The Minnesota Department of Commerce on Wednesday announced the anticipated increase in health insurance rates for 2026 — a driving factor in the federal government shutdown that began at midnight.

Under the new rates, Minnesotans covered through the individual market — Affordable Care Act plans accessed through the state’s health insurance marketplace — will see an average rate increase of 22% and those in small group plans will see a 14% increase. The increases are due to both rising health care costs and the expiration of enhanced tax credits under the ACA, officials with the Department of Commerce said Wednesday.

Roughly 200,000 Minnesotans are enrolled in the small group market, while 163,000 are enrolled in the individual market, according to 2024 data from the state Department of Health.

The increased rates came just hours after the federal government shut down, in part over health care disputes such as the expiring ACA credits and Medicaid cuts. Gov. Tim Walz and Minnesota health care leaders held a press conference last month, urging Congress to extend the enhanced tax credits.

“We hope that Congress will take swift action to make the enhanced tax credits permanent, because every Minnesotan who has been able to stay covered with this financial help is another Minnesotan able to access the health care they need,” MNsure CEO Libby Caulum said in a news release Wednesday.

The Department of Commerce announces the rates every year on Oct. 1, ahead of the Nov. 1 date for open enrollment, and three months before premiums go into effect on Jan. 1, also when the ACA credits are set to expire.

Caulum said on Sept. 23 that while MNSure can “make technical changes” if Congress acts to extend ACA credits before Jan. 1, the deadline is tight.

“As soon as the rate release happens, there’s a whole host of things that MNsure does to get ready for open enrollment … so we’re really short on time here to keep it from getting confusing,” she said.

MNsure estimates that nearly 90,000 Minnesotans will see an increase in their monthly premium due to the loss of ACA credits if Congress does not extend them.

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By MARCIA DUNN

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Scientists have uncovered new types of organics in icy geysers spouting from Saturn’s moon Enceladus, bolstering the likelihood that the ocean world may harbor conditions suitable for life.

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Their findings, reported Wednesday, are based on observations made by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft in 2008 during a close and fast flyby of Enceladus. The small moon, one of 274 orbiting Saturn, has long been considered a prime candidate in the search for life beyond Earth because of its hidden ocean and plumes of water erupting from cracks near its south pole.

While Enceladus may be habitable, no one is suggesting that life exists.

“Being habitable and being inhabited are two very different things. We believe that Enceladus is habitable, but we do not know if life is indeed present,” said the University of Washington’s Fabian Klenner, who took part in the study.

An international team decided to launch a fresh analysis of tiny grains of ice encountered as Cassini flew through the moon’s geysers. The grains were young compared with the much older geyser particles that ended up in one of Saturn’s outermost rings.

These new grains collided with Cassini’s cosmic dust analyzer at 40,000 mph (64,800 kph), faster than the old ones. The increased speed provided a clearer view of the chemical compounds present, the scientists noted.

Organic molecules already had been spotted in the old geyser grains, but their age raised questions as to whether they had been altered over the years by space radiation.

Scientists found some of the same molecules in the fresh grains, confirming they came from the moon’s underground sea, as well as new chemical compounds. The findings were published in Nature Astronomy.

An ice-encapsulated water world barely 310 miles (500 kilometers) across with a rocky core, Enceladus is suspected of having hydrothermal vents on its ocean floor, quite possibly like those in the Arctic. The moon’s jets of water vapor and frozen particles can stretch thousands of miles (kilometers) into space.

“We are confident that these molecules originate from the subsurface ocean of Enceladus, enhancing its habitability potential,” the Free University of Berlin’s Nozair Khawaja, the lead author, said in an email.

The scientists favor new missions to further explore Enceladus. Launched in 1997, Cassini is long gone; the spacecraft was deliberately plunged into Saturn in 2017 following its joint mission by NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency.

“Having a variety of organic compounds on an extraterrestrial water world is simply phenomenal,” Klenner said in an email.

The European Space Agency is in the early planning stages of a mission to land on Enceladus decades from now. China also has proposed a landing mission.

NASA has a spacecraft en route to another enticing target to hunt for the ingredients of life: Jupiter’s moon Europa. The Europa Clipper is expected to begin orbiting Jupiter in 2030 with dozens of Europa flybys. ESA also has a spacecraft, Juice, that’s headed to Jupiter to explore Europa and two other icy moons that could hold buried oceans.

Underground oceans on moons “are perhaps the best candidates for the emergence of extraterrestrial life in our solar system. This work only confirms the need for further studies,” said University of Kent physics professor Nigel Mason, who was not involved in the latest findings.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content

By MIKE HOUSEHOLDER

ROYAL OAK, Mich. (AP) — The sacred bones of a much-loved French Carmelite nun began a tour of the U.S. on Wednesday at a suburban Detroit parish named in her honor.

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Nicole Scheier was among those who arrived hours ahead of the first opportunity to catch a glimpse of the relics of St. Thérèse of Lisieux.

“St. Thérèse is a saint for everybody. She is relatable. She teaches that sainthood is attainable, doing small things with great love,” Scheier said after pausing before a statue of St. Thérèse outside the National Shrine of The Little Flower Basilica in Royal Oak, Michigan.

A reliquary containing some of St. Thérèse’s remains will be on display through Oct. 8, before moving on to California. Other stops on the tour, which runs into December, are Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Texas, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C.

Haifa Gabbara also arrived at the basilica well in advance.

“St. Thérèse means a lot to me and to my family,” the West Bloomfield Township resident said. “So, I was determined to be here, although early.”

The National Shrine was founded in 1926, as one of the nation’s first parishes dedicated to the memory of the saint born Thérèse Martin and who died of tuberculosis in 1897 at age 24.

Nicknamed “The Little Flower of Jesus,” St. Thérèse became known worldwide for her autobiography, “Story of a Soul,” that described her devotion to God. She was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1925. Mother Teresa took her name and said she was inspired to serve the poor in India.

St. Thérèse’s relics also came from France to the U.S. in 1999. Tens of thousands visited Royal Oak that year during a one-day stay. Now, a quarter-century later, they are back on The Little Flower’s feast day.

“It feels like Christmas morning that a wonderful gift from God is coming here to be with us,” said the Rev. John Bettin, rector of the National Shrine of The Little Flower Basilica.

In the Catholic tradition, a relic is an object, notably part of the body or clothes, that serves as a memorial of a departed saint. It is an ancient tradition within the church to venerate, or honor, the relics of holy people.

In this image made from video, Relics of St. Thérèse Tour attendee Nicole Scheier pays her respects to a statue of St. Thérèse outside the National Shrine of The Little Flower Basilica Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025, in Royal Oak, Mich. (AP Photo/Mike Householder)

Those who wish to venerate the relics are to slowly make their way inside the basilica, where they will find the reliquary positioned in a central area. They are permitted to touch the reliquary with medals, rosaries and prayer cards, but they may not lean on nor kiss the glass.

“We do have to protect the reliquary and the relics,” Bettin said.

As both Hollywood and Broadway plunged into the now-decades-old age of the remake, “The Addams Family” was bound to return. Based on the New Yorker cartoons of Charles Addams and their adaptation into a 1964-66 TV situation comedy, the comically macabre characters have been resurrected in multiple films, as well as a stage musical and a very popular Netflix series called “Wednesday.”

Renee Kathleen Koher (Morticia Addams) and Rodrigo Aragon (Gomez Addams) in the North American touring production of “The Addams Family.” (Sarah Smith / NWCC)

Your latest opportunity to find out why pop culture has so avidly embraced these characters is a touring production of the 2010 musical that has brought the creepy old Addams mansion to the Ordway Music Theater stage for a week.

Tuesday’s opening night performance gave some clues as to why the Addamses endure. Their wildly off-kilter ways were an open rebellion against the “normal” in 1964 and — seeing as conservative conventionality has made such a comeback in our country — the time might be right for a reprise of that message. Alas, Big League Productions’ touring version lacks the spirit of adventure that could make it rewarding or revelatory.

Much of the fault lies with the script by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice and the songs of Andrew Lippa. That team has been trying to figure out an interesting story to tell with these characters for 15 years now, tweaking as they go, but I came away feeling as if I’d experienced an hour’s worth of story and solid songs presented over the course of two hours and 45 minutes.

Characters can only get you so far without a story, and this plot is particularly conventional. Oldest child Wednesday is now an adult, one secretly engaged to a “normal” young man from Ohio, and she’s invited his parents to dinner to meet her decidedly out-of-the-ordinary family. That’s the gist of it, the action hanging on the flimsy premise that father Gomez keeping their engagement a secret will somehow damage his marriage to Morticia.

What remains is a series of character studies, mostly in song. But only four of the 26 tunes are musically memorable, most notably the spicy salsa intro to the clan, “When You’re an Addams,” and Morticia’s clever, Vaudeville-esque dance with death, “Just Around the Corner.” Younger brother Pugsly’s “What If” is a sweet ballad (kudos to Logan Clinger, the only performer who seemed to crack the code of the Ordway sound system and make every word understandable), as is Gomez’s “Happy/Sad,” addressed to his departing daughter.

While Rodrigo Aragon does fine things with Gomez, this musical makes him far too typical a father, while unpredictability is what established the Addams brand. Meanwhile, Renee Kathleen Koher’s tepid take on Morticia is as colorless as her corpse-like makeup. There’s almost none of the steamy, spontaneous sexual energy that John Astin and Carolyn Jones brought to the TV show. Similarly, Melody Munitz portrays the linchpin character of Wednesday with a relatively expressionless paucity of spark.

That said, Randel Wright’s deliciously gloomy set and Tristan Raines’ imaginative costuming make it an enjoyable show to look at, something aided greatly by the enthusiasm of the ancestors who’ve dropped in from the afterlife to take in this meeting of two families. Would that they had something more interesting to observe.

Rob Hubbard can be reached at wordhub@yahoo.com.

Big League Productions’ ‘The Addams Family’

When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday; 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sunday

Where: Ordway Music Theater, 345 Washington St., St. Paul.

Tickets: $154-$45, available at 651-224-4222 or ordway.org

Capsule: A musical that makes the unpredictable eccentrics way too normal.

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