Today is Friday, Feb. 27, the 58th day of 2026. There are 307 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Feb. 27, 1973, members of the American Indian Movement occupied the hamlet of Wounded Knee in South Dakota, the site of the 1890 massacre of Sioux men, women and children; the occupation would last for over two months.

Also on this date:

In 1933, Germany’s parliament building, the Reichstag, was gutted by fire; Chancellor Adolf Hitler, blaming communists, used the fire to justify suspending civil liberties.

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In 1942, the Battle of the Java Sea began during World War II; Imperial Japanese naval forces scored a decisive victory over the Allies.

In 1951, the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, limiting a president to two terms in office, was ratified.

In 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai issued the Shanghai Communique, a historic joint statement that called for normalizing relations between their countries, at the conclusion of Nixon’s historic visit to China.

In 1991, Operation Desert Storm came to a conclusion as President George H.W. Bush declared in a White House address that “Kuwait is liberated, Iraq’s army is defeated,” and announced that the allies would suspend combat operations at midnight, Eastern time.

In 1997, Ireland became one of the last countries in the world to legalize divorce. Divorce remains illegal in just two countries: the Philippines and Vatican City.

In 2010, in Chile, an 8.8 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami killed 525 people and caused up to $30 billion in damage and a major power blackout.

In 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin dramatically escalated East-West tensions by ordering nuclear forces put on high alert while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed to talks with Moscow as Russia’s troops and tanks drove deeper into the country.

Today’s birthdays:

Actor Joanne Woodward is 96.
Football Hall of Famer Raymond Barry is 93.
Consumer advocate Ralph Nader is 92.
Broadcast journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault is 84.
Rock musician Neal Schon (Journey) is 72.
Actor Timothy Spall is 69.
Democratic U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire is 68.
Basketball Hall of Famer James Worthy is 65.
Actor Noah Emmerich is 61.
Jockey Kent Desormeaux is 56.
Singer Chilli (TLC) is 55.
Football Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez is 50.
Author Chelsea Clinton is 46.
Singer Josh Groban is 45.
Actor Kate Mara is 43.
Pop singer Ten is 30.

Simley’s six-year state title run came to a screeching halt last year, when the Spartans finished fourth in Class 2A.

They nearly lost their quarterfinal bout in that tournament. The field had caught the dynastic Spartans, and passed them by.

The question for Simley last offseason: How do you catch up to a moving object? The best programs weren’t going to slow down, so making up ground would require something special. Something … different.

“We knew we had to increase our work level,” Spartans co-coach Will Short said.

Increase? Life in the Simley wrestling room has never been described as “easy,” even if Short did joke the older version of himself may be getting “softer.” That wouldn’t be the case this season.

Simley wrestlers all said this year was different.

“We were dialed every day. Every day was a day with no breaks,” senior Vicente Elustondo said. “Most teams probably play a couple games a week here or there. We’re here every day in the wrestling room, grinding, getting ready for this.”

For the grand stage. For the section final against Kasson-Mantorville. For Thursday’s state championship bout with New Ulm. For every massive moment the Spartans knew was to come.

They met each of them, the Spartans again reign supreme after returning to the peak of Class 2A with a seventh state title in eight seasons.

The re-ascent was not easy.

“We did a lot more work,” Short said.

As in two-a-days – all season. In the mornings, the wrestlers would either run or lift. Afternoons featured high-intensity practices with ample drilling. Recent college graduates Reid Nelson and Quayin Short – fresh off the completion of Division-I careers – returned to Inver Grove Heights to push the next wave of Spartans in the room.

“It wasn’t easy,” Simley junior Jake Kos said. “Coaches were hard on us. There were multiple days where you didn’t want to come in, but you put that work in.”

Because it had to be done. Kos noted last year’s result “lit a fire” under the team. The Spartans no longer feature a superstar-filled lineup. Development is organic and steady. It’s earned. And, if you want to be the best, it’s required.

At the season’s outset, Short wasn’t sure he had a state title team. A blowout loss to St. Michael-Albertville and subpar performances in Eau Claire, Wis. and at the Christmas tournament only reinforced those concerns.

At that point, Short didn’t think Simley would even advance to St. Paul, with the exception of a few individual qualifiers.

But it was around winter break that the extra work started to truly pay dividends. The Spartans performed well at the Rumble on the Red in North Dakota. The heavier weights – a weak point early in the season – improved noticeably.

Elustondo, Brenden Watts, Gregorio Duron Contreras and others all took leaps. Simley was no longer hemorrhaging bonus points at the ends of duals.

Elustondo pulled out a victory at 215 pounds in the team title match against New Ulm. Then Duron Contreras delivered a defensive pin to put the cherry on top of the championship – a fitting end to the affair.

“We had a lot of kids, I just can’t say enough about how much they improved,” Short said. “I’ve had years where we had wrestlers who cleaned up their technique and got in good shape and had a good tournament at the end. But this group went from, in a lot of weight classes, very mediocre to high level. And that has been huge. That’s why you’re state champions.”

The pathway to this point was simple – work, work, work. Short isn’t sure Simley would have edged the likes of Kasson-Mantorville without turning up the dial.

Perhaps that’s the blueprint to the next string of Simley titles? Short wouldn’t go that far, noting not every group will allow itself to be pushed in the way this team embraced it.

“You’ve got to have a group of kids who are willing to do this amount of work,” he said. “This is a special group. I’m so proud of them.”

The work was hard, Short noted, “but it was fun.”

“What a great journey,” he said. “We talked about the journey before the (title) match, and how we were successful already with the bonds we had made within that journey of becoming the team that we became is what made this team really special.”

Elustondo described the immediate aftermath of Thursday’s title match as “kind of like a high.” There he was, celebrating with the newfound brothers with whom he’d shared hours and hours of blood, sweat and tears in the pursuit of that very moment.

“It’s just so much happiness to be here with these people,” he said.

It’s possible Simley had taken such success for granted over the previous half decade. That wouldn’t be the case this time around. The Spartans knew they’d earned this.

“Losing last year, taking fourth place, now winning this year, it makes it feel so much better,” Simley wrestler Aidan Mincey said. “I’m more appreciative of everything we have.”

“We worked harder than any team here,” Kos said. “It’s the work that paid off.”

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Anthony Edwards scored 31 points, Donte DiVincenzo added 18 and the surging Minnesota Timberwolves beat Los Angeles Clippers 94-88 on Thursday night.

Jaden McDaniels and Ayo Dosunmu each scored 12 points and Rudy Gobert had 13 rebounds to help the Timberwolves improve to 5-1 since Feb. 9 and 3-1 since the All-Star break.

Edwards, who was returning to the site of the All-Star game, where he was selected the MVP, was 12 of 24 from the floor and sealed the victory with a step-back 3-pointer over two defenders for a 92-88 lead with 42.9 seconds left.

Minnesota improved to 2-0 on a three-game trip.

Derrick Jones Jr. scored 18 points and Bennedict Mathurin added 14 for the Clippers, who struggled from the outset with a season-low 38 points in the first half. Kris Dunn had 11 points as Los Angeles lost three consecutive games for the first time since December.

The Clippers struggled on offense without star Kawhi Leonard (ankle).

Los Angeles shot 40.5% from the floor, including 18.2% (4 of 22) in the second quarter. Minnesota shot 43.4% in the game.

The Timberwolves scored just 15 points in the second quarter and still topped the Clippers who had 11 in the period. Minnesota led 44-38 at halftime behind 12 points from DiVincenzo and 11 from Edwards.

The Clippers led by six points in the third quarter and were up 68-63 heading into the fourth. Edwards’ drive and reverse layup put the Timberwolves up for good at 76-74 with 7:40 remaining.

Next up, Minnesota heads to Denver to take on the Nuggets at 2:30 Sunday afternoon in a game to be televised on KSTP Ch. 5.

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DENVER – Nobody from Team Sweden came home from the Olympics with a medal, after losing to the Americans in the tournament’s quarterfinals. But the extra few days of rest looks to have done them some good.

The Minnesota Wild jumped back into NHL play Thursday with a statement win in Colorado, fueled by two of their Swedish Olympians. The 5-2 victory over the division-leading Avalanche came via a pair of Joel Eriksson Ek goals, and a 44-save night by goalie Filip Gustavsson.

Mats Zuccarello added an insurance goal and Matt Boldy hit the empty net twice late as the Wild pulled ahead of Dallas and within five points of the Avalanche for the lead in the Central Division. Colorado, which hosts the Wild again next week, still has two games in hand on Minnesota.

Out-shot 9-1 early, the Wild’s first bit of work for Colorado goalie Mackenzie Blackwood was notable. Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar stumbled, springing a 2-on-1 break with Boldy feeding a cross-ice pass to Marcus Johansson, whose wrist shot hit the left post, then got a piece of the goalie before a Colorado defender swatted it away from the goalmouth.

Colorado killed a pair of Wild power plays in the first, while Gustavsson turned away every puck he faced, and they went to the first intermission scoreless.

Minnesota grabbed the momentum, and the lead, in the second. Makar went to the penalty box for slashing, and the Wild capitalized on the man-advantage, when Eriksson Ek popped in the rebound of a Boldy shot.

The lead didn’t make it to the end of the period, as a rising shot by Martin Necas found open air over Gustavsson’s shoulder.

With the Wild already on a power play late in the middle frame, Boldy was cross-checked in the face, giving Minnesota 72 seconds of 5-on-3 advantage. Colorado immediately took a third penalty, extending the Wild’s two-man advantage to nearly two full minutes.

Colorado killed two of the three penalties, but was not yet back to full strength when Eriksson Ek banked the puck off the inside of Blackwood’s leg for a 2-1 lead heading into the second break.

Quinn Hughes had a helper on the goal, extending his franchise-best assist streak to 11 games.

The Wild entered the NHL’s three-week Olympic break on a heater, going 8-1-1 in their final 10 games before the pause. They face the Mammoth in Utah on Friday night.

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