Minnesota United vs. Los Angeles Galaxy

When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Allianz Field
Stream: Apple TV Season Pass
Radio: KSTP-AM 1500 ESPN
Weather: 70 degrees, cloudy, 10 mph northwest wind
Betting line: MNUFC plus-105; draw plus-280; L.A. plus-205

Form: MNUFC (6-2-2) and Galaxy (5-2-5) are tied for second in the Western Conference with 20 points apiece. The Loons, however, have played two fewer games and have an edge in points per game (2.0 to 1.67). Minnesota has won three straight; L.A. is winless in three.

Absences: Emanuel Reynoso (return-to-play protocol), Hassani Dotson (hamstring), Hugo Bacharach (knee), Jordan Adebayo-Smith (ankle) and Moses Nyeman (unknown) are out.

Update: Head coach Eric Ramsay spoke with Reynoso briefly since the attacking midfielder returned to Minnesota last week.

“The nature of our situation at the moment is we are going into a really busy period of games, where we are playing every three days. The team is really moving in the right direction. There is a really good energy around the team.

“It’s sort of no — it’s not me being evasive in any sense when I say we are focused on the players we got in front of us and those that are available and playing. That, as much as it’s a big narrative in the media, I think internally, it’s only a very minor thing.

Ramsay did say Reynoso “wants to come back and work hard and hopefully be humble and recognize the situation he is in and fingers crossed, he can get himself into a good place. That is the only way that we, and I hope him and his camp, are looking at it. It’s a very individual thing at the time being. We will sort of cross the team bridge when we arrive at that.”

Projected XI: In a 5-2-3 formation, LW Franco Fragapane, CF Tani Oluwaseyi, RW Sang Bin Jeong; CM Robin Lod, CM Wil Trapp; LB Devin Padelford, CB Micky Tapias, CB Michael Boxall, CB Kervin Arriaga; RB DJ Taylor; GK Dayne St. Clair.

RELATED: Life is coming fast at Kervin Arriaga. And the Honduran is heading it home 

Look-ahead: The Loons host Portland Timbers on Saturday, so how Ramsay handles the first double-game week is to be seen. Ramsay has show a willingness to use a deeper squad of players and he estimated 18-22 could see the field over this week.

Scouting report: Galaxy have four players averaging 0.5 goals plus assists per 90 minutes, including Dejan Joveljic, Joseph Paintsil, Riqui Puig and Gabriel Pec. Ramsay looks at L.A. has one of, if not the, best front fours in MLS.

Player to watch: Puig. “He can open games up with how he can run with the ball, the passes he sees,” captain Michael Boxall said. “He’s been a great player for them. He’s one of their key pieces that we have to shut down. If we can get it to their wide players, it’s less dangerous out there and we can manage the crosses, then that’s the first step toward getting three points.”

Stat: 0.8 points per game. The Loons are averaging an incredible 2.4 points per match on the road, compared to still quality 1.6 in St. Paul. Slower starts have been a bugaboo for MNUFC in recent home games.

Prediction: The Loons’ new back five formation has allowed only two goals across the last three games, while Galaxy have scored only two over the previous three. Trends continue in a 1-0 win for the home team.

After Tavern on Grand closes in June, another restaurant will take up the storied address at 656 Grand Ave. in St. Paul.

It’ll be called Russell’s Bar and Grill, and it’ll most likely open in fall 2024. And that’s about all we know: Owner Todd Russell — who also owns the building — confirmed his plans but is staying mum on details about the concept and menu.

“Tavern on Grand has had such an incredible run and done so much for St. Paul and Grand Avenue,” he said. “I want to make sure they have their moment and we don’t overshadow it.”

As of mid-May, license applications have been filed and are pending city approval for Russell’s to serve alcohol inside as well as on an outdoor patio, and to be a “gambling location,” which commonly refers to pull tabs.

Russell, who bought the building in 2022, grew up spending time on Grand Avenue, he said, and frequented O’Connell’s, the Irish pub that was at 656 Grand Ave. for decades. Tom Scanlon, the longtime owner of the Dubliner Pub, bought O’Connell’s in 1986 and ran it as Scanlon’s Irish Pub till 1990, when Dave Wildmo reimagined the space as a homey walleye-centric lodge.

Tavern on Grand serves around 2,000 pounds of Minnesota’s official state fish per week, which they claim is more than any other restaurant in the world. After Wildmo died in 2002, his wife, Mary, took over the restaurant and eventually remarried. She died early last year, and her widower and children have been running things since then.

Yes, Grand Avenue is changing, Russell said. Several major retailers and local institutions have closed recently, citing lower pandemic-era foot traffic and out-of-town landlords, but other businesses remain thriving.

Grand Avenue has evolved before, Russell said; the cycle we’re seeing now isn’t unprecedented or fatal.

“I believe so strongly in Grand Avenue,” Russell said. “And this building itself has such a history. I think this is me doing what I can to keep it within the community.”

Russell’s Bar and Grill: Opening fall 2024 at 656 Grand Ave.

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By BRIAN WITTE, LEAH WILLINGHAM and STEVE PEOPLES (Associated Press)

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Voters across Maryland and West Virginia will decide key primary elections Tuesday with big implications in the fight for the Senate majority this fall.

At the same time, Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican rival Donald Trump hope to project strength in low-stakes presidential primaries, while further down the ballot, two congressional candidates on opposite sides of the 2021 Capitol attack serve as a stark reminder that the nation remains deeply divided over the deadly insurrection.

In all, three states are hosting statewide primary elections on Tuesday — Maryland, Nebraska and West Virginia — as Republicans and Democrats pick their nominees for a slate of fall elections. None are more consequential than Senate primaries in Maryland and West Virginia, where Republicans are eying pickup opportunities that could flip control of Congress’ upper chamber for at least two years.

A TRUMP CRITIC VIES FOR MARYLAND’S GOP NOMINATION

In Maryland, Republican former Gov. Larry Hogan expects to dominate the state’s GOP Senate primary despite his years-long criticism of Trump, whom Hogan describes as a threat to democracy. The former two-term governor would be the blue state’s first Republican senator in more than four decades.

It’s unclear whether Trump loyalists will ultimately embrace Hogan. In all, six other Republicans are challenging the 67-year-old former governor.

On the Democratic side, Rep. David Trone has been locked in a contentious — and expensive — battle with Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks.

Trone, the co-founder of the Total Wine & More national liquor store chain, has put more than $61 million of his own money into the race. That’s just shy of the national record for self-funding a Senate campaign, with much of it going to a months-long TV ad blitz. The three-term congressman says he’s better positioned to beat Hogan in November as a progressive Democrat not beholden to special interests.

Race has been an issue in the primary, with Alsobrooks working to become Maryland’s first Black U.S. senator. Trone apologized in March for what he said was the inadvertent use of a racial slur during a budget hearing.

Alsobrooks, who serves as chief executive of Maryland’s second-largest jurisdiction with the state’s largest number of registered Democrats, has been endorsed by many of the state’s top officials, including Gov. Wes Moore, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, Rep. Steny Hoyer and a long list of state lawmakers.

She has campaigned on growing economic opportunity, investing in education and protecting abortion rights.

THE WEST VIRGINIA BATTLE TO REPLACE MANCHIN

Meanwhile, in West Virginia, the Republican Senate primary is likely to decide retiring Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin’s replacement given the state’s overwhelming Republican tilt.

Republican Gov. Jim Justice and U.S. Rep. Alex Mooney are the leading GOP candidates. With Manchin gone, the seat is almost guaranteed to turn red come November.

The Trump-endorsed Justice, a former billionaire with a folksy personality that’s made him wildly popular in the state, is the front-runner against Mooney and five other lesser-known Republicans. A former Democrat, Justice switched to the Republican Party in 2017. He announced the change at a Trump rally.

Mooney has tried to win over conservatives by labeling Justice a “RINO” — which stands for “Republican in name only” — who would support Democratic policies. Justice did support Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure law, saying West Virginia couldn’t afford to turn away the money offered in the bill. Mooney voted against it.

On the other side, Democrats are choosing between Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott, who has Manchin’s endorsement, and Marine Corps veteran Zach Shrewsbury, who has support from the Progressive Democrats of America. Also in the Democratic primary: former Republican Don Blankenship, who was convicted of violating safety standards after 29 people died in a 2010 coal mine explosion.

West Virginia is also deciding its candidates for governor.

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, the Republican nominee in the 2018 Senate race against Manchin, is running for the Republican nomination. He’s up against the sons of two members of West Virginia’s congressional delegation: car dealer Chris Miller, whose mother is Rep. Carol Miller, and former state Rep. Moore Capito, whose mother is Sen. Shelley Moore Capito. West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner is also in the GOP race.

On the Democratic side, Huntington Mayor Steve Williams is unopposed.

TESTS OF STRENGTH IN THE PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY

There’s far less drama in Tuesday’s presidential primaries.

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Biden and Trump have already amassed enough delegates to claim the presidential nominations at their respective national conventions this summer. Yet voters on both sides hope to register a significant protest vote Tuesday that will demonstrate their dissatisfaction with the Biden-Trump rematch.

Maryland progressives especially unhappy with the Biden administration’s support for Israel in its war against Hamas are encouraging voters to select “uncommitted to any presidential candidate” instead of Biden. There is no uncommitted option in West Virginia or Nebraska.

Everett Bellamy, a Democrat who voted early in Annapolis, said he voted “uncommitted” instead of Biden as a protest against the killing of women and children and noncombatants in Gaza.

“I’ve got to make a decision come November, but for now while the violence is raging in Gaza and people are being killed every day and starving to death, I wanted to send a message,” Bellamy, 74, said after leaving an early voting center. “Hopefully, I have a better choice come November.”

Meanwhile, Trump’s Republican critics cannot choose “uncommitted,” but they can choose his former GOP rival Nikki Haley, who will appear on the ballot in Maryland, Nebraska and West Virginia despite formally suspending her campaign more than two months ago. Last week in Indiana, Haley earned nearly 22% of the Republican primary vote.

Trump has shrugged off his Republican critics, yet his weakness with the party’s moderate wing could threaten him in the general election.

TWO SIDES OF THE INSURRECTION

Tuesday’s elections also include two candidates who were intimately involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

In West Virginia, a former member of the House of Delegates, Derrick Evans, is running for the Republican nomination in the 1st Congressional District. The 39-year-old Trump loyalist served a three-month jail sentence after livestreaming himself participating in the storming of the U.S. Capitol. He calls himself the only elected official who “had the courage” to stand behind efforts to temporarily halt certification of Biden’s 2020 election victory.

Evans is trying to oust incumbent Republican Rep. Carol Miller.

In Maryland, former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn is is among nearly two dozen Democrats running in the state’s 3rd Congressional District. The 40-year-old Democrat was in the Capitol working to repel the violent mob on Jan. 6.

Also on Tuesday, in North Carolina, voters will finalize their pick in what has become a one-person Republican primary in the state’s 13th Congressional District. Trump endorsed Brad Knott this month, leading his opponent to suspend her campaign.

This story has deleted an incorrect reference to a California election being Tuesday. The California election is next week.

Willingham reported from Charleston, West Virginia. Peoples reported from Washington.