As the Vikings prepare for an important game against the Chicago Bears, quarterback J.J. McCarthy is dealing with a right hand injury that resulted in him being a limited participant in practice.

He wore a bandage on his right hand during practice on Wednesday afternoon at TCO Performance Center and stood with his hands in his pockets as he talked to reporters afterward.

Though he made it clear that he doesn’t expect it to impact his preparation, the fact that McCarthy was a limited participant is not insignificant.

It’s worth continuing to monitor the situation as this week progresses.

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By JEFFREY COLLINS

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina lawmakers improperly gave themselves a $1,500 monthly raise, the state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday in a unanimous decision that will end up cutting legislators’ pay by thousands of dollars.

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The justices said the “ in-district compensation ” qualifies as salary, meaning the increase can’t take effect until after the 2026 election. The General Assembly had made the raises immediate through a budget item earlier this year.

The ruling also eliminates a $1,000 monthly expense payment that all 46 senators and 124 House members receive, reducing their paychecks until legislators approve a new proposal.

The suit was brought by Republican Sen. Wes Climer, who voted against the raise, and one of his constituents.

“Public trust is earned by doing the right thing, even when it’s unpopular. I opposed this pay raise not because the job isn’t demanding, but because how we govern matters,” Climer said in a statement after the ruling.

From left to right, Republican South Carolina Sen. Wes Climer, York County resident Carol Herring, and attorney Dick Harpootlian talk about their case suing the state General Assembly over a pay raise outside the South Carolina Supreme Court building in Columbia, S.C., on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025.. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

No receipts? Court says that means extra pay is salary, not expenses

During arguments before the court last month, attorneys for the House and Senate said the raise was for expenses, not salary, and exempt from the waiting period.

The justices rejected that claim, instead siding with Climer’s attorneys who argued lawmakers themselves called it compensation and since they aren’t required to provide any receipts or documentation, it is salary.

The court acknowledged legislators’ pay hasn’t risen since 1994 and that current compensation is “paltry” compared to the demands of the job. But it noted that until this year the General Assembly had honored the constitutional ban on mid-term raises.

“Where a legislative enactment clearly contravenes our constitution, we have a duty to declare the legislative enactment unconstitutional,” the justices wrote.

Lawmakers warn the pay cut could hinder public service

When the part-time lawmakers return to the state capitol in January, they’ll get a lump sum of $10,400 for their $260-a-day pay for all of 2026. Members are also reimbursed for mileage driving to Columbia and a hotel room.

The loss of the $1,000 monthly payment, which they’ve been getting for decades, surprised many legislators. Some lawmakers said they used their own private salaries for town halls, equipment needed to help constituents or basic expenses.

The ruling ultimately hurts the public, Democratic Rep. Hamilton Grant said, because he expects lawmakers will have to cut back how they serve their constituents unless a politician is independently wealthy.

“The decision is unfortunate and rules in favor of political elitism,” Grant said in a text message. “Taking a pay cut in this economy for any job does not help working South Carolinians.”

Justices outline ways lawmakers could fix the issue

During October arguments, the justices suggested several remedies. Lawmakers could have called and treated the raise more like an expense fund, delayed paying it until 2027, or separated the new money from existing pay so it all wouldn’t have gone away, the justices said.

The in-district compensation raise was proposed late in the budget process by Republican Sen. Shane Martin. He spent about 30 seconds on the Senate floor saying the first raise in 30 years was needed because of inflation and higher costs.

South Carolina already has some of the lowest-paid legislators in the country. Comparisons are tricky because they involve salary, expenses and mileage, but the combination of $22,400 for salary and in-district expenses is well below other part-time legislatures like Alabama and Tennessee, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

It’s a lot higher than New Hampshire’s $100-a-year plus mileage but well below full-time lawmakers in California and New York, who earn more than $100,000 annually.

Head coach Niko Medved’s first recruiting class with the Gophers includes a four-star sharpshooter, a high-ceiling center and a tough, quick point guard.

The U announced Wednesday that Wayzata forward Nolen Anderson, Irvine, Calif., center Chadrack Mpoyi and East Ridge guard Cedric Tomes have signed to be three prongs in its 2026 class. Medved told the Pioneer Press on Tuesday the U’s group of high school additions will probably remain at three going into next season.

The Gophers’ incoming class is ranked 24th in the nation and sixth in the 18-team Big Ten, according to 247 Sports on Wednesday morning. Minnesota is among six schools in the conference with at least three commits apiece, which seems to boosts their standing as the early signing period opened.

The 6-foot-8 Anderson is considered a four-star prospect just outside the top 100 in the nation, while the 6-11 Mpoyi and 6-1 Tomes have been awarded three stars.

Here are Medved’s exclusive comments to the Poineer Press on each signee:

Anderson

“An elite shooter,” Medved said “… It’s been really cool to continue to watch his growth as a player. I feel like every time I see him he’s gotten taller. He’s becoming more explosive, athletic.”

Anderson helped lead Wayzata to the Class 4A state championship last March. He and Iowa State signee Christian Wiggins will lead the Trojans again this winter.

“(Anderson is) a winner,” Medved said. “He just plays the game the right way. He plays with a chip on his shoulder. I think he has a chance to be a tremendous player for us.”

Anderson averaged 17.7 points and 7.3 rebounds, while shooting 43% from 3-point range last year. His grandfather, Marlo Miller played for the Gophers (1957-60).

Mpoyi

“He is just oozing with potential,” Medved said. “He’s long. He’s athletic. He’s got good hands. … He’s just so raw.”

Gophers assistant coach Chad Warner “discovered” Mpoyi at an event in the spring, Medved said, and the U started recruiting him then. California-Santa Barbara was his only offer before Minnesota, with Utah, California, Utah State and Oregon State coming in later on.

Mpoyi moved from Likasi, Congo to California in 2024 and has only been playing basketball for five years. After playing on the Under Armour Circuit, he will play his senior season at Crean Lutheran High School.

“I think he’s going to have a great high school season and I think this guy has a chance to develop into a great player,” Medved said.

Tomes

“He has elite quickness,” Medved said. “… He can really shoot the ball.”

Tomes broke a finger on his non-shooting hand while playing quarterback for East Ridge this fall, but returned to the Raptors for the big-school playoffs.

“One of the things that I love about him is he is a multi-sport guy,” Medved said. “Cedric just loves to play. He loves to play and compete. … It would have been really easy (to) just shutdown football and get ready for basketball. But there was no way you were going to keep him off the field, to come back and have a chance to help his team. I just love that about him. He’s a competitor.”

Tomes averaged 27 points per game last season, setting East Ridge scoring records for single game (42 points) and season (735). With Tomes as the floor general last year, the Raptors went 27-1.

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By ALI SWENSON

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday praised Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s willingness to question established science and embrace nontraditional voices in the health care space, saying that often throughout history, “all the experts were wrong.”

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In remarks in a fireside chat between the two men at a “Make America Healthy Again” summit in the nation’s capital, Vance also propped up Kennedy’s MAHA movement, saying it has been “a critical part of our success in Washington.”

Vance’s words show how Kennedy, whose wrecking-ball approach to public health agencies and longstanding vaccine skepticism have made him a polarizing figure among the public and in Congress, has been embraced by the White House as a needed force for change.

“Of all the specific initiatives that you guys have worked on effectively, the most important thing is that your team is willing to ask questions that people in government haven’t been asking in a long time,” Vance told Kennedy onstage.

The Vance-Kennedy event was livestreamed, but the summit was otherwise off limits to the press.

Even as President Donald Trump and Kennedy have disagreed on issues from COVID-19 vaccines to abortion, the White House this year has largely left Kennedy alone as he has made sweeping changes to the agencies he leads, including laying off thousands of workers, firing science advisers and remaking vaccine guidelines.

The Trump administration has touted Kennedy’s efforts to phase out artificial dyes in foods, wage war on ultra-processed foods and update the national dietary guidelines. As health secretary, he has said he wants to find the root causes of chronic disease and help Americans reduce their exposure to toxins.

Critics, including some of the country’s leading medical associations, say that Kennedy’s disregard for established science is fomenting public distrust in mainstream medicine and that his views, once considered fringe, are being amplified from his perch as health secretary. Kennedy and his allies dispute that their agenda is anti-science.

Vance nodded to the fact that many in Kennedy’s network don’t come from conventional medical circles, and some have more experience in business than in health. In fact, many of the health secretary’s close allies and new hires have outright rejected medical consensus on topics including vaccines and how to heal chronic disease.

“We’ve got to be comfortable challenging some of these old orthodoxies, and part of that is welcoming people that are a little unusual,” Vance said.

Vance noted Kennedy’s interest in disrupting bureaucracy comes under a president with a similar mentality.

“That is a good summary of Donald J. Trump is that he takes a bulldozer to Overton windows every single day,” Vance said. The Overton window refers to “the range of policies considered acceptable by the majority of a population,” according to Britannica.com.

Vice President JD Vance, right, is joined by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., at the inaugural Make America Healthy Again summit at the Waldorf Astoria, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

The MAHA event at a Washington hotel came on the heels of a different meeting in Austin, Texas, that welcomed several of the same attendees — the annual conference of Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine group Kennedy used to lead.

That conference over the weekend, which featured Kennedy’s wife, Cheryl Hines, as a headline speaker, was more squarely focused on immunizations, with sessions such as “The Enduring Nightmare of COVID mRNA Technology” and “Understanding the Enormity of Vaccine Injury.”

Wednesday’s packed house of Trump administration officials, biotech entrepreneurs, MAHA influencers and others included sessions about topics such as how artificial intelligence is being used in health care, reversing aging, making food healthier and more.

MAHA Action, the Kennedy-supporting group hosting the event, said Trump’s embrace of the movement marks “a decisive turning point in U.S. health policy.”

“Today is an important milestone,” Tony Lyons, president of MAHA Action, said in the release. “It’s the culmination of a movement that was 40 years in the making.”