Note: Minnesota’s 2024 primary election is today — Tuesday, Aug. 13. Voters will determine final matchups for the Nov. 5 general election in races for the U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, Minnesota House of Representatives, a Minnesota Senate special election and various local offices.

Information can be found at mnvotes.org or by calling 1-877-600-VOTE (8683).

Most polling places are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

WASHINGTON — After a tough summer of primaries, the progressive House members who call themselves “the Squad” are facing their final challenge on Tuesday in Minnesota.

Rep. Ilhan Omar is on the ballot in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District on Tuesday, a week after fellow Squad member Rep. Cori Bush lost the Democratic nomination in Missouri. In June, Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York, also part of the Squad, became the first Democratic House member of the cycle to lose his primary. The only other Squad member who hasn’t yet faced a primary is Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and nobody is running against her.

Omar finds herself on stronger footing than Bowman or Bush, who both faced well-funded challengers and millions of dollars in spending by United Democracy Project, a super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. United Democracy Project hasn’t aired ads against Omar in this race. Even more critically, Omar is better prepared on the eve of her 2024 primary than she was for her 2022 primary, when she narrowly defeated Don Samuels, who is once again her top challenger.

Omar has improved her fundraising significantly over the last two years. In her pre-primary financial disclosures that year, Omar reported spending $2.3 million for the cycle. In this year’s pre-primary financial report, she reported raising more than double that amount, about $6.2 million. Samuels has raised about $1.4 million.

Candidates for Ramsey, Washington, Dakota county board seats square off in Tuesday’s primary

In the general election, Democratic Rep. Angie Craig represents Minnesota’s most competitive House seat in the 2nd Congressional District. She faces nominal opposition in Tuesday’s primary.

On the Republican side, former federal prosecutor Joe Teirab is endorsed by former President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson. His only opponent in Tuesday’s primary, defense attorney Tayler Rahm, announced in July that he was dropping out of the race, though he will still be in the ballot.

Rahm won the endorsement of the 2nd District Republican Party but he trailed Teirab in fundraising. Rahm said that he would instead serve as a senior adviser for Trump’s Minnesota campaign.

In the 7th Congressional District, Republican Rep. Michelle Fischbach faces Steve Boyd, an under-funded primary challenger. Boyd reported spending $170,000 on the race, while Fischbach has spent over $1 million. No candidate won enough support at the district convention to win the state party endorsement, but Fischbach has Trump’s endorsement.

In the Senate race, Democratic incumbent Amy Klobuchar is well-positioned to win her party’s nomination. She faces four challengers but none has raised campaign money, according to the Federal Elections Commission. Klobuchar has raised about $19 million.

Eight candidates are running in the Republican primary. The top fundraiser is Royce White, a former NBA player-turned mental health advocate who has since become an ally of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and former Trump aide Steve Bannon. White shocked many political observers when he defeated Navy veteran Joe Fraser at the party convention. Neither candidate has raised significant money. White last reported raising $133,000 while Fraser has raised $68,000. No Republican groups have reserved television ads for the Senate race, according to AdImpact.

Here’s a look at what to expect on Tuesday.

Primary day

The Minnesota state primary will be held Tuesday. Polls close at 8 p.m. Central Time.

What’s on the ballot

The Associated Press will provide vote results and declare winners in 35 races, including the Republican and Democratic primaries for U.S. Senate. Minnesota is also holding primaries for the U.S. House, the state House, and one state Senate special election.

Who gets to vote

Minnesota has open primaries, meaning any registered voter may participate in any party’s primary. The state does not have political party registration.

Decision notes

The 2nd Congressional District includes Twin Cities suburbs and rural areas farther south. The most populous area of the district is in Dakota County, which leans Democratic.

The 7th Congressional District stretches along the western border and is largely rural. Boyd lives in Kensington in rural Douglas County.

The AP does not make projections and will declare a winner only when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow the trailing candidates to close the gap. If a race has not been called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or declarations of victory. In doing so, the AP will make clear that it has not yet declared a winner and explain why.

A candidate may request a publicly funded recount if the margin is less than 0.25 percentage points in federal races and less than 0.5 percentage points in state legislative races. In races where less than 400 ballots are cast, recounts can also be requested if the margin is less than 10 votes.

If the margin falls outside of the criteria for requesting a publicly funded recount, a losing candidate may request and cover funding for a discretionary recount.

What do turnout and advance vote look like?

As of July 1, there were nearly 3.6 million registered voters in Minnesota.

In the 2024 presidential primary, 18% of votes were cast before election day. Turnout among 3,574,718 primary voters was 7% in the Democratic primary and 9% in the Republican primary.

In 2022, absentee ballots accounted for 20% of all votes. Turnout in the 7th District Republican primary was 14% of 427,502 registered voters. In the 5th District Democratic primary that year, turnout was 28% of 408,888 registered voters. In the 2022 primaries

As of Aug. 1, a total of 60,851 ballots had been cast before primary day.

How long does vote-counting usually take?

In the presidential primaries earlier this year, the AP first reported results at 8:09 p.m. Central Time, or nine minutes after polls closed. The election night tabulation ended at 1:38 a.m. Central Time, with more than 99% of total votes counted.

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Across the globe, this is the “year of elections,” with high-stakes contests in India, the European Union, Mexico, South Africa, the U.S. and many other places. But one election that will have a major effect on 70% of the world’s surface has gone almost unnoticed: the recent vote for secretary-general of International Seabed Authority, with 169 member states.

An organ of the United Nations, the ISA was created by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982. Headquartered in Jamaica, it has authority over all deep seabed mining concessions worldwide, with a mandate to protect the riches of the international seabed (which accounts for more than half of the total ocean floor). Of particular note, the ISA will decide whether to permit mining in areas containing manganese, cobalt, copper and nickel.

I have on my desk a small nodule containing those elements, given to me by a colleague involved in the quest to open up this potentially important source of key materials. As a young naval officer in the early 1980s, I did my doctoral studies on the technology associated with deep seabed mining, which at the time I thought would begin very soon.

I was wrong — or, if I want to go easier on myself, just premature. Deep seabed mining has been stalled for a variety of environmental and economic reasons, as well as the requirement to share relevant technology with the global community. Now, however, the technology to surface the nodules is improving, while land-based sources are drying up and commodity prices are rising.

So the election of the new ISA secretary-general took on an outsize importance. The winner, Brazilian oceanographer Leticia Carvalho, has a strong mandate: The vote was 79 to 34. Carvalho, currently an official for the UN environmental program in Nairobi, will be the first Brazilian, the first scientist and the first woman to lead the organization.

Her predecessor, Michael Lodge, has pushed aggressively for a set of regulations for deep seabed mining, which the industry supports. Carvalho, who takes office on Jan. 1, has said that the ISA is unlikely to meet its internal deadline of July 2025 to formalize those rules.

That’s unfortunate. Particularly as electric vehicles become more popular and the need for batteries grows, the strip mining of such nodules from the deep seabed will accelerate. The ISA has issued more than 30 contracts to both private and state-run companies to look for nodules across 500,000 square miles of international seabed.

Carvalho’s election comes at a complicated moment. New and unexpected findings indicate that the nodules may produce oxygen. This means that more data collection and environmental analysis will be necessary. A minority of ISA member states (the U.S. is not one) has already called for a pause on mining, and more may join in requesting a moratorium.

The “hot zone” for mining is in the center of the Pacific, near tiny island nations of Kiribati, Naura, and Tonga. They are working with a Canadian firm, The Metals Company (TMC), to begin mining — even if regulations are not in place. This will not sit well with many of the nation-states of the ISA, some of whom see the exploitation of the seabed as 21st century colonization. A guiding principle of the Law of the Sea treaty is that the international seabed is the “common heritage of all mankind.”

But some of the delegations — including China and Japan, whose combined GDP is nearly a quarter of the global economy — are pushing forward. The U.S., while not a member of the ISA, has generally favored mining in order to support manufacturing. Several European, Australian and Canadian companies are interested in moving forward on mining for both economic and geostrategic reasons.

The rise of AI, which is used to prospect and explore the deep seabed, has allowed for more efficient mining, as have advances in robotics and nanotechnology. These technologies will only add to the pressure to mine the deep seabed.

The geopolitical implications of this are fraught. As demand for critical materials increases, the drive to create state-sponsored or state-supported entities to assure supplies will become irresistible. There will also be competition among major industrial powers to curry favor with the nations with large exclusive economic zones, constituting 200 nautical miles near large nodule fields. Already there are major state-sponsored initiatives to work with Pacific Island nations to develop their seabed.

For the U.S., the major strategic priority should be to ratify the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Ironically, it was objections over the deep seabed mining regime that caused the U.S. to oppose the treaty in the 1980s. Despite a couple of close calls over the decades, it has never been approved by the U.S. Senate. Yet it enjoys overwhelming support from U.S. naval strategists — including every admiral I know — as well as U.S. industry.

If the U.S. wants a voice in the deliberations over the deep seabed — and it should — then it needs to ratify the treaty, which will require bipartisan support, and try to influence the process from the inside. The ISA’s recent election should serve as a warning: The opportunity to make an impact on policy over the world’s oceans is drifting away (pun intended) from the U.S.

James Stavridis is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, a retired U.S. Navy admiral, former supreme allied commander of NATO, and dean emeritus of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

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Ralph Malmberg, the former longtime owner of the Marine General Store in Marine on St. Croix, never set out to be famous.

But one of Malmberg’s frequent customers was radio broadcaster Garrison Keillor, who lived in Marine on St. Croix from 1977 to 1980. Malmberg was often mentioned in Keillor’s “News from Lake Wobegon” monologues on his weekly radio show, “A Prairie Home Companion.”

Ralph Malmberg outside the Marine General Store in Marine on St. Croix. Malmberg died Aug. 6, 2024, of complications related to Alzheimer’s disease at Croixdale in Bayport. He was 90. (Courtesy of Jennifer Malmberg Henry)

Malmberg died Aug. 6 of complications related to Alzheimer’s disease at Croixdale in Bayport. He was 90.

“The name ‘Ralph’s Pretty Good Grocery’ I stole from my landlady, Judy Wilcox, who was a good friend of Ralph and Marian Malmberg,” Keillor said Monday. “She also gave me the motto ‘If you can’t find it at Ralph’s, you can probably get along without it.’ That was her joke. Neither one was mine. I simply used them for 50 years.”

Keillor said he last mentioned “Ralph’s Pretty Good Grocery” and the slogan during a show on Friday night in Concord, N.H. “And it got the same reliable laugh. Not a guffaw, but a healthy laugh of recognition. I deserve no credit for it; Judy Wilcox gets that.”

Malmberg, who owned the store from 1961 to 1982, was an “amazing and interesting character for being, you know, a quiet Swede,” Keillor said. “That store was the heart of Marine on St. Croix.”

Malmberg, of Marine on St. Croix, never knew when the store would get a cameo on the radio show. Keillor once told a story about the store’s new “foot vibrator.”

“I had all my compressors in the basement, and it got very hot there in the summertime, so I installed a big circulating exhaust fan, and I hung it on the rafters near the produce counter,” Malmberg told a Swedish TV program in 2011. “When I ran that fan, it vibrated the floor quite a bit. Garrison walked in, and he was pacing back and forth and standing in front of that produce counter. I didn’t really think about it. The next day, he remarked on the air about the new foot vibrator that Ralph had installed, and that the people should come there after working hard and get their feet massaged.”

‘Wanted to work for himself’

An undated photo of the Marine General Store when it was owned by Ralph Malmberg. It was built in 1870 as a company store for a lumber company. (Courtesy of Marine General Store)

The white clapboard store, built in 1870 as a company store for a lumber company, is a landmark in northern Washington County, known as much for its original wood floor and counter as for its in-house deli and bakery.

Malmberg discovered that the store – then owned by the Strand family – was for sale during a sales call to the store in 1961, said Andrew Malmberg, Malmberg’s son.

Ralph Malmberg was selling trading stamps for Business Incentives at the time, “but he was looking for a business to buy because he wanted to work for himself,” Malmberg said. “He wanted to get out of Minneapolis. He wanted to try living in a small town, and the store came up and that’s kind of all she wrote.”

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Malmberg grew up in Minneapolis and graduated from North High School. He studied mortuary science at the University of Minnesota, but later graduated with an associate degree in business from the U, said Jennifer Malmberg Henry, Malmberg’s daughter.

He met Marian Wicker, who was studying education at the U, through mutual friends from North Minneapolis, Jennifer Henry said. The couple married in 1959 at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Minneapolis. They had three children.

Malmberg, who became the town’s butcher after he purchased the store, was especially proud of the store’s meat department. When he bought the store, there was still a chicken coop in the back – where the Nita Mae’s Scoop ice cream shop is now located, Jennifer Henry said.

Other endeavors

Malmberg expanded into other businesses as well. An avid cross-country skier, he opened a ski shop above the Marine General Store, where he sold skis and his own brand of Malmberg 3-pin bindings and a wax scraper he had invented, Andrew Malmberg said.

Ralph Malmberg inside the Marine General Store, which he formerly owned, in Marine on St. Croix in 2009. Malmberg died Aug. 6 at the age of 90. (Courtesy of Andy Kramer)

“He loved skiing,” he said. “He liked to compete. He was in a lot of ski races, and he liked to be outside.”

Malmberg was the founder of the Marine O’Brien Ski Race, a race from the Marine Elementary School to William O’Brien State Park. The race celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2022. The race, a fundraiser for the St. Croix Valley Ski Club youth-skiing program, includes 12.5 km and 25 km classic and skate races and a 6 km wood ski race.

Ralph and Marian Malmberg also ran an airline crew specialty store and founded the Marine Messenger, the predecessor of the Country Messenger. The free weekly newspaper, which started as a grocery store broadsheet, was published in the basement of the store.

“It had sale information, special information, they called it ‘gossip,’” Jennifer Henry said. “They expanded into local events, anniversaries, graduations, church events, news about the fire department, you name it. She wrote it by hand and then printed it out or used a typewriter and cut it out. She would literally use glue sticks to put it all together. She would stay up until 3 o’clock in the morning doing it.”

The Malmbergs “weren’t afraid to start new things,” said Gwen Roden, the store’s longtime manager. “He had an Episcopal church in the office area upstairs for a time as well. When the church left, he rented skis and the first VHS videos.”

When Ralph Malmberg would get an idea, “he would just march forward with it,” Henry said. “Because his personality was so palatable to everyone, he could just get people to help him make things happen. He could really get people to rally. He was quiet, but very friendly.”

Employed local youth

The Marine General Store was the first employer for many of the youth in Marine, Roden said. “He was fair, and he was funny,” she said. “He had a great sense of humor. He employed every kid who grew up in Marine and taught us how to work.”

“For scores of young people, it was where they learned good manners, how to deal with customers, reliability, cleanliness, the list goes on,” Keillor said. “It was like Junior Achievement. It was a forum for young entrepreneurs, and they went on to other things.”

Henry said her father had high expectations of his employees. “They learned so much from him,” she said. “He let them do a lot. He was willing to give them a lot of responsibility and trusted them.”

In 1982, Malmberg sold the store to Dan and Sue Pruden, who had worked in the grocery business in Forest Lake.

Andy and Karen Kramer, who owned the store from 2005 to 2015, said Malmberg loved sharing stories about his time at the store. “He said Garrison came in one day and was looking around and said, ‘Ralph, I don’t suppose you have any capers, do you?’ And Ralph looks at him and says, ‘What’s a caper?’” Andy Kramer said.

“When Ralph was telling us that story, I told him, ‘Well we have capers in the store now!’ and I showed him where they were,” she said. “He chuckled and thought that was kind of amazing.”

Lake Wobegon character

In the 2011 interview with the Swedish TV station, Malmberg said he could often picture himself in Keillor’s on-air stories.

“I think when he’s talking about the Lake Wobegon story and the character he’s talking about, I think people kind of fit themselves into that and dream along,” he said. “I know I do when I listen to him.”

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Malmberg loved Keillor and listened to the show religiously, Andy Malmberg said. As for being a featured part of the show, “he kind of ate it up, but he was a real humble guy,” he said. “He didn’t make a big deal of it. Mr. Keillor would come in and he would talk to him. He was just a regular friend of his.”

Malmberg was preceded death by his wife, Marian, and daughter Elizabeth. In addition to his son and daughter, he is survived by two grandchildren and a great-grandson.

Malmberg’s funeral service will be at 11 a.m. Friday at Ascension Episcopal Church in Stillwater, with visitation one hour prior.

Bradshaw Funeral Home in Stillwater is handling arrangements.

Paige Bueckers is already thinking about her future while she’s living in the present.

The UConn star plans on entering the WNBA draft after her season ends with what she hopes is the school’s 12th national championship. She would still have at least one more year of eligibility because of her injuries and the COVID-19 year granted to athletes when she was a freshman, but this will be her final college season.

Bueckers has already signed up to be part of Unrivaled — the new 3-on-3 league started by former Huskies greats Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart. The league will begin play this upcoming winter and she will play in it in 2026.

“It’s super cool. Obviously you want to plan for the future, but your feet are living in the present,” Bueckers told The Associated Press in an interview. “To be part of that which is something that’s so much bigger than myself.”

Bueckers will have an NIL deal with the league this year and will receive equity in it.

“I definitely think the return on investment will be huge. I think this league is gonna do great things,” she said. “Unrivaled is going to be a huge thing with people watching during the offseason of the WNBA.”

Stewart was happy that Bueckers was signed up for the fledgling league.

“Paige being a part of Unrivaled shows the longevity and future this league has,” she said. “Her being supportive of us in the first year and then playing in the second, is something that’s really exciting. We just are making sure that each year we have top caliber talent coming in.”

It’s been a busy summer for Bueckers as she’s spending a little bit of time at home in Minnesota before going back to school. From traveling the country to cheer on her former UConn teammates at WNBA games to watching her favorite Olympic events from her couch, the Huskies’ star is taking in her final free time before her last year in college.

She hopes this is her best one as Bueckers has had an injury-filled college career after winning AP Player of the Year as a freshman.

After being hurt for really the previous two seasons, Bueckers was able to put together a strong year in helping the Huskies reach the Final Four in April before they fell just short to Caitlin Clark and Iowa.

She had to carry the team with many of her teammates sidelined with injuries. Bueckers hopes that this season the Huskies will all be able to stay healthy and contend for a title.

“We’re all hungry and it’s time to get back,” she said.

Bueckers has partnered with Meta AI and used it to learn more about the Olympics and the sports she was watching that included archery and badminton. She did a cute video with her brother Drew on Instagram learning how to become an archer.

“I’m definitely not at the level of the athletes competing in the Olympics, but getting to know a little bit more about the sports is awesome,” she said.

Meta AI has tapped into college stars such as Bueckers and JuJu Watkins as a new initiative dubbed “Super Fan” was launched.

“In a few clicks and a couple questions you can learn so much more about the sport,” she said.

Bueckers laughed when asked if she had used Meta AI to find out about herself.

“Not yet,” she said. “But I will.”