Two men were shot and injured in a parking lot near a strip of St. Paul fast food restaurants on Saturday night.

Shortly after 10:30 p.m., St. Paul police were called to a parking lot in the 1800 block of Suburban Avenue, where they found a man with gunshot wounds to his torso. The area includes both a Wendy’s and a McDonald’s restaurant. The shooting appears to have occurred in a parking lot and not inside a business, according to Alyssa Arcand, a St. Paul police spokesperson.

Another man with gunshot injuries to his head was found near White Bear Avenue and Old Hudson Road.

Both men were taken to Regions Hospital by St. Paul Fire Department medics, police said. Updates on their condition were not available Sunday.

Investigators were working Sunday to determine the circumstances surrounding the shooting, but they believe the two men were part of the same incident. No arrests have been made and the incident is an open and active investigation.

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On Saturday, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith met with students, alumni and guests to launch the first-ever scholarship with the University of Minnesota’s School of Music, in partnership with the Chad Smith Foundation.

It’s called the Curtis and Joan Smith Scholarship, named for Smith’s parents, who are university alumni. The scholarship is designed to help support young Minnesota musicians pursuing a degree at the university.

“It’s an opportunity for us to celebrate, obviously, my mom and dad, but also where we started our lives and grew up,” Smith said. “I love music. I’m so passionate about it. And I’m so fortunate I found it at a young age.”

Born in St. Paul, Smith was raised with a love for the U and music. As alumni, Curtis and Joan Smith graduated in 1957 and 1948,  respectively, where Curtis attended through the G.I. Bill after serving in the military.

“My father passed in 2001, but my mother is 98 years old; she couldn’t be here, but she’s really excited about the legacy that we’re continuing in her alma mater and my father’s alma mater,” Smith said. “It means a lot to her and to us.”

The Chad Smith Foundation, founded in August by Smith and his nephew Lewis Smith, seeks to connect young people to music through education and resources. This scholarship is seen as a first step in this pursuit.

“We strongly believe that the best time to have music as a role in your life is as early as possible. We’re dedicated to reaching the next generation and inspiring them to hear, see and feel music being played,” Lewis Smith said. “We want to give them access to instruments to an educational curriculum to fuel that inspiration. If they want to make it a career, maybe through the University of Minnesota, we have scholarships in place to give them the support they need to make it.”

The scholarship debuted during homecoming weekend, with an accompanying performance by Smith at a fundraising luncheon with the music school’s rock band and later at the halftime show of the Gophers football game against the Purdue Boilermakers.

The Gophers later won the game, 27-20, with a comeback in the second half of the game at Huntington Bank Stadium.

During the launch, Smith played “Californication” and “Can’t Stop” with the School of Music’s first-ever rock band, Skwirl. The band was formed in the spring by Del Lyren, the school’s undergraduate adviser and enrollment manager. The six students performed with Smith playing drums for the familiar songs.

Tia Bersie, a musical therapy student in the band, said the experience was completely unexpected.

“It’s just a really cool opportunity that felt, like, it was kind of thrown at us really suddenly. We were not expecting to get to go do something with the Chad Smith,” Bersie said.

Ava Danberg, another student and lead singer of the performance, said the recognition from an artist like Smith was validating as a student musician.

“We all have really busy schedules, but we all try to take time out of our week to practice together. So, just the fact that he took time out of his schedule to come and see us was such a cool opportunity,” Danberg said.

Another group at the luncheon was Minnesota’s branch of the School of Rock, a music program designed for students of all ages and skill levels to learn in a performance-based setting. Founded in 1998 as a single school in Philadelphia, School of Rock has expanded to over 385 locations and 16 different countries.

“It ties into our foundation because we just want the next generation to be able to have the opportunity and exposure to music and equipment and education and teachers and places to play,” Smith said.

Throughout the event, the importance of introducing young people to music was emphasized by Smith and his foundation. The drummer took time to meet with every guest present, taking pictures individually, as well as group photos with the School of Rock students.

“Music is, I just think it’s the greatest thing. It’s the universal language,” Smith said. “Everybody loves it and is connected to music. There are so many great things about it that just make the world go round.”

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Long before he was coaching the New Jersey Devils to their first Stanley Cup in 1995, then taking over an expansion team in Minnesota five years later and coaching the Wild to what was their greatest playoff success in the franchise’s first 25 years, Jacques Lemaire was a player of some note.

Minnesota wild head coach Jacques Lemaire, top left, gives instructions from the bench during the first period of Minnesota’s 3-2 victory over Vancouver in Game 2 of the NHL Western Conference semifinals in Vancouver, British Columbia on April 27, 2003. (Sherri LaRose-Chiglo / Pioneer Press)

Now 80, retired and living in Florida, Lemaire spent a dozen seasons playing center for his hometown Montreal Canadiens, winning a whopping eight Stanley Cups in the process.

In eight seasons behind the bench in Minnesota, he took the Wild from a bunch of castoffs looking to reestablish the NHL in a community still stinging from the 1993 loss of the North Stars, to the third round of the 2003 playoffs, and in 2007 to their first (and so far only) division title.

With the team celebrating 25 years, the Wild hierarchy put together a nice tribute to the franchise’s roots in 2000, bringing back original general manager Doug Risebrough, along with the team’s original coaching staff – Mario Tremblay, Bob Mason and Lemaire – to drop the ceremonial first puck before Saturday’s home opener with Columbus.

Earlier in the day, touring TRIA Rink and the Wild’s modern facilities, Lemaire took a few minutes to talk with the media, reflecting on his arrival in Minnesota and that magical spring of 2003, when this bunch with zero expectations upset Colorado and Vancouver to reach the Western Conference final.

Rookie center Jacques LeMaire, fourth from left, grins through the gaping space between his teeth as his fellow Montreal Canadiens congratulate him for winning goal against the St. Louis Blues in their first Stanley Cup championship game Sunday, in St. Louis, Mo., May 5, 1968. (AP Photo)

Lemaire joked that what keeps him busy these days, in retirement, is trying to maintain a healthy body after spending nearly 1,000 games on NHL ice. Daily life in Florida involves, “Fixing all the bad bones that I have and trying to get my sciatic nerve straightened out,” he said, with a smile. “Besides that, not much.”

A different game

In 2000, while the Wild’s home rink – then called Xcel Energy Center – was brand new, they lacked a dedicated practice facility, and spent a fair amount of time commuting back and forth from St. Paul to Minneapolis, usually skating at Parade Ice Garden when the X was otherwise booked.

Marveling at the modern amenities available to current Wild coach John Hynes and his players, Lemaire admitted the job has changed greatly in a quarter-century.

“There’s so many things now with the players,” Lemaire said. “Before it was a little more simple. You know, you coach them. Now you’ve got to watch a lot of stuff that they have, that surrounds their needs. It’s different. Another era.”

One commute he didn’t mind during the nine years Lemaire spent here was the one to and from downtown St. Paul from the home he had in Lilydale. The coach admitted that if the weather was right, he would bicycle to the rink along the paved riverfront trail.

In all, he directed three playoff appearances in eight seasons (Lemaire was in Minnesota for nine years, but the entire 2004-05 season was lost due to a labor dispute between players and ownership). No season was more legendary than 2002-03.

Memorable May

In round one, the Wild trailed Colorado 3-1 in the best-of-seven series before winning the last three games – two of them in overtime – for the first playoff series win in franchise history.

Round two was similar, with Vancouver taking a 3-1 lead in the series before the Wild grabbed the last three games and a trip to the Western Conference final.

Versus Anaheim in round three, the magic, and the offense, disappeared. Minnesota managed just one goal in the four-game sweep by the Ducks. But the memories of a band of underdogs leading Minnesota fans on a magical month of spring are fresh, more than two decades later.

Reflecting on that season, Lemaire talked about the power of belief and teamwork.

“The thing is, no matter how good or not good or average you are, if you can get all the guys to do their job and believe in that same thing, you’ve got a chance,” he said. “And if you have a good team and you don’t get the guys to believe that they can do it, you won’t win, even if your team is good.”

Following a legend

Lemaire and Hynes spent a few minutes talking shop, and the current Wild head man said there is nothing but respect for the coaching legend who was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1984.

“It’s always special when you see guys of their caliber, what they’ve been able to do in the league and the type of people they are, to have them around,” Hynes said, admitting that as a collegian at Boston University, he would watch Lemaire’s Devils teams practice whenever they would visit Boston.

On the ice at Grand Casino Arena, there was a roar when Risebrough, Mason, Tremblay and then Lemaire were introduced to the crowd.

The former head coach said he had been wanting to revisit Minnesota for some time, and when Lemaire heard the other members of the original Wild brain trust were coming, he jumped at the chance. The only regret he had upon arrival in St. Paul was not staying longer.

“We came here for nine years, and it was really a great time that we had. Not only for me, my family, my wife,” Lemaire said, mentioning Mychele, his spouse of 55 years. “She says, ‘Geez, I remember Minnesota. It was so great. The life, the people, people were so good for us, so kind,’ And you know, it’s something that you will cherish the rest of our years.”

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Last Monday – a crisp, sunny day in all of its October glory – was a celebration of public lands and their importance to all of us who spend time outdoors.

The day started by meeting up with Kristi Coughlon, an information officer for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in Bemidji, and her hunting dogs Cokie and Bennett.

Cokie, a yellow Lab, is named after Cokie Roberts, the American journalist, author and commentator who died in 2019; Bennett, a griffon, is so-named for Detective Joan Bennett from the “Bosch” TV crime series.

Kristi Coughlon, an information officer for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in Bemidji, Minn., fastens a bell onto the collar of Cokie, her yellow Lab, on Monday, Oct. 6, 2025, before a morning grouse hunt on a Hunter Walking Trail in the Beltrami Island State Forest. (Brad Dokken / Forum News Service)

The first leg of this October celebration brought us to a couple of Hunter Walking Trails in Beltrami Island State Forest to try to flush up a ruffed grouse or two. The second leg – and the real reason for our Northwoods rendezvous – was to venture even farther east to mark the dedication of a new wildlife management area along the Rainy River between Baudette and International Falls, Minn.

The 280-acre Lessard-Anderson State Wildlife Management Area is named after former state Sen. Bob Lessard of International Falls and Bob Anderson, former mayor of “The Falls,” who died unexpectedly in 2019. Good friends, the two men were leaders in northern Minnesota conservation circles. Lessard played a vital role in passing the legislation that created the Clean Water Land and Legacy Amendment, which Minnesota voters approved in November 2008 to provide dedicated funding for fish and wildlife habitat, parks and trails and the arts. Anderson served as chairman of the Lessard Sams Outdoor Heritage Council, which allocates Legacy Amendment dollars through the Outdoor Heritage Fund.

The new WMA, just off State Highway 11 about 35 miles west of International Falls, includes 1.6 miles of Rainy River shoreline that is now available for public use and wildlife habitat.

Pheasants Forever purchased the land for $800,000 from the Molpus Woodlands Group, which managed the site, and sold it to the DNR to establish the WMA.

Critics might wonder why an outdoors writer from Grand Forks, N.D., ventures all the way over to the Rainy River to attend the dedication of a wildlife management area. Fair question, that, but the main reason was to pay tribute to Lessard, now 94, who was on hand for the celebration, attended by upwards of 50 people.

I’ve known Lessard for years, first during his tenure in the Minnesota Legislature, while writing stories about such issues as wolf management, right to hunt and fish legislation (which he also spearheaded) and dedicated outdoors funding.

More recently, I’ve fished with Lessard at his camp on Otukamamoan (Trout) Lake in northwestern Ontario on a number of occasions. He guided right up until his late 80s and still spends summers at the camp with his son Brett, who now oversees the place.

It seemed only fitting that I make the trip to pay tribute to a man I also consider a friend.

Plus, you can do a lot worse than a crisp October day in northern Minnesota.

The Hunter Walking Trails that Coughlon and I explored to start the day were new to both of us, but we didn’t have to worry about trespassing or being somewhere we weren’t supposed to be. The trails were signed and mowed and offered what looked like good ruffed grouse habitat.

The birds apparently thought so, too. Even though we didn’t end the morning with any birds in the bag, we flushed one ruffie (and may have heard another) on the first trail and flushed five more birds on the second.

For the first time all year, the woods actually smelled like fall. To me, the earthy aroma of decaying leaves is the smell of October.

The dedication, which didn’t start until 4 p.m., included representatives from Pheasants Forever, the Minnesota DNR, the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association and other partners. Lessard and Anderson’s wife, Carol, along with other members of their families, also attended.

Sabin Adams, Minnesota state coordinator for Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, said people might wonder why Pheasants Forever is involved with a project in northern Minnesota, where there are no pheasants, but the conservation group’s mission statement says “we conserve pheasants and other wildlife,” he said.

The Reinvest in Minnesota (RIM) program, which provides state funding for conservation work, also played a key role, Adams said.

“Pheasants Forever buys this property, (and) the Minnesota DNR then buys it from Pheasants Forever,” Adams said. “Well, where did this all come from? If you look around at all the license plates on all the vehicles in here, there’s a whole bunch of them that have a loon, a pheasant, a deer, etc.

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“That’s your RIM dollars at work supporting this effort, and so we used those RIM funds with the Minnesota DNR to purchase this property and make it happen. This didn’t just happen because of Pheasants Forever and the Minnesota DNR, it happened because the citizens of Minnesota care about this sort of thing.”

As a result, everyone now has access to 1.6 miles of riverfront property along the Rainy River. That, in itself, is remarkable.

So it went on a crisp day in October, a day of enjoying – and celebrating – public lands.