Joe Soucheray: We’re in the national news every day but don’t want to be

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To the rest of the United States:

Joe Soucheray

Most of us in Minnesota didn’t want this notoriety. That isn’t us. We’ve managed to keep our head down, shun attention and remain ignored. We are comfortable with that. We never took the term flyover land as a slight. You just go off to wherever you’re off to on those big shiny planes. We’re fine.

We were founded and governed by guys named Horace and Lucius and Knute and Hjalmar and Luther and Orville. Do you think a guy named Hjalmar ever wanted flashing light bulbs and headlines? Hell no. Oh, every once in a while, one of us got loose. One of our Anderson governors, Wendy, appeared on the cover of Time magazine, back in 1973. He wore a flannel shirt and was holding up a northern pike. The headline said “The Good Life in Minnesota.” Well, we just scuffed at the dirt with our boots and said, “A northern? Too bony. Bet he threw it back.”

We also had, as governors, C. Elmer Anderson and Elmer L. Andersen, distinguished by the o and e. You’ve never heard of them and that was OK with them and us. Just keep flying over us.

Garrison Keillor got loose, too, but he kept his national celebrity ironic, writing about Lake Wobegon and biscuits and kids in school just a bit above average.

I suppose you’d have to throw in Prince and Bob Dylan and way back when Charles Lindbergh, but that’s about it. We always survived our brushes with fame by not giving it any more notice than eyeing the neighbor’s new Chevrolet.

“That’s a pretty loud color scheme on that Chev next door, that yellow and black.”

“To each his own.”

It wasn’t that we didn’t want any trouble. We just grew up with the humble belief that we didn’t deserve any recognition.

Even in sports, we’ve shunned the limelight. In graciously losing four Super Bowls, the Vikings never scored a point in the first half of those four games. That’s dedication. We haven’t caused a stir since 1991, when the Twins won the World Series. That was pretty fun, but we didn’t toot our horn the way they do in New York or Los Angeles, where they have those paparazzi people.

But now it’s like a plague of locusts has descended on us. We’re in the national news every day and don’t want to be. Fraud got the ball rolling, mostly because it turned out that we’re better at fraud than anybody else. It tends to get your attention when billions of dollars of taxpayer money is stolen and your own governor claims he didn’t know a thing about it. Why, I imagine the rest of you are at a loss and wondering how such a thing could happen. That’s what we want to know. Autism fraud, day care fraud, Medicaid fraud, food fraud. To pay for it, we’ll probably have to fork over even higher taxes.

We cruised along avoiding national attention until Memorial Day weekend in 2020 when the city damn near burned down after George Floyd succumbed. It was a one-two punch to the gut, fraud and alleged police brutality.

We’ve been going downhill ever since. In the network newsrooms, they are saying, “Well, there’s always Minnesota.”

Minnesota! Land of ice and cold and about 15,000 lakes. You fly over us. We never wanted to be found.

So, what happens next puts Immigration and Customs Enforcement on the Minnesota watch. ICE agents swooped in, ostensibly to round up illegal criminals related to fraud, and practically right off the bat, a woman was shot and killed by an ICE agent. And the two problems are unrelated. The fraud was committed mostly by Somalis, many of whom are citizens, leaving ICE trying to find and arrest just ordinary criminals here illegally, not the illicitly wealthy ones.

Controversy remains as to whether local law enforcement informs ICE of inmates who are flagged for a federal hold. Otherwise, the people who are let go return to their neighborhoods and ICE has to find them, and this bothers Minnesotans and that’s why there is chaos in the streets that makes the national news.

I don’t blame you if you are sick and tired of us. So are we.

Joe Soucheray can be reached at jsoucheray@pioneerpress.com. Soucheray’s “Garage Logic” podcast can be heard at garagelogic.com.

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Today in History: January 17, Murderer Gary Gilmore executed by firing squad

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Today is Saturday, Jan. 17, the 17th day of 2026. There are 348 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Jan. 17, 1977, convicted murderer Gary Gilmore, 36, was shot by a firing squad at Utah State Prison in the first U.S. execution in a decade. He was put to death after the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty the previous year.

Also on this date:

In 1920, prohibition of alcohol began in the United States as the Volstead Act went into effect in support of the 18th Amendment.

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In 1950, the Great Brink’s Robbery took place as seven masked men held up the Brink’s Building in Boston, stealing $1.2 million in cash and $1.5 million in checks and money orders.

In 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered his farewell address in which he warned against “the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.”

In 1990, The Four Seasons, The Four Tops, The Kinks, The Platters, Simon and Garfunkel and The Who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

In 1994, the Northridge earthquake rattled the Los Angeles area; the magnitude 6.7 quake was responsible for 57 deaths, 9,000 injuries and an estimated $25 billion in damages.

In 1995, more than 6,000 people were killed when a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck the city of Kobe (koh-bay), Japan.

In 2017, President Barack Obama granted clemency to Chelsea Manning, allowing the transgender Army intelligence officer convicted of leaking more than 700,000 U.S. documents to go free nearly three decades early. Manning was one of 209 people whose sentences were commuted by Obama days before leaving office.

In 2022, as Russian troops stationed near Ukraine’s border launched drills, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov angrily rejected U.S. allegations that Moscow was preparing a pretext to invade Ukraine. (Russia would launch a full-scale invasion of the neighboring country on Feb. 24.)

Today’s birthdays:

Rock musician Mick Taylor is 77.
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is 72.
Singer-songwriter Steve Earle is 71.
Singer Paul Young is 70.
TV host-comedian Steve Harvey is 69.
Singer Susanna Hoffs (The Bangles) is 67.
Actor-comedian Jim Carrey is 64.
Former first lady Michelle Obama is 62.
Musician Kid Rock is 55.
Rapper Lil Jon is 54.
Actor-singer Zooey Deschanel is 46.
Basketball Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade is 44.
DJ-musician Calvin Harris is 42.
Boxer Oleksandr Usyk is 39.
Actor Kelly Marie Tran is 37.
Boxer-actor Jake Paul is 29.

Timberwolves free-throw woes are catching up to them

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At season’s end, Minnesota will likely rue Friday’s loss in Houston, even sans star guard Anthony Edwards.

Minnesota let a game it could’ve had get away against an uninspiring Rockets team thanks to eight turnovers in the final frame, an inability or unwillingness to take away Kevin Durant’s air space and, perhaps most annoyingly, missed free throws.

The Timberwolves went 20 for 35 from the stripe in a 110-105 loss to the Rockets.

That can’t be solely blamed for the loss because, well, Houston only went 20 for 34 itself. The incompetence of both teams re: cashing in “freebies” cancelled out one another. But the fact remains had Minnesota hit its free throws, it may very well have won the game.

But that’s not an area of the game the Wolves can rely on this season.

Minnesota is one of the best shooting teams in the NBA. It entered Friday’s affair ranked fourth in the league in effective field goal percentage and fifth in true shooting percentage. Shot making is one of the team’s primary strengths.

Yet after the debacle at the stripe Friday, the Wolves are now shooting just 74.7% from the line this season — third-worst in the association.

Yes, Rudy Gobert can shoulder the bulk of the blame. He failed to draw iron on multiple attempts in Houston. His 2 for 10 performance at the line dropped his season-long average to 50.6%, which would be his lowest mark since his rookie campaign by a wide margin.

Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (5) shoots a free throw during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Brooklyn Nets, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bailey Hillesheim)

But Anthony Edwards is down to 78% this season after sitting at 83% each of the prior two seasons. Donte DiVincenzo is shooting just 76% from the line.

Seven teams in the NBA hit at least 80.6% of their free-throw attempts as a collective. Jaden McDaniels is the only Wolves player receiving a heavy dose of minutes who clears that threshold on an individual basis (83.2%).

Somehow, this team that frequently knocks down difficult shots throughout the course of the game can’t make the easy ones literally given to them. It’s a problem for a team that averages the sixth-most free-throw attempts per game (26.1). It’s a departure from where the Wolves were a year ago, when they knocked down 78.9% of their free-throw attempts, which tied for the ninth-best rate of makes in the NBA.

Minnesota is surrendering 6.5 points per game simply off misses at the free-throw line. Many more misses than that is why the Wolves dropped Friday’s game in Houston.

The Timberwolves are shooting just 74% from the free-throw line in losses this season. It’s an issue that cost Minnesota on Friday, and could rear its head again at inopportune times when the stakes are at their highest in the months to come.

Simply removing Gobert from the floor doesn’t seem to solve the equation.

Minnesota needs to find the answer before the regular season detriment evolves into a playoff disaster.

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Edwards-less Timberwolves fall at Houston

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HOUSTON (AP) — Kevin Durant scored 39 points and made a season-best six 3-pointers to lead the Houston Rockets to a 110-105 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves Friday night.

HOUSTON, TEXAS – JANUARY 16: Julius Randle #30 of the Minnesota Timberwolves looks on during the second quarter of the game against the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center on January 16, 2026 in Houston, Texas. User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Kenneth Richmond/Getty Images)

Alperen Sengun added 25 points with 14 rebounds to help the Rockets bounce back after a blowout loss to Oklahoma City Thursday night.

A 6-2 run by the Timberwolves, with four points from Julius Randle, got them within 105-102 with about 90 seconds to go. Sengun fouled out soon after that and Jaden McDaniels made one of two free throws to get Minnesota within two points.

Durant made two free throws with under a minute left before Randle turned the ball over and Durant was fouled again. He made two more free throws with 22.1 seconds left to seal the victory.

Durant’s big shooting night came after he was 0 for 5 on 3-pointers against the Thunder.

Randle had season-high 39 points for the Timberwolves on a night when Anthony Edwards missed a second straight game with a foot issue.

Minnesota Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels (3) dunks during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Houston Rockets in Houston, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

The Timberwolves trailed by six points after a basket by Bones Hyland before Rudy Gobert missed a chance to close the gap by missing three of his next four free throws. Houston remained up by 5 later in the fourth, but a dunk by Sengun extended the lead to 103-96 with 3½ minutes left.

Neither team shot well from the free throw line, with Houston making just 20 of 34 and Minnesota going 20 for 35. Gobert had the worst night, going 2 for 10 on free throws.

Naz Reid added 25 points with 10 rebounds off the bench for the Timberwolves, who scored at least 100 points in their 100th straight game, which is the third-longest such streak in NBA history.

Minnesota fell to 27-14 with the loss, but still hold a two-game lead on the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference standings. Next up for the Timberwolves is a trip to San Antonio on Saturday for a 7 p.m. start. The game will be televised on FDSN.

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