In the midst of its January swoon, one of Minnesota’s more befuddling losses was a defeat in San Antonio at the hands of the hapless Spurs.

The Wolves made certain no such disaster occurred Tuesday. Playing without Karl-Anthony Towns — who missed the game for personal reasons — Minnesota controlled play for nearly the entire way in its 114-105 home victory over San Antonio at Target Center.

Victor Wembanyama electrified Target Center in the first quarter with a nifty triple off the bounce and an attempt at finishing a bucket off the backboard on a play in which he was fouled. But Minnesota (41-17) did a nice job locking down the No. 1 overall pick from there.

He finished with just 17 points, though he did add 12 boards and three blocked shots.

Frankly, Minnesota flummoxed the young Spurs (11-48) for most of the evening. San Antonio often had trouble even generating a shot. The Spurs were forcing passes that weren’t there, frustrating by Minnesota’s suffocating defense. That resulted in San Antonio committing 21 turnovers that led to 27 Minnesota points.

The game wasn’t competitive, though the final score suggests otherwise. The Wolves led by as many as 24 points before committing a series of silly turnovers and bad shots that allowed San Antonio to get as close as six in the game’s final minute.

Anthony Edwards was productive in transition. The wing finished with 34 points on a night where it looked as though he’d exit in the second frame. Edwards appeared to badly turn his ankle coming around a screen. He had to be helped off the floor by a couple of assistant coaches. But Edwards emerged from the locker room after halftime and rejoined the action.

Those mid-game scares that turn out to be nothing have become seemingly weekly occurrences for the star guard.

Naz Reid added 22 points and Rudy Gobert had 12 points and 16 rebounds on a night where Kyle Anderson left the contest with hamstring tightness and did not return. That thinned out Minnesota’s generally deep front court, but Timberwolves coach Chris Finch noted Towns is expected back for the Wolves’ bout Wednesday with Memphis.

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI (Associated Press)

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Both Joe Biden and Donald Trump easily won their party’s primaries in Michigan, but Tuesday’s results showed that both candidates have cause for concern in their bid to to win the swing state in November.

An “uncommitted” vote in Michigan’s Democratic primary was the first indication of how backlash over President Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza might impact his reelection campaign. Trump won his primary by a large margin, but support for rival Nikki Haley once again showed that some Republican voters may have misgivings about giving the former president another four years in the general election.

Here are some takeaways from Michigan:

Michigan was the last major primary state before Super Tuesday, and both sides were watching closely for implications for the November general election in one of the few genuine swing states left in the country.

Biden has now cruised to victories over lesser known candidates in South Carolina, Nevada and New Hampshire, which he won in a write-in campaign. Tuesday’s results show that his standing is still strong in Michigan, which Biden returned to the Democratic column in 2020.

Trump has swept all five of the early state contests, including South Carolina, the home state of rival Haley. He now heads into Super Tuesday, when 15 states and one territory hold Republican nominating contests, as the overwhelming favorite to lock up the Republican nomination.

Michigan was one of three so-called blue wall states, including Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, that Trump won in 2016. He predicted a big win beforehand.

Just 16 of Michigan’s 55 presidential delegates will be determined by the primary results, while the remaining delegates will be allocated during a March 2 convention. Trump’s anticipated dominance at the state convention, where grassroots activists will play a key role, will decide the allocation of the remaining 39 delegates.

Michigan has become the focal point of Democratic frustration regarding the White House’s actions in the Israel-Hamas conflict. It has the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the nation.

That anger came through loud and clear on Tuesday as some voters marked “uncommitted” on their ballot in the Democratic primary. Biden still dominated the primary, but the result could be a concern in a state he won by less than 3% in 2020 and likely can’t afford to lose this year if he wants to win a second term.

Organizers of the “uncommitted” movement had purposely kept expectations low, having only seriously began their push a few weeks ago. The “Listen to Michigan” campaign that organized the push said they were hoping for 10,000 votes, pointing to Trump’s win of less than 11,000 votes in 2016 to show the significance of that number.

When Barack Obama ran for reelection in 2012, the last time a Democratic presidential incumbent sought re-election, the “uncommitted” option received close to 21,000 votes — or 11 percentage points.

The “uncommitted” vote totals would need to be between 20 and 30 percentage points for Democrats to worry about their impact in November, said Richard Czuba, a pollster who has long tracked Michigan politics.

“Twenty percent gets my attention. If it rises to 25%, that gets a lot more attention and if it rises above 30%, I think that’s a signal that Joe Biden has issues pretty substantial issues in his base,” said Czuba.

Much of the “uncommitted” vote was expected to come from the east side of the state, in communities such as Dearborn and Hamtramck, where Arab Americans represent close to half of the population. Biden won Dearborn by a roughly 3-to-1 advantage in 2020 and Hamtramck by a 5 to 1 margin.

Signs asking pilots to “fly neighborly” to reduce aircraft noise will be installed at Lake Elmo Airport this spring.

The Metropolitan Airports Commission plans to install signs at the Lake Elmo Airport in the spring of 2024 asking pilots to reduce aircraft noise. MAC officials said Tuesday, Feb, 27, 2024, that they are “still determining the appropriate quantity and location of signs.” (Courtesy of the Metropolitan Airports Commission)

Officials with the Metropolitan Airports Commission say the signs — the total number and locations of which have yet to be determined — are one of many steps being taken to reduce noise complaints associated with the suburban airport.

On Monday night, the Lake Elmo Airport Advisory Commission unanimously recommended a noise abatement plan. The plan, officially called the Noise Abatement Recommended Practices document, will be published by MAC by March 31 and distributed to Lake Elmo Airport users.

The voluntary measures in the document were developed by airport users, local residents, city officials, commission members and MAC officials, among others.

The document recommends that pilots at the airport avoid “stop-and-go operations” and avoid “repetitive activity over residences, including when conducting flight-training activities.” It also asks pilots to “choose a path that avoids flying over residential areas if practical … when departing the traffic pattern.”

The document also suggests that pilots avoid operating aircraft during nighttime hours, from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.

The number of complaints about Lake Elmo Airport operations increased exponentially after the airport’s runway was relocated and expanded in 2022. In the fourth quarter of 2023, MAC logged 5,266 complaints that ranged from excessive noise to frequency of flights to low-flying aircraft, among others. By comparison, during that same three-month period a year earlier, MAC received 606 complaints about Lake Elmo Airport.

The new 3,500-foot runway at Lake Elmo, which opened in July 2022, was part of a $23.9 million multiyear project to improve airfield infrastructure and provide safer operations, according to MAC. The project included converting the previous runway into a taxiway, realigning 30th Street North, upgrading instrument-approach technology and installing new lights and signage.

Flight school issues

Many neighbors objected to the expansion plan, citing concerns about noise and the possibility of more and larger aircraft using the airport. Those concerns have been realized, said Mary Vierling, who lives near the airport’s runway.

Since the expansion, Lake Elmo Aero, the flight school that operates out of Lake Elmo Airport, has dramatically increased operations, she said.

“Eighty percent of the problem is the flight school,” Vierling told the advisory commission members during their meeting at Baytown Township Hall. “A voluntary noise abatement will not solve this problem. There was no transparency on the part of MAC — only deceit — when they continually assured the surrounding communities that the number of operations and type of aircraft would not likely change from what we had experienced in previous years.”

Flight training “of this enormous capacity is not compatible with this airport or the neighbors with the location of the new runway,” Vierling said.

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A flight school has been operating out of Lake Elmo Airport for more than 30 years; Lake Elmo Aero has operated there for six years, said Nathan Ruedy, director of flight training.

Ruedy, a member of the Lake Elmo Airport Advisory Commission, told his fellow commission members on Monday night that he planned to share the noise abatement recommend practices document with instructors and students at Lake Elmo Aero. “We can spread that knowledge,” he said.

Lake Elmo Aero, which currently employs 20 flight instructors, plans to continue to grow, Ruedy said.

“We intend to do well,” he said. “We have a great reputation. We also want to be a part of the community, and we’re doing everything we can to make sure that our noise levels are reduced and within the scope of this document — if not even a little bit further.”

Has to be voluntary

The Federal Aviation Administration prohibits restrictions of flight paths to and from airports, restricted hours of operation, and discriminatory access to airports, according to MAC. The federal Airport Noise and Capacity Act of 1990 limits an airport’s ability to impose restrictions based on aircraft noise.

As a public-use airport, Lake Elmo Airport is subject to federal regulations, and MAC cannot levy fines, restrict hours of operation, or restrict access to the airport for the purpose of noise abatement, MAC officials said.

MAC officials plan to share the noise abatement recommend practices document through the creation and publication of a “Fly Neighborly Guide” and in newsletter articles to pilots. They also plan to hold pilot meetings and create an FAA chart supplement, said Philip Tiedeman, the airport’s manager.

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A third and final defendant pleaded guilty Tuesday in the killing of 22-year-old Alex Becker, who was shot six times in the alley behind his St. Paul house after walking home from work in December 2022.

Arteze Owen Kinerd, 21, of Minneapolis, entered the plea to aiding and abetting second-degree intentional murder in the killing of Becker, who prosecutors argued was ambushed in an apparent attempted robbery by Kinerd and his two accomplices. Kinerd’s jury trial was scheduled to start this week.

Arteze Owen Kinerd (Courtesy of Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

As part of the same hearing, Kinerd also pleaded guilty to a kidnapping charge that involved carjacking a man in the Merriam Park neighborhood less than three weeks before Becker’s slaying.

Kinerd and the prosecution agreed to a prison term that will fall on the low end of state sentencing guidelines, which calls for a minimum of nearly 22 years, according to Dennis Gerhardstein, Ramsey County attorney’s office spokesman. Sentencing is scheduled for June 3, and both sentences will run concurrently.

Becker’s mother, Tara Becker, wrote on her Facebook page after the plea that she doesn’t agree with the terms.

“I feel the offered sentence is too low and that Kinerd will continue to hurt people on his release from prison,” she wrote.

She said her son was a “beautiful kind human being” and that she “will never be okay.”

“I struggle every moment of every single day,” she said. “My son was targeted for a robbery, ambushed, and murdered by strangers.”

Kinerd’s plea comes after jurors on Dec. 19 found Detwan Cortell Allen, 20, guilty of the same murder charge. He’s scheduled to be sentenced April 26.

Earlier in December, Judge JaPaul Harris acquitted Shaun Lamar Travis, 26, of the same charge. Travis waived his right to a jury trial and a bench trial was held instead. Harris concluded there wasn’t a dispute about Travis being present, but said the prosecution didn’t prove all of the elements of an intentional murder charge to find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Video surveillance shows suspects

Alex Becker (Courtesy of Hidy Hammarsten)

Becker was walking home late Dec. 27, 2022, from his first shift back to work at Goodin Co. after a Christmas break. After clocking out at 11:15 p.m. from the Como Avenue heating and plumbing parts company, where his dad works, Becker began his walk home on the snow-covered streets. He had been saving up for a car, his mother testified at Allen’s trial.

The first police officers arrived to the North End alley between Lawson and Hatch avenues just after midnight and found Becker lying on the ground, not breathing and with no pulse. His body was still warm. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators found seven 9mm shell casings near Becker’s body. His cellphone and earbuds were found at the scene, according to court documents. Items found on him included his wallet, which included a credit card and $68, and a check for $500.

Surveillance video showed a Toyota Camry, which had been stolen the night before in Brooklyn Center, go past Becker as he was walking north on Kent Street near Hatch Avenue around 11:51 p.m. Allen, who prosecutors said was driving, made the first turn he could, followed by an immediate U-turn, based on surveillance video. He parked and Allen, Kinerd and Travis got out.

When Becker walked into the alley, the trio ran after him, prosecutors said. Prosecutors noted that there was no evidence the men knew Becker.

Another resident’s surveillance system then recorded four rapid gunshots followed by three rapid gunshots and a final gunshot.

 Gun recovered in Minneapolis

Officers found the Camry four days later parked three blocks from Kinerd’s apartment building in North Minneapolis.

Investigators learned that Allen, Kinerd and Travis had left the apartment less than two hours before the shooting and that they wore the same distinct clothing as the men who followed Becker into the alley, the charges said. Surveillance video showed them returning to the apartment about a half-hour after the killing, and staying there for the night.

Police arrested Kinerd at a gas station near his apartment. A handgun was found hidden on a store shelf where he had ducked down after seeing officers. Forensic ballistic tests came back showing the gun was used in Becker’s killing, the charges said.

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