If you’ve dreamed of going to the department of motor vehicles and walking away with a new license in hand, get used to holding on to your papers and clipped ID for a few weeks.

Dakota County has announced it will pull out of a pilot program at the license center in Lakeville that offers same-day issuance of standard Minnesota driver’s licenses.

Dakota County’s Lakeville License Center is stepping away from a pilot program issuing in-person IDs. (Courtesy of the Department of Public Safety Driver and Vehicle Services)

The last day in Lakeville will be Oct. 31. The program will continue at the license service center in Moorhead.

The pilot program began in October 2022 through an appropriation from the State Legislature, a rebuke to common complaints from those who have previously lived in other states — “if North Dakota can get this right, why can’t we?” — but it was reportedly fraught with issues.

The Department of Public Safety’s Driver and Vehicle Services reported that more than 74,000 IDs were issued at the Lakeville and Moorhead centers, but almost 40 percent of cardholders eventually replaced them with a traditional card or allowed the ID to expire.

In January 2024, DVS recommended against expansion of the pilot program.

The most telling issue? The in-person IDs differed in quality from the centrally issued counterparts. This reportedly became an issue for customers when they needed to present identification — ordering a drink at a bar, renting a car, completing business at a bank branch or going through security while boarding a flight. At least three people reported that their IDs were rejected by Transportation Security Administration officers.

Department of Vehicle Services Director Pong Xiong said the centrally issued IDs are printed out of a much larger facility than the over-the-counter licenses. This allows the traditional IDs to have a higher quality, printed at a higher capacity.

Xiong said the state tried to find a printing solution that produced a card as close as possible to the centrally printed one, but differences remained.

The in-person IDs look different, and the laminate feels different to the touch, Xiong said. That became a clear problem for an identification credential that is expected to be universal in a world where fakes are commonplace.

A comparison of a same-day license, left, and traditional. (Courtesy of the Department of Public Safety Driver and Vehicle Services)

It led DVS to eventually report the differences on its website. Among the differences on the over-the-counter ID:

The ghost image of the ID holder photo is in color, rather than black and white.
There is no canoeist on the bottom.
The date of birth appears on the card only once.
Issue date cannot be before Oct. 1, 2022.
Location of the shoreline on the background appears vertically on under 21 cards, not at the bottom.

“I think if you are looking at the cards, it would be fairly obvious that they are not exactly the same,” Xiong said.

The same-day pilot program does not issue more intensive identifications such as Real ID, enhanced driver’s licenses or commercial driver’s licenses. Since May 7, travelers have been required to use a certified Real ID driver’s license or identification in order to use it to board a plane.

When DVS reported findings to the Legislature in 2024, they noticed that only seven states provided over-the-counter credentialing, down more than 50 percent from 2014.

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Xiong said he is not surprised to see more states moving back toward a centrally issued solution. In addition to printing quality, he said, using centrally issued identification allows the state time to certify that the information is correct, and that the ID is valid. While those weeks waiting are a point of frustration for customers, the period between application and issuance allows the state another control against fraud prevention, as the process certifies that the address requested by the customer is legitimate.

Xiong said the pilot program currently has no end date and local service centers decide whether to participate.

Calls to the Clay County Department of Motor Vehicles regarding the future of the program in Moorhead were not returned by press time.

Today is Monday, Oct. 27, the 300th day of 2025. There are 65 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Oct. 27, 2004, the Boston Red Sox won their first World Series since 1918, sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals in four games. The team’s 86-year championship drought was known as the “Curse of the Bambino.”

Also on this date:

In 1787, the first of the Federalist Papers, a series of essays calling for ratification of the United States Constitution, was published.

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Today in History: October 26, Newborn receives baboon heart in experimental transplant

Today in History: October 25, Teapot Dome Scandal conviction

In 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, a U-2 reconnaissance aircraft was shot down while flying over Cuba, killing the pilot, U.S. Air Force Maj. Rudolf Anderson Jr.

In 1995, a sniper killed one soldier and wounded 18 others during an outdoor physical training session at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. (Paratrooper William J. Kreutzer was convicted in the shootings and condemned to death; the sentence was later commuted to life in prison.)

In 1998, powerful Hurricane Mitch cut through the western Caribbean, pummeling coastal Honduras and Belize; the storm caused several thousand deaths in Central America before eventually making U.S. landfall in southwest Florida as a tropical storm.

In 2018, a gunman shot and killed 11 congregants and wounded six others at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in the deadliest domestic attack on Jews in U.S. history; authorities said the suspect, Robert Bowers, raged against Jews during and after the rampage. (Bowers was convicted and sentenced to death in 2023.)

In 2019, Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died by detonating a suicide vest as U.S. special forces raided his compound in northwest Syria. He once commanded tens of thousands of fighters who had carved out a territorial caliphate for a time in parts of Syria and Iraq and carried out a wave of atrocities.

In 2023, Israel knocked out communications and created a near-blackout of information with stepped-up bombardment and artillery fire in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military said it was expanding ground operations in the territory ahead of a planned invasion as it sought to crush the ruling Hamas militant group after its Oct. 7, 2023, surprise attack and hostage-taking in southern Israel.

Today’s Birthdays:

Actor-comedian John Cleese is 86.
Author Maxine Hong Kingston is 85.
Country singer Lee Greenwood is 83.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is 80.
Author Fran Lebowitz is 75.
Actor-director Roberto Benigni is 73.
Golf Hall of Famer Patty Sheehan is 69.
Singer Simon Le Bon (Duran Duran) is 67.
Internet news editor Matt Drudge is 59.
Author Anthony Doerr is 52.
Violinist Vanessa-Mae is 47.
TV personality Kelly Osbourne is 41.

The Target Center was juiced in the opening minutes for Minnesota’s home opener Sunday against Indiana.

Full-team player introductions, the return of the ever popular “trees” in Minnesota’s floor and jerseys and a new lights system set the mood for an electric vibe that Minnesota’s play reflected in the opening minutes as the Wolves jumped out to a 19-10 lead.

Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards sits on the bench during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Indiana Pacers, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

But then Anthony Edwards left the game with hamstring tightness and didn’t return. And Minnesota went into a multi-quarter lull.

Minnesota trailed Indiana at the half. Mind you, the Pacers were without Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, TJ McConnell and Benedict Mathurin. And they lost Obi Toppin in the first half to another injury. The Pacers were wiped off the floor a night earlier in Memphis.

And yet they were going punch for punch with the Wolves.

Thankfully for Minnesota, it had Julius Randle.

The team’s usual No. 2 scoring option put on his Batman cape Sunday to save the Wolves from impending disaster. Indiana didn’t have anyone who could hold up to Randle’s physicality, which allowed the forward to get to his spots every time down the floor.

When that’s the case, Randle is nearly impossible to stop.

He had 31 points and six assists to power Minnesota to a 114-110 victory.

“It was a calm place to go,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said of the forward’s hands.

The contest nearly slipped away from Minnesota late, as the Pacers generated one good look after another to stick around and keep the game close.

But Minnesota found enough points when it needed it. A Mike Conley-Rudy Gobert pick and roll ended in a Gobert flush. Jaden McDaniels scored at the rim amid a little chaos.

Gobert finished with 14 points and 18 rebounds, while Naz Reid added 16 points and 10 rebounds off the bench.

The Wolves have much to still figure out. They’ve been largely unimpressive through three games for a team that was expected to hit the ground running.

But Minnesota is still 2-1 through the struggles.

In this era of advanced statistics and probabilities and over-analysis of every nuance on every shift of a hockey game, the only numbers that really matter when the final horn blows are posted on the scoreboard. And those digits once again did not favor the Minnesota Wild on Sunday.

Playing a San Jose Sharks team that came to St. Paul with just one prior win this season, as well as sporting some of the NHL’s worst defensive statistics, the Wild faltered once again — falling behind, rallying, before eventually suffering yet another defeat.

A pair of William Eklund goals and an overtime goal by Macklin Celebrini were difference-makers in San Jose’s 6-5 win. The Wild lost their third game in a row and fell to 1-4-2 in their past seven.

Marcus Johansson, Marco Rossi, Ryan Hartman, Zeev Buium and Joel Eriksson Ek scored for the Wild, who erased an early Sharks lead only to be sunk by San Jose’s timely power play offense.

Jesper Wallstedt, making his third start of the season, had 29 saves in the loss.

Entering Sunday’s game, Minnesota’s penalty kill ranked 30th out of 32 NHL teams, so taking an early penalty was a surefire way to hand the momentum to the visitors. And when Vinnie Hinostroza went to the penalty box for interference, the Sharks attacked.

Posted at the side of the crease, San Jose winger William Eklund banked a puck into the net off Wild defender Jonas Brodin’s skate for an early lead.

The Wild pressured, but did not score, on their first power play before the Sharks doubled their lead. Wallstedt thwarted a rush to the net, only to have the puck squirt through a crowd to rookie Michael Misa, who popped it past the goalie’s outstretched skate. It was the first career goal for Misa, who was picked second overall in the 2025 NHL Draft.

On the Wild’s second power play, after Hinostroza took a high stick to the face, Matt Boldy clanked a shot off the right goalpost. But before Sharks defenseman Vincent Iorio had left the penalty box, Rossi zipped a long-range pass to the net that Johansson redirected in to get Minnesota on the board. It was Johansson’s third goal in the past two games.

On the next shift, Kirill Kaprizov stole the puck from Sharks defenseman Vincent Desharnais at the blue line to kick-start a 2-on-1 rush. Kaprizov passed to Rossi, who blasted a puck past San Jose goalie Yaroslav Askarov to tie the game. The two goals came just 32 seconds apart.

A golden opportunity to take the lead slipped away early in the middle frame when Yakov Trenin had a yawning net in front of him, only to have the puck slip off his blade before he could launch a shot. Instead, the Sharks got goals from Eklund and Ryan Reaves on back-to-back shifts, 18 seconds apart, to again establish a two-goal advantage near the midway point of the game.

Minnesota went back to the power play in the third when Hartman was slashed in the hand by Misa. Back on the ice a minute later, Hartman took a pass from Kaprizov and got off a low shot that eluded Askarov to pull the Wild back within a goal. It was Hartman’s first goal since he had scored twice in the season opener at St. Louis on Oct. 9.

But Tyler Toffoli scored the Sharks’ second power play goal of the game a short time later to re-establish a two-goal lead for the visitors. Rookie defenseman Buium once again got the Wild, and the crowd, back in the game when his long-range shot from the blue line deflected off the shoulder of San Jose center Ty Dellandrea and looped past Askarov for his second career goal.

With just under five minutes to play and Hartman heading into the offensive zone, Sharks defenseman Dmitry Orlov collided with Hartman knee-on-knee, dropping him to the ice. While Hartman was helped to the locker room in obvious pain, officials reviewed the play for a possible major penalty. After review, they said there was no penalty on the play.

Hartman returned to the game two shifts later, and with Wallstedt headed to the bench for an extra attacker, Eriksson Ek tipped a Kaprizov shot past Askarov to tie the game with 2:18 left in regulation. It was a 5-on-5 goal, as Wallstedt had not quite reached the bench when the puck went in. Kaprizov had three assists in the game — the third of which was his 400th career point.

Askarov finished with 28 saves for the Sharks, who will host the Wild on New Years’ Eve in San Jose.

The Wild’s six-game homestand reaches the halfway point on Tuesday when they host the Winnipeg Jets at 7 p.m. It will be Winnipeg’s first visit to Grand Casino Arena this season.

Briefly

Injured Wild defenseman Zach Bogosian visited the press box between the first and second periods on Sunday wearing a walking boot. He has missed the last five games after suffering a lower body injury during an Oct. 17 loss at Washington. While not offering a timeline for his return following surgery, Wild coach John Hynes has indicated that he does not expect Bogosian’s absence will be long-term.

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