Groundswell cafe in St. Paul’s Hamline-Midway neighborhood has announced it will not reopen after a fire gutted its building in May of 2025.

The coffee shop opened in 2009 and expanded to include an in-house bakery and cafe food in 2013.

Co-owner Megan Greulich Schoonover competed on the Food Network’s “Christmas Cookie Challenge,” which helped make the cafe’s ugly Christmas sweater cookies a fixture during holiday season, according to the restaurant’s website.

Greulich Schoonover posted the following message on social media:

“Friends, we have some hard news that Groundswell will not be reopening after our fire. Financially, we just cannot make it work. We have loved being a part of your special and ordinary moments over the last 16 years. It has been an honor and a joy.

“At the same time, we know this moment is about something much more important in our community. If you’re feeling a need for some extra care and connection, we are right there with you. So in that spirit, we have one final invitation: please stop by the shop tomorrow (Friday, Feb. 13), any time between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. I will be at the front door with free vegan banana bread (while it lasts), and a hug if you’d like.

“We’re also looking forward to supporting the next locally-owned small business to bring something new to this corner, and we are anticipating some exciting news on that in late spring. We will post information about it here once we have it so you can join us in giving them a warm Hamline-Midway welcome.

“With much love and gratitude,

“Megan (on behalf of Alisha, Tim, and Jason too)”

Groundswell: 1340 Thomas Ave., St. Paul; groundswellmn.com

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The Vikings are expanding their team-sponsored high school girls flag football league, more than doubling its size in its second year.

The expansion includes more than a dozen East Metro schools, including all of St. Paul’s public high schools.

A $600,000 donation by the Vikings secured the league’s first season in 2025, when 51 teams competed. All of those teams, including inaugural champion Mahtomedi. A six-week schedule will begin in April and conclude with a championship game June 9 at the Vikings’ practice facility in Eagan.

In addition to St. Paul’s seven public high schools, the league will be joined by East Metro schools such as Cretin-Derham Hall, East Ridge, Hill Murray, Simley, Stillwater, Two Rivers and White Bear Lake.

“The continued increase in school participation reflects the demand for this opportunity, and we’re proud to promote a sport that empowers young women and continues to gain momentum across the region and country,” Brett Taber, vice president of social impact at the Minnesota Vikings, said in a statement. “… The growth we’ve seen since the (four-team) 2024 pilot program has been remarkable.”

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Meet the Minnesotans competing in the 2026 Winter Olympics

By WILL GRAVES

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Downhill champion Breezy Johnson didn’t add to her Olympic medal haul during the women’s super-G on Thursday.

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The American star left Tofane with something precious anyway: an engagement ring.

Johnson’s longtime boyfriend, Connor Watkins, proposed to her near the finish line while surrounded by members of the U.S. Ski Team.

Reciting lyrics from the Taylor Swift song “The Alchemy,” Watkins slipped a ring of blue and white sapphires set in white gold on the ring finger of Johnson’s left hand. She tearfully accepted, then turned the ring toward the sea of cameras to celebrate a dream that turned into reality.

“It felt fitting to combine two of my loves,” Johnson said. “It’s a special place at the Olympics. I feel like there’s a lot of mystique around it.”

She then added with a laugh, “Also you get free photography.”

The two met on a dating app a few years ago, with Watkins totally unaware that Johnson happened to be one of the best skiers on the planet. It wasn’t until Watkins asked about 10 minutes into their first date (a brunch) that Johnson fessed up.

“I was a little taken aback,” said Watkins who works in construction back in the U.S. “I had very little knowledge of ski racing and everything else, and over the last couple of years I’ve grown to really love it.”

The joyful proposal came about an hour after Johnson’s bid to reach the podium in the super-G ended with a crash high in the course when her right pole clipped a gate and sent her tumbling into the catch fence. Johnson pulled herself to her feet and was unharmed.

Down in the finish area with the ring in his pocket, Watkins briefly wondered if he might need switch to Plan B just in case the moment wasn’t right.

Turns out, having Watkins there was exactly what Johnson needed.

“I was feeling kind of stupid, which I think is kind of the moment you want the people you love around you, like when you’re just feeling dumb and childish,” Johnson said. “You’re like, ‘Tell me that I’m OK.’ Just seeing him, ‘It’s nice to see you,’ and let’s go commiserate together. And then, obviously, everything else happened.”

Something that took an already surreal stay in Cortina to another level entirely.

“I think most people want to peak at the Olympics,” Johnson said. “I just extra peaked.”

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

By ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer

The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate is holding at just above 6% after reversing a modest uptick in recent weeks just as the housing market closes in on the spring homebuying season.

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The benchmark 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate slipped to 6.09% from 6.11% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. One year ago, the rate averaged 6.87%.

The modest pullback brings the average rate back to where it was three weeks ago.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also edged lower this week. That average rate fell to 5.44% from 5.5% last week. A year ago, it was at 6.09%, Freddie Mac said.

Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, from the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy decisions to bond market investors’ expectations for the economy and inflation. They generally follow the trajectory of the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans.

The 10-year Treasury yield was at 4.13% at midday Thursday, down from 4.21% a week ago.

Mortgage rates have been trending lower for months, helping drive a pickup in home sales the last four months of 2025, but not enough to lift the housing market out of a deep sales rut dating back to 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows.

The combination of higher mortgage rates, years of skyrocketing home prices and a chronic shortage of homes nationally following more than a decade of below-average home construction have left many aspiring homeowners priced out of the market. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes remained stuck last year at 30-year lows.

Lower mortgage rates failed to revive home sales last month. They posted the biggest monthly drop in nearly four years and the slowest annualized sales pace in more than two years.

This week’s drop in mortgage rates comes two weeks after the Federal Reserve decided to pause cuts to its main interest rate after lowering rates three times in a row to close out 2025 in an attempt to shore up the job market.

The central bank doesn’t set mortgage rates, but its decisions to raise or lower its short-term rate are watched closely by bond investors and can ultimately affect the yield on 10-year Treasurys that influence mortgage rates.

Economists generally expect mortgage rates to stay relatively stable in the coming months, with forecasts calling for the average rate on a 30-year mortgage to continue to hover around 6%.

However, that may not be enough to unlock affordability for many prospective home shoppers, nor encourage homeowners who bought their home or refinanced when rates were sharply lower to sell now and buy at current rates.

Nearly 79% of homeowners with a mortgage have a rate below 6%, according to Realtor.com. That’s leading to fewer homes on the market, which helps keep propping up prices.

“In short, while the market remains stable, a larger drop in rates will be needed to attract new buyers and sellers and truly reignite the housing market,” said Jiayi Xu, an economist at Realtor.com.