LAS VEGAS – We are closing in on a decade since the Golden Knights played their first-ever games, in the fall of 2017, and still one can see plenty of Nevada hockey fans coming to games wearing the number 29 sweater of current Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, from his time with Vegas.

After Tuesday’s morning skate at T-Mobile Arena, Jon Merrill joked that not as many Nevada hockey fans still wear his jersey from the 140 games the Wild defenseman played for Vegas around that same era. After watching the first four playoff games from the press box, Merrill was back in the Wild lineup for Game 5, after coach John Hynes opted for his experience over the rookie promise of Zeev Buium.

Merrill, 33, admitted it was heartbreaking to come out of the lineup at the start of the playoffs after logging 70 regular season games, but said that he was excited to be back on the ice and to be part of the Wild’s plan to re-capture home ice advantage.

“We play to win and not to lose. Go after them, stay aggressive,” Merrill said. “That’s been the difference in the series is our aggressiveness on the forecheck. So we’ll come out swinging tonight.”

Hynes made it clear that Buium’s healthy scratch for Game 5 was an acknowledgement of the Wild’s needs in Game 5 and not any kind of long-term change, but admitted that there has been a learning curve from the speed of the college game to the NHL pace, most notably in terms of opportunities to shoot the puck.

“I think there’s been times, maybe when he could trigger and is maybe used to having just a little bit more time and space than he does, where you’ve got to almost trigger right away when there’s a lane there,” Hynes said. “I think there’s other times where the shot lanes haven’t been there and to his credit, he hasn’t just shot the puck to shoot the puck.”

Familiarity breeds faceoffs

According to one NHL numbers-crunching website, the Wild were 28th out of the league’s 32 teams in faceoff win percentage, at 47.11 percent, during the regular season. Since starting with possession of the puck is a vital first step toward scoring goals, that’s a key number that can spell success in the regular season and in the playoffs.

While they had still lost more faceoffs than they had won in the first four postseason games, the Wild’s numbers are improving, and Hynes credited part of that to the fact that you’re playing the same team each night, and getting to know their faceoff men.

“I think it’s really digging in and understanding the importance of it,” Hynes said. “Sometimes it’s easier too when you’re not playing this center and that center and this center. … For the most part, there’s four guys you’re going against in a series.”

Hynes said the extra time against the same four Vegas centers over the course of a series allows Wild centers to study tendencies and learn what tactics might work best against a particular player.

Control your weapons

Penalties have become more of a factor in this series over the course of the first four games. Vegas was the least-penalized team in NHL history during the regular season, and officials for the most part let both teams play in the first few games.

The Wild got a big power play goal in Game 3, and they had an overtime power play in Game 4. The Knights tied the game late in a four-minute power play in Game 4, after Buium caught Vegas forward Mark Stone in the face with a high stick. Hynes said that penalties are going to happen, but the Wild can help themselves in the final two or three games of this series by keeping themselves under control.

“I think we want to retain the competitive nature that we played with. I think there’s some penalties – you know, we have some high sticks. We’ve got to control our sticks more. Obviously we had a too many men, so I think there’s some things in our control that we need to be a little bit aware of and better, and normally we are.”

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A state fund created to help cities that are losing a power plant is helping Oak Park Heights pay for design work on a potential future water treatment facility to remove PFAS from the city’s two wells.

In 2028, Oak Park Heights will lose its largest taxpayer when Xcel Energy shutters the Allen S. King power plant. The plant, which employs 77 people, provides 27 percent of the city’s tax base — or about $1.5 million — in 2024, said Jacob Rife, city administrator.

At the same time, the city needs $2.1 million to design a potential new water treatment facility that would be located somewhere near Oak Park Heights City Hall. City officials learned last year that both of the city’s drinking water wells tested above state guidelines for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. The current numbers, however, remain within federal guidelines, and no action is required as of yet, Rife said.

“However, we are taking a very proactive approach in that our numbers could change, or the state could make their numbers enforceable, so we want to be ready to go,” he said.

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development this week awarded Oak Park Heights a second Community Energy Transition grant, this one for $374,800, to help pay for plans for the facility. Last year, the city received a $440,000 Community Energy Transition grant for a feasibility study and pre-design work for the new treatment facility.

This year’s grant will be used to evaluate data from the earlier studies and determine “the process, equipment, treatment plant building design and project cost estimates,” according to DEED.

The agency’s Energy Transition Office supports cities undergoing or preparing for power-plant closures “in their efforts to maintain vitality and diversify their economies,” said DEED Commissioner Matt Varilek. “Communities can face significant uncertainty when a power plant closes. Through these grants, we’re partnering with local officials to help ease that transition.”

The city is contracting with Stantec for preliminary design work to help answer questions such as where a potential new treatment facility would be sited, size of the facility, costs and construction schedules, Rife said.

The grant funds will get the city’s design plans to approximately 50 percent for water treatment at Wells 1 and 2, and city officials tentatively expect to get to 50 percent design by summer of 2026, he said.

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The city will use $110,000 from its own water funds to pay for the design work, but is still seeking grants and state bonding to cover the rest, Rife said.

The city also anticipates receiving funds from a national class-action settlement regarding PFAS in drinking water supplies, Rife said. The chemical company DuPont last year agreed to pay $1.185 billion to public water systems across the U.S. that detect PFAS chemicals in their drinking water supplies.

“I’m not sure of where that number will land,” Rife said. “We have some ballpark estimates right now, but we just won’t know until that comes in, so we’re trying to get the majority of the design work to be funded through grants and outside money, so we’re being very aggressive in pursuing grants.”

Mayor Mary McComber said the city has to be proactive. “If something happens to one of our wells, and we need to shut it down, well, we only have two wells, and that’s it,” she said. “We need more water supply.”

Country star Hank Williams Jr. will play the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand for the third time on Aug. 27.

Tickets are priced from $56 to $125.75 and go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday through Etix or by calling 800-514-3849. Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives are also on the bill.

The son of country legend Hank Williams, he began performing at an early age. He made his first television appearance in 1963 at the age of 14, singing several of his dad’s songs on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” Williams was highly influenced by his father’s friends, including Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Fats Domino, Earl Scruggs, Lightnin’ Hopkins and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Williams released his debut album, “Hank Williams Jr. Sings the Songs of Hank Williams,” in 1964, when he was 15. He continued to sing covers until the mid-’70s when he began carving out his own sound in Southern rock and outlaw country.

His landmark 1975 release “Hank Williams Jr. and Friends” saw him drawing influence from Waylon Jennings, Toy Caldwell and Charlie Daniels.

Among the more than 100 singles he’s issued over the decades, “Family Tradition,” “Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound,” “All My Rowdy Friends (Have Settled Down),” “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight,” and “Born to Boogie” stand among his biggest hits.

Williams first played the Grandstand in 1968 on a bill with Marty Robbins, Sonny James and Connie Smith. He returned as a headliner in 1983 with Aaron Tippin.

The Minnesota State Fair runs from Aug. 21 through Sept. 1. Williams joins the previously announced headliners Old Dominion on Aug. 21, Meghan Trainor on Aug. 22, Atmosphere on Aug. 23, the joint bill of Melissa Etheridge and Indigo Girls on Aug. 24, the Happy Together Tour on Aug. 25, Def Leppard on Aug. 26, the Steve Miller Band on Aug. 28 and the Avett Brothers on Aug. 29.

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By REBECCA SANTANA, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge Tuesday expressed skepticism over the Trump administration’s assertions that its decision to declare an invasion at the U.S.-Mexico border and suspend asylum access was not something courts had the authority to review.

U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss heard arguments in a Washington courtroom over a lawsuit brought by immigrants rights organizations, which are challenging a key executive order that banned the ability for migrants crossing the southern border to seek protections in the United States.

In the Jan. 20 order, President Donald Trump declared that the situation at the southern border constitutes an invasion of America and that he was “suspending the physical entry” of migrants.

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Trump’s order asserts that the Immigration and Nationality Act gives presidents the authority to suspend entry of any group that they find “detrimental to the interests of the United States.”

The government has argued in court that the Republican president’s determination that the U.S. is facing an invasion is not subject to court review, calling it “an unreviewable political question” in a filing.

Moss, who was nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama, repeatedly questioned the government’s lawyer on that point.

At one point, he posed a hypothetical question about whether the president — upset with northerners taking up residence in sunny Florida where he has a home — could declare their presence an invasion.

At another point, he asked, “Is there just never any judicial review?”

Advocates say the right to request asylum is enshrined in the country’s immigration laws and that denying migrants that right puts people fleeing war or persecution in grave danger.

Critics say relatively few people coming to America seeking asylum actually end up qualifying and that it takes years for overloaded immigration courts to come to a determination on such requests. People seeking asylum must demonstrate a fear of persecution at home on a fairly narrow grounds of race, religion, nationality or by belonging to a particular social or political group.

In the lawsuit, the migrant rights groups argued that immigration “even at elevated levels” does not constitute an invasion and noted that the number of people entering the country between the ports of entry had fallen to lows not seen since August 2020.

The groups are asking the judge to declare Trump’s order unlawful and keep him from enforcing it. The government has asked the judge to dismiss the organizations’ motion.

Moss asked for more written arguments on specific legal questions before making his ruling.