On a Wednesday in September, just hours before he would be officially introduced as a member of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame’s class of 2025, Zach Parise was on a Twin Cities golf course, playing a round alongside two other American hockey legends, Mike Modano and Jamie Langenbrunner.

Parise, who will be officially inducted into the USHHF on Wednesday night in St. Paul, said it was a surreal feeling to hear his name mentioned alongside players who were his heroes as a youth hockey player in Bloomington in the 1990s.

“We all loved the (North) Stars, and I was always a big Mike Modano guy, a big Neal Broten guy. These are the players I looked up to,” said Parise, 41, who retired in 2024 after more than 1,300 NHL games. “I wore number nine growing up. … So, to be side-by-side with those guys is special.”

Parise will be inducted into the Eveleth-based hall alongside renowned hockey photographer Bruce Bennett, long-time NHL player Scott Gomez, women’s hockey legend Tara Mounsey and former Wisconsin and NHL star Joe Pavelski.

The son of renowned Minnesota North Stars forward J.P. Parise, Zach was raised in Bloomington and learned the game from the player who was his first hockey hero.

“I was lucky to be coached by my dad up through bantams and just learned so much from him about work ethic and what it takes to make it,” Parise said of his father, who died of cancer in early 2015 while Zach was playing for the Minnesota Wild.

After prep school at Shattuck-St. Mary’s, Zach played two seasons of college hockey at North Dakota and was one of three finalists for the Hobey Baker Award in 2004 after his sophomore year. Earlier that season, Parise was a key player on Team USA’s first gold medal-winning World Juniors team.

With that tournament in the Twin Cities later this month, Parise reflected on how the event has evolved, and what that first world title meant to American hockey.

“It’s amazing how that’s grown just in publicity in the United States, which is great for us, because you’re looking at the future stars of the NHL, the next wave,” Parise said. “It’s a little bit of a feather in the cap for us that we were able to be the first United States team to win it. You look at where it’s come now, you feel like every year, they’re the favorite or they’re winning it.”

After beginning his NHL career in New Jersey and helping the Devils reach the 2012 Stanley Cup Final, Parise came home via a 13-year contract worth $98 million that he signed with the Wild a few weeks later. Although his homecoming did not result in a deep playoff run, and Parise’s contract was bought out by the team in 2021, Wild owner Craig Leipold said the organization has zero regrets about the signing.

Parise was the top forward on the last two Wild teams to win first-round playoff series in 2014 and 2015.

“His name is hockey in this state. There couldn’t be a better person or a more deserving person, and we will be there to celebrate with him,” Leipold said. “He changed our franchise. People still ask, ‘Would you do it again?’ The answer is absolutely. It changed our business.”

In retirement, Parise lives in Edina with his family and spends countless hours at the rink.

“I am head coach of my daughter’s U12 team, I’m an assistant coach with my son’s peewee team and I’m helping out with my littlest son’s mite team. I am a full-time hockey dad and coach,” he said. “I joke with my kids that, ‘I’m not good at a lot of things, but I’m good at this, so sometimes, can you listen?’ It’s rewarding to see the excitement on the kids’ faces, and them learning things. I love it. It’s so much fun.”

He added that the biggest challenge this week has been putting together his acceptance speech, looking back on his career and all of the teammates and others who meant so much to him along the way.

Founded in 1973, the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame has inducted more than 175 individuals and four teams in the past 52 years.

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Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon announced Tuesday he’ll seek a fourth term in office. He’s the second statewide DFL official to announce his intent to run in 2026.

Simon, a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, was first elected secretary of state in 2014. In his announcement, he said he hoped to use a fourth term to continue boosting confidence in the election system and implement recent changes to state election laws.

“I’m in the democracy business, and these are challenging times for that line of work,” Simon said in a news release. He said he’d keep “pushing back against alarming federal power grabs that seek control over our elections. I’ll follow the law, while protecting the privacy of our eligible voters and the integrity of our elections.”

Simon’s main challenger so far is Republican candidate Tad Jude, a former judge who served on the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners and in the Minnesota Legislature.

The secretary of state oversees and certifies the results of Minnesota elections, handles voter registrations and business filings and preserves documents filed with the state. It also runs the state Safe at Home Program, which helps domestic violence victims keep their addresses private.

Minnesota often tops voter turnout among U.S. states, something Simon has often pointed to as a sign the state has a well-run election system with high public trust.

In 2024 Minnesota was only second to Wisconsin in voter participation, with 76.35%. Nationally, 64.04% eligible voters cast a ballot, according to the University of Florida Election Lab.

Minnesota led the nation with 80% of eligible voters casting a ballot in 2020. In the 2022 midterm elections, which typically see lower turnout, Minnesota had 60% voter participation.

Simon has overseen major changes to voter eligibility during his tenure. Under new laws enacted during the 2023 legislative session, voters are now automatically registered when they apply for a driver’s license.

Past that, there is now preregistration for 16- and 17-year-olds, a permanent absentee ballot option. Felons on supervised release are now also eligible to vote. Simon’s campaign said all those new changes will require a “steady hand.”

Simon handily won reelection in 2022 with nearly 55% of the vote. In 2018, he won with 52%. The tightest race he had for secretary of state was his first in 2014, when he got 47% of the vote — just 1.1% more than his Republican challenger.

It’s not unprecedented for a secretary of state to seek more than two terms — Republican Mary Kiffmeyer, who served from 1999 to 2007, lost to DFLer Mark Ritchie in 2006. Ritchie served two terms.

The longest-serving secretary of state was Mike Holm, a Republican who served from 1921 to 1952. DFLer Joan Growe served 24 years, from 1975 to 1999.

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Meanwhile, Gov. Tim Walz announced he’d be running for a third term in September. DFLers control all statewide constitutional offices. No Republican has won a statewide race since 2006.

State auditor Julie Blaha does not plan to run for a third term in 2026. Attorney General Keith Ellison has not announced his plans yet. If he runs, he’d be seeking a third term.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The San Diego City Council on Tuesday approved a $30 million payment to the family of a 16-year-old youth killed by police in one of the largest such settlements in the U.S.

The settlement exceeds the $27 million the city of Minneapolis agreed to pay the family of George Floyd, whose May 2020 murder by a police officer who knelt on his neck sparked a nationwide racial reckoning.

This photo, taken from a body-worn camera video, shows the moment before a San Diego Police Officer fatally shot 16-year-old Konoa Wilson as he ran away from gunfire on Jan. 28, 2025. (San Diego Police Department via AP)

Surveillance and body-worn camera footage from Jan. 28 showed Konoa Wilson running away from someone who pulled a gun and fired at him in a downtown train station. As he exited the station, Wilson encountered San Diego Police Officer Daniel Gold.

In the lawsuit against the city and Gold, the family alleged the officer “instantly, without any warning,” fired two shots at Wilson as he ran by, striking him in the upper body. The lawsuit identified Wilson as Black.

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Council member Henry Foster became emotional when speaking about the settlement, sharing his fears about his own son and the dangers that some Black youth face.

“Kanoa’s life was taken while fleeing from gunshots, and he found himself running into the arms of a police officer. This should not have happened,” Foster said, asking that since Floyd’s killing “where’s the progress? Where’s the protect and serve? Better yet, where’s the accountability?”

The St. Paul Public Library system has rolled out a special edition library card recognizing the 50th anniversary of Southeast Asian resettlement in St. Paul. The free card, designed by Twin Cities artist Kao Lee Thao, features a colorful brushstroke image of a young Hmong woman in traditional dress reading a book while villagers around her walk through a lush forest.

The artwork draws inspiration from “traditional textiles, patterns and landscapes woven together as a symbol of resilience and connection,” according to a written statement from the library system. “Flowing water ties the design together, representing the journey from the Mekong to the Mississippi — symbolizing survival, transformation and imagination.”

The card, currently available to city residents while supplies last at all St. Paul Public Library locations, is intended to honor “the vibrant Cambodian, Hmong, Laotian, and Vietnamese communities that have built new roots in St. Paul.”

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The library is using the new special edition card to highlight its upcoming 50th anniversary “Stories of Abundance” storytelling event, which will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. on Dec. 13 at the Sun Ray Library, 2105 Wilson Ave. The event is being hosted with the SEAD Project, a Minneapolis-based community organization that raises awareness of the Southeast Asian diaspora.

More information about the card is online at sppl.org/special-edition.