Allianz Field offered eight food items during its media tasting event at the stadium on Wednesday and the refocused menu leans into Minnesota’s heritage.

“We are transitioning a little bit to be more representative of where we are and what we are doing up here,” said second-year chef and St. Clair, Minn., native Adam Reitsma.

After his first season at Allianz Field, Reitsma took into account feedback from fans.

“Everyone’s saying they are concerned about price; they are concerned about quantity,” he said. “And I really had to put my head down and figure out how I can represent that aspect. It’s going back and looking at something simple.”

Here are some of the highlights:

Walleye Sandwich

Breaded and fried walleye, shredded cabbage slaw, tartar sauce and egg bun. Location: Grand Casino Brew Hall

“A really great coleslaw with sesame seed and a really light vinaigrette,” Reitsma said.

Swedish meatball sub

Swedish meatballs in a nutmeg cream sauce with pickles and fresh dill on a hoagie roll. Locations: The Hungry Loon in Sections 10, 13, 22, 34

Harkening to Minnesota’s Nordic culture, Reitsma wanted to “try to bring some of those flavor profiles to our guests.”

Pressed broccolini sandwich

Broccolini rolled in a basil pesto sauce with fresh mozzarella on a telerà roll. Locations: Street Fair portable Section 34

Reitsma picked this vegetarian option for most underrated offering this season. “Really good food doesn’t have to be a whole lot of nuts and bolts and everything in between,” he said. “If you do food simply and correctly, it will do the work for you.”

Shore Lunch

Breaded and fried walleye, crispy hand-cut fries, Texas toast, ear of corn, tartar sauce, lemon wedge. Location: Grand Casino Brew Hall

Reitsma looks at the delicate care put into preparing the potatoes as the star of this product. “We think of up at Mille Lacs, Lake of the Woods; that’s Minnesota and that is what we are here to represent,” Reitsma said.

Other selected offerings

Bibigo vegetable spring roll with teriyaki sauce, cilantro and onion comes in after success Allianz Field had with a dumpling product. …  Fans have been calling for a return of bigger pizza slices and that will be fulfilled this year with their offerings from Red Baron, Reitsma said. … Roots for the Home Team, a local non-profit in St. Paul, is offering a rotation of five salads/wraps. … Kramarczuk’s Cheddar Brat with grilled onion and grilled sauerkraut remains a juicy stadium staple. … Allianz Field will continue its “Guest Chef” program, starting off with Minneapolis Mexican restaurant Oro by Nixta for Saturday’s home opener against CF Montreal.

By STEPHEN McGRATH and ANDREEA ALEXANDRU, Associated Press

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate, who are charged with human trafficking in Romania, left for the U.S. after authorities lifted travel restrictions imposed as part of the case, an official said Thursday.

The brothers — who are dual U.S.-British citizens and have millions of online followers — were arrested in late 2022 and formally indicted last year on charges they participated in a criminal ring that lured women to Romania, where they were sexually exploited. Andrew Tate was also charged with rape. They deny the allegations.

FILE – Andrew Tate gestures, next to his brother Tristan, outside the Bucharest Tribunal in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

In December, a court ruled that the case couldn’t go to trial because of multiple legal and procedural irregularities on the part of the prosecutors. The case, however, remained open, and there is also another ongoing investigation against them in Romania.

Romania’s anti-organized crime agency, DIICOT, said in a statement Thursday that prosecutors approved a request to change the travel restrictions on the Tates, but didn’t say who made the request.

The brothers are still required to appear before judicial authorities when summoned. “The defendants have been warned that deliberately violating these obligations may result in judicial control being replaced with a stricter deprivation of liberty measure,” the statement said.

Andrew Tate, 38, a former professional kickboxer and self-described misogynist who has amassed more than 10 million followers on X, has repeatedly claimed that prosecutors in Romania have no evidence against him and that there is a political conspiracy to silence him. He and Tristan Tate, 36, are vocal supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump.

The Tates’ departure came after Foreign Minister Emil Hurezeanu said this month that an official in the Trump administration expressed interest in the brothers’ case at the Munich Security Conference. The minister insisted no pressure was applied to lift restrictions on the Tates after a Financial Times report on the meeting caused a stir in Romania.

The Bucharest Court of Appeal’s decision that the Tate case could not proceed was a huge setback for DIICOT, but it didn’t mean the defendants could walk free, and the case hasn’t been closed.

Last August, DIICOT also launched a second case against the brothers, investigating allegations of human trafficking, the trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor, influencing statements and money laundering. They have denied those charges as well.

The Tate brothers’ legal battles aren’t limited to Romania.

Late last year, a U.K. court ruled that police can seize more than $3.3 million to cover years of unpaid taxes from the pair and freeze some of their accounts. Andrew Tate called it “outright theft” and said it was “a coordinated attack on anyone who dares to challenge the system.”

In March, the Tate brothers appeared at the Bucharest Court of Appeal in a separate case after U.K. authorities issued arrest warrants over allegations of sexual aggression in a case dating back to 2012-2015.

The appeals court granted the U.K. request to extradite the Tates, but only after legal proceedings in Romania have concluded.

McGrath reported from Sighisoara, Romania.

By MEHMET GUZEL, Associated Press

ISTANBUL (AP) — Russian and U.S. diplomats held talks in Istanbul on Thursday to discuss normalizing the operation of their respective embassies after years expelling each others’ diplomats.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the talks in Istanbul followed an understanding reached during President Donald Trump’s call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and talks between top Russian and U.S. diplomats and other senior officials in Saudi Arabia.

Last week’s U.S.-Russian talks in Riyadh marked an extraordinary shift in Washington’s foreign policy under Trump and a clear departure from U.S.-led efforts to isolate Russia over its war in Ukraine.

In Riyadh, Moscow and Washington agreed to start working toward ending the war and improving their diplomatic and economic ties. That includes restoring staffing at embassies, which in recent years were hit hard by mutual expulsions of large numbers of diplomats, closures of offices, and other restrictions.

A U.S. Embassy official in Ankara confirmed that Thursday’s talks in Istanbul would deal with issues affecting the operation of respective diplomatic missions.

Valentina Matvienko, the speaker of the Russian parliament’s upper house, said Thursday during a visit to Turkey that U.S.-Russia talks should help restore the “full-fledged work of our diplomatic missions.”

“I’m sure that the agreements will be reached and we will return to civilized communication, which was disrupted by the previous administration,” she said in Ankara, according to Russian news agencies.

Prior to Trump’s second administration, ties between Moscow and Washington plummeted to their lowest levels since the Cold War after Russia illegally annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and invaded Ukraine in 2022.

No Ukrainian officials were present at last week’s talks. The Kremlin insisted that the meeting was about restoring relations and dialogue with the United States, something it said would pave the way for eventual peace talks.

Speaking to journalists during a visit to Qatar, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that Thursday’s talks in Istanbul would focus on “the systemic problems that have accumulated as a result of the unlawful activities of the previous (U.S.) administration to create artificial obstacles for the work of the Russian embassy, ​​to which we, naturally, reciprocated and also created uncomfortable conditions for the work of the American embassy in Moscow.”

Lavrov added that based on the outcome of the meeting, “it will be clear how quickly and effectively we can move forward.”

Associated Press writer Robert Badendieck in Istanbul contributed to this report.

BANGKOK (AP) — The U.S. registered its first death from measles since 2015 this week, as a child who wasn’t vaccinated died in a measles outbreak in rural West Texas.

Normally, most U.S. cases are brought into the country by people who have traveled overseas. So far, Texas state officials have reported 124 cases. New Mexico has reported nine.

Experts point to declining measles vaccination rates worldwide since the COVID-19 pandemic. In the United States, most states now are below the 95% vaccination threshold for kindergartners — the level needed to protect communities against measles outbreaks.

Britain reported 2,911 confirmed measles cases in 2024, the highest number of cases recorded annually, since 2012.

Measles cases in the United States last year were nearly double the total for all of 2023, raising concerns about the preventable, once-common childhood virus. Health officials confirmed measles cases in at least 18 states in 2024, including in New York City, Philadelphia and Chicago.

“Measles anywhere is a threat everywhere,” the U.S. Centers for Disease Control say on their website.

Here’s a brief look at the global measles situation.

Are measles outbreaks common outside the U.S?

According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 10.3 million people were infected with measles in 2023 and 107,500 died. Most were unvaccinated people or children younger than five. Cases were most common in parts of Africa, the Middle East and Asia where incomes are low and health services insufficient.

In places where measles have largely been eradicated, cases have been spread by travelers from other countries.

While measles-related deaths declined slightly in 2023, the number of outbreaks increased. Major outbreaks took place in 57 countries in 2023, including India and Indonesia, Russia, Yemen and Iraq. The largest number of cases in 2023 was 311,500 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

What is the impact of vaccinations?

The worldwide rate of childhood vaccinations has fallen in recent years, to 83% in 2023 from 86% in 2019, partly due to disruptions in immunization and health care due to the pandemic.

The WHO estimates that vaccination helped to prevent more than 60 million deaths worldwide between 2000 and 2023, as efforts to get the shots to more people ramped up. In 2000, 800,062 people are estimated to have died of measles. Before the vaccine was introduced in 1963, major epidemics caused about 2.6 million deaths a year.

Measles is so highly infectious that 95% immunity is required to prevent epidemics, the WHO says. Put another way, it infects about 9 of 10 people exposed if they lack immunity.

What international efforts are underway to prevent epidemics?

The WHO and others are backing an effort called “Immunization Agenda 2021-2030,” to push for elimination of measles.

Independent experts declared the Americas free of endemic measles in 2016 but that status was lost in 2018 due to measles outbreaks in Brazil and Venezuela. Reduced vaccination rates are undermining efforts to fully eradicate the disease, experts say.

Global health organizations and other groups have increased their efforts to speed up immunization programs and close the gaps in prevention.