Asked about a long-proposed protected bike trail along Summit Avenue, state Rep. Kaohly Her told a wall-to-wall audience that she was not ready to call for its cancellation, but she was skeptical of the city-driven process that led to its greenlighting. Why would such a major bicycle infrastructure project roll out on the city’s wealthiest street while poorer areas like the East Side go without?

“The question being asked is flawed because you’re asking me to make a decision on planning from a group of people who handled it very poorly,” said Her, during a forum Monday evening that drew the five candidates for St. Paul mayor to Highland Park.

“Is it because we don’t care about Black and brown people who need their infrastructure updated? … Why was it designated as a regional trail? Who designated it? Who wanted it?” said Her, who said city staff had given her only vague answers about planning that had pit cyclists against homeowners. “I will look at the project and reevaluate it.”

Asked by forum moderator Tane Danger if she at least agreed with the mayor’s claim that Summit Avenue needs a full reconstruction no matter what amenities are added, Her elicited a mix of widespread laughter and clapping with her response: “All of our streets in St. Paul need to be redone.”

She was immediately met with a wry laugh and under-his-breath condemnation — “That’s an (expletive) answer” — from fellow mayoral candidate Adam Dullinger, a licensed professional engineer who lives by the Grand Round bike path along Wheelock Parkway.

Pressed by Her and the moderator, Dullinger soon apologized but emphasized that in order to provide safe transportation to destinations across the city, bike trails need to be connected in a complete network, and Summit Avenue is an important and underdeveloped east-west corridor linking downtown to points west.

“Her whole point is to dismiss Summit Avenue as this equity thing,” said Dullinger, noting select parts of the East Side have superior bike infrastructure to areas such as Summit Hill and Snelling Avenue. “We need to build bicycle infrastructure everywhere in this city, and Summit Avenue is a fantastic place to do it. It’s very central.”

Hilborn, Chen opposed

Dullinger said he bikes daily across the city and as far west as Plymouth but had to drive to the mayoral forum from his North End home because there was no safe route to or down Snelling Avenue. In contrast, he said, “if you look at the Grand Round, it goes through the East Side, and that’s what gives me the opportunity to go to the grocery store on a bike.”

The long-planned Summit Avenue project, which has been fought in court by avenue homeowners and other opponents, has drawn dueling estimates of tree impacts, costs and other details, with critics claiming it will remove more trees than a more straightforward road reconstruction. Many cyclists see the avenue — which is believed to host the longest stretch of Victorian mansions in the country — as a key east-west corridor in an underdeveloped citywide bicycle network short on direct, cross-town bike routes.

Asked to explain in simple yes or no terms whether they supported the protected five-mile bike trail along one of the city’s most celebrated streets, the five candidates for St. Paul mayor offered sharply distinct answers during one of their latest candidate forums, which was organized by the Highland District Council, FairVote Minnesota, Danger Boat Productions and others at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church on Snelling Avenue.

A recording is available online on the St. Paul Neighborhood Network’s YouTube channel.

The prospect of a five-mile bike trail running mostly at sidewalk level along Summit Avenue struck mayoral candidates Yan Chen and Mike Hilborn as a definitive non-starter.

“It’s just the wrong priority for the wrong time,” said Chen, a biophysicist who has called for the city to control spending by refocusing on core needs. “The bicycle plan is not tied into our transit plan. … There’s a bus plan. There’s a housing plan. Everything needs to be tied together.”

Chen said Summit Avenue’s existing bike lanes could be touched up or modified here and there. Otherwise, “there are so many other infrastructure projects we can deal with,” she said.

Hilborn, who owns a power washing and snow plowing company, said Grand Avenue needs more attention and repair. “Summit Avenue has a bike lane, both directions,” he said. “Drive down it, and it’s one of the smoother streets in St. Paul. … If we have a tax problem, a crime problem and a homelessness problem, I don’t think we need to try to fix something where we already have a bike lane there already.”

Mayor, Dullinger both on board

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter and Dullinger both said they were fully on board with the Summit Avenue trail.

“Life has just gotten more expensive,” Carter said. “Being able to commute in this city … without the cost of car ownership is absolutely essential for our future. … The tradition that I grew up in, running to the DMV to get your driver’s license as soon as possible, isn’t what our teenagers are up to today.”

“We have to reconstruct Summit,” Carter added. “Taft was the president the last time we reconstructed Summit. And it’s not just about the pavement. It’s about the water main underneath.”

Her said the argument that Summit Avenue needs a sidewalk-level bike trail because its underground utilities are old struck her as a tacked-on rationalization after initial arguments hit opposition. “Marshall is the better connector between Minneapolis and downtown, and … they have old infrastructure,” she said.

Dullinger reiterated that a solid east-west and north-south bike path network needs to be accessible to families “for our kids, for affordability, for everyone to have freedom of movement throughout our city.”

“Right now it feels like kids are just isolated in their homes, and they have to be chauffeured to any place they want to go and part of that is just because it’s dangerous,” he said. “It’s important to have that be a safe infrastructure across the city.”

Nov. 4 election

The Nov. 4 election will be decided by ranked-choice ballot, allowing voters to rank all the candidates in order of preference for what will be a three-year term as a result of the city’s transition to even-year elections.

Another mayoral forum was scheduled Tuesday night by the Coalition of Asian American Leaders. More information is online at facebook.com/CAALMinnesota.

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By MARGERY A. BECK, Associated Press

A 69-year-old truck driver who was seriously injured in a fight that prosecutors say was started by former NFL quarterback and sports analyst Mark Sanchez is now suing Sanchez and his employer, Fox Corporation, in Indiana state court.

Lawyers for Perry Tole filed the lawsuit Monday seeking an unspecified amount in actual and punitive damages, as well as attorney’s fees. The lawsuit accuses Sanchez of instigating a fight with Tole late Saturday night outside a downtown Indianapolis hotel, leading to “severe permanent disfigurement, loss of function” and other injuries and emotional distress.

Tole also stabbed Sanchez several times in the fight, according to police. A picture of Tole circulating online shows him in a neck brace on a hospital bed, covered in blood with a deep slash to the side of his face.

A media contact for Fox Corporation did not immediately respond to an email Tuesday seeking comment. Attorneys representing Sanchez in his criminal case declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Attorneys representing Tole in the lawsuit, which requested a trial by jury, did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Sanchez is facing a felony battery charge, along with several misdemeanor charges, for what prosecutors said Monday was a fight over parking.

“We are literally talking about people fighting over a parking space and-or a dispute about where people are parking, and it resulted in someone receiving just incredibly significant injures,” Marion County prosecutor Ryan Mears said at a news conference Monday.

A police affidavit says the 38-year-old Sanchez, smelling of alcohol, accosted Tole, who had backed his truck into a hotel’s loading docks in downtown Indianapolis. Tole’s lawsuit said Sanchez entered Tole’s truck without permission, then physically blocked and shoved Tole, who then doused Sanchez with pepper spray.

When Sanchez advanced after being sprayed, Tole pulled a knife to defend himself, authorities said.

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Sanchez was hospitalized with stab wounds to his upper right torso, according to a police affidavit.

Sanchez was in Indianapolis for Fox’s coverage of Sunday’s game between the Colts and the Las Vegas Raiders.

Sanchez had a 10-year NFL career before retiring in 2019. He spent four seasons with the Jets and also appeared in games with Philadelphia, Dallas and Washington.

He appeared on ABC and ESPN for two years before joining Fox Sports as a game analyst in 2021.

By GEOFF MULVIHILL and DAVID A. LIEB, Associated Press

The Democratic governors of California and Illinois are threatening to leave the National Governors Association because of its silence on President Donald Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops across state lines despite objections from the receiving states’ leaders.

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“If we cannot come together, on a bipartisan basis, on this basic principle of state sovereignty, what purpose does the National Governors Association serve?” California Gov. Gavin Newsom asked in a letter to the nation’s other governors.

The bipartisan governors’ group, founded in 1908, advocates for issues on which governors find common ground and hosts meetings where they can exchange ideas. Separate Democratic and Republican governors’ associations take more partisan positions and help finance campaigns.

Newsom and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, both potential 2028 presidential candidates, contend Trump’s troop deployments should be a matter of concern for all governors. But some Republican governors have supported Trump’s actions, and the national governors’ group has not taken a position.

“I’m not sure the policy issue of whether the Constitution allows for federal involvement in the state and the National Guard is something that the NGA would want to tackle,” said Republican Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe, who co-chairs the organization’s task force on emergency management and public health.

The Democratic governors of Kansas, Michigan and Minnesota already have left the NGA this year. Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly said she didn’t think the roughly $100,000 annual dues paid by the state were a good investment and encouraged the group to push back against canceled federal grants.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks before the official signing ceremony of the Belgian Economic Mission of the West coast of the United States on Monday, Oct. 6, 2025, in San Francisco (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, Pool)

Some Democrats see Guard action diminishing states’ role

The bipartisan governors’ organization is far from the first institution to face division and doubts over how it should respond to sweeping changes in Trump’s second term. Since returning to office, Trump has been using executive power in ways that presidents usually don’t.

This week, he has attempted to deploy Texas National Guard members to Chicago and California Guard members to Portland, Oregon, to protect federal immigration facilities and personnel amid what Trump describes as out-of-control crime. Democratic officials in those states have sued over the efforts, as has California. So far, judges have blocked the deployment in Oregon but haven’t stopped it in Illinois.

Newsom and Pritzker have argued the National Guard deployments are not just a policy difference but an infringement on state sovereignty that must be condemned.

“The credibility of the National Governors Association — and our integrity as state executives — rests on our willingness to apply our principles consistently, regardless of which administration attacks them,” Pritzker said in a letter Monday to Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, the chair of the National Governors Association.

Stitt did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment from The Associated Press. But he said in a news conference last month that the group should steer clear of areas where there’s not a consensus and leave those to the Democratic Governors Association and Republican Governors Association.

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who authorized the call-up of 400 Texas National Guard members, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. On Monday, he posted a cartoon on his X account showing the Democratic governors of California, Illinois and New York telling Trump, “LEAVE OUR CRIME ALONE.”

FILE – President Donald Trump addresses the National Governors Association dinner and reception in the East Room of the White House, Feb. 22, 2025, in Washington. (Pool via AP, File)

Bipartisan group doesn’t always weigh in

The National Governors Association bills itself as a beacon of bipartisanship, which means it stays out of a lot of the thorniest battles. Some topics where governors have found common ground include disaster preparedness, workforce development and expanding broadband access.

Last week, Stitt and NGA vice chair Wes Moore, the Democratic governor of Maryland and a possible 2028 presidential candidate, condemned the then-looming federal government shutdown, calling for dialogue but not a specific policy solution: “We urge federal leaders from both sides to work to set aside political games and pass a budget that reflects the values and promises states commit to every day.”

But no unity has emerged on Trump’s immigration and crime-fighting policies.

Kehoe said no one has asked him to sign onto a statement denouncing Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to states against a governor’s will. Earlier this year, Kehoe successfully pushed for a state makeover of the St. Louis Police Department oversight board despite the objections of the Democratic mayor, citing crime as justification.

“Certainly Chicago could use some help,” Kehoe said. “I would hope that Governor Pritzker would welcome help to keep his citizens safe.”

Associated Press writers John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, and Trân Nguyễn in Sacramento, California, contributed to this report.

Timberwolves coach Chris Finch is one of the more transparent coaches in the NBA, if not all pro sports. If you listen close enough, his plans become rather apparent.

On Monday, Finch effectively detailed the broad rotational decisions Minnesota will make given the current roster status when the regular season begins.

Asked how you keep players on a deep roster happy, Finch pointed to role acceptance before laying out his plans.

“We feel like we know we’re going to have an (eight-to-nine man) rotation, for sure,” Finch said. “Probably could push to 10. But whoever plays at nine and 10 might be different every night amongst a small group of guys.”

So the top eight looks to be locked in. Seven of those players are back from Minnesota’s top eight from a year ago. The only remaining spot belonged to Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who joined Atlanta via a sign-and-trade deal in the summer.

Minnesota Timberwolves guard Terrence Shannon Jr. (1) dribbles during the second half of a preseason NBA basketball game against the Denver Nuggets Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Tony Ding)

 

Asked about replacing Alexander-Walker within many of Minnesota’s best lineup combinations from a year ago, Finch pointed to Terrence Shannon Jr.

“We feel TJ can bring us a lot of things. We feel like he’ll drive winning, too.” Finch said. “What those lineup combinations work out to be exactly, we’re not 100% sure. I do love the fact you have Donte (DiVincenzo) and Naz (Reid), who are like two starter-caliber players that are in the unit, so they should drive winning. You put them in a lot of different combinations and they end up being net positive. So hopefully they’ll be able to carry some of these young guys when they’re playing alongside of them, and we feel confident they will.”

Everything is subject to change with weeks remaining in camp. One injury would throw a wrench in everything. Minnesota’s entire rotation was blown up on the eve of camp a year ago, when the team traded Karl-Anthony Towns to the Knicks.

But assuming the top eight consists of Anthony Edwards, Julius Randle, Rudy Gobert, Jaden McDaniels, Mike Conley, Reid, DiVincenzo and Shannon Jr., who emerged in the Western Conference Finals, that leaves what sounds like a small batch of potentially inconsistent minutes for everyone else to split.

One or two of Rob Dillingham, Jaylen Clark, Joan Beringer and possibly Bones Hyland could be competing for the remaining 15 to 20 available minutes a night depending on matchups or who’s playing well.

Those uncertain roles aren’t easy to excel in, particularly for young players, but they’re often the reality for guys on top-tier teams.

“So they gotta be ready,” Finch said. “They gotta stay sane and stay focused on what the main task is. That is trying to advance this team and win.”

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