DULUTH — Essentia Health has reached a tentative contract agreement with acute care hospital nurses in the Twin Ports, averting a strike that was set to begin next week.

The accord, reached Friday morning, includes a 9.75% wage increase spread over the next three years, according to the Minnesota Nurses Association. It also contains a one-year freeze on reductions to current staffing ratios, the union said, and protections against changes in employment terms.

“Our fight has never been just about contracts — it’s about patient care — and these wins will enable us to provide that care more safely than before,” MNA President Chris Rubesch said in a news release. “We will move forward with these wins while also recommitting to the fight for safe nurse-to-patient staffing ratios. It’s what our patients deserve, and it’s what our nurses deserve.”

The bargaining unit covers approximately 1,500 nurses at Essentia Health-St. Mary’s Medical Center and the Miller-Dwan building in Duluth, as well as Essentia Health St. Mary’s Hospital-Superior.

“I’m proud of my fellow nurses who pushed both sides to find a resolution that kept them at the bedside caring for our patients,” said Rhonda Kazik, chief nurse executive at Essentia. “Nurses are called to this profession because they want to care for others, and we’re grateful to have some of the best in the profession here at Essentia Health. We have prioritized patient care throughout these negotiations and will continue to do so in every community we serve.”

The nurses’ previous contract expired Monday. Members are set to vote on ratification of the new agreement in the coming weeks.

The deal came just one day after Congress passed President Donald Trump’s sweeping domestic policy bill that will reduce Medicaid spending by $1 trillion and lead to 11.8 million more uninsured people, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

The MNA on Thursday also canceled a strike that was set to begin at Aspirus St. Luke’s hospital in Duluth, citing substantial progress in negotiations and the expectation that a tentative agreement will be reached in the coming days.

But strikes still loom at several other Essentia properties where units are negotiating their first contracts. Ambulatory nurses at the Duluth Clinic’s First, Second and Third Street buildings, the Superior Clinic, Miller Hill Surgery Center and Solvay Hospice House are set to walk off the job Tuesday.

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Advanced practice providers in Essentia’s East Market are also set for an unfair labor practices strike beginning Thursday.

“Our members fighting for first contracts deserve to have dignity and respect in the workplace — and that means having a fair contract,” Rubesch said. “We continue to call on Essentia to bargain in good faith with our members, which means also coming to the table to start the bargaining process with advanced practice providers.”

Essentia officials noted first contracts in health care typically take about 18 months to finalize. Bargaining with those units has been underway for four to 11 months so far.

The health system said it is taking steps to “ensure minimal disruption to patient care” during potential strikes, though Solvay will temporarily pause care due to its unique “wall-to-wall” MNA representation.

Two motorists were killed in a collision early Friday along County Highway DD in St. Croix County, Wis., police say.

St. Croix County authorities received a call about 4:04 a.m. Friday from a cell phone’s automatic collision notification. Police tracked the phone and located a two-vehicle crash near the 2200 block of Highway DD in Baldwin Township.

A 2012 Chevrolet Cruze traveling westbound on the highway had collided with a 2010 Chevrolet Equinox traveling eastbound.

Both motorists were pronounced dead at the scene. One driver was an 18-year-old man from Emerald, Wis., and the other driver was a 24-year-old man from Baldwin, Wis.

No passengers were involved.

Police are still investigating the collision and did not provide identification of the victims.

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Often the best movies of the second half of the year come almost preordained as the Oscars Industrial Complex revs into high gear. The first half, though, can offer more of a thrill of discovery.

The first six months of 2025 have offered plenty of that, including indie gems, comedy breakouts and sensational filmmaking debuts. Here are our 10 favorites from the year’s first half.

The Ballad of Wallis Island

This image released by Focus Featires shows Carey Mulligan as Nell Mortimer, left, and Tom Basden as Herb McGwyer in a scene from “The Ballad of Wallis Island.” (Alistair Heap/Focus Features via AP)

“The Ballad of Wallis Island” is the kind of charming gem that’s easy to recommend to any kind of movie lover. It is goofy and friendly, has an armful of lovely folk songs, an all-timer of a rambling character, in Tim Key’s eccentric and completely lovable Charles, Tom Basden’s grumpy, too-cool straight man, and the always delightful Carey Mulligan. “Wallis Island” is a film about letting go and moving on told with humor, wit and a big heart. Also hailing from the British Isles is the equally delightful “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl.” (streaming on Peacock) —Bahr

One of Them Days

The big-screen comedy has been an almost extinct creature in recent years, but Lawrence Lamont’s “One of Them Days” gives me hope. Not only was this buddy comedy a surprise box-office hit, it is probably the exhibit A in the case of Keke Palmer Should Be in Everything. She and SZA, in her film debut, play Los Angeles housemates in a madcap race to make rent. (Streaming on Netflix) —Coyle

Sorry, Baby

This image released by A24 shows Eva Victor in a scene from “Sorry, Baby.” (Mia Cioffy Henry/A24 via AP)

There’s a sequence in Eva Victor’s delicate, considered and disarmingly funny directorial debut, “Sorry, Baby” that kind of took my breath away. You know something bad is going to happen to Agnes, it’s literally the logline of the film. You sense that her charismatic thesis adviser is a bit too fixated on her. The incident itself isn’t seen, Victor places their camera outside of his home. Agnes goes inside, the day turns to evening and the evening turns to night, and Agnes comes out, changed. But we stay with her as she finds her way to her car, to her home and, most importantly to her friend, Lydie (Naomi Ackie). This is a film about what happens after the bad thing. And it’s a stunner. (In theaters) —Bahr

Black Bag

This image released by Focus Features shows Cate Blanchett, left, and Michael Fassbender in a scene from “Black Bag,” a film written by David Koepp. (Claudette Barius/Focus Features via AP)

Arguably the best director-screenwriter tandem this decade has been Steven Soderbergh and David Koepp. They were behind the pandemic thriller “Kimi” and another standout of 2025, the ghost-POV “Presence.” But their spy thriller-marital drama “Black Bag,” starring Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett as married British intelligence agents, may be their best collaboration yet. It’s certainly the one with the most delicious dialogue. How has it taken the movies this long to make a dinner scene with spies dosed with truth serum? (Streaming on Peacock) —Coyle

Materialists

This image released by A24 shows Dakota Johnson, left, and Pedro Pascal in a scene from “Materialists.” (A24 via AP)

Celine Song’s “Materialists ” might not be the film people wanted it to be, but it’s the film they need in this land of high-end dating apps, designer dupes and everyone pretending to live like minor socialites on Instagram. A thoughtful meditation on money, worth, love and companionship, this is a film that upends everything we’ve come to think we want from the so-called romantic comedy (the idea of prince charming, the inexplicable wealth that’s supposed to coexist with middle class mores). Lifestyle porn will always have a place in the rom-com machine, but this is a populist film, both modern and timeless, that reminds us that love should be easy. It should feel like coming home. “Materialists” is simply the most purely romantic film of the year. (In theaters) —Bahr

Sinners

This image released by Warner Bros Pictures shows Michael B. Jordan, foreground from left, Michael B. Jordan and Omar Benson Miller in a scene from “Sinners.” (Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)

Not only does the wait go on for Ryan Coogler to make a bad movie, he seems to be still realizing his considerable talents. There are six months to go, still, in 2025, but I doubt we’ll have a big scale movie that so thrillingly doubles (see what I did there) as a personal expression for its filmmaker as “Sinners.” This exhilarating vampire saga is ambitiously packed with deep questions about community, Black entertainment, Christianity and, of course, Irish dancing. (Streaming on Max) —Coyle

Pavements

This image released by Utopia shows Joe Keery, portraying Stephen Malkmus in a scene from “Pavements.” (Utopia via AP)

In a world of woefully straightforward documentaries and biopics about musicians, Alex Ross Perry decided to creatively, and a little chaotically, upend the form with his impossible-to-categorize film about the 90s indie band Pavement. Blending fact, fiction, archive, performance, this winkingly rebellious piece is wholly original and captivating, and, not unlike Todd Haynes’s “I’m Not There,” the kind of movie to turn someone who’s maybe enjoyed a few Pavement and Stephen Malkmus songs into a fan. (In theaters, streaming on MUBI July 11) —Bahr

April

This image released by Metrograph Pictures shows Ia Sukhitashvili in a scene from “April.” (Metrograph Pictures via AP)

A rare and exquisite precision guides Dea Kulumbegashvili’s rigorous and despairing second feature. Beneath stormy spring skies in the European country of Georgia, a leading local obstetrician (Ia Sukhitashvili) pitilessly works to help women who are otherwise disregarded, vilified or worse. This is a movie coursing with dread, but its expression of a deep-down pain is piercing and unforgettable. (Not currently available) —Coyle

On Becoming a Guinea Fowl

This image released by A24 shows Susan Chardy in a scene from “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl.” (Chibesa Mulumba/A24 via AP)

A visually, and thematically arresting marvel, Rungano Nyoni’s darkly comedic, stylish and hauntingly bizarre film about unspoken generational trauma takes audiences to a place, I’m guessing, many have never been: A Zambian family funeral. And yet its truths ring universal, as the elder generation turns their heads from the awful truth that the dead man, Fred, was a predator and pedophile, while the younger wonders if things must stay as they are. (Streaming on HBO Max on July 4) —Bahr

Friendship

This image released by A24 shows Tim Robinson, left, and Paul Rudd in a scene from “Friendship.” (A24 via AP)

On TV, Tim Robinson and Nathan Fielder have been doing genius-level comedy. Fielder hasn’t yet jumped into his own films, but, then again, it’s hard to get an epic of cringe comedy and aviation safety like season two of “The Rehearsal” into a feature-length movie. But in “Friendship,” writer and director Andrew DeYoung brings Robinson, star of “I Think You Should Leave,” into well-tailored, very funny and dementedly perceptive movie scenario. He plays a man who awkwardly befriends a cool neighbor (Paul Rudd). While their differences make for most of the comedy in the movie, “Friendship” — which culminates in a telling wink — is really about their similarities. (Available for digital rental) —Coyle

I’d never considered the pairing as one of the best on the planet. But when my grandson Jacob was 5, he offered his opinion in a confident tone. He looked me in the eye and proclaimed that peanut butter and chocolate are the best combination of flavors.

Some might argue, offering up different sets of two ingredients that work together harmoniously. My father always sang the praises of strawberries and cream; my mother would weigh in with apples and cinnamon. For me, my palate wavers, but my favorite ingredient combinations often showcase some kind of cheese.

Now in high school, Jacob and I have made hundreds of Peanut Blossom Cookies, tasty peanut butter cookies, each adorned with a Hershey’s chocolate kiss. The recipe has been around for decades and it’s foolproof, a great treat to bake with kids.

The recipe is included here, along with a brownie that shows off peanut butter as well as chocolate. Also included is a formula for Peanut Brittle Bars, a bar cookie that uses chocolate and salted, roasted peanuts, deviating a smidgen from the peanut butter theme. But I couldn’t leave them out. To my palate, they are the best bar cookies imaginable. The pairing is a jewel.

Peanut Brittle Bars are a scrumptious salty-sweet treat. (Photo by Cathy Thomas)

Peanut Brittle Bars

My hankering for salty-sweet treats started with my Aunt Lillian’s peanut brittle. Throughout my childhood, every year her nut-laden candy arrived a few days before Christmas. Tightly packed in a pristine coffee can, Lillian’s crunchy confections disappeared far too quickly. Well into adulthood I discovered Peanut Brittle Bars. The crisp squares showcased a topping of salted peanuts, along with chocolate chips and caramel.

Yield: 48 bars

INGREDIENTS

Base:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon toasted wheat germ

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) cold butter, cut into 1/4-inch slices

Topping:

2 cups salted, roasted peanuts

1 cup milk chocolate chips

1 (12 1/2 ounces) jar caramel ice cream topping

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

DIRECTIONS

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 10-by-15-by-1-inch rimmed baking sheet.

2. In a food processor fitted with the metal blade, place flours, wheat germ, brown sugar, baking soda and salt; pulse to combine, about 10 seconds. Add cold butter slices; pulse until crumbly and butter is cut into dry ingredients. Do not over process, or mixture will form a dough. Dump onto prepared baking sheet. Use clean fingers to evenly press into even layer. Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 14 minutes or until evenly golden.

3. Sprinkle peanuts and chocolate chips over warm base. In a small bowl, stir together the caramel sauce and 3 tablespoons of flour; drizzle over peanuts and chips.

4. Bake in 350-degree oven for 12 to 18 minutes or until golden brown and set. Cool 1 hour or until completely cooled. Cut into bars.

Cut Milk Chocolate and Peanut Butter Brownies are stacked on a plate. (Photo by Cathy Thomas)

Milk Chocolate and Peanut Butter Brownies

My favorite way to serve peanut butter spiked brownies is alongside vanilla ice cream that is sprinkled with peanuts.

Yield: One 9-by-13-inch pan of brownies, about 12 servings

INGREDIENTS

Soft butter for greasing pan and parchment paper

8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter

1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons smooth peanut butter

1 cup coarsely chopped milk chocolate

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

4 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 2/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, see cook’s notes

Cook’s notes: I use semi-sweet chocolate chips because they are preferred by my grandchildren, but cookbook author Nicole Rucker calls for 72% chocolate chips, a darker chocolate with a higher cacao content. The choice is yours.

DIRECTIONS

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a 9-by-13-inch rimmed sheet pan and line the bottom and sides with parchment paper. Set aside.

2. Place 2 sticks of butter in a small saucepan on medium heat. Stir frequently and keep an eye on it so it doesn’t brown. Meanwhile, put peanut butter and chopped chocolate in large heatproof bowl. When the butter is hot and melted, pour over peanut butter-chocolate mixture and stir to combine and melt chocolate. Set aside.

3. In the large mixing bowl of an electric stand mixer, combine brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt, eggs, and vanilla. Mix on medium speed for 1 minute, until the mixture is pale in color and creamy looking. Add the melted chocolate-butter mixture. Mix at a medium speed until combined. Add the flour and cocoa powder; mix until just combined, so no dry bits of flour remain.

4. Transfer batter to prepared pan. Using a silicone spatula smooth out batter pushing batter into the corners and making it even. Tap lightly on the counter to remove any air pockets. Scatter chocolate chips on top of batter, gently pressing them down a little.

5. Bake for 10 minutes. Rotate pan and bake another 13 to 15 minutes, or until the sides are set and the center will still appear a bit unset. A toothpick inserted in center should come out with very moist crumbs.

6. Allow brownies to cool on a wire rack. They can be stored airtight at room temperature up to one week.

Source: Adapted from “Fat + Flour” by Nicole Rucker (Alfred A. Knoff)

Peanut Blossom Cookies are a classic homemade sweet treat. (Photo by Cathy Thomas)

Peanut Blossom Cookies

A milk chocolate kiss pressed into the center of these still-hot peanut butter cookies makes them pretty and delicious, too. When I want to make these cookies with my grandchildren and I discover there aren’t any Hershey’s chocolate kisses in the house, I substitute either Hershey’s nuggets or Mini Milk Chocolate peanut butter cups from Trader Joe’s.

Yield: About 3 to 4 dozen cookies

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature

1/2 generous cup peanut butter, creamy preferred

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup dark brown sugar

1 egg

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Parchment paper

Granulated sugar for rolling

9 ounces Hershey’s kisses, unwrapped

DIRECTIONS

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, place butter and peanut butter. Beat at a medium speed until well combined. Add sugars and beat until creamy. Add egg, milk, and vanilla; beat until well combined.

2. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt; stir with a whisk. Add the flour mixture in 3 portions to the butter mixture, beating between additions to combine.

3. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Shape dough into 1-inch balls (I do this with the aid of a small ice cream scoop). Roll the dough balls in granulated sugar to coat. Place on prepared baking sheets, about 1 1/2-inches apart. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately place an unwrapped chocolate kiss in the middle of each cookie, lightly pressing it down. The cookies may crack around the edges. Don’t worry.

Award-winning food writer Cathy Thomas has written three cookbooks, including “50 Best Plants on the Planet.” Follow her at CathyThomasCooks.com.