After riding the roller coaster with quarterback J.J. McCarthy throughout training camp, everybody on the Vikings knew that joint practice with the New England Patriots would reveal how much progress he has made to this point.

You couldn’t have scripted it much better with how well McCarthy played on Thursday afternoon at TCO Performance Center. It was exactly what the Vikings were looking for out of their face of the franchise.

“The offense was humming as a whole,” McCarthy said. “The physicality up front set the tone, and we were able to execute.”

Though he credited his teammates for their efforts, and rightfully so, McCarthy was the straw that stirred the drink for the Vikings in their dissection of New England. He was clear in the huddle, authoritative at the line of scrimmage and precise after the ball was snapped.

All of it impressed head coach Kevin O’Connell.

“It felt decisive,” O’Connell said. “There was an incredible amount of conviction to some of the decisions he made.”

Now the next step for McCarthy is doing it again and again and again. His ability to do that will be the key to success for the Vikings this season.

Here are more takeaways from Day 15 of training camp:

How is McCarthy?

After overthrowing receiver Jordan Addison early in 7-on-7 drills, McCarthy flipped a switch and was nearly perfect the rest of the way.

There was the 50-50 ball to tight end T.J. Hockenson in the back of the end zone. There was the touch pass to Addison over the outstretched arms of a defender. There was a deep shot to running back Aaron Jones that dropped right into the bread basket.

It’s not hyperbole to say this was as good as McCarthy has looked in training camp. There was a stretch during which he completed a dozen straight passes while showing a confident command of the offense.

Fittingly, McCarthy got to cap his notable performance on a high note, winning the situational drill with an effective drive.

After getting the ball back trailing 27-21 with one minute left on the clock, McCarthy moved the ball with a pair of completions, scrambled for a big gain, then hit Addison in the back of the end zone for a touchdown.

Who stood out?

As impressive as McCarthy was, backup quarterback Sam Howell also stood out in much more limited reps. There were a number of throws from Howell that stood out, including a touch pass to receiver Jeshaun Jones and a go ball to receiver Myles Price.

After a shaky start to camp, Howell has turned the page over the past couple of weeks.

Not to be outdone, rookie quarterback Max Brosmer continued to turn heads with his arm talent, dropping another dime to receiver Tim Jones that drew a loud cheer from the fans. The remaining exhibition slate will be important for Brosmer as he tries to establish himself as somebody that deserves to stick around.

Quote of the day

“It’s not a matter of this guy saying, ‘You know what? I’m just going to cold clock this guy.’  Nah. We’re competing, and I’m going to try to destroy guys within the parameters of the game. And that comes with it. I’m not surprised. I love it when it’s in good faith like that.”

— Edge rusher Jonathan Greenard, on the handful of scrums that occurred during joint practices

Injury report

The biggest concerni s the health of safety Josh Metellus and receiver Jalen Nailor.

On the final play of a situational drill late, Metellus leapt to deflect a pass in the end zone and came down favoring his shoulder. As for Nailor, he participated in the early stages, then sat out down the stretch with a wrap on his hand.

It’s unclear if Metellus or Nailor will miss an extended period of time.

What’s next?

The next step for the Vikings is the exhibition game against the Patriots on Saturday afternoon at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Morgan Moses #76 of the New England Patriots and Dallas Turner #15 of the Minnesota Vikings participate in a drill at Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center on Aug. 13, 2025 in Eagan, Minnesota. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)

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By DAVE COLLINS

A state judge in Texas has appointed a receiver to take over and sell conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ Infowars assets to help pay the more than $1 billion he owes in legal judgments to the families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

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The order by Judge Maya Guerra Gamble in Austin on Wednesday has the potential to shut Jones out of his studio in the coming days. It also appeared to restart an effort by The Onion satirical publication to buy Infowars and its assets and turn the platform into a parody site. “We’re working on it,” Ben Collins, chief executive of The Onion, said in a social media post Wednesday.

On his daily show Thursday, Jones called the Texas court order improper and vowed to keep broadcasting if he is locked out. He added he has another studio already set up in the event of such a scenario.

“People want to hear this show,” said Jones, who is based in Austin. “I will continue on with the network. They can harass me forever. … And they won’t get me off the air.”

Jones said he expected Infowars to be sold to someone or some entity that will keep it on the air.

The Sandy Hook families won nearly $1.5 billion in judgments in 2022 against Jones and Infowars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems, in lawsuits filed in Connecticut and Texas accusing him of defamation and inflicting emotional distress. They sued over Jones’ repeated comments that the 2012 school shooting in Connecticut that killed 20 first graders and six educators was a hoax. Victims’ relatives testified in court about being terrorized by Jones’ supporters.

Jones and his company both filed for bankruptcy in 2022. A federal Bankruptcy Court judge in Houston ordered Free Speech Systems’ assets, including Infowars’ production equipment and its intellectual property, to be sold at auction to help pay the Sandy Hook legal judgments.

The sale process was derailed when the bankruptcy judge, Christopher Lopez, rejected the outcome of a November auction in which The Onion was named the winning bidder over only one other proposal by a company affiliated with Jones. The auction was by sealed bids only and no live bidding was held.

Lopez had several concerns about the auction, including a lack of transparency and murky details about the actual value of The Onion’s bid and whether it was better than the other offer. Jones called the auction “rigged.” The judge rejected holding another auction and said the families could pursue the liquidation of Jones’ assets in the state courts where the defamation judgments were awarded.

The Texas judge’s order on Wednesday gave Free Speech Systems five days from when the order is formally served on the company to turn over its assets. Proceeds from any sales would go to the Sandy Hook families.

The judge also authorized the receiver to change the locks at all locations containing Free Speech Systems assets. She also authorized law enforcement officers to assist the receiver in his duties and prevent anyone from interfering with the receiver in taking possession of the assets.

It was not clear Thursday when the order would be served on the company, or when the receiver planned to take over the assets and sell them. The receiver, Gregory Milligan in Austin, did not return an email seeking information about the liquidation plans.

Jones’ lawyer, Ben Broocks, also did not return an email seeking comment Thursday.

Jones said on air Thursday that the state court order was not valid because Free Speech Systems’ assets are still under the control of the trustee in his bankruptcy case in federal court. He said there was a state court hearing set for Sept. 16. He said Infowars could be closed next week, or it may be able to keep operating pending the hearing. He said he wasn’t exactly sure what would be happening next.

Last November after The Onion was named the winning bidder, a bankruptcy court trustee shut down Infowars’ Austin studio and its websites for about 24 hours, but then allowed them to resume the next day as disputes over the auction continued in court. During the shutdown, Jones moved to a nearby studio and continued broadcasting.

Jones, who said in 2022 that he believed the Sandy Hook shootings were “100% real,” continues to appeal the Connecticut and Texas state court judgments against him, citing free speech rights and improper actions by judges in the two states.

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER

WASHINGTON (AP) — One major question will be front and center for Federal Reserve policymakers as they prepare for an annual conference in Jackson, Wyoming next week and a crucial policy meeting in September: Which is a bigger problem for the economy right now, stubborn inflation or slower hiring?

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Weak job gains since April have pushed some officials toward supporting a cut in the Fed’s key rate as soon as next month, but speeches and comments by other Fed policymakers show that inflation is still a concern.

That could make the Fed’s ultimate move at its September 16-17 meeting a close call. There will be another jobs report and another inflation report before then, and both will likely heavily influence the decision of whether to cut or not. The uncertainty also means that Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s speech next Friday in Jackson will be closely watched for any clues about next steps.

If Fed officials worry more that unemployment will start to rise and the economy falter, they are more likely to reduce their rate in order lower borrowing costs and spur borrowing and spending. Yet if their concerns grow that inflation will stay high or worsen as tariffs ripple across global supply chains, they will lean more towards keeping borrowing costs high to cool the economy and lower prices. The rate currently stands at 4.3%.

Wall Street investors are pretty certain — for now — that the central bank will reduce rates in September, with futures prices putting the odds of a cut at 93%, according to CME Fedwatch.

Those odds jumped after the monthly jobs report Aug. 1 showed that hiring was sluggish in July and was much lower than previously estimated in May and June. Average job gains over those three months fell to just 35,000, down from 123,000 a year ago.

And Tuesday’s inflation report, which showed only a mild pickup in inflation at the consumer level and limited signs that tariffs were pushing goods prices higher, underscored the view of some officials that they could put inflation concerns aside and focus on shoring up the job market instead.

“With underlying inflation on a sustained trajectory toward 2%, softness in aggregate demand, and signs of fragility in the labor market, I think that we should focus on risks to our employment mandate,” Michelle Bowman, a member of the Fed’s governing board, said last week.

FILE – Michelle Bowman, Vice Chair for Supervision of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, takes a seat for an open meeting of the Board of Governors at the Federal Reserve, in Washington, June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

Yet Austan Goolsbee, president of the Federal Reserve’s Chicago branch, downplayed the weakness in hiring in remarks to reporters Wednesday. The slowdown in job gains could partly reflect the drop in immigration stemming from President Donald Trump’s border crackdown, Goolsbee said, rather than a weaker economy. He also pointed to the still-low unemployment rate of 4.2% as evidence that the job market is solid.

This week’s inflation report included some warning signs, Goolsbee added: Prices of many services that aren’t affected by tariffs, such as dental care and air fares, jumped, a sign that inflation may not be in check.

“That was the most concerning thing in the inflation report, and if that persisted, we would have a hard time getting back to 2%,” Goolsbee said, referring to the central bank’s inflation goal. “I am still hopeful that will not be a lasting problem.”

Fed officials also disagree on how tariffs will affect inflation going forward. Many increasingly believe the duties will result in simply a one-time boost to prices that will quickly fade and not lead to ongoing inflation.

“Tariffs will boost inflation in the near term, but likely not in a persistent way” that would require the Fed to keep rates elevated, Mary Daly, president of the Fed’s San Francisco branch, said in a recent speech.

Daly also said the labor market has “softened” and suggested the Fed “will likely need to adjust policy in the coming months.”

However, Raphael Bostic, president of the Fed’s Atlanta branch, said Wednesday that the tariffs could lead to longer-term inflation if they cause more manufacturers to shift output from lower-cost locations overseas back to the United States, or to other countries with higher wages. Such a change would be more than just a one-time shift.

“You’re going to see fundamental structural changes if this is successful,” Bostic said in remarks in Red Bay, Alabama. “It is actually a different economy.”

In that scenario, Bostic said, he would prefer to wait “until we have a little more clarity.” And he added that with unemployment low, “we have the luxury to do that.”

Thursday’s July wholesale price report, which showed a sharp jump in goods and services prices before they reach the consumer, did make one move less likely: A half-point cut in September, as suggested by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

Alberto Musalem, president of the Fed’s St. Louis branch, who votes on Fed policy this year, said that a reduction of that size is “unsupported by the current state of the economy, and the outlook for the economy,” in an interview on CNBC.

Tim Duy, an economist at SGH Macro, said Thursday that the Fed may have to raise its inflation forecast at its September meeting when it provides its latest set of quarterly economic projections. The central bank’s policymakers currently expect inflation, excluding volatile food and energy, to reach 3.1% by the end of this year, yet inflation is already near that level.

Cutting rates at the September meeting would be hard for the Fed if it is also forecasting higher inflation, Duy said.

“There are things that could happen that would push the Fed off the path” toward a rate cut, he said. “We’re not paying adequate attention to those risks.”

A man who allegedly pointed a gun at a customer inside the Cub Foods in St. Anthony and then fired a shot into the ceiling of the store late Sunday has been arrested and charged in connection with the incident.

Police arrested Ethan Daniel Frank Marks, 24, of Minneapolis, on Tuesday after employees from the Target store in Northeast Minneapolis reported that Marks, who was with a woman, shoplifted from the store on Monday, according to felony charges filed Thursday.

A man at Cub Foods in St. Anthony who police say pointed a handgun and shot a round into the ceiling. (Courtesy of the St. Anthony Police Department)

Officers were called to the Cub on Silver Lake Road about 11:30 p.m. Sunday after reports of a shot fired with no one injured.

A customer said he saw a man and woman who appeared to be shoplifting, the charges say. The customer said that he and the man yelled at one another, even as the man began to leave the store.

While they were in the exit lobby, the man pointed a handgun at the customer, then fired a shot at the ceiling and ran, the charges say.

Officers recovered a 9 mm shell casing, and a store employee and video surveillance corroborated what the customer told police.

St. Anthony police released photos of the man and woman on Monday, asking the public’s help in identifying them.

Surveillance video from the Target captured the license plate of the car the alleged shoplifter and woman left in on Monday. Officers went to the 600 block of Adams Street Northeast and arrested Marks, who was walking a small dog.

Marks ran, but was arrested. He was wearing a satchel that included a .380 Ruger with a round in the chamber and more than 40 grams of methamphetamine, the charges say.

Marks was charged with one count each of second-degree assault, threats of violence and reckless discharge of a firearm.

Marks is under investigation for second-degree assault, reckless discharge of a firearm and drug possession for an incident in St. Paul on July 1, the charges say.

The recovery of the gun and drugs in Minneapolis will be presented to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office for possible charges.

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