By ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the U.S. edged above 6.8% this week, returning to where it was just three weeks ago.

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The rate increased to 6.81% from 6.76% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 7.02%.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also rose. The average rate ticked up to 5.92% from 5.89% last week. It’s down from 6.28% a year ago, Freddie Mac said.

Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, including global demand for U.S. Treasurys, the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy decisions and bond market investors’ expectations about the economy and inflation.

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage has remained relatively close to its high so far this year of just above 7%, which it set in mid-January. The average rate’s low point so far was five weeks ago, when it briefly dropped to 6.62%.

The elevated mortgage rates, which can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for borrowers, have discouraged home shoppers, leading to a lackluster start to the spring homebuying season, even as the inventory of homes on the market is up sharply from last year. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell in March, posting the largest monthly drop since November 2022.

The recent swings in mortgage rates reflect volatility in the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans.

State leaders have agreed to a “phased closure” of the Stillwater state prison.

A statement from Department of Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell said the effort would “consolidate the state’s prison facilities to enhance the DOC’s economic efficiency, to end state investments into the crumbling infrastructure” at the facility and “to minimize the ongoing health and safety concerns the facility presents to both staff and the incarcerated population.”

The maximum security facility for adult male felons dates back to 1851, though the original facility was replaced in 1914 due to overcrowding. There are currently 1,171 inmates at the prison.

A press conference with corrections officials is scheduled for Thursday where more information is expected to be provided. Return to twincities.com for updates.

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By MICHELLE CHAPMAN, AP Business Writer

Dick’s Sporting Goods is buying the struggling footwear chain Foot Locker for about $2.4 billion, the second buyout of a major footwear company in as many weeks as business leaders struggle with uncertainty over U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Dick’s said Thursday that it expects to run Foot Locker as a standalone unit and keep the Foot Locker brands, which include Kids Foot Locker, Champs Sports, WSS and Japanese sneaker brand atmos.

“Sports and sports culture continue to be incredibly powerful, and with this acquisition, we’ll create a new global platform that serves those ever evolving needs through iconic concepts consumers know and love, enhanced store designs and omnichannel experiences, as well as a product mix that appeals to our different customer bases,” Dick’s CEO Lauren Hobart said in a statement.

Both companies are led by women. Hobart became CEO at Dick’s in 2021, while Mary Dillon has served as CEO of Foot Locker since 2022.

Foot Locker announced a turnaround plan in 2023 in part to help improve its relationship with big brands. Speaking at the J.P. Morgan Retail Round Up Conference last month, Dillon said that Foot Locker is working closely with Nike, specifically in categories including basketball, sneaker culture and kids.

Earlier this month Skechers announced that it was being taken private by the investment firm by 3G Capital in a transaction worth more than $9 billion.

The retail industry has been growing increasingly concerned over Trump’s trade war with other countries, particularly China. Athletic shoe makers have invested heavily in production in Asia.

Shares of sporting goods and athletic shoe companies have been under pressure all year. Foot Locker’s stock has plunged 41% this year. It is also facing pressure elsewhere, with major athletic companies like Nike and Adidas shifting their sales strategies.

Skechers had fallen almost 8% this year.

About 97% of the clothes and shoes purchased in the U.S. are imported, predominantly from Asia, according to the American Apparel & Footwear Association. Using factories overseas has kept labor costs down for U.S. companies, but neither they nor their overseas suppliers are likely to absorb price increases due to new tariffs.

Foot Locker, based in New York City, offers Dick’s a lot of potential, namely its huge real estate footprint, and would give the Pittsburgh company its first foothold overseas.

Foot Locker has about 2,400 retail stores across 20 countries in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. It also has a licensed store presence in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The company had global sales of $8 billion last year.

Jefferies analyst Jonathan Matuszewski said that about 33% of Foot Locker’s sales come from outside the United States. He anticipates that the combined company would generate approximately 12% of sales internationally on a pro forma basis.

The deal also broadens Dick’s customer base, with sneaker collectors anxiously anticipating new drops from Foot Locker.

Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, said in an emailed statement that Foot Locker, which has a 4.3% share of the sporting goods market, would give an immediate boost to Dick’s.

“It would also give Dick’s substantially more bargaining power with national brands, especially in the sneaker space,” he added.

Foot Locker shareholders can choose to receive either $24 in cash or 0.1168 shares of Dick’s common stock for each Foot Locker share that they own.

Dick’s said that it anticipates closing on the Foot Locker deal in the second half of the year. The transaction still needs approval from Foot Locker shareholders.

Dick’s stock dropped more than 10% before the market open, while shares of Foot Locker surged more than 82%.

A man is charged with using a stick to break windows at restaurants and another business on St. Paul’s West Seventh Street near the Xcel Energy Center.

Estimated costs to fix the windows totals $17,500, with the price tag at $8,000 for one restaurant, according to a criminal complaint filed Thursday.

Police responded about 3 p.m. Tuesday to the Downtowner Woodfire Grill at West Seventh and Walnut streets for multiple reports of a man breaking windows in the area. Officers found a 30-year-old about a block away in front of Maharaja’s.

The man had blood coming from his arm. An officer asked why he broke the windows and he said “it was because he needed help,” according to the complaint. St. Paul Fire Department medics took him to the hospital. The complaint said he has no permanent address.

Witnesses saw the man using a stick to break a widow at the Downtowner, at Cossetta Alimentari and Maharaja’s. They also saw him damage the door at  Patrick McGovern’s Pub.

The man cut himself when breaking one of the windows. Police noted the stick appeared to be a thick wooden handle from a tool.

The Downtowner’s owner tried to calm down the man and get him to stop breaking windows, but the man swung the stick at him two or three times, the complaint said.

The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office filed charges of threats of violence and four counts of first-degree criminal damage to property.

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