The Gophers volleyball program’s 2026 recruiting class features a distinct Minnesota flavor.

Two of Minnesota’s three signees on National Signing Day on Wednesday hail from the metro — Centennial middle blocker Elena Hoecke and Eagan libero Madi Kraft.

The third signee is outside hitter Makenna Crosson from San Jose, Calif.

Hoecke just won the 2025 Minnesota Ms. Baden award given to the state’s top senior player while leading the Cougars to state. She was also named the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s Region 7 Player of the Year.

Hoecke — who touts a lengthy record of national team experience — hit .412 this season at Centennial with 338 kills, 189 digs and 103 blocks.

“Elena’s blocking eye work, ability to attack off one foot and her physical effort in transition will stand out immediately,” Gophers coach Keegan Cook said in a release. “Her international experiences with the USA National Team Programs have accelerated her growth. Her inner drive, ability to communicate at a high level and durability are just some of her intangible strengths as an athlete.”

In a release, Hoecke said she chose Minnesota because of the program’s “amazing history and winning culture.” She noted she wants to be an All-American who helps the Gophers win Big Ten and national championships.

“I want to play at the highest level and this program gives me the opportunity to do so,” Hoecke said. “I know my coaches and teammates are going to push me to become the best volleyball player and person I can be. Minnesota has a great winning history, and I want to help continue that legacy.”

Eagan senior libero Madi Kraft poses for a photo at a Breakdown Sports Media shoot in Apple Valley on Saturday, March 1, 2025. (Jason Wachter / Breakdown Sports Media)

Kraft joined Hoecke as a Ms. Baden finalist. She holds the Eagan record for most career digs (1,788), no small feat for a historic program.

This fall, the senior recorded 350 digs, 50 aces and a 2.2 passer rating for the Wildcats.

Kraft noted she’s followed the Gophers since she was little, adding Minnesota “is home to me.”

“Madi’s poise, determination and vocal leadership are easy to observe,” Cook said in a release. “Over the course of her high school and club career, Madi established herself as one of the top liberos in the state of Minnesota. Her toughness and love of competition are just two of the reasons we are looking forward to getting her into the gym this winter.”

Related: Meet Gophers volleyball commit Madi Kraft

Crosson has 430 kills in her still ongoing high school season.

The Gophers said it’s a top-15 recruiting class nationally, according to multiple media outlets. All three commits are expected to join the program in January.

“Their competitive character and passion to learn stands out alongside their many accomplishments,” Cook said. “We’re eager to get them into the gym and thankful for their commitment to start their journeys this winter.”

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“New York needs a governor who respects the will of the vast majority of voters who want climate action, and whose elected representatives already passed climate laws on their behalf.”

Climate activists rallying earlier this week against Hochul’s approval of the NESE pipeline project. (via Climate Families NYC)

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has positioned herself as fighting Donald Trump’s lawlessness to defend New York. And some people are buying it: Time Magazine even featured her in their “Climate 100” list.

But as a climate organizer who has spent years pushing the governor to lead on climate, I know the truth: When it comes to climate in 2025, Hochul is no better than Trump, showing herself willing to violate state law, ignore the will of voters and cave to his demands for more destructive, expensive fossil fuel pipelines.

Throughout the past year, Gov. Hochul has openly shared her intention to subvert the state’s democratically passed landmark climate law, the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), even explicitly talking about “changing the law.”  In practice, she is ignoring it: She has refused to release most of the regulations required to kickstart the Cap and Invest program recommended for implementation of the CLCPA.

Indeed, an Ulster County Supreme Court judge recently ruled that Hochul was in violation of the CLCPA by failing to release regulations to implement the law. Hochul announced plans to appeal the ruling in response. Meanwhile, the governor has also signaled her openness to delaying implementation of the All Electric Buildings Act, passed in 2022, a key pathway to meeting the emissions reduction targets in the CLCPA. 

As if violating the CLCPA and delaying implementation of legislation that already passed wasn’t bad enough, Hochul still has not signed a 2025 bill repealing the “100 foot rule” and just last week approved the Williams-NESE pipeline at Trump’s behest. This pipeline already went through a legal, democratic review process and was rejected in 2020. Thousands of New Yorkers submitted comments against the pipeline, and New Yorkers have shown up at rallies and marches across the city calling on her to reject it. 

But from her backtrack on congestion pricing (even before Trump attacked it) to her willingness to greenlight Trump’s pipelines and ignore state law, Hochul has shown she doesn’t care what voters in New York State want or think, nor does she care about following the laws enacted by our representatives. It is outrageous that she pretends to fight Trumpism while deciding she herself is above the law. 

Hochul backtracks, delays and hedges under the guise of “affordability,” but a recent report from the New York State Comptroller’s office outlined how much the climate crisis will cost New Yorkers, making clear that adhering to the state’s climate law and implementing the Cap and Invest program to make major corporate polluters pay for their damage is an affordability imperative. (The state’s own modeling and outside studies show that most families would see lower energy bills from Cap and Invest.) Moreover, the Williams Pipeline will cost ratepayers in New York City more than a billion dollars, while hurting beachfront communities that rely on summer tourism and business. 

With the United Nations warning the world is on track to breach the 1.5 degree warming limit set in the Paris Agreement with “devastating consequences,” New York needs a governor who respects the will of the vast majority of voters who want climate action, and whose elected representatives already passed climate laws on their behalf. Clearly Gov. Hochul is not the climate leader we need. 

Liat Olenick is a co-founder or and organizer with Climate Families NYC. She lives in Brooklyn.

The post Opinion: When it Comes to Climate, Hochul is No Better Than Trump appeared first on City Limits.

An upcoming road project on the boundary between Oakdale and Lake Elmo aims to improve pavement conditions while addressing safety issues for all users.

The Ideal Avenue Improvement Project covers a section of Ideal Avenue, also known as Washington County Road 13, between Stillwater Boulevard and 34th Street North. Expected elements of the project include widening shoulders and adding turn lanes at intersections, improving pedestrian and bike accommodations, improving drainage and planning for future growth and development, according to a Washington County project announcement.

An open house to inform people about the project is scheduled for 4-6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 19, at the Oakdale Discovery Center, 4444 Hadley Ave. N.

The goal of the open house is to present several proposed design concepts and gather feedback from community members, said Tina Elam, a Washington County communications manager. People can review project alternatives and share comments on the proposed designs.

People also can provide feedback Nov. 19 to Dec. 10 at washingtoncountymn.gov/IdealAve.

The estimated cost of the project is $7.8 million and is expected to start in spring 2029, Elam said. Funding for this project will come from Washington County’s transportation sales tax, the Minnesota Transportation Advancement Account and the cities of Lake Elmo and Oakdale.

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Fairview Health Services have reached a 10-year partnership with University of Minnesota Physicians to fund the state’s medical school. State Attorney General Keith Ellison praised the deal — announced Wednesday — as a “strong step forward.”

The agreement appears to have frozen out university administration.

In a letter to Ellison’s office earlier this week, U administrators opposed the partnership, saying “The Minnesota Attorney General, Fairview and (University of Minnesota Physicians) have announced a proposed deal that would have a profoundly negative impact on the University of Minnesota Medical School and Minnesota.” They say the arrangement came without input from U administration or the Board of Regents.

“The University rejects this proposed agreement in its current form,” the letter reads.

In a statement Wednesday, university officials said the agreement “represents a hostile takeover of the University of Minnesota Medical School. It puts the interests of a single regional provider and a physician group above Minnesotans, and handcuffs the University’s ability to provide medical education and conduct life-saving research.”

According to Fairview’s announcement they and U Physicians “have executed a binding agreement which includes a detailed term sheet and expect to complete a definitive agreement by the end of 2025.”

U Physicians is a group practice for the faculty of the U’s medical school, including more than 1,200 doctors.

“This is about doing what’s right for our patients and for Minnesotans,” said James Hereford, president and CEO of Fairview Health Services, in a statement. “Our shared success depends on putting patients first, supporting physicians and advanced practice providers, and ensuring that Minnesota’s academic health system remains strong and sustainable. We’re grateful to M Physicians for their partnership and to our teams who — together — have proven the power of this collaboration for nearly three decades.”

Current agreement set to expire

The move comes as an agreement between the U and Fairview is set to expire in 2026. Fairview owns health care facilities on the university’s metropolitan campus, including the teaching hospital for the medical school.

Ellison, who has pushed the U and Fairview to reach an agreement, said in a statement Wednesday the new partnership will “ensure continuity of care and academic partnership” at the U’s medical center.

“I welcome the stability agreement framework that Fairview Health Services and University of Minnesota Physicians have announced today as a strong step forward in the process of securing the future of health care across Minnesota with the University of Minnesota,” Ellison said.

He added that Fairview and the U must still deal with issues dealing with provisions for graduate medical education and joint branding.

“They have important work to accomplish for the entire state of Minnesota, and I look forward to supporting this process,” Ellison said.

The new partnership

Dr. Greg Beilman, interim chief executive officer of M Physicians, said the agreement allows his group to focus on patients, education and health care while retaining Fairview as a partner.

“M Physicians is the preeminent faculty practice for the academic physicians at the University of Minnesota Medical School, and Fairview remains an essential partner in our statewide mission,” Beilman said in a statement. “Together, we opened one of the nation’s first COVID hospitals and we continue to advance our region’s complex primary and specialty care. This next chapter builds on that shared history and affirms what’s possible when we focus on what truly matters: patients, learners, and the future of health care.”

The partnership framework includes a $1 billion commitment from Fairview to continue investment in the medical center as well as the Masonic Children’s Hospital and other academic sites, according to the announcement.

It also will “support faculty physicians, researchers, and trainees through commitments to academic funding and opportunities to increase investment through shared goals for growth and efficiency.” And, it includes efforts to deal with rural health care challenges.

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Previous efforts at extending existing partnership

A deal to extend the partnership between the university and Fairview has proven elusive.

Since February 2024, the university and Fairview have been in conversations about a new model of care agreement. The U medical center, which educates some 70% of the doctors and nurses in Minnesota, was originally sold to Fairview in 1997.

In September, Duluth-based Essentia Health exited talks with the U and Fairview to form a nonprofit “All-Minnesota Health Systems Solution” alliance. The proposal for a new health entity, was made by the university and Essentia in January with the goal of aligning resources across the systems for education, training and delivery of clinical care. It was hailed at the time as “a new path forward” by U President Rebecca Cunningham.

Prior to that, Fairview failed to persuade U officials to back a proposed merger with Sanford Health, based out of state in Sioux Falls, S.D., and the largest rural health care system in the country.

Sanford had proposed combining their 58 hospitals, but announced in July 2023 that the deal withered under pushback from key stakeholders and regulators, including the state Attorney General’s Office.