The Twins completed two games on Wednesday without three key contributors. It sounds as if they won’t have to play too much longer without all three, as each has made positive strides towards a return.

Shortstop Carlos Correa, who suffered a concussion when he collided with Byron Buxton last Thursday in Baltimore, is feeling better, with head athletic trainer Nick Paparesta calling his symptoms “basically all gone.” Buxton, also dealing with a concussion as a result of the collision, is “a little bit behind Carlos,” Paparesta said. But Buxton was expected to begin baseball activities on Wednesday.

And Matt Wallner, who has been out since mid-April with a hamstring strain, started a rehab assignment on Wednesday night in St. Paul, serving as the Saints’ designated hitter.

Paparesta said they had Wallner lined up to play in St. Paul through the weekend and then they will assess whether he will travel with the Saints to Omaha or if he is ready to returnto the Twins. While the Twins would like to see Wallner play in back-to-back games before a return — and ideally back-to-back games in the field, if possible — the path back from a concussion is a little less mapped out.

Correa has been hitting, throwing and taking ground balls. He had an evaluation scheduled with Dr. David Olson on Wednesday, Paparesta said. Before both he and Buxton come off the injured list, they will need to pass an ImPACT Test (Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing).

When players enter the league, they are asked to take the neurological exam as a baseline test. Post-brain injury, players will take the test again and the scores will be evaluated off each other to determine if they are safe to return.

“We’re still a few, a couple days away from that just as far as the procedures and protocols that we need to get done, but from a baseball standpoint, we’re in a good spot,” Paparesta said of Correa.

Unlike Correa, who has never suffered a concussion before, Buxton has a history of concussions. He suffered one in 2019 and another a season later after being hit by a pitch. Having a history of concussions makes a person more susceptible to suffering another one or worse injuries upon getting one, Paparesta said.

“He’s taking a little bit longer to move progressively, but (Wednesday), we’re going to start some baseball stuff with him, which is a great sign,” Paparesta said. “We’ll just see every day how he responds to that.”

While Correa left Thursday’s game immediately and was placed on the seven-day concussion injured list the very next day, the Twins took a little bit longer to make a decision with Buxton, who also has a history of migraines.

“We wanted to be smart about making sure we weren’t pushing him to the IL if it was just his migraine or if it was actual symptoms from his concussion,” Paparesta said. “And we determined that, at that point in time, it was symptoms from his concussion (and) it was best to place him on the IL.”

Briefly

A day after playing U.S. Bank Stadium with Post Malone, singer Jelly Roll was at Target Field on Wednesday afternoon. He went into the Twins’ clubhouse in between games and was briefly on the field before the second game. … Mickey Gasper was brought over to serve as the 27th man for the second game on Wednesday. He did not play. … Luke Keaschall, out with a forearm fracture, is “showing some signs of calcification, which is exactly what we’re looking for,” Paparesta said. “We don’t have any bridging of that yet to show that the bones have healed and that we’re ready to start any true baseball stuff.” Keaschall was transferred to the 60-day injured list and can’t return until late June at the earliest.

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By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS and JONATHAN J. COOPER, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump’s “no tax on tips” pledge became a catchphrase for his 2024 campaign. Now it’s inching closer to reality.

The idea is firmly planted in the sprawling tax cuts package Republicans are hashing out in the House and aiming to pass in the coming days. And in a surprise move, the Senate voted this week to unanimously approve the idea.

The proposal has widespread support from the public, lawmakers in both parties and employers who believe such a law will bring relief to the working class. But many critics say that it would come with an enormous cost to the government while doing little to help the workers who need it most.

Here’s a look at the proposal and its potential impact:

What’s in the ‘No Tax on Tips’ provision?

It would create a new tax deduction eliminating federal income taxes on tips for people working in jobs that have traditionally received them, as long as they make less than $160,000 in 2025. The Trump administration would publish a list of qualifying occupations within 90 days of the bill’s signing.

Only tips reported to the employer and noted on a worker’s W-2, their end-of-year tax summary, would qualify. Payroll taxes, which pay for Social Security and Medicare, would still be collected.

FILE – Then-Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump dances at a campaign event at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, Oct. 15, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)

If adopted, the proposed deduction is set to expire after four years. Congressional budget analysts project the provision would increase the deficit by $40 billion through 2028. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, an advocacy group, projects the cost would be $120 billion over a decade if the tip exemption is made permanent.

What did Trump say during the campaign about eliminating federal taxes on tips?

Trump made the promise during a campaign stop in Las Vegas, where the service sector drives the economy, as part of his pitch to working-class voters struggling with rising costs.

Segments of his base eagerly spread the word, writing the catchphrase on their restaurant receipts or talking to their barbers about it while getting a trim.

Trump offered few details at the time, but later made similar pledges to eliminate taxes on other forms of income, including overtime wages and Social Security payments. Those ideas, along with a tax deduction for auto loan interest, are also included in the GOP’s budget bill.

FiLE – Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks during a news conference at the Capitol, May 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr., File)

“No tax on tips” was later embraced — with limits — by the influential Culinary Union, which represents Las Vegas Strip hospitality workers, Nevada’s Democratic senators and Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s Democratic rival.

How could it impact workers?

Experts say some middle-income service workers would benefit from a tax break but warn that it could potentially heighten inequities.

“If your goal is to help the poorest service workers, this is probably not the way to do it,” said Michael Lynn, a professor of services marketing at Cornell University whose research largely focuses on tipping and other consumer behavior.

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About a third of tipped workers make too little to owe income taxes. Those workers won’t benefit from the tax break, so its benefits will accrue to tipped workers with higher incomes, Lynn said.

“It’s overlooking non-tipped workers who need the help just as badly, and it’s giving the benefit predominantly to the least needy of the tipped workers,” Lynn said.

The median age for tipped workers is 31, a decade younger than the median non-tipped worker, and they tend to make lower wages, according to the Yale Budget Lab.

Among tipped workers who make enough to owe Uncle Sam, the average tax cut would be about $1,800, according to the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

The measure also would be complicated to enact.

What do employers say?

The National Restaurant Association is among industry groups that have been strong backers of a “No Tax on Tips” provision. When reached for comment Wednesday, a spokesperson pointed The Associated Press to a previous statement following the legislation’s introduction in January.

“Eliminating taxes on tips would put cash back in the pocket of a significant number of workers in the restaurant and food service industry and could help restaurant operators recruit industry workforce,” Sean Kennedy, executive vice president of public affairs for the association, said at the time — calling the No Tax on Tips Act “sensible legislation” that he said includes “fiscally responsible” protections.

And in Nevada, the Culinary Workers Union specifically credited the state’s two Democratic senators, Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen, with working with Republicans to push the legislation forward — and called on the House to “get this done for working families.” The union represents about 60,000 casino and hotel workers across the state, including bartenders, food servers and cocktail servers who rely on tips.

But other groups representing workers shared criticism of the legislation.

One Fair Wage, an advocacy group made up of nearly 300,000 service workers and over 1,000 restaurant employers pushing to raise the minimum wage, said the measure would offer “moderate relief for some” but is part of a tax package that “just helps the richest while leaving the vast majority behind.”

“For all the bipartisan celebration … this bill is a distraction from the real fight,” Saru Jayaraman, president of One Fair Wage, stated — again stressing that it was time to raise the minimum wage. The nonprofit also calls for ending tip credits that allow lower base wages for tipped workers in many states.

Cooper reported from Phoenix. AP Writer Rio Yamat contributed to this report from Las Vegas.

By JOHN O’CONNOR, Associated Press

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Treasured artifacts associated with President Abraham Lincoln were on the auction block Wednesday, separated from a collection that was intended to be available for public display forever but wound up in the middle of an interagency feud amid a lingering $8 million debt.

The blood-stained leather gloves that were in Lincoln’s pocket the night he was assassinated were among the 144 items up for bid, 136 of which sold. They were auctioned to pay off the remainder of a two-decade-old loan that the Lincoln Presidential Foundation used to buy a one-of-a-kind cluster of Lincoln artifacts from a California collector.

The auction at Freeman’s/Hindman in Chicago raised $7.9 million, but that includes buyers’ premiums of roughly 28% tacked onto each sale to cover the auction house’s administrative costs.

A portrait of Abraham Lincoln, which was signed by him and taken by Alexander Hesler, is on display at Freeman’s | Hindman in West Loop, Chicago, May 15, 2025. (Pat Nabong/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

The gloves were the top-selling items, bringing in $1.52 million including the premium. One of two handkerchiefs Lincoln had with him April 14, 1865, the night he was shot, went for $826,000.

A “Wanted” poster featuring photos of three suspects in the assassination conspiracy, led by John Wilkes Booth, sold for $762,500, far higher than the top estimated price of $120,000.

And the earliest known sample of the 16th president’s handwriting, from a notebook in 1824, fetched $521,200.

Phone and email messages seeking comment were left for the foundation. Its website said proceeds from the auction would be put toward retiring the debt and “any excess funds will go toward our continued care and display of our extensive collection.”

A piece of Abraham Lincoln’s coat, which he wore when he was assassinated at Ford’s Theatre on April 14, 1865, is framed at Freeman’s | Hindman in West Loop, Chicago, May 15, 2025. (Pat Nabong/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

The foundation purchased a 1,540-item assemblage in 2007 from Louise Taper for the fledgling Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, which opened in 2005 in the city where he established a law practice and lived while serving in the Illinois Legislature and briefly in Congress.

The artifacts were supposed to give the library and museum, which was rich in Lincoln-related manuscripts, a boost in what it lacked — the meaty kind of curios that draw tourists.

But fundraising was slow, forcing the sale of non-Lincoln portions of the collection and threats by the foundation to sell more before it finally extended the loan.

In 2012 a controversy arose over what had been the crown jewel of the group — a stovepipe hat, appraised at $6 million, that Lincoln was said to have given as a gift to a southern Illinois supporter. That story came under intense scrutiny, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times, resulting in a 2019 study that found there was no evidence the hat belonged to Lincoln. It was not part of Wednesday’s auction.

A page that shows the earliest known example of Abraham Lincoln’s handwriting is on display at Freeman’s | Hindman in West Loop, Chicago, May 15, 2025. (Pat Nabong/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — All but a few of the nearly 400 books that the U.S. Naval Academy removed from its library because they dealt with anti-racism and gender issues are back on the shelves after the newest Pentagon-ordered review — the latest turn in a dizzying effort to rid the military of materials related to diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

Based on the new review, about 20 books from the academy’s library are being pulled aside to be checked, but that number includes some that weren’t identified or removed in last month’s initial purge of 381 books, defense officials told The Associated Press.

A few dozen books at the Air Force libraries — including at the Air Force Academy — also have been pulled out for review, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the process is still ongoing.

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The back-and-forth on book removals reflects a persistent problem in the early months of the Trump administration, as initial orders and demands for an array of policy changes have been forced to be reworked, fine-tuned and reissued because they were vague, badly defined or problematic.

The reviews and changes at military libraries and to websites, social media accounts and more are part of the Trump administration’s far-reaching efforts to purge so-called DEI content from federal agencies.

The Pentagon earlier this month issued a detailed directive to all military leaders and commands to pull and review all library books addressing diversity, anti-racism or gender issues by Wednesday. The order contained more specific search words than earlier guidance and verbal orders from Defense Department leaders, and officials said it resulted in dramatically fewer banned books than initially thought.

The Navy said in a statement Wednesday that it reviewed the library collections at all of its educational institutions to ensure compliance with the directives, noting that materials have been “identified and sequestered.” The Army and Air Force also have reviewed their collections.

All of the services’ libraries had to provide their new lists of books to Pentagon leaders. Now additional guidance will be given on how to cull those lists, if needed, and determine what should be permanently removed. The review also will “determine an appropriate ultimate disposition” for those materials, according to a Defense Department memo.

The May 9 memo — signed by Timothy Dill, who is performing the duties of the deputy defense undersecretary for personnel — did not say what will happen to the books or whether they will be stored away or destroyed.

The libraries at the military academies and those at other schools and commands had to remove educational materials “promoting divisive concepts and gender ideology” because they are incompatible with the Defense Department’s core mission, the memo said.

A temporary Academic Libraries Committee set up by the department is overseeing the process, and it provided a list of search terms to use to determine which books to pull and review.

Those search terms included: affirmative action, anti-racism, critical race theory, discrimination, diversity, gender dysphoria, gender identity and transition, transgender and white privilege.

The U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, removed 381 books from its library in early April after being told by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office to get rid of those that promote DEI.

The purge led to the removal of books on the Holocaust, histories of feminism, civil rights and racism, and Maya Angelou’s famous autobiography, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.”

Others included “Memorializing the Holocaust,” which deals with Holocaust memorials; “Half American,” about African Americans in World War II; “A Respectable Woman,” about the public roles of African American women in 19th century New York; and “Pursuing Trayvon Martin,” about the 2012 shooting of a Black 17-year-old in Florida that raised questions about racial profiling.

The Navy on Wednesday could not confirm which books have been returned to the library or if Angelou’s book or the others will remain pulled from shelves.

About two weeks after the Naval Academy purge was ordered, the Army and Air Force libraries were told to go through their stacks to find and remove books related to DEI.

Throughout the process, leaders of the military services sought more detailed guidance on which books had to go because the initial order to the Naval Academy was verbal and vague. Dill’s memo provided that additional guidance.

Similarly, directives to reenlist troops forced out for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine and to remove transgender service members from the military have had to be clarified over time.

Defense leaders have had to provide additional guidance and wording to address questions from the services on how to legally and accurately implement the orders. And in several cases, orders had to be refined and reissued.