Some 43 years after Bob Mould left Macalester College just short of graduating to focus on his band Hüsker Dü, he returned to the St. Paul school Saturday to receive an honorary degree and deliver the keynote address.

“It’s an incredible honor,” the 64-year-old told the cheering crowd. “This is all very surreal so hang in here with me, it’s a little crazy.”

Mould’s speech followed several others — including a surprise appearance from Sen. Amy Klobuchar who called Mould “a trailblazing guitarist and songwriter and a major part of why the Twin Cities has become an epicenter of alternative music” — as well as a brief chant of “Free Palestine” from graduates and a performance of Hüsker Dü’s 1985 single “Makes No Sense at All” by student band She’s in Shambles.

Macalester president Dr. Suzanne M. Rivera introduced Mould and told the crowd: “Hüsker Dü showed bands of their generation and those who followed that there was no set road map to follow from punk, that the only charges were to be true to yourself and ethical in your engagement with the world. With your trademark wall of sound, your remarkable trajectory has continued for more than four decades.”

Mould began by telling students that in 1995, he gave the opening speech at the music industry convention South by Southwest and that he felt like he failed as he hadn’t prepared enough for it. “So I’m going to try again because this is what we do in life. We take chances and we try to make good on past mistakes, so this is my next shot.”

Life is like a song with verses, choruses and bridges, Mould said.

“The verse is the part of the song where the writer defines the time, the place, the characters and the story,” he said. “The chorus is the mantra, it’s the part of the song that we sing together. We share the moment, we share the feeling and we support each other. And if that chorus is good, it will stick in your head for the rest of your life.

“And then there’s the bridge. The bridge of a song is a surprise, a departure, a challenge, to twist the melody, to shift to the rhyme, it’s a turn of the story. And in a way, leaving school is like the bridge of a song, into the unknown. And that can be scary or it can be a great opportunity, and oftentimes it’s both.”

From there, Mould talked about growing up in the small New York town of Malone.

“When I was a kid, my parents ran a mom-and-pop grocery store and my sister and brother and I stocked the shelves and ran the cash register. But I grew up in a chaotic home, a violent home, and music was my escape,” Mould said as tears welled in his eyes. “I was fascinated by music. I was fascinated by melodies and words and the people who sang them and it was magic … I also knew that I was different. I realized early on that I was queer.

“As time went on, I knew I needed to leave my hometown and I needed to find a place that could nurture my heart and soul and spirit. I needed to move to a big city, a place where I might find community, a place where I could sing my chorus. Luckily, someone here at Mac thought it was worth taking a chance on me.”

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Mould spoke about receiving an underprivileged student scholarship and moving into Macalester’s Turck Hall, which he said felt like the United Nations compared to his hometown.

“There was ambition in the air and it was inspiring,” he said. “The small-town life I’d known for 17 years was instantly replaced by a multicultural, highly educated, very progressive urban environment. I quickly realized I needed to let go of whatever biases had littered my youthful thinking because in cities like St. Paul and colleges like Macalester, we learn to be tolerant, we learn to share space and resources and we learn from our differences, and those qualities are especially important in this American moment as those in charge try to marginalize other cultures and culture itself.”

Mould admitted his spent more time on his music than he did his studies, but said Macalester taught him the skills of debate and the value of critical thinking. He also spoke about his early days in Hüsker Dü and the “reciprocal generosity” of the burgeoning punk rock scene.

“When a touring punk band arrived in the Twin Cities, we were there to help them. Anything from lending equipment to making sandwiches or offering up a floor to sleep on, we were happy to help. We traded phone numbers and addresses with the hope that maybe someday, if we were lucky, we would get to tour and we might become part of this new network of outsiders,” he said.

After Mould’s junior year, he hit the road with Hüsker Dü. He returned to the college that fall, but despite guidance from his adviser, he dropped out before graduating. Hüsker Dü broke up 1988, but Mould went on to form another trio, Sugar, in the mid-’90s and has enjoyed solo success for decades.

“I didn’t make it across that particular bridge,” he said, “but Macalester had prepared me for the next bridge, which was getting my band off the ground, hustling 7-inch singles for gas money, fixing blown-out tires stranded in the middle of a blizzard, even getting held up at gunpoint by a club owner for T-shirt money. Macalester taught me how to deal with all kinds of adversity.”

Mould told the students to take pride in the small victories, but remember no victory is permanent, and to champion critical thinking and “always use your bulls— detector.”

“In closing, I’ve got to ask the graduating class of 2025, are you ready for the future? Are you ready to change the world? Are you ready to protect our democracy? Are you ready for the old guy to wrap it up? The world is yours. Thank you very much.”

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A year ago, Anthony Edwards was asked to sum up what happened in Minnesota’s blowout Game 5 loss at the hands of Dallas to end the Timberwolves’ season in the Western Conference Finals.

“Luka,” Edwards said, referencing Luka Doncic by first name only. “It’s that simple. He hit like three shots from the logo, pretty much. Nothing we can do about it.”

Indeed, Doncic splashed a number of kill shots early that evening at Target Center that sapped the life from Minnesota and effectively ended the series on the spot. There is a powerless feeling that overcomes a team when an opposing player hits a series of difficult shots for which there is no defense.

It breaks your spirit.

Fast forward to the 2025 postseason, and the Timberwolves are back in the Western Conference Finals – the first team to repeat the achievement in consecutive seasons since 2019 – in large part because the soul crushee has become the crusher.

Minnesota won its first two playoff series each in five games, setting itself up well in terms of maximum rest and minimum wear and tear ahead of Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, which will be at 7:30 p.m. Central on Tuesday in either Denver or Oklahoma City.

After Minnesota dispatched the Lakers in Game 5, the superstar guard strutted through the hallways of Crypto.com Arena shouting “Ant-Man, Batman, Superman, Wolves in five.”

Fitting. As Minnesota’s sailing has only been this smooth in these playoffs because, whenever Minnesota has found itself in danger, Edwards has put on his cape and come to the rescue with heroic 3-balls.

Which, yeah, is otherwise known as “hero ball.” But that word often carries a negative connotation. For Minnesota this postseason, perhaps “savior ball” is a better term.

Trailing by 10 in the fourth quarter of Game 4 against the Lakers, Minnesota was staring down a 2-2 tie with the series heading back to Los Angeles for Game 5.

Edwards had other ideas.

On the first possession of the final frame, Edwards held the ball 28 feet away from the hoop with Doncic, of all people, directly in front of him. After a brief hold, the guard decided to rise and fire.

Splash.

Minnesota was now within seven, but only briefly. Austin Reaves answered with a triple of his own on the other end of the floor. No matter, Edwards came down on Minnesota’s ensuing possession, came off a high screen and again shot over the outstretched arm of Doncic.

Same result.

Minnesota was still down seven with fewer than eight minutes to play when Edwards sized up Reaves on the perimeter. He took a hard step at the Lakers guard before executing his go-to, step-back jumper. Reaves delivered a commendable contest.

It didn’t matter. The Wolves were within four, and Target Center was rocking. Minnesota went on to win the game to effectively end the series.

Fast forward to Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals, which was tied 1-1, and a Steph Curry-less Golden State team was fighting tooth and nail to claim a contest to re-claim the series lead and buy time for Curry to get healthy.

Golden State led by six with 10 minutes to play, and Minnesota couldn’t buy a bucket for much of the night. This specific possession was going no better for the Wolves. Edwards came off the screen with the shot clock dwindling. Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski switched onto Edwards and removed his air space to force Edwards to take a prayer with the shot clock set to expire.

He drained it.

That shot gave Minnesota life. Three minutes later, the Wolves were down one. Edwards caught the ball at the top of the floor with Gary Payton II guarding him closely. Yet Edwards didn’t hesitate for a moment, immediately rising for the shot when he touched the ball.

Good again, this time giving Minnesota a lead it never relinquished.

Credit to the Warriors, they came back out in Game 4 and gave it another honest effort in the first half in an attempt to stay in the series. Again, Golden State out-played Minnesota for much of the first half, and had a five-point lead to show for it with seconds remaining in the second quarter.

Edwards dribbled down the floor, crossed over Payton and shot from roughly 30 feet over the arms of Payton and Draymond Green as the buzzer sounded.

You already know how this story ends.

The shot brought Minnesota within two at the half, and the Wolves ran the Warriors out of the building coming out of the break.

Edwards has always sensed the moments when his team has needed a boost. This year, he’s armed with a lethal 3-point shot capable of delivering whenever called upon.

“We’re lucky with him,” Wolves coach Chris Finch admitted.

Because there simply aren’t many players capable of hitting the shots Edwards takes. Per NBA.Com data, players across the league are shoot 25% on “closely” guarded 3-point attempts in these playoffs, where a defender is within two to four feet of the shot taker.

Edwards is 8 for 18 – 44.4% – on such attempts. The rest of the Wolves are 0 for 13. The 23-year-old is Minnesota’s only real option when it’s in a tight spot and needs points in bunches to create the mere chance for a comeback.

And Superman is hopping into the booth to answer the call every time the phone rings in these playoffs with zero hesitation.

“Just trusting the work, man. I trust myself. And I tell (my teammates): ‘It’s time. It’s time for that,’” Edwards said. “So, they already know. They know what it is. When I get in that mode, get me the ball. Try to get me open. I tell them all the time, ‘You set a good screen, we gonna score. I promise you.’”

Rudy Gobert was sitting next to Edwards at the press conference table when the topic was discussed, and he noted it’s a balance in his mind. He’s a believer in team basketball, with the right play being the pass to the open man. There have been times in the past where Edwards’ forced shot attempts have been a cause for frustration for Finch and fellow teammates.

But they’ve all appreciated how the young guard has been more deliberate about picking his spots of when to swing for the fences this season.

And when he’s squaring it up and tallying far more home runs than strikeouts, there is little about which to complain.

“He’s such a unique scorer and high confidence player,” Gobert said. “Sometimes, you’ve just got to let him do his thing. Sometimes, he’s going to make it, miss it, but you’ve got to let him do his thing.”

Especially in the playoffs, where defenses are all carrying out intensely-detailed gameplans with maximum effort. There will be many possessions where, try as you might, you aren’t going to generate anything resembling a good shot.

It’s a near requirement to have a cheat code player who’s always holding a get out of jail free card in his back pocket to win your team the games in which the chips seem to stacked heavily against you.

“Everybody needs one of those guys, or multiples of those guys,” Finch said. “This time of the year, sometimes it just comes down to that.”

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Why do St. Paul and Minneapolis maintain separate chambers of commerce, given that both cater to members beyond the immediate borders of their cities?

Business leaders raised questions of that sort in the 1880s, but efforts to merge the two dues-based associations resulted in little more than some spirited debate. As recently as 2010, discussions about a possible merger again fell apart amid concerns that Minneapolis, Bloomington and other west metro needs and interests will overshadow east metro priorities, and that their regional cultures are too distinct.

Since then, long-standing employers like TKDA, Cray Inc. and Wold Architects have left downtown St. Paul for Bloomington and Minneapolis, leaving the capital city scrambling to fill empty commercial spaces in an increasingly challenged downtown.

Nevertheless, with money and membership stretched thin in the digital era for geographically-based chambers everywhere, discussions about a possible merger between the St. Paul Area Chamber and the Minneapolis Regional Chamber have resurfaced, this time with more organizational legs.

Pros and cons

In February, the two chambers assembled a 22-member joint partnership committee to begin analyzing the pros and cons of a full or partial merger, bringing together representatives of what’s been described as a wide variety of employers from both sides of the river.

“A united voice is critical,” said Jeff DeYoung, a recently retired managing partner from the Baker Tilly accounting firm who chairs the St. Paul Area Chamber board. “Many employers voice concern about safety in both cities. Neither city is growing or has the level of commerce to the degree that it should.

“The prices that they’re selling (downtown commercial) buildings for, we are going to have a really sobering valuation change in both cities, and that’s going to have a tax impact on everyday homeowners,” DeYoung continued. “A lot of the buildings are going back to the lenders. It’s going to come to a head here pretty quickly.”

Opposition and a federal investigation

John Regal, a former board chair with the St. Paul Area Chamber, said he’s adamantly opposed to a merger. In addition to his work with the chamber, Regal is a former assistant risk manager for the city of St. Paul and the current president and chief executive officer of Sargasso Mutual Insurance Co.

His experiences in all three areas tell him that a chamber merger would leave St. Paul and its priorities further in the west metro’s shadow. Small businesses in particular could be left behind.

“Who is responsible for advocating for business and commerce in this town? … There’s different priorities coming out of City Hall, and there needs to be an organization that represents the interests of business in advocating for a strong commercial and light industrial tax base,” Regal said. “That advocacy doesn’t seem to be very strong right now. It seems to be that the St. Paul Port Authority is really the only entity doing that, and they’re tasked with dealing with distressed properties and the river.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating financial turmoil within the Minneapolis chamber, according to multiple sources close to the chambers.

Last summer, the Minneapolis chamber’s executive director Jonathan Weinhagen abruptly resigned following an internal investigation that uncovered a hefty budget shortfall. Filed last November, the 990 tax forms available through Guidestar.org showed a net revenue loss for the Minneapolis chamber of nearly $300,000 in 2023.

“I do think it was a catalyst,” said Mike Logan, interim president and executive director of the Minneapolis chamber, who grew up in St. Paul. “I do think his departure — and his abrupt departure — led to a moment of reflection.”

A 22-member committee

Logan and B Kyle, president and chief executive officer of the St. Paul Area Chamber, have been coy about revealing the full membership of their 22-member joint committee, but they’ve said large players and smaller companies both have roles in analyzing what unique aspects of each chamber deserve to be celebrated and maintained distinctly, and what part of their mission might benefit from combined resources.

Co-chaired by DeYoung, the joint partnership committee meets monthly to discuss the work of four subcommittees focused on governance, communications, operations and strategy. The goal is to have a recommendation about a possible merger to the full boards of each chamber ready by the end of the year, for potential rollout in 2026.

“We’ve not talked structure at all. The people who are saying ‘no’ think we’re just going to drop everything and form one chamber,” DeYoung said. “We might have Mike and B just pick two or three issues to work together on. A lot of times, people want to pick structure before strategy, and that never works.”

“We are anticipating that whatever we come up with, there will be some people who say ‘we don’t like that.’ We’re going to lose some memberships along the way, but we’re going to lose some memberships if we don’t do anything, too,” DeYoung added. “We’ll hopefully get those people back.”

Combining the two chambers is now officially on the table, but not necessarily guaranteed. The result could be that the chambers maintain separate physical hubs in each city under one umbrella. Then again, the result could be a lot of things.

“This is the first time we’re taking a very deep dive to do a cost-benefit analysis,” said Kyle, in a recent interview. “That plan could be anything from ‘we’re remaining good friends across the river’ to ‘we’re merging.’”

Chambers elsewhere have lost members in the digital era as employers question the value of paying dues to a local association when so many of their clients and partners are online or otherwise located outside of their immediate geographic area. The pandemic exacerbated membership declines nationally, inspiring more chambers to merge. The committee, said Logan, is looking at examples of mergers around the country, from purported success stories to attempted mergers that failed.

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‘Additive, rather than competitive’

Still, Kyle said St. Paul memberships have held fairly steady over the years, and the goal isn’t so much to stem potential membership losses as to be “additive, rather than competitive” across chambers.

That means finding ways to leverage a more regional focus, such as partnering on regional conferences and conventions, workforce development, networking and leadership training, and helping member benefits go farther. Both chambers engage in — and could better combine resources around — advocacy and legislative lobbying, which is something many other economic-development organizations don’t do.

That regionalism is already a reality for many members, as “40% of our members already have a business headquarters address outside of St. Paul,” Kyle said.

“This is not about scarcity,” Logan said. “This is about growing beyond one-plus-one into three. Efficiencies are part of it, but those will probably be marginal efficiencies. … If anything, it’s an amplification. Let’s say I’m a small marketing agency and I love being part of both chambers. I might love even more being part of one.”

That logic works for Joe Thornton, a longtime public relations specialist with AIMCLEAR based out of downtown St. Paul, who noted that the St. Paul Downtown Alliance — a partnership between private employers and City Hall — already maintains a business improvement district with street ambassadors and other downtown programming.

“St. Paul businesses are being served effectively in a somewhat similar manner by the Downtown Alliance,” Thornton pointed out. “It seems there is a lot of overlap between the St. Paul Chamber, Downtown Alliance and (tourism bureau) Visit St. Paul. A Twin Cities Chamber could elevate businesses metro-wide, while the Downtown Alliance could really focus on elevating business opportunities for St. Paul and Visit St. Paul serves destination marketing purposes.”

Lea Hargett, past chair of the St. Paul Area Chamber, prefers to see a joint venture rather than a full-out merger, allowing each chamber to maintain their autonomy while combining efforts around public policy advocacy, legislation and networking events. A membership survey last year showed that many members expressed concern about rising costs and the need for more support.

While some chamber members may continue to question whether west metro interests will overshadow east metro priorities in a merged chamber, Kyle noted St. Paul has some leverage in key areas.

St. Paul has stronger finances

The St. Paul Area Chamber has established relatively strong financial footing for itself through its WorkStream consulting practice, which offers staffing and services for 19 affiliate chambers and nonprofit organizations, from the Oakdale Chamber to the St. Paul Parks Conservancy and the Hmong Chamber of Commerce.

The St. Paul chamber lost about $232,000 in 2023, according to its 990 tax form, but that had to do with some long-anticipated expenses coming to a head in a single year, DeYoung said, and it was the first loss in over a decade.

Overall, “the net cash position has held strong,” said DeYoung, a certified public accountant by trade. “We’re making money this year. We made money the year before. The St. Paul chamber is rock solid financially. … B runs a very tight ship.”

Minneapolis has had a tougher time of it financially, as revealed after Weinhagen’s departure, even after absorbing the Plymouth-based TwinWest Chamber of Commerce in 2020 and the Bloomington chamber years prior to that.

“With the dire circumstances Minneapolis is facing, especially with a federal investigation going on, (a merger) makes zero sense,” Regal said. “At a minimum, you’d wait until the dust settles on the investigation, and then go back and answer the question: What’s in it for St. Paul? It just looks like a bail-out for Minneapolis.”

Despite its documented financial challenges, Logan said the Minneapolis chamber had renegotiated agreements with key external vendors and should be profitable by the end of the year. Some of its debt is internal — money the organization owes to itself for services rendered, as opposed to bills owed to a bank. Its financial situation would have to be sorted out before a merger moves forward, not after, he said.

“Our debt and our challenges are our debt and our challenges,” Logan said. “We’re not going to saddle St. Paul with any of it.”

Both Kyle and Logan acknowledged that some members have expressed fear about a loss of local identity following a merger. “You can’t create something new and give up what has gotten you here,” Kyle said. “The question we have to ask our members is, what do we treasure that we want to retain, and what are we hoping for that we want to achieve?”

The chambers

Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce: There are 700 dues-paying members. Fifteen employees, including transportation management affiliate Move Minneapolis and RealTime Talent workforce research. It has a $4 million annual budget.

St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce: There are 900 dues-paying members, or 1,600 members after including 19 affiliate chambers staffed through WorkStream consulting. There are 26 employees. Its annual budget is $3.9 million.

Source: 990 tax forms for 2023, available on Guidestar.org; stpaulchamber.com; mplschamber.com.

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TransAxle, a New Jersey-based remanufacturer of rebuilt hydraulics, drivetrain components and truck parts, will close all of its locations, laying off more than 200 workers nationwide, including six in St. Paul, according to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.

The company, which was founded in 1979, maintains a location in St. Paul that employs a shop manager, mechanic, machinist and team leaders. All six workers will be let go.

In a letter to DEED’s rapid response team, company officer Richard Malagodi said TransAxle attempted to put itself up for sale “for some time” without success, and will instead lay off 80 workers at a dozen locations, most of them on the East Coast, between July 15 and July 29. Another 129 workers will be terminated from its four New Jersey sites in August.

An effort to reach a TransAxle spokesperson for comment on Friday was not immediately successful.

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