A worker was struck and killed by a construction vehicle Wednesday morning in Burnsville.

State troopers responded at 8:59 a.m. to a construction zone on southbound Interstate 35W and Minnesota 13, where according to a preliminary investigation, a contractor was on foot when he was struck and killed by a construction vehicle with a boom attachment, said a spokesperson for the Minnesota State Patrol.

The name of the deceased had not been released at the time of this report.

The 50-year-old truck driver, a man from North Branch, appeared not to have any injuries.

No other vehicles were involved and the incident took place completely within the construction zone on the highway. The investigation is ongoing.

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Country star Eric Church will headline St. Paul’s Grand Casino Arena for the first time on Feb. 7.

Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Oct. 3 through Ticketmaster. Paid members of Church’s Church Choir fan club have access to a presale starting Monday. Fans who register at ericchurch.com have access to another presale that starts at 10 a.m. Sept. 30. Newcomer Ella Langley (“You Look Like You Love Me”) opens.

A North Carolina native, Church got his start in music as a teenager playing Jimmy Buffett covers at a local bar. After graduating from Appalachian State University with a degree in marketing, he moved to Nashville, where he landed a deal with Capitol Records.

Church’s 2006 debut single “How ‘Bout You” went gold and he followed it with a series of modestly successful hits. His career really took off with 2010’s quadruple-platinum smash “Smoke a Little Smoke” as Church established a reputation as an industry maverick and fiery live performer. His 2012 single “Springsteen” remains his biggest hit, but nearly everything he has released in the time since has gone at least gold.

In addition to audiences, the industry also adores Church, who has won seven ACM Awards and four CMA Awards (including 2020’s Entertainer of the Year) and earned 10 Grammy nominations.

He has previously headlined Minneapolis’ Target Center four times, including a two-night stand in 2019. In 2022, he played U.S. Bank Stadium with Morgan Wallen.

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Is a noodle obsession a matter of nature or nurture?

Lane Li was pondering this when she saw her noodle-loving 11-year-old son, Jackson, reach for a chef’s knife the size of his forearm. Certainly knife skills, she decided, require some nurturing.

“Let’s work up to that,” she said, giving him a paring knife instead. This was Jackson’s first cooking lesson, and Li, who owns Noodle Lane in Park Slope, Brooklyn, with her husband, Chris Wang, wanted to pass down more than just safety tips.

When Li was in grade school, her mother taught her how to cook Cantonese noodle soup so that she’d always be able to feed herself something filling and healthy. It became the after-school go-to for her and her friends growing up in nearby Flatbush.

“Other kids ate peanut butter sandwiches,” she said, guiding Jackson’s hands as he sliced scallions. “We ate noodle soup.”

Now that Jackson was starting middle school, it was time to graduate from microwaved instant ramen.

As he chopped vegetables, Li shared her wisdom for making the perfect Cantonese noodle soup.

The first thing was to start with good broth. Li uses a homemade chicken stock that she doesn’t degrease entirely, keeping a touch of fat for flavor and body.

Then the noodles, either rice noodles or Chinese egg noodles, must be boiled in a separate pot of water so they don’t cloud the broth. And it’s important that the broth and noodles meet for the first time in the bowl, which helps prevent the noodles from overcooking. She adds bok choy, pickled mustard greens and a little oyster sauce for brightness and umami depth.

The final step is to combine all the ingredients and season them perfectly to taste. That’s where the real magic happens.

Jackson seized the moment and doused his soup with dark red chile oil, watching it bloom across the golden surface.

He slurped loudly and let out a contented sigh.

“How did it come out?” asked his father, who had just walked into the kitchen.

“Really good,” Jackson replied. Then, he added, a note of pity in his tone, “My dad doesn’t even like noodle soup.”

When asked what his after-school favorite had been, Wang came clean: “Stouffer’s frozen pizza.”

He watched his son dive back into the spicy bowl. “Obviously,” he said, “he gets his noodle soup genes from his mom.”

Cantonese Noodle Soup

A recipe for Cantonese Noodle Soup. A Cantonese classic, which Melissa Clark adapted from Lane Li, of Noodle Lane in Brooklyn, is so easy a middle schooler can make it. Food styled by Hadas Smirnoff. (David Malosh/The New York Times)

This simple Cantonese noodle soup is endlessly adaptable. Choose rice noodles or egg noodles, add pickled mustard greens, oyster sauce and chile oil for pungency and spice, or leave them out for a mellower broth. The combination of good broth, springy noodles and leafy greens makes for a satisfying foundation no matter how you zip it up.

Recipe from Lane Li of Noodle Lane, Brooklyn

Adapted by Melissa Clark

Yield: 4 servings

Total time: 1 hour 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS

8 ounces boneless, skinless chicken (dark or white meat), sliced

1 1/4 teaspoons fine sea salt, more to taste

Pinch of sugar

1 pound rice noodles or Chinese egg noodles

4 cups chicken broth

1 pound leafy bok choy or choy sum, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons chopped pickled mustard greens, rinsed very well (optional)

1/2 teaspoon oyster sauce, more to taste (optional)

4 scallions, thinly sliced

1/3 cup cilantro, leaves and tender stems

Chile oil or chile crisp (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Season the chicken all over with 1/4 teaspoon salt and the sugar. Refrigerate for at least an hour or overnight.

2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil to cook the noodles. Add noodles and cook, according to package instructions, until just done. Drain or use tongs to transfer to a colander.

3. Using the same pot, bring the chicken stock, 4 cups water and remaining 1 teaspoon salt to a simmer. Add the chicken and let simmer until the chicken is cooked through, 5 to 10 minutes. Add the bok choy, pickles if using, and oyster sauce, stirring well, and cook until the bok choy is tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Taste and add more salt or oyster sauce, if needed.

4. Divide the noodles among bowls and ladle broth, chicken and vegetables over them. Top with scallions and cilantro. Serve with chile oil or crisp if you like.

They were the core of Lindsay Whalen’s Top 25 recruiting class in 2021. Four years later, they are the core of what Dawn Plitzuweit hopes to make the Gophers’ first NCAA tournament since 2018.

It didn’t happen the way they anticipated, with Whalen out after their freshman season and season-ending injuries for Niamaya Holloway and Mara Braun. But they’re all still here, with all their initial goals still within reach. The class wanted to win, help attract more in-state recruits to the Gophers and re-ignite the passion for the program that peaked in the mid-2000s, when sellout crowds at Williams Arena watched Whalen and Janel McCarville led Minnesota to the Final Four.

Minnesota guard Amaya Battle (3) dribbles against Southern California guard Malia Samuels (10) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Los Angeles, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

Now Battle, Braun, Holloway and Mallory Heyer are back together for one last shot, and their odds look good.

“I think us four staying here, and then getting more Minnesota players to come here, that’s kind of what we imagined,” said Amaya Battle, a senior point guard from Hopkins said, alluding to teammates Sophie Hart (Farmington), Kennedy Klick (Brooklyn Park), Tori McKinney (Minnetonka), Brynn Senden (Wayzata) and Taylor Woodson (Hopkins), all of whom joined the program after 2021 as high school seniors or transfers.

“Coming in,” Battle continued, “I felt like I was really naive to what it took to be great in college, but through this experience, we’ve learned a lot. So, I think this will be a really good year for us.”

Ultimately, and especially for seniors Battle and Heyer, that means that elusive NCAA tournament berth will be the surest sign that Minnesota women’s basketball is back on track. Minnesota hasn’t been to the Big Dance since 2018.

“We have high expectations for this group,” Braun said. “We’ve had multiple meetings where we’ve talked about how we, obviously, want to be on top of the Big Ten and go to the (NCAA) tournament — but it’s not just that.

“We want to make moves in the tournament and go as far as possible. I think we have a better idea of that with some of the success we had last year.”

The Gophers were on track for an NCAA invitation in the early New Year, 16-1 after sweeping their nonconference slate, a program first. But the team, playing without Braun after she broke her right foot for the second time in two years, blew a tire in conference, losing five of their last six Big Ten games.

The last loss was to Washington in the Big Ten tournament. The Huskies made the tournament; Minnesota didn’t. But the team regrouped and spent a week practicing not for a particular opponent, but to get better.

Gophers forward Mallory Heyer guards an opponent during Minnesota’s 66-56 victory over Indiana at Williams Arena on Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025. (Courtesy of Kelly Lynn / University of Minnesota)

“During that stretch, we really made strides,” Plitzuweit said. “We got a lot better at that point.”

An early selection for the Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament followed, and the Gophers won the whole thing, finishing their season with five straight wins, a trophy and a program-record 25 wins.

The Gophers had three different leading scorers in the WBIT, Battle, McKinney and guard Grace Grocholski, the team’s leading scorer after Braun was hurt. Heyer had two mammoth double-doubles in the semifinal and final, and Battle averaged 19 points in the tournament, with a career-high 35 in an overtime victory over Gonzaga.

Holloway had two big games off the bench, helping the Gophers weather a pair of rallies with rebounding and timely scoring.

To those returners, the Gophers add Braun, limited to five games by a second foot injury that required surgery. There was a chance she could return, after the second break of the same foot, the team took the cautious approach.

“It was just something we decided as the season went on,” Braun said. “I know it’s going to pay off, and I’m just happy to be healthy and back now.”

Holloway blew out her left knee during preseason practice as a freshman and missed the entire season. She and Braun are redshirt juniors. But for Battle and Heyer, this will be it. And in any case, it will be the last time the four play together.

“They came here as a class together to leave their legacy and the University of Minnesota, and it hasn’t been without challenges and it hasn’t been without struggles,” Plitzuweit said. “But the greatest successes in anything that you want to find come after some great struggles. So, this group is doing something really, really special.”

The opportunity for one last season together, with an NCAA tournament berth within reach, isn’t lost on any of that 2021 class.

“We’re putting all the pieces together and doing the best that we can because this (Battle’s and Heyer’s) last season,” Braun said. “And we’re going to want to make the most of it.”

Niamya Holloway celebrates with Mara Braun after Braun beat Lehigh with a last-second 3-pointer at Williams Arena on Nov. 13, 2022. (Gophers Athletics)

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