The Palace Theatre in downtown St. Paul is suing Wrecktangle Pizza over the short-lived Wrestaurant at the Palace, claiming that the Detroit-style pizza makers still owe the theater upwards of $1.6 million more than a year after their joint restaurant venture shut down.

Wrestaurant opened in early fall 2023 in the spot formerly home to Wild Tymes but quietly closed about a year later amid extensive water damage to its building, which had been purchased in early 2023 by now-troubled Madison Equities while restaurant plans were in the works.

First Avenue, which co-manages the Palace Theatre, opened a new restaurant called the Palace Pub in the location this summer. Unlike Wrestaurant, the Palace Pub is fully operated by First Avenue, operations director Marc Dickhut said at the time.

Wrestaurant earned plaudits when it opened for its creative menu and modern, redesigned interior. The Palace Pub, for its part, looks quite similar to its predecessor in decor and now offers a more casual bar-fare menu and a selection of arcade games.

In a lawsuit filed in Hennepin County Court last week, the operators of the Palace Theatre — which owned 51 percent of the restaurant, to Wrecktangle’s 49 percent — claim that they agreed in 2023 to front money for both their own and Wrecktangle’s portions of startup and operating costs, a total investment the theater estimates at around $3.3 million. That loan for Wrecktangle’s portion was fully guaranteed by Wrecktangle co-owner Alex Rogers, according to court filings.

However, the lawsuit claims, none of that loan has been repaid. With interest and other fees attached, the Palace claims in their lawsuit that Wrecktangle owes “an amount to be proved at trial but reasonably believed to be in excess of $1,650,000.00.”

Neither Rogers nor a representative of First Avenue responded to requests for additional information Friday.

For its part, in a response to the lawsuit filed in court this week, Wrecktangle appears to admit to not having made payments on the loan but countered that it is the Palace, in fact, that has failed to uphold part of the deal.

In its own filing, Wrecktangle says that the Palace never properly dissolved the joint LLC behind the restaurant nor took over Wrecktangle’s 49 percent ownership interest, and has continued to use equipment purchased by the joint LLC to now operate the Palace Pub. The theater, Wrecktangle says in its filing, has not financially credited the pizza company for profits and losses made using equipment in which it still has an ownership stake — which Wrecktangle characterized as a bad-faith move that calls into question the validity of the Palace lawsuit.

In response, the Palace denied these allegations, reiterated its claims of Wrecktangle’s own wrongdoing and noted that the Palace Pub has yet to turn a profit.

From here, unless they reach a settlement in the meantime, both Wrecktangle and the Palace have tentatively agreed to go to trial in November 2026.

Related Articles

Maplewood gunman sentenced for shooting at car while kids cowered nearby

Jury convicts 2nd man in Coon Rapids triple murder

3rd sexual assault case against former Bethel football player dismissed

St. Paul asks for pause on $22 million suit over building permits

Woodbury man gets 30 years in federal prison for extorting minors after coercing sexually explicit videos

PITTSBURGH – Even though the Wild removed the injured reserve tag from center Nico Sturm on Friday following their morning skate at PPG Paints Arena, coach John Hynes said the season debut for the German faceoff specialist likely will not come until Sunday afternoon in Winnipeg at the earliest.

And with Ryan Hartman and Marco Rossi both still out with lower-body injuries, that meant a second game — and maybe more to come — with rookie Danila Yurov centering the team’s top line between Mats Zuccarello and Kirill Kaprizov.

Things could hardly have started better for Yurov in his debut as the team’s top-line center. Less than two minutes into what would eventually become a 4-3 shootout win over Carolina late Wednesday night, Yurov fed a pass to Zuccarello, whose long-range shot deflected off defenseman Brock Faber and into the net, giving Yurov his third career assist.

“I think that probably was his first shift with those guys, so that probably relieves a little bit of the nervousness going into it and helps settle in,” Hynes said on Friday morning in Pittsburgh.

In the immediate aftermath of the Carolina game — in which the Wild were on the defensive for long stretches after getting 2-0 and 3-1 leads, then hanging on to get the two points — Hynes had a more frank and critical assessment of the entire top line. It was noted that, for an extended stretch late in the second period that night, the trio of Zuccarello, Yurov and Kaprizov did not see the ice. But after taking a more detailed look at things, the coach said Friday that what he saw from the three, and Yurov especially, was encouraging.

“He plays a good two-way game. I felt that he made a nice play on (Faber’s) goal,” Hynes said. “Very good on breakout support. I think he can fit well with those guys too because he can transport the puck.”

Signed by the Wild in May after he was the team’s first-round pick, 24th overall, in the 2022 NHL draft, Yurov had played parts of the previous five years in the Kontinental Hockey League in his native Russia. He entered Friday night’s game in Pittsburgh with two goals and three assists in 16 outings at the NHL level.

“He’s making plays, he’s very responsible, he’s always in the right spot. The offense is going to come,” Wild forward Matt Boldy said after the Carolina game. “It’s hard. It’s not that easy, especially as a young guy playing center and having a lot of responsibility, and then playing with Kirill and Zuccy is a whole beast on its own. I thought he was awesome.”

Keeping it in the room

The players who will talk about it admit that it helped turn things around when Wild captain Jared Spurgeon called a players-only meeting on Halloween. It allowed the members of the team a private forum to air their concerns about why Minnesota had put up a 3-6-3 record to that point.

But hockey also has a strict unwritten code that things said behind closed doors are intensely private. They often like to “keep it in the room” as is the game’s common language.

So, while players like Spurgeon and Faber will talk in general terms about what came out of that meeting, and how it helped the Wild to a 7-1-1 mark in their next nine, a more common response is the one offered by Boldy when he was asked about the meeting and what came from it.

“Yeah, it was good,” he said, and did not elaborate. Asked about the meeting a second time, Boldly offered the bare minimum.

“It was a good meeting,” Boldly said.

Keeping it in the room, clearly.

At long last, Bogo’s back

Shelved for more than a month with a lower-body injury, defenseman Zach Bogosian was eager to re-enter the lineup versus anyone, even if it meant going head-to-head versus future Hall of Fame forward Sidney Crosby on Friday night, as Bogosian played for the first time since getting hurt on Oct. 17 in Washington.

Skating for the past few weeks as he made his way back to playing health, Bogosian admitted on Friday that what Tom Petty once said is true: the waiting is the hardest part.

“Definitely it’s not very fun sitting around,” said Bogosian, who, entering the meeting with the Penguins, had played five games this season and was looking for his first point. “It’s a challenge in itself. The way I look at it, every time you hit a little bit of adversity, you just get through the situation, and this is no different. It feels nice to be back.”

With Bogosian healthy, the Wild scratched Daemon Hunt from the lineup on Friday and sent defenseman David Jiricek back to the Iowa Wild.

Related Articles

Tight schedule and hot goalies mean Wild rotation likely

Jesper Wallstedt plays the hero in Wild shootout win

Wild could face a player surplus as they get healthier

As injuries mount, Yakov Trenin becomes emergency center for Wild

Kirill Kaprizov plays the hero in Wild’s OT win over Knights

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar met with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican Friday with a group of Ukrainians who are working to help return more than 19,000 children abducted by Russian forces during the war.

Klobuchar has pushed for support for Ukraine following the Russian invasion of that country in 2022. The Minnesota Democrat was invited by the Ukrainians to join their delegation advocating for the return of children.

“Pope Leo is a true moral force for peace and justice and a champion for children around the world. It was an honor to meet him as part of our mission to bring home the Ukrainian children abducted by Russia and chart a path towards peace and healing for Ukraine,” said Klobuchar, in a statement. “We cannot accept a world where children are abducted during wartime and used as hostages for negotiations. The United States must remain steadfast in our support for Ukraine’s fight for freedom, and we should all heed Pope Leo’s example of serving those in need, pursuing the common good, and calling for peace.”

Also during her meeting, Klobuchar presented the Pope with a resolution honoring the victims and survivors of the mass shooting at the Annunciation Catholic Church and School in Minneapolis this summer.

During her visit to Rome, Klobuchar also spoke met with other Vatican officials to talk about efforts to return children abducted by Russia. Klobuchar has worked on legislation aimed at the recovery of Ukrainian children with U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican.

Related Articles

St. Paul Mayor-elect Kaohly Her announces transition team

MN paid family medical leave will leverage data, selfies to fight fraud

MN lawmakers hear about impact of canceled federal higher education grants

Special MN House elections set for St. Paul, Woodbury seats

In the wake of surprise federal THC ban, local breweries and beverage producers face an unknown future

The Ukrainian delegation includes four children who were taken by Russian forces and have been reunited with their families.

There have been 19,546 confirmed reports of unlawful deportations and transfers of Ukrainian children to Russa, Belarus or Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine, according to Ukrainian authorities. As of Oct. 9, about 1,800 have been returned.

According to a State Department report on human trafficking, Russia recruits or uses child soldiers, has a state-sponsored policy or pattern of human trafficking, and is among the worst hubs globally for human trafficking.

A St. Paul man who wore a sweatshirt that read “In Glock We Trust” while firing a fully automatic handgun at a car in Maplewood — wounding a passenger and causing two juveniles nearby to cower in fear — was sentenced Friday to just over six years in prison.

Muhnee Jaleel Bailey (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

Muhnee Jaleel Bailey, 24, pleaded guilty in Ramsey County District Court to drive-by shooting in connection with the incident at an apartment building parking lot at Larpenteur Avenue and McMenemy Street about just before 6 p.m. on April 16.

In exchange for the plea, prosecutors agreed to dismiss five other charges: second-degree attempted murder and four counts of possession of a firearm or ammunition by a person prohibited due to a conviction for a crime of violence.

The six-year, three-month sentence was part of the plea agreement. He received credit for 175 days already served in custody.

According to the criminal complaint, surveillance video showed Bailey get out of a Chevrolet Malibu and fire three volleys, which were in rapid succession, at a gold sedan. Police found 18 spent casings in the parking lot.

Video also showed a 10-year-old girl who had just got off a school bus and another juvenile “cowering in fear as they tried to get into the apartment building,” the complaint read.

A 22-year-old passenger of the gold sedan was soon dropped off at Regions Hospital in St. Paul and treated for gunshot wounds to his shoulder and leg. He did not want to talk to police, the complaint said.

After law enforcement identified the license plate on the Chevrolet, police pulled over the car on April 22 in Minneapolis. Bailey was driving.

Officers discovered Bailey was on release from the Federal Bureau of Prisons to a halfway house in Minneapolis. He had pleaded guilty in March 2023 to a federal charge of possession of a firearm as felon.

Police carried out a search warrant at his house and found a Glock with an extended magazine, another Glock in a backpack, a pistol without a serial number and the sweatshirt.

Bailey has a lengthy criminal history that goes back to when he was a teenager, state court records show. Recent convictions in separate cases include drive-by shooting, fleeing police in a vehicle and possession of a machine gun after being caught with a Glock pistol that had an auto sear, or “switch,” making it fully automatic.

Related Articles

Jury convicts 2nd man in Coon Rapids triple murder

3rd sexual assault case against former Bethel football player dismissed

St. Paul asks for pause on $22 million suit over building permits

Woodbury man gets 30 years in federal prison for extorting minors after coercing sexually explicit videos

Man admits to fatally stabbing St. Paul woman, believing she was his mother