Chip’s Clubhouse on Snelling Avenue has quietly closed.

Former co-owner Tara Coleman, who still owns Hot Hands Pie and Biscuit next door, said there was a sign on the door Thursday morning announcing the closure.

Coleman and former co-owner Gina Mangiameli, who is now the head of Surdyk’s prep kitchen, quietly sold the business in February of 2024 to chef Nik Donaker.

Attempts to reach Donaker have been unsuccessful, but the decision must have been sudden, as the business website is still up and appears to be taking orders, and there’s no sign of the closure on the restaurant’s social media pages.

Chip’s was known for its excellent double-smash burger; creative cocktails, originally crafted by barman Tim O’Leary; and a frequently changing menu of comfort foods.

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Three people were injured in an early morning shooting in a St. Paul apartment Thursday.

Officers responded to the shooting in the Payne-Phalen neighborhood about 2:10 a.m. and heard a commotion inside an apartment, said Sgt. Toy Vixayvong, a St. Paul police spokesman. They found a man was shot in his buttocks and woman shot in her back in the building on Aguirre Street and Payne Avenue.

A witness said a group came to to the apartment, talking turned into an argument, and someone pulled out a gun and started shooting, according to Vixayvong.

St. Paul Fire Department medics transported the two from the apartment to Regions Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Soon after, a man arrived at another hospital with a gunshot wound. He also was shot at the apartment and police arrested the man after he was treated, Vixayvong said.

Thursday’s incident brought the number of non-fatal shootings in St. Paul to 16 this year, compared with 26 at the same time last year, according to police department statistics. St. Paul police started a Non-Fatal Shooting Unit last year, with the aim of putting more investigative work into solving such cases. The police chief has said that work is a major contributing factor to a decline in shootings.

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By SOPHIA TAREEN

CHICAGO (AP) — From worker rights rallies to marches for social justice, activists around the globe kicked off May Day demonstrations on Thursday.

In some countries, it’s a public holiday honoring labor, but activists planning marches in the United States say much of their message is about fighting back against President Donald Trump’s policies targeting immigrants, federal workers and diversity programs.

Thousands are expected at demonstrations from Tokyo to Chicago. In some parts of the U.S., though, fear sowed by the Trump administration is expected to keep some immigrants home.

“Everybody is under attack right now,” said Jorge Mujica, a longtime labor leader from Chicago, where May Day rallies historically have had a large turnout.

What is May Day?

The roots of May Day, or International Workers Day, stretch back over a century to a turbulent and pivotal time in U.S. labor history.

In the 1880s, unions pushing for better workplace conditions began advocating for an eight-hour workday with widespread demonstrations and strikes. In May 1886, a Chicago labor rally turned deadly when a bomb was thrown and police retaliated with gunfire. Several labor activists, most of them immigrants, were convicted of conspiracy to incite violence among other charges. Four were hanged.

Unions later recommended that the workers be honored every May 1. A sculpture in Chicago’s Haymarket Square commemorates them with an inscription that reads: “Dedicated to all workers of the world.”

May Day rallies and riots

May Day marches, rallies and riots have taken place worldwide in recent years as unions push for better rights for workers, groups air economic grievances or activists call for an end to the war in Gaza.

While most demonstrations have been peaceful, there have been clashes with police.

Last year, police in Paris fired tear gas as thousands of protesters marched through the French capital, seeking better pay and working conditions. In New York City, May Day demonstrations coincided with rising tensions at college campuses over pro-Palestinian student encampments, resulting in numerous arrests.

This year, organizers in numerous cities, including New York, are calling for unity across many causes and groups.

“We’re organizing for a world where every family has housing, health care, fair wages, union protection, and safety — regardless of race, immigration status, or zip code,” the American Civil Liberty Union of New York said in a statement.

Other notable U.S. demonstrations include a workers rally at Philadelphia City Hall with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and demonstrations at the Colorado State Capitol and in Los Angeles, Seattle and Washington, D.C.

May Day immigration marches

While labor and immigrant rights are historically intertwined, the focus of May Day rallies in the U.S. shifted to immigration in 2006. That’s when roughly 1 million people, including nearly half a million in Chicago alone, took to the streets to protest federal legislation that would’ve made living in the U.S. without legal permission a felony.

Crowds for May 1 demonstrations have since dwindled with advocacy groups splintering and shifting activism arenas such as voters rights.

This year in Chicago, organizers say activism starting Thursday will last until Cinco de Mayo with boycotts and walkouts. Their focus is workers’ rights but also rising anti-immigrant rhetoric from Trump’s administration.

Organizers acknowledge a chilling effect on immigrant communities since Trump has cracked down on enforcement, especially in so-called sanctuary cities including Chicago. They’re expecting lower numbers of immigrants but are expanding their outreach to more unions, including for teachers and nurses.

“There’s a lot fear out there,” said Omar Lopez, a longtime Chicago organizer.

Who celebrates May Day?

In some countries, May Day is a public holiday for workers, including France, Kenya and China, where it lasts five days. In Russia, Communist-led May Day celebrations were once massive affairs.

It’s also a traditional spring celebration that’s observed in ways that don’t involve marching in the streets or civil disobedience.

In Hawaii, May 1 is called Lei Day, which isn’t an official holiday, but a statewide celebration of the Hawaiian culture and the aloha spirit through the creation and giving of lei — usually a necklace of flowers.

Elsewhere, people mark the holiday by leaving May Day baskets filled with gifts and flowers on the doorsteps of friends. The city of Annapolis, Maryland, is set to hold its 70th May Day Basket Competition, where residents and businesses outdo each other for the best floral arrangements.

“It’s our community’s way of saying goodbye to winter and welcoming the beauty and energy of spring,” Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley said.

By ROD McGUIRK

MEBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australians vote Saturday in general elections being dominated by the soaring cost of living, the economy, energy and China.

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Affordable housing is in short supply, interest rates remain high and the major political parties are starkly divided on how to wean the nation off fossil fuel-generated electricity.

The major parties also differ on how to deal with China, which is both Australia’s largest trading partner and its greatest strategic threat.

Here’s what to know about the main issues:

Surging inflation

Australians have endured one of the sharpest rises in the cost of living in recent history and the current government has been at the helm through the worst of it.

Prices of eggs surged 11% last year and beer rose 4%, according to government figures. Average rents rose 4.8% last year after a 8.1% spike in 2023, property analyst CoreLogic said.

The central bank’s benchmark interest rate rose from a record low 0.1% to 0.35% two weeks before Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor Party came to power in 2022’s elections.

The rate has been raised a dozen times since then, peaking at 4.35% in November 2023. Annual inflation peaked that year at 7.8%.

The central bank reduced the inflation rate by a quarter percentage point in February to 4.1% in an indication that the worst of the cost of living crisis had passed. The rate is widely expected to be cut again at the bank’s next board meeting on May 20 due to international economic uncertainty generated by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs policies.

Scarce and expensive housing

Inflation has put some builders out of business, exacerbating a shortage of housing, which in turn has inflated rents.

The government has provided tax cuts and assistance for some rent and energy bills, but critics argue government spending has contributed to maintaining elevated inflation.

Albanese promised in 2023 to build 1.2 million homes through incentives over five years starting in the middle of last year, an ambitious target in a country of 27 million people. Early building approval figures suggest his government would miss that target.

Labor has vowed to reduce the deposit first time home buyers will be required to pay from 20% to 5% with the government becoming guarantor for the difference.

The conservative opposition Liberal Party has promised to reduce competition for housing by reducing immigration. It’s also promised to allow Australians to spend money held in their compulsory workplace pension funds, known as superannuation, on down payments to buy a home.

The opposition has also pledged to make mortgage interest payments tax deductible for many first home buyers.

Many economists argue the rival policies would both inflate home prices while achieving little to increase the supply of housing.

Different paths to net zero

Both parties agree on one goal: to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

Albanese’s government was elected in 2022 with a promise to reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by 43% below 2005 levels by the end of the decade and achieve net zero by 2050.

The opposition has promised to build seven government-funded nuclear power plants across Australia, the first providing electricity in 2035.

The government argues Australia‘s existing coal and gas-fired generators won’t last long enough to meet the nation’s needs until nuclear power arrives. It plans to have 82% of Australia’s energy grid powered by renewables by 2030.

The opposition argues the government’s policy of replacing coal and gas with renewable energy sources including wind turbines and solar cells is unachievable, and would reduce investment in clean energy technologies.

Leader of the Australian opposition Liberal party Peter Dutton, center, assists fueling a car in Melbourne on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (Mick Tsikas/AAP Image via AP)

The opposition would rely on more gas to generate electricity until atomic power was established. It would not set a new target for 2030 before the election.

Ties with China

Trade and diplomatic relations between Australia and China plunged to new depths in 2020 after the previous conservative Australian government demanded an international inquiry into the origins of and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Beijing barred minister-to-minister contacts with Australia and imposed a series of official and unofficial bans on commodities including coal, wine, barley, wood and lobsters that cost Australian exporters up to 20 billion Australian dollars ($13 billion) a year.

The thaw started almost immediately with the election of the Labor Party in 2022. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang wrote to congratulate Albanese on his election victory within days.

All the trade barriers were gradually lifted and Albanese met President Xi Jinping during a state visit to Beijing in 2023.

Albanese often says about China: “We will cooperate where we can, disagree where we must and engage in the national interest.”

Opposition leader Peter Dutton, a longtime critic of China, has claimed that bilateral relations would improve even further with a tough and uncompromising approach. He has accused Albanese of self-censorship to avoid offending Beijing.

“Australia must be willing to criticize any nation whose behavior imperils stability in the region, and that’s what a coalition government I lead will do confidently and in concert with like-minded countries,” Dutton told the Lowy Institute international policy think tank in Sydney in March.