The Indigo Girls made their politics crystal clear Sunday night during their dual-headlining concert with Melissa Etheridge at the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand.

The duo performed their 90-minute set standing in front of a mock schoolroom, with the phrase “Stand up for the lookout” scrawled across a chalkboard surrounded by a series of signs denouncing ICE, Education Secretary Linda McMahon and, indirectly, Donald Trump.

Amy Ray did dedicate her solo song “Laramie,” which is about the late Matthew Shepard, to trans and queer kids, their parents, teachers and healthcare workers, but it wasn’t an evening of airing grievances. Instead, it felt like Ray and Emily Saliers were playing a backyard party for 13,929 joyful friends (including both Tim Walz and Peggy Flanagan). At one point, Ray even praised the crowd for having such great “Minnesota vibes.”

Their set list drew heavily from their ’90s work, with a few more contemporary selections, like “S— Kickin’” from their most recent album, “Look Long.” “Get Out the Map” had many women in the audience up on their feet, swaying along to the music, while “Galileo” turned into an audience sing-along. (It probably helped Saliers, whose voice has noticeably diminished. It’s unclear if it’s a temporary issue.)

A nimble five-piece band backed the duo, who also welcomed singer/songwriter (and daughter of folk icons Loudon Wainwright III and Suzzy Roche) Lucy Wainwright Roche to share the stage. Roche added guitar and vocals and even got to perform one of her own songs, “Open Season.”

They wrapped with an electrifying “Kid Fears” and their signature song “Closer to Fine,” both accompanied by Etheridge to the thrill of the crowd.

Melissa Etheridge performs at YouTube Theater on July 26, 2024 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Monica Schipper/Getty Images)

After a 25-minute break, Etheridge returned for her own set, a loose and freewheeling performance that saw her draw out the instrumental passages of her songs to showcase her talents on the guitar.

She opened with “Bring Me Some Water,” her 1988 debut single that made it to No. 10 on the rock radio chart. Like the Indigo Girls, she stuck to her older material. But she freshened up 1996’s “I Want to Come Over” by turning it into a medley with Chappell Roan’s “Red Wine Supernova.” The Indigo Girls returned to the stage to back up Etheridge’s “You Can Sleep While I Drive.”

By the time she got to her big hits “Come to My Window” and “I’m the Only One,” the crowd was giddy with delight. Judging by the gleeful buzz, this is a concert fans will be talking about for some time to come.

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Colliding with two defenders on a drive to the hoop midway through the third quarter, Napheesa Collier fell hard to the floor as the ball was blocked out of bounds.

The Target Center crowd voiced its displeasure at the lack of a foul call when a replay was shown.

Off the inbounds, Collier simply took a pass from Courtney Williams and scored on a layup.

Yep, Phee is back. And playing like she hasn’t missed a beat.

Collier scored 32 points, grabbed nine rebounds and had two steals in her return after missing seven games with a sprained right ankle and the Lynx topped Indiana 97-84 Sunday.

“It definitely felt good. I felt like I had to knock a little bit of the rust off, but more than anything it just felt so good to be back with the team,” said Collier. She finished 11 of 16 from the field and was one basket shy of tying her season high of 34 points.

“Could always imagine more. She’s that darn good,” coach Cheryl Reeve said with a smirk. “Having her play kind of makes it easier for everybody else to kind of settle back into a role, things we like to do.”

Added Williams: “It feels good to have Phee back, and it showed.”

Playing at full strength, Minnesota shot 57.1% both overall (36-63) and from 3-point range (12-21), had 28 assists on 36 baskets and made 13 of 14 free throws.

At 30-7, Minnesota’s magic number to secure home court throughout the postseason is now two. The 30 wins ties last year’s team for the franchise record for wins in a season.

And with this team now at full strength?

“We been a problem, now we really a problem,” Williams said with a big smile.

“It’s a good time to be a Lynx,” Collier said.

Following a 14-point first half, Collier hit a jumper and a 3-pointer in the opening minutes of the second half for a 57-45 Minnesota lead.

The quintet of points capped a 16-0 Minnesota run around the break. Maria Kliundikova scored nine points in an 11-0 stretch to end the opening 20 minutes.

Kliundikova finished with a season-high 13 points off the bench — all in the second quarter — and the 6-foot-4 center created an interior presence Minnesota lacked early in allowing the Fever to open a 10-point lead in the opening quarter.

“She gave us great minutes with what she was able to do on both ends of the court. She’s so long so on defense it’s so hard to get shots around her, she’s a problem for the post players and gives them a different kind of look as well. And on offense she’s so versatile,” Collier said.

“We don’t want to limit her in any way, we just want her to play,” added Reeve.

In addition to no turnovers and a key late block, Williams finished with 14 points and 10 assists, the latter of which gives her a franchise-record 230 for the season, surpassing the 221 she had last season.

That included a quarterback-type pass to Alanna Smith for a fast-break layup and 93-78 lead with 3:05 left, much to the delight of most of the 15,124 in attendance. Based on apparel, many of whom surely bought tickets to see Caitlin Clark, but the Fever guard remains out with a groin injury.

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A historic lighthouse in Duluth may be open for tours to the public in two years — if the group that acquired it can raise the funds needed to clean and restore it.

With a distinctive red roof and white square exterior, the Duluth Harbor South Breakwater Outer Light was built in 1901. It’s one of two lighthouses that mark the entrance to the Duluth Ship Canal.

Together, the two lighthouses have helped guide ships into the canal and under the Aerial Lift Bridge into the Duluth harbor for over a century. And they both may soon be open to the public.

The Lake Superior Marine Museum Association has been working to acquire the lighthouse on the south pier from the federal government for the past seven years. But it’s a red tape-laden process.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers owns the massive concrete pier that runs more than 1,000 feet from shore to the lighthouse. The U.S. Coast Guard owns and operates a foghorn and the green beacon that still shines from the top of the lighthouse to aid thousand-foot cargo ships and smaller watercraft.

The museum association finally acquired the deed to the lighthouse earlier this year.

“Our mission is to preserve the maritime history of the Twin Ports,” said Treasurer Al Finlayson. “We’ve been a partner with the (Lake Superior Maritime) Visitor Center across the canal for 50 years. This fit well with our mission.”

Finlayson hopes to open the lighthouse to public tours by 2027. But it will need a lot of work. It’s covered in pigeon poop, the front door is broken, lead paint is peeling off, and asbestos tiles need to be removed.

But the view from the top deck, reached by climbing a narrow, spiral staircase, is stunning. Lake Superior extends to the horizon, and the city of Duluth climbs up the steep hillside.

The group has contracted with an engineering firm to conduct a report to determine what specific repairs are needed on the historic structure.

The U.S. Coast Guard operates the green beacon at the top of the Duluth Harbor South Breakwater Outer Lighthouse. The Aerial Lift Bridge is visible in the distance. (Dan Kraker / MPR News)

Finlayson anticipates the Marine Museum Association will spend $75,000 out of its own pocket this year, on electrical upgrades, security cameras and other immediate improvements. The group is raising money and writing grants to help defray the costs.

How soon the lighthouse opens for tours, he said, depends on how quickly they can raise money to pay for the restoration.

North Pierhead Light

Meanwhile, a different historic preservation nonprofit is moving ahead with plans to renovate the Duluth Harbor North Pierhead Light on the other side of the ship canal.

St. Paul-based Rethos acquired rights to the lighthouse in 2023 after the U.S. Coast Guard announced it no longer needed the black and white cylindrical structure that was built in 1910.

Rethos also encountered paperwork delays, but just last month secured the deed and the keys to the lighthouse, said Amy Thomas, director of real estate at Rethos.

Thomas said with the help of $15,000 in grants, the group has hired architects to assess the lighthouse’s condition and produce a report detailing the maintenance that will be required.

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“So we know there’s going to be a lot of lead paint. There’s a lot of rust. We want to make the lighthouse safe for people to enter,” he said.

Rethos also hopes to open the lighthouse to tours, but like the Lake Superior Marine Museum Association, first needs to raise the money to restore the weather-beaten building.

The groups have discussed partnering together, perhaps with a shared entry fee for tours and hosting events.

CHICAGO — Major League Baseball will reveal its schedule for the 2026 this week, but there’s already one big highlight on the Twins’ schedule.

The Twins have been tapped to play in the Field of Dreams game in Dyersville, Iowa, an industry source confirmed, hosting the Philadelphia Phillies in a game is expected to take place in August. The game will be played at the site which the 1989 Kevin Costner baseball classic was filmed, about four hours south of the Twin Cities.

It will be the third major league game played in Iowa, following the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees playing among the cornfields in 2021 and the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds playing there the next year. The temporary stadium that those two games were played at held around 7,800 fans. Since then, a massive undertaking has been underway expand the site, add youth fields and other amenities and construct a permanent stadium, which is expected to have a smaller capacity.

The first Field of Dreams game turned out to be one of the more memorable games in Major League Baseball history, starting with Costner emerging from the cornfields and walking onto the field of play before the White Sox and Yankees followed. It ended with the Yankees scoring four runs in the ninth inning before Tim Anderson hit a walk-off home run that disappeared into the corn stalks.

This will be the first regular-season destination game that the Twins have played in since they traveled to Puerto Rico in 2018. They also played a spring training game in the Dominican Republic in 2020.

Topa calls his pitch

Watch Justin Topa’s next relief outing carefully and you’ll see him twist before each pitch, hitting a button on his PitchCom device. With Erasmo Ramírez designated for assignment on Sunday to make space on the active roster for Taj Bradley, Topa is the Twins’ lone pitcher who is calling his own pitches.

Topa started doing it last month, at the suggestion of his coaches, and the reasons are twofold.

One, he often felt that if he shook off a catcher’s call, he’d wind up with very little time left on the pitch clock and so calling his own pitch immediately and then adjusting as necessary makes for “less anxiety,” with the pitch clock. And two, it allows him to take ownership of how he’s going to attack hitters and be aggressive immediately.

“(It) kind of gives us a piece of mind … in the sense of not feeling rushed and boom, right away having that conviction of, ‘OK, this is what I want to throw in a situation,’ and then … if (Ryan Jeffers) or (Christian Vázquez) or if Mickey (Gasper’s) back there, if they’ve seen something different, we can play off of that.”

Briefly

Joe Ryan will take the ball on Monday when the Twins head to Toronto opposite three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer. … Byron Buxton played in his 98th game of the season Sunday. He is on track to reach game 100 in Toronto, which would be the first time in his career that he’s played in 100 or more games in consecutive seasons. … Buxton is also just one stolen base away from becoming a member of the 20 home run/20 stolen base club, something which he has yet to accomplish in his career. … The Twins have not named a starter for Wednesday in Toronto but Simeon Woods Richardson joined the team in Chicago and could be in line to come off the injured list and start that game.

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