case is one of two involving Chinese scientists and the University of Michigan. Yunqing Jian is charged with conspiring with her boyfriend, another scientist from China, to bring a toxic fungus into the U.S. Fusarium graminearum can attack wheat, barley, maize and rice.

It is already found in the East and Upper Midwest, and scientists have been studying it for decades. Jian’s case is pending.

It was noted here at season’s end that if Wild wing Kirill Kaprizov doesn’t want to stay in Minnesota, there is nothing the team can do to keep him here.

We got the first substantial whiff of that on Wednesday, and it didn’t smell good.

According to reporter Frank Seravalli, an NHL insider who contributes to Bleacher Report, Kaprizov has turned down an eight-year contract extension, the league maximum, worth $16 million a year.

Quick summary: Kaprizov and his agent, Paul Theofanous — who is in the Twin Cities this week — just turned down the most lucrative deal in NHL history. So, the Wild didn’t lowball their star left wing, and he didn’t blink.

Yeah, it’s the opening salvo, and it’s assumed general Bill Guerin and team owner Craig Leipold have more in the bank vault they can Hoover into Kaprizov’s bank account, but it’s not a good start for Minnesota’s NHL team. Does Kaprizov — as he has said many times — really want to be here?

Is this a typical negotiation, when you’re immediately offered the biggest contract in your sport’s history and turn it down?

Let’s be honest, as a competitive entity, the Wild have not built a case that they can get Kaprizov’s name on the Stanley Cup. This is important. After finally breaking free from salary cap jail this summer, the team made one real move after free agency opened — trading for forward Vladimir Tarasenko, a Russian compatriot for Kaprizov in the locker room, but unlikely to be the difference for a team that hasn’t won a playoff series since 2015.

Kaprizov spent much of his summer in Russia hiking with friends, miles from cell service, decompressing from a trying season that went from being an early Hart Trophy candidate to missing 41 games with a lower body injury. One imagines him finally getting online at some state forestry compound and finding out that Tarasenko — 11 goals and 33 points in 80 games for Detroit last season — was Guerin’s big addition.

“Ты шутишь, что ли?”

The last thing the Wild wanted was for this to become a public negotiation, and Guerin and Leipold maintained relative radio silence Wednesday. At some point soon, that won’t be possible, and as a veteran of the Marian Gaborik Conflict of 2008, well, just know that it will get ugly if it moves into the regular season.

When the Wild went to Grand Forks, N.D., to train for the 2008-09 season, Gaborik’s agent, Ron Salcer, said his client wanted an extension with the Wild, telling reporters at at Ralph Engelstad Arena, “Marian’s made it clear that’s what he wants me to pursue. Our intentions are sincere.”

Were they?

Gaborik, most of you may remember, was the Wild’s best player before Kaprizov and signed with the New York Rangers as soon as he could, a five-year deal worth $7.5 million a year. That was less than the Wild offered him.

“I knew the deal he signed in New York and knew the deal he could have signed to stay in Minnesota — and I know he took a pay cut to be in New York,” Risebrough told the Pioneer Press in 2021.

At some point, Risebrough had to decide whether to trade Gaborik to at least get something back if he left but never really had a chance. Gaborik’s notoriously finicky groin limited him to 17 regular-season games, and he was out of action at the trade deadline.

Now, with Theofanous in town, this space could soon be filled with different news. But if it isn’t, and the Kaprizov contract extension bleeds into the regular season, it will indicate that the Wild’s leading scorer since he arrived in 2020-21 — 185 goals and 366 points in 319 games — is interested in seeing what he can get from a team he deems closer to winning a Cup or will offer him a richer social life, or warmer weather and lower taxes.

In a sport with a salary cap, it’s difficult to believe Kaprizov will get more than the biggest NHL contract in history from any team but the Wild, especially not one paying all the other good players he would be joining — and that seems to indicate he’s willing to accept less somewhere else.

After free agency opened on July 1, Guerin spoke about improving his 2025-26 team through in-season trades. If he can’t lasso Kaprizov soon — and is it really up to him? — he must try trading Kaprizov before his young superstar officially becomes an unrestricted free agent.

The Wild’s best outcome is a long-term deal with Kaprizov. If that doesn’t happen before the trade deadline, Guerin will be forced to avoid the worst-case scenario of just letting the Wild’s best player walk away.

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