The Minnesota Department of Agriculture confirmed last week that the emerald ash borer has been found in the city of Wadena. It is the first time the emerald ash borer has been reported in Wadena County, where a tree-care company submitted the finding, according to a report from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.

Wadena was one of several other areas in the state to be confirmed Monday for emerald ash borer, including new areas of Carlton County, and for the first time in Meeker, Murray and Otter Tail counties. In Otter Tail County, emerald ash borer was confirmed in Deer Creek. There are now 58 counties in the state with emerald ash borer.

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture is enacting emergency quarantines in Carlton, Meeker, Murray, Otter Tail and Wadena counties. All of Carlton County, excluding the Fond du Lac Reservation, will be quarantined. The entire counties of Meeker, Murray, Otter Tail and Wadena will be quarantined. The quarantines limit the movement of firewood and ash material out of the area.

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture issues quarantines for all areas known to have emerald ash borer (EAB) to reduce the risk of further spreading the tree-killing insect.

Emerald ash borer was first discovered in Minnesota in 2009. The insect larvae kill ash trees by tunneling under the bark and feeding on the part of the tree that moves nutrients up and down the trunk. Often, the trees show several signs of infestation because of this. Woodpeckers like to feed on EAB larvae, and woodpecker holes may indicate the presence of emerald ash borer. Also, EAB tunneling can cause the bark to split open, revealing characteristic S-shaped galleries underneath.

Emerald Ash Borer gallery and exit hole.

A virtual informational meeting for residents and tree care professionals will take place from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. on July 8. Experts from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture will give a brief presentation followed by a question-and-answer session. Find more information on the MDA website.

The public will also have an opportunity to provide input on the emergency quarantines before the quarantines become formal. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture is taking comments on the emergency quarantine now through Aug. 8, and recommends adopting the quarantine on Aug. 11. The proposed quarantine language can be found on the MDA website.

Comments can be made during the virtual meeting or by contacting Mark Abrahamson, Minnesota Department of Agriculture, 625 Robert St. N, St. Paul, MN 55155; or by email at mark.abrahamson@state.mn.us.

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Today is Monday, June 30, the 181st day of 2025. There are 184 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On June 30, 1934, Adolf Hitler launched his “blood purge” of political and military rivals in Germany in what came to be known as the “Night of the Long Knives.”

Also on this date:

In 1918, labor activist and socialist Eugene V. Debs was arrested in Cleveland, charged under the Espionage Act of 1917 for a speech he had made two weeks earlier in which he denounced U.S. involvement in World War I. (Debs was sentenced to prison and disenfranchised for life.)

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In 1921, President Warren G. Harding nominated former President William Howard Taft to be chief justice of the United States, succeeding the late Edward Douglass White.

In 1936, Margaret Mitchell’s novel “Gone With the Wind” was released.

In 1958, the U.S. Senate passed the Alaska statehood bill.

In 1971, the Supreme Court ruled, 6-3, that the government could not prevent The New York Times or The Washington Post from publishing the Pentagon Papers.

In 1971, A Soviet space mission ended in tragedy when three cosmonauts aboard Soyuz 11 were found dead of asphyxiation inside their capsule after it had returned to Earth.

In 1985, 39 American hostages from a hijacked TWA jetliner were freed in Beirut after being held for 17 days.

In 1994, the U.S. Figure Skating Association stripped Tonya Harding of the national championship and banned her for life for her role in the attack on rival Nancy Kerrigan.

In 2009, American soldier Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl went missing from his base in eastern Afghanistan, and was later confirmed to have been captured by insurgents after walking away from his post. (Bergdahl was released on May 31, 2014, in exchange for five Taliban detainees; he pleaded guilty to desertion and misbehavior before the enemy, but was spared a prison sentence by a military judge.)

In 2012, Islamist Mohammed Morsi was sworn in as Egypt’s first freely elected president during a pair of ceremonies.

In 2016, then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced that transgender people would be allowed to serve openly in the U.S. military, ending one of the last bans on service in the armed forces.

In 2019, Donald Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to set foot in North Korea, meeting Kim Jong-un at the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea.

In 2020, then-Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed a landmark bill retiring the last state flag bearing the Confederate battle emblem. Boston’s arts commission voted unanimously to remove a statue depicting a freed slave kneeling at Abraham Lincoln’s feet.

In 2022, Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn in to the U.S. Supreme Court, shattering a glass ceiling as the first Black woman on the nation’s highest court.

Today’s Birthdays:

Actor Lea Massari (“L’Avventura”) is 92.
Actor Nancy Dussault (doo-SOH’) is 89.
Olympic track champion Billy Mills is 87.
Oceanographer Robert Ballard is 83.
Singer-songwriter Glenn Shorrock (Little River Band) is 81.
Jazz musician Stanley Clarke is 74.
Actor David Garrison (“Married…with Children) is 73.
Actor-comedian David Alan Grier is 69.
Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen is 67.
Actor Vincent D’Onofrio is 66.
Actor Deirdre Lovejoy (“The Wire”) is 63.
Actor Rupert Graves is 62.
Boxer Mike Tyson is 59.
Actor Monica Potter is 54.
Actor Rick Gonzalez is 46.
Actor Lizzy Caplan is 43.
Country music singer-songwriter Cole Swindell is 42.
Singer and actress Fantasia is 41.
Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps is 40.
Baseball player Trea Turner is 32.

Lynx starters used a balanced attack to dominate before taking most, if not all, of the fourth quarter off Sunday night.

That rest will be appreciated in the busiest stretch of Minnesota’s season.

Named an All-Star Game captain earlier the day, Napheesa Collier scored 23 points and had nine rebounds in three quarters, Kayla McBride knocked down five shots from deep as part of a 20-point game, and the WNBA-leading Lynx set a season-high for points in routing last-place Connecticut 102-63 Sunday.

It’s Minnesota’s third-largest win in franchise history. The Lynx beat Indiana 111-52 on Aug. 18, 2017, and Los Angeles 114-71 on July 13, 2006.

“We were just talking about how it’s nice to not be stressed for a game finally,” Collier said as she and Courtney Williams spoke postgame. Minnesota needed overtime to win Friday in Atlanta, three days after a four-point loss in Washington.

Williams filled the stat sheet with 12 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Alanna Smith had nine points and seven rebounds. Both played just three quarters.

The Lynx shot 50.7%, had assists on 27 of 36 baskets, and grabbed 41 rebounds, two off a season high.

“We didn’t make excuses about coming off the road or being tired or any reason to not come correct, as we say. And I thought that we largely did that,” said coach Cheryl Reeve.

It is the first of a five-games-in-eight-nights home stretch for Minnesota (14-2).

“It’s just good for us to take care of business for many reasons, so we’re not running our legs into the ground, and we’re doing the things that we need to do in reaching the goals we set for ourselves. So it is nice to catch a break where you can,” Collier said.

This stretch includes Tuesday’s Commissioner’s Cup final against Indiana, which includes a $500,000 prize pool. Collier expects a packed Target Center and a game with a playoff feel.

“I want that bag. Straight up. … We gonna go get that money,” Williams said. The Lynx beat New York for the hardware last season.

Concluding a four-game road trip that included two West Coast games and another in Las Vegas, Connecticut (2-15) lost its ninth straight. Connecticut shot just 34.8%, and its starting five had just 27 points on 9-for-36 shooting through three quarters.

It was a far different game than when these teams met May 23 at Target Center. That night, Minnesota scored 23 of the game’s final 25 points, including an 18-0 run, to win 76-70.

But it was again a sizable surge by the home team that proved to be the difference.

A 26-0 run that began late in the first quarter gave Minnesota a 48-17 lead less than three minutes before halftime. The Sun went 8 minutes, 7 seconds between points.

Seven Minnesota players scored as the Lynx netted the first 21 points of the second quarter. McBride had six points, including husting two-thirds of the way down the court to chase down a loose ball after a Sun pass to nobody and calmly draining a 3-pointer.

Connecticut missed its first 13 shots of the second quarter and added five turnovers before its first basket.

McBride drained a couple more treys, Collier had four points, and Williams scored in a 12-0 third quarter run to make it 65-31. The lead reached 41 in the fourth quarter.

The game was not all joy for the Lynx due to the potential loss of forward Karlie Samuelson. She left in a wheelchair early in the second quarter with a foot injury.

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State Sen. John Hoffman and his family released a statement Sunday saying that as they recover from their injuries, their thoughts are with the family of Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, who authorities say were slain by the same man who shot Hoffman and his wife two weeks ago.

The Hortmans were shot and killed on June 14 at their home in Brooklyn Park in an attack believed to be politically motivated. The Hortmans were among four shot by a suspected assassin now facing federal and state murder charges. Vance Boelter, 57, is also accused of shooting Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, as their daughter Hope called 911. All three survived the attack at their Champlin home. Prosecutors allege Boelter also visited the homes of two other state lawmakers he had planned to shoot.

“We are devastated by the loss of Melissa, Mark, and their dog, Gilbert,” the statement read. “Their tragic passing has left a profound sadness for all who knew them and whose lives they touched. We all watched the service; it was heartbreakingly beautiful. Our hearts are with the Hortman family in this time of immense grief.”

The statement said that Hoffman, his wife Yvette and daughter Hope were continuing to heal but face a long road ahead.

“All three of us were lined up at gunpoint. We’re continuing to recover from physical injuries and emotional trauma from this senseless act of violence,” the statement read. “Hope’s bruises from the attack continue to heal. We’re so grateful she happened to be at our house that night. There’s no doubt her call to 911 saved the lives of others.”

The statement said the family is grateful for the care and support they have received and that they know “justice will be served for both of our families as the legal process gets underway.”

“Right now, our focus is on healing and honoring the lives that were taken. To all of you who went to the State Capitol to pay your respects to Melissa, Mark and Gilbert, we want you to know we were there with you in spirit.”

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