The Lynx will shine as brightly as any team in the league on Saturday evening in Indianapolis.

Rightfully so.

Minnesota has three 2025 WNBA All-Stars — Napheesa Collier, Courtney Williams and Kayla McBride — all playing for Team Collier (yes, captained by the Lynx superstar forward) in the WNBA all-star game. Cheryl Reeve is the team’s head coach, an honor earned thanks to Minnesota’s league-leading 20-4 record.

The best team in the WNBA highlighted under the league’s brightest lights

But what makes Williams, Collier and McBride all-stars? Here’s a look at defining moments that helped them earn their spots on Saturday’s stage:

Napheesa Collier

It’s admittedly difficult to select just a few standout showings from the overwhelming favorite to hoist the League’s MVP Award at season’s end. Collier is special on a game-to-game basis.

Her most dominant performance came in a 23-point win over the Sparks in which Collier went 13 for 16 from the field, good for 32 points to go with eight rebounds, six assists, two blocks and two steals. After the showing, Williams turned to Collier during the postgame press conference and said, “You that one.”

“Sometimes seeing what she does out there, it’s like, ‘Damn, I’m a part of this,’ ” Williams said. “Like, I’m really seeing this girl go crazy, and I’m a teammate.”

Collier also had a 33-point, 11-rebound showing early in the year against Connecticut, and a 28-point, 10-rebound game in June in Dallas. In each of those Lynx wins, she had both three steals and three blocks.

And then there are the games like Wednesday’s against Phoenix, in which Collier battled foul trouble and wasn’t a major offensive focus. But the reigning WNBA Defensive Player of the Year held Mercury star forward Alyssa Thomas to 5-for-16 shooting from the floor while forcing five turnovers.

“Props to Phee. To take that assignment, we know she’s the best player on the court, and she sacrificed her offense to be able to help our team get the win by playing the defense she did on A.T.,” Lynx forward Jessica Shepard said. “A.T. is a very physically gifted player, but I think (Collier) was able to frustrate her a bit with her length.”

Courtney Williams

The Lynx were trailing Las Vegas by nine points at the half at home in June, needing a win to secure a spot in the Commissioner’s Cup Final. And they were without Collier, who exited early in the third with a back injury.

And they won anyway. Largely thanks to Williams, their sparkplug. After a rough first-half showing, the point guard exploded to score 18 of her final 20 points in the second half to lift Minnesota to a win.

“Courtney has a very, very special way about her,” Reeve said. “She never believes that she’s out of it.”

Collier sets the tone for the team-first, whatever-it-takes mentality that lends itself to the beautiful brand of basketball Minnesota plays. Williams leads the charge when it comes to the belief. She has owned Indianapolis this week, with her and teammate Natisha Hiedeman running a non-stop stream of all the festivities that has featured endless cameos from some of the league’s best.

Fever guard Caitlin Clark revealed Thursday that she had watched multiple hours of the stream earlier in the day.

There’s an energy Williams exudes, and pairs well with her production.

Williams had 25 points and nine assists in Minnesota’s season-opening win over Dallas. She scored 25 again to go with eight rebounds and six assists in a win earlier this month against Chicago on the day it was revealed that she was an all-star.

Since June 24, it’s not Collier or any other big who leads Minnesota with 71 total rebounds, it’s the relentless point guard.

Kayla McBride

McBride had struggled from the field in each of her two previous outings heading into Minnesota’s June 21 bout with the Sparks, a game in which the Lynx did not have Collier available.

Minnesota Lynx guard Kayla McBride (21) points after making a three-point shot during the second half of a WNBA basketball game against the Phoenix Mercury, Tuesday, June 3, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Without the team’s best player in uniform, it was the franchise’s other long-time building block’s time to rise to the occasion, and she did.

McBride went 9 for 13 from the floor, burying five triples to score 29 points — 15 of which came in the final frame — to lift the Lynx to victory.

“Any time Mac gets it going, we are a dangerous team,” Williams said. “She is one of the best shooters in the world,”

A perfect complement to Collier with her floor spacing and approach, McBride continues to provide whatever Minnesota needs on a nightly basis.

“I just want to come out and just play, have fun and enjoy, because that’s what it’s about,” McBride said after the win over the Sparks. “We have a great group here, and it’s easy to get into a rhythm and feel that energy.”

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Roseville police say they have identified a new person of interest in the unsolved killing of 22-year-old Susan Capistrant, whose nude body was found in an alley on April 8, 1987, and are asking for the public’s help to solve the case.

Detective Brady Martin said Friday they have evidence linking Capistrant to a deceased Roseville man Robert Osborne, who was born in 1963 and died in 1996.

Martin said he believes more than one individual may have been involved in Capistrant’s death and stressed that Osborne’s involvement is unclear.

The body of Susan Capistrant, shown here in her senior year picture from Alexander Ramsey High School, was found April 8, 1987, face down behind a Roseville grocery store and a dry cleaner where she had worked. Her death at age 22, a homicide caused by asphyxia due to neck compression, remains a cold case, a mystery, but very much active, according to police. (Pioneer Press file)

“We know Ms. Capistrant was in contact with Mr. Osborne on April 7 or 8, 1987,” Martin said. “We are seeking the public’s assistance in connecting the lives of Capistrant and Osborne.”

Other than being roughly the same age and both living in Roseville, police cannot find any connection between the two, said Martin, who was assigned to the case five years ago.

“If a member of the public knew these two individuals or saw them together, we are asking that they contact police,” he said.

He declined to share specifics about the evidence linking Capistrant with Osborne, who died in 1996.

“We don’t want to jeopardize the integrity of the case by revealing too much information,” he said.

An unknown caller

Capistrant spent the night of April 7, 1987, at a neighborhood bar, Patrick’s Lounge, at Larpenteur and Hamline avenues in St. Paul, with her brother and a male friend. Capistrant and the friend returned to the Capistrant family home in the 1300 block of Garden Avenue.

Shortly after midnight, Capistrant got a telephone call. Capistrant had a short conversation with the caller and then left the house around 1 a.m. The friend said he also left the house at that time.

Police were never able to determine who called Capistrant.

About six hours later, an 11-year-old girl walking to school happened upon Capistrant’s body in an alley behind Jerry’s Foods and where she worked, One-Hour Martinizing, along County Road B just west of Dale Street.

Investigators had little information to work with in the initial hours and days after the killing. No clothing or other belongings were with Capistrant’s body.

‘We want to solve Capistrant’s murder’

Capistrant’s death, a homicide caused by asphyxia due to neck compression, has remained a mystery, but very much active. Police have investigated more than a dozen possible suspects, interviewed more than 100 witnesses and scrutinized evidence in an attempt to retrace Capistrant’s final hours.

“There’s not a day that goes by that I’m not touching some aspect of the case,” Martin told the Pioneer Press in 2022.

The slaying has mostly stayed out of the public eye since the initial media reports. That changed, though, when the case wound up on social media. A Facebook page — “Who Killed Susan Elizabeth Capistrant?” — that went up in October 2020 has put a new type of spotlight on the case.

“I have been in contact with the Facebook group organizers providing as much information as I can,” Martin said. “Roseville Police has also continued to investigate the case, combing through evidence and files. We want to solve Capistrant’s murder and give her family and the community closure.”

Cases like these are often solved by information “that someone deems too small or inconsequential to provide,” he said, adding the public should call 651-792-7008 or email rvpoliceinvest@cityofroseville.com to provide any information they have.

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By MARK KENNEDY

NEW YORK (AP) — Fifty years ago, “Jaws” unlocked dread in millions about man-eating sharks. This summer, that fear may be somewhat reduced as they become contestants on a TV dance show.

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Former “Dancing With the Stars” host Tom Bergeron steps up for a marketing masterstroke by Discovery Channel’s “Shark Week” — “Dancing with Sharks,” where humans and 20-foot-long hammerhead sharks do a little mambo.

“I had a decade and a half experience of hosting a dance show, but this one was different,” Bergeron tells The Associated Press. “I’d often thought on ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ wouldn’t it be great if we could incorporate another species? And here I’ve finally got my dream come true.”

In the show, five scuba-diving shark handlers use bait to twirl and guide various sharks into mini-waltzes, in what’s being billed as “the world’s most dangerous dance competition.”

One contestant wraps his arms around a nerf shark and spoons it. Another takes off her air tank and does a double backflip. A third — a hip-hop loving shark handler — does an old school head spin on the ocean floor as sharks swirl.

“These are some of the best shark handlers in the world. These are people who know the nuances of sharks, know how they move, know how to behave, know how to safely move with them, and they’re guiding these sharks along as you would a partner,” says Kinga Philipps, a TV correspondent and one of the three judges. “It is so fluid and beautiful, all they really had to do is put a little bit of music to it and they’re actually dancing.”

It’s a shark-a-thon

“Dancing with Sharks” kicks off the week of programing, which includes shows on how to survive a shark attack, why New Smyrna Beach in Florida has earned the title of “The Shark Attack Capital of the World” and whether a mysterious dark-skinned shark off the coast of California is a mako, mutant or possibly a mako-and-great white hybrid.

The seven nights of new shows — and a related podcast — ends off the Mozambique coast with a once-a-year feeding frenzy that turns into a showdown between the sharks and their massive prey, the giant trevally.

One highlight is Paul de Gelder’s “How to Survive a Shark Attack,” which he has intimate knowledge about. He lost his right hand and leg in 2009 during an attack by a bull shark in Sydney Harbor.

“If you’re in the jaws of a shark, you want to fight for all of your life. You want to go for the soft parts. You want go for the eyeball. You want to go for the gills,” he says. “But if you’re not being attacked by a shark and you’re just encountering a shark, then you just want to remain calm.”

This image released by Warner Bros. Discovery shows Janelle Van Ruiten interacting with a shark in a scene from “Dancing with the Sharks.” (Warner Bros. Discovery via AP)

De Gelder debunks one myth: Punching a charging shark will stop its attack. “If you really want to hurt your own hand, go ahead,” he says. A better approach is to not thrash about and gently redirect the animal. “The secret I got taught many years ago was don’t act like food and they won’t treat you like food.”

“Shark Week” has become a key part of the summer holiday TV schedule, a place where humans safe on land can see ancient apex predators unnervingly glide into view and snap open their jaws.

This year’s highlights also include the hunt for a 20-foot great white that can leap into the air — “Air Jaws: The Hunt for Colossus” — and a show about male and female great whites competing in a series of challenges to determine which sex is the superior predator, naturally called “Great White Sex Battle.”

Joseph Schneier, senior vice president of production and development at Discovery, says the shows are born from listening to what the diving and science community is seeing, like pro divers moving artistically with the sharks as they fed them, leading to “Dancing With Sharks.”

“We realized, well, there’s something here that we can go further with,” he says. “We’re lucky that sharks continue to surprise us. Which helps us get kind of new stories and new things to focus on. That’s been the mantra for us — the sharks are the stars, not the humans.”

As always, there is a deep respect for the creatures and strong science beneath the amusing titles, sharky puns, dramatic music and racy titles like “Frankenshark” and “Alien Sharks: Death Down Under.”

“It’s like putting your vegetables in a dessert,” says Bergeron. “You get all the allure of a ‘Dancing With Sharks’ or other specific shows, but in the midst of that you do learn a lot about sharks and ecology and the importance of sharks in the ecosystem. It’s all in your strawberry sundae.”

Discovery’s “Shark Week” has a rival — National Geographic’s “SharkFest,” which also has hours of sharky content. There’s also the unconnected shark horror comedy “Hot Spring Shark Attack” and a movie earlier this summer that added a serial killer to a shark movie — “Dangerous Animals.”

Born from ‘Jaws’

“Shark Week” was born as a counterpoint for those who developed a fear of sharks after seeing “Jaws.” It has emerged as a destination for scientists eager to protect an animal older than trees.

“’Jaws’ helped introduce this country and this world to a predator we’re all fascinated with,” says Schneier. “But we also feel ‘Jaws’ went too far. These are not creatures that are out to hurt humans by any means, but they have had 50-plus million years of evolution to get to this place where they are just excellent predators. It’s fun to celebrate just how good they are at their job.”

Kendyl Berna, who co-founded the ecology group Beyond the Reef, and is a veteran on “Shark Week,” says studying the ancient beasts can teach humans about changes to the planet.

“So much of the programming this year speaks to what’s happening with the rest of the world — climate change and how much that affects where sharks are and when they’re there and what they’re eating,” she says. “As a keystone apex predator, sharks do set the tone for what’s happening.”

Bergeron says being a part of “Shark Week” for the first time and meeting some of the divers who interact with sharks has actually made him braver.

“I don’t think I’m at a point where I could go down there with them and have the sharks swirling around me without a cage. But with a cage, I think I am ready to do that,” he says. “Just don’t tell my wife.”

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER

WASHINGTON (AP) — Under intense pressure from President Donald Trump’s own supporters, his administration now says it will push a court to unseal secret documents related to Jeffrey Epstein’s case in an effort to put to rest for good a political crisis largely of its own making.

But even if those records become public, it’s far from certain they will appease critics enraged over the administration’s unfulfilled promises of full transparency about evidence against the wealthy financier. Meanwhile, the administration remains dogged by questions about its refusal to release other records in its possession after stoking conspiracy theories and pledging to uncover government secrets of the “deep state.”

Here’s a look at the ongoing Epstein files controversy and what may happen next:

How the case got here

Trump is desperately trying to turn the page on a crisis that has consumed his administration since the Justice Department announced last week that it would not release any more evidence about the sex trafficking investigation into Epstein, who killed himself behind bars while awaiting trial in 2019.

The latest development came Thursday when the Wall Street Journal described a sexually suggestive letter that the newspaper says bore Trump’s name and was included in a 2003 album for Epstein’s 50th birthday. Trump denied writing the letter, calling it “false, malicious, and defamatory.”

Shortly after the story was published, Trump said he had directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to “produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval.”

“This SCAM, perpetuated by the Democrats, should end, right now!” the president wrote on social media.

Bondi then announced that the Justice Department would move Friday to ask the court to unseal the grand jury transcripts.

FILE – This photo provided by the New York State Sex Offender Registry shows Jeffrey Epstein, March 28, 2017. (New York State Sex Offender Registry via AP, File)

Courts are typically reluctant to release grand jury materials

Grand juries decide whether there is enough evidence to bring an indictment, or a formal criminal charge, and their proceedings are secret to protect the reputations of people who end up not being charged and to encourage reluctant witnesses to testify.

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Grand jury transcripts — which could show the testimony of witnesses and other evidence presented by prosecutors — are rarely released by courts, unless they need to be disclosed in connection with a judicial proceeding. In fact, grand jury secrecy is such a sacrosanct principle under the law that government officials who improperly disclose testimony are subject to prosecution. Witnesses are not bound by those rules.

Even with the Justice Department endorsement, it could take weeks or months of legal wrangling to decide what can be released and how to protect witnesses and other sensitive victim information.

And it’s unlikely the transcripts would shed any light on a major fascination of conspiracy theorists obsessed with Epstein’s case: the financier’s connections to other powerful figures whom some believe were involved in Epstein’s sex trafficking scheme.

Court have blocked the release of grand jury materials in other high-profile investigations. House Democrats in 2019 sought grand jury testimony from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation while Congress was conducting its impeachment inquiry into Trump. But the Justice Department successfully fought for years to keep the material secret.

The administration could release other records right now

The Justice Department’s decision to seek grand jury transcripts gives the administration a reason to point to the courts to explain why more material hasn’t yet been released. But the uproar over the Epstein files was never about the grand jury transcripts — it was about the thousands of other pages in the government’s possession that the administration now says it won’t release.

Facing outrage after the first release of Epstein files flopped in February, Bondi said officials were poring over a “truckload” of previously withheld evidence she said had been handed over by the FBI. But after a monthslong review of evidence in the government’s possession, the Justice Department determined that no “further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.”

The Justice Department has yet to fully explain why none of that material could be released. It noted in its memo earlier this month that much of the material was placed under seal by a court to protect victims and “only a fraction” of it “would have been aired publicly had Epstein gone to trial.”

Since then, Bondi has largely refused to answer questions from reporters about the matter.

Congress’ Epstein files resolution carries no legal weight

House Republicans may vote next week on a resolution that seeks to appease GOP demands for more transparency on the Epstein case, The resolution calls on the Justice Department to publicly release records, but it carries no legal force.

“The House Republicans are for transparency, and they’re looking for a way to say that they agree with the White House,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said Thursday. “We agree with the president. Everything he said about that, all the credible evidence should come out.”

Democrats, with the support of nine Republicans, have advanced their own legislation that would require the Justice Department to release more information about the case.

Associated Press Writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.