Commanders at Vikings (+1½)

Sad J.J. McCarthy is expected to replace even sadder Max Brosmer in the Vikings’ lineup on Sunday. The only way Minnesota’s situation could be more comically broken would be if Mike Lindell runs for quarterback.

Pick: Commanders by 3

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell speaks during a news conference outside the Alfred A. Arraj United States Courthouse in Denver on June 2, 2025, before the first day of trial in a defamation case against him. Former Dominion Voting Systems executive Eric Coomer sued Lindell for defamation, tying back to claims the MyPillow founder made about fraud in the 2020 presidential election. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)

Broncos at Raiders (+7½)

Former Raiders coach Lane Kiffin raised many eyebrows by bolting from Mississippi to LSU for a contract starting at $91 million. It’s a record sum ever paid for a “con man” and a “professional liar.”

Pick: Broncos by 14

Head coach Lane Kiffin of the Oakland Raiders yells instructions to players during the first half fo the game against the Kansas City Chiefs on Saptember 14, 2008 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Eagles at Chargers (+2½)

Irate fans last week egged the home of Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo. For those not familiar, egging is how you show disdain when you’re not clever enough to call somebody Piggy or the R-word.

Pick: Eagles by 3

President Donald Trump listens during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Bears at Packers (-6½)

Windy City fans are ecstatic about Caleb Williams and their first-place Bears. The sophomore quarterback is the most popular man in town, though he won’t be a truly authentic Chicago icon until he’s indicted.

Pick: Packers by 3

Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams throws against the New York Giants during the first half of an NFL football game in Chicago, Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Steelers at Ravens (-5½)

These two 6-6 mediocrities are battling for first place in the AFC North. Pittsburgh quarterback Aaron Rodgers looked so feeble by the end of last week’s game that team officials may nominate Kamala Harris to finish the race.

Pick: Ravens by 7

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) gets up after being sacked during the first half of an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals in Pittsburgh Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Seahawks at Falcons (+7½)

Former Atlanta kicker Younghoe Koo made headlines by whiffing on a field-goal attempt for New England. War Secretary Pete Hegseth was critical, saying he would have ordered Koo to go back and double tap the football.

Pick: Seahawks by 14

Atlanta Falcons kicker Younghoe Koo (7) works during the first half of an NFL football game against the New Orleans Saints, Sunday, Dec. 6, 2020, in Atlanta. The New Orleans Saints won 21-16. (AP Photo/Danny Karnik)

Titans at Browns (-4½)

Cleveland has opened up the 21-day practice window for injured pariah Deshaun Watson. The move shocked observers who felt there was no way the Browns could make a worse quarterback choice than Shedeur Sanders.

Pick: Browns by 7

Deshaun Watson #4 of the Cleveland Browns looks on after the game against the Dallas Cowboys at Cleveland Browns Stadium on Sept. 08, 2024 in Cleveland, Ohio. The Cowboys defeated the Browns 33-17. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images)

Texans at Chiefs (-3½)

Travis Kelce requested team staffers refrain from playing Taylor Swift songs during home games. Chiefs players would find the tunes too distracting over the next month while planning their early January vacations in Cancun.

Pick: Chiefs by 3

Travis Kelce #87 of the Kansas City Chiefs celebrates with Taylor Swift after a 17-10 victory against the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship Game at M&T Bank Stadium on Jan. 28, 2024 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

Dolphins at Jets (+2½)

Miami has somehow avoided elimination by rattling off a three-game winning streak. Coach Mike McDaniel has been dropped to No. 2 by Las Vegas oddsmakers for Person Most Likely to Be Fired, falling behind Kash Patel.

Pick: Dolphins by 3

FILE – Miami Dolphins general manager Chris Grier, left, and head coach Mike McDaniel take questions during an NFL football news conference on April 25, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Jim Rassol, File)

Bengals at Bills (-5½)

Cincinnati is still clinging to longshot playoff hopes despite a 4-8 record. Fans in southern Ohio and northern Kentucky haven’t been this excited since the invention of moonshine.

Pick: Bills by 3

Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, bottom, goes down with a season-ruining turf toe injury as he is sacked by Jacksonville’s Arik Armstead during last Sunday’s game in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

OTHER GAMES

Colts at Jaguars (+1½)

Pick: Jaguars by 3

Saints at Buccaneers (-8½)

Pick: Buccaneers by 7

Rams at Cardinals (+8½)

Pick: Rams by 10

BYE WEEK

Panthers, Patriots, Giants, 49ers

RECORD

Week 13

10-6 straight up

11-5 vs. spread

Season

122-71-1 straight up (.632)

97-97 vs. spread (.500)

All-time (2003-25)

3941-2172-15 straight up (.645)

3008-2976-145 vs spread (.503)

You can hear Kevin Cusick on Thursdays on Bob Sansevere’s “BS Show” podcast on iTunes. You can follow Kevin on X– @theloopnow. He can be reached at kcusick@pioneerpress.com.

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Today is Friday, Dec. 5, the 339th day of 2025. There are 26 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Dec. 5, 1952, the Great Smog of London descended on the British capital; the unusually thick fog, which contained toxic pollutants, lasted five days and was blamed for causing thousands of deaths.

Also on this date:

In 1848, in an address to Congress, President James K. Polk sparked the Gold Rush of ’49 by confirming that gold had been discovered in California.

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In 1933, Prohibition came to an end as Utah became the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, repealing the 18th Amendment.

In 1955, the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merged to form the AFL-CIO under its first president, George Meany.

In 1994, Republicans chose Newt Gingrich to be the first GOP speaker of the House in four decades.

In 2008, O.J. Simpson was sentenced to up to 33 years in prison after being convicted of 12 criminal charges in connection with a 2007 confrontation with sports memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas hotel. (Simpson was released on parole after serving nine years; he died in 2024).

In 2009, a jury in Perugia, Italy, convicted American student Amanda Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, of murdering Knox’s British roommate, Meredith Kercher, and sentenced them to long prison terms. (After a series of back-and-forth rulings, Knox and Sollecito were definitively acquitted in 2015 by Italy’s highest court.)

In 2013, Nelson Mandela, the anti-apartheid leader who became South Africa’s first Black president, died at age 95.

In 2017, Democratic Congressman John Conyers of Michigan resigned from Congress after a nearly 53-year career, becoming the first Capitol Hill politician to lose his job amid sexual misconduct allegations sweeping the nation’s workplaces; Conyers denied wrongdoing.

In 2023, Peru’s constitutional court ordered a humanitarian release for imprisoned former President Alberto Fujimori, who was serving a 25-year sentence in connection with the death squad slayings of 25 Peruvians in the 1990s. (Fujimori died in September 2024 at age 86.)

Today’s Birthdays:

Author Calvin Trillin is 90.
Opera singer Jose Carreras is 79.
Musician Jim Messina is 78.
Golf Hall of Famer Lanny Wadkins is 76.
Football Hall of Famer Art Monk is 68.
Rock singer-musician John Rzeznik (REZ’-nihk) (The Goo Goo Dolls) is 60.
Country singer Gary Allan is 58.
Comedian-actor Margaret Cho is 57.
Actor Paula Patton is 50.
Singer-songwriter Keri Hilson is 43.
Actor and stock car driver Frankie Muniz is 40.
Singer-songwriter Conan Gray is 27.

Joe Thornton and his colleagues in the Lowertown offices of the marketing firm AIMCLEAR aren’t holding out for a downtown promenade overlooking the Mississippi River, a longtime goal of outgoing St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter’s administration, as well as the mayoral administration before it.

Thornton can trace his St. Paul roots back generations — his uncle was once part of a private partnership that owned the downtown St. Paul Union Depot transit hub. Nevertheless, he’s not rooting these days for a towering mall where West Publishing once sat along Kellogg Boulevard, or any other among the longstanding efforts that begin with the words “reimagining downtown” or “reinventing downtown.”

Instead, he’s holding out for air conditioning.

In fact, he’s been praying for a fix to his downtown office building’s rooftop air conditioning unit for nearly eight months, long enough that the higher-ups in his St. Paul and Duluth-based company have begun scouting out potential new homes for their marketing business, which employs 20 people across the street from downtown Mears Park.

“We have space identified, some in downtown and some outside of downtown, some outside of St. Paul,” said Thornton, a vice president with AIMCLEAR. “It’s unfortunate because we want to be part of downtown. The owners of our company bought a condo (downtown).”

‘Up to 90 degrees’

The long saga of the Railroader Printing House building on Sixth Street and its malfunctioning rooftop air conditioning unit has become something of a metaphor for the nuts-and-bolts challenges facing downtown, if not the city as a whole, at least in the minds of Thornton and other commercial tenants in the five-story, red brick office building at 229 Sixth St. E.

The street corner structure, which faces Mears Park and dates to 1892, hasn’t had a working rooftop HVAC unit since at least May, when, for lack of a better term, the AC conked out.

“The temperature in the space would get up to 90 degrees,” Thornton said. “After about a month, they brought in five portable AC units and broke out windows to vent them, with water draining out onto the sidewalk on Wacouta Street and the patio by the Bulldog restaurant all summer long.”

“There was one really well-watered plant by Bulldog,” Thornton recalled. “It was the healthiest plant in downtown St. Paul. We couldn’t have clients coming in because it looked so janky.”

A surprise owner responds

Thornton took it upon himself to reach out to Bryan Larson, a former downtown resident who was part of the partnership that purchased the Railroader building in 2021. He soon heard back instead from Madison Equities, previously downtown St. Paul’s largest property owner, which has sold or lost several downtown structures following the death last year of its founder, James Crockarell.

“We acquired it jointly,” explained Larson, over coffee at the Bulldog restaurant on Thursday, the building’s most public-facing tenant. “Madison Equities is a 51% owner of that building. Madison Equities is involved … to the point that my hands have been handcuffed.”

To Thornton, that was not good news.

Madison Equities, which once owned 20 buildings downtown, put 10 structures up for sale together en masse in April 2024 and, since then, has been the subject of foreclosures, sheriff’s sales, legal disputes and other entanglements that have shuttered the massive Alliance Bank Center, boarded up the historic Lowry Apartments and led to widespread concern about the future of many of downtown’s most prominent properties.

“Any issues with the building, I was to route them to Madison Equities, and not to Bryan,” Thornton said he was told. “And all of a sudden it’s ‘Oh my God, it’s Madison Equities!”

When will the HVAC system get fixed?

What might strike the casual observer as a picayune air conditioning problem weaves in, in the telling of it over coffee at The Buttered Tin restaurant, many unruly elements. They include the fentanyl crisis, the homelessness crisis, city permitting and government bureaucracy, the uncertain fate and complex ownership surrounding any number of downtown office properties, and public and private efforts to maintain downtown as the economic engine of St. Paul rather than a drag on city coffers at a time of rising property taxes.

Still, where some might see incoming Mayor Kaohly Her inheriting a capital city with a number of tough, almost existential questions before it, Thornton and his colleagues share one question that in the near term for them trumps all others: When is the building’s HVAC system going to be fixed?

The downstairs restaurant maintains a separate HVAC system.

“I have my own,” said Bulldog owner Jeff Kaster. “But obviously, I walk through the building, and it’s hot. Obviously, it’s problematic.”

Park Square Court’s troubles

The Railroader Printing House adjoins the Park Square Court building, which was once slated by Madison Equities to be converted into apartments or a Marriott hotel. Instead, Park Square Court and its distinctive atrium remain vacant and boarded, with the Madison Equities-affiliated limited liability corporation that owns it having declared bankruptcy following a dispute over an unpaid loan.

“St. Paul Police found people who had scaled up the atrium and basically made an entire encampment up there,” Thornton said. “It’s in receivership, but that’s been vacant for five years.”

For months, if not years, squatters making themselves at home in the derelict Park Square Court space would traverse the skyway over to the Railroader building, where office tenants would sometimes call police to get unruly characters out of the bathroom.

Thornton, a vice president of strategic communications who has worked downtown for 17 years, including a decade with AIMCLEAR, was no stranger to snooping on behalf of his colleagues and his employer. It took him five years to gain regular access to the building’s security camera footage.

“We were having so many problems,” recalled Thornton, who found the security footage to be one of the greatest tools in his arsenal as he appealed for help to property owners, the St. Paul Police and the downtown improvement district’s street ambassadors. “Once I got access I showed (Larson) video clips of people defecating, doing drugs,” he said. “We want people to be treated humanely, but at the same time our building is not a shelter.”

Permitting issue

While far from perfect, the general situation has improved at the Railroader Printing building over the past year, with the notable exception of the malfunctioning rooftop AC unit. Thornton was told by a Madison Equities manager that a contractor had been assigned the task of fixing the unit and hopefully relieving his office of sweltering heat.

The latest visit was from Minnesota Total Refrigeration of South St. Paul.

“There were at least two if not three HVAC contractors that came through in May and June,” Thornton recalled. “I let him in, let him check our thermostat and up to the rooftop.”

A Madison Equities manager informed Thornton last month that progress had been delayed since then by the cyber-security incident that crippled city permitting over the summer.

Still, using the city’s new permitting interface, PAULIE, the contractor finally submitted an online permit application for a crane rental on Nov. 3, and “reached out to St. Paul Public Works many times,” Thornton said he was told, and “the equipment is waiting in their shop for installation.”

‘We’re waiting’

Efforts to reach Madison Equities for comment were unsuccessful Thursday, but a Nov. 13 email from Madison Equities real estate manager Derek Hennen to AIMCLEAR executives reads: “The city experienced major delays due to the hacker which impacted most city operations. … The contractor’s office has been contacting the city Public Works … often. I have also left voice messages following up on the permit approval as well.”

Thornton double-checked with the city. A right-of-way permit manager with St. Paul Public Works informed him they had not yet received a crane permit application. Instead, the company had submitted an application for licensing registration.

“He said, ‘We’re waiting. We don’t have a backlog of applications. We’ll be on it as soon as it gets in,’” Thornton said.

Larson also looked into the situation, and said Thursday he believes the problem could be as simple as the contractor reaching out to the wrong office. “There is some disconnect there,” he said.

Thornton then got the director of the city’s Department of Safety and Inspections on the phone, who told him that given the lack of appropriate paperwork, “We’re on standby.”

After playing go-between, Thornton said he’s hoping someone will pick up a phone soon and talk to someone else directly. He’s also praying for AC before summer hits, which isn’t so far away.

“I’m just a PR guy, and I can get a hold of these people,” said Thornton, who is discussing with his higher-ups the growing likelihood of leasing in another building in or outside St. Paul, and possibly moving to more of a hybrid work model. “We have multiple spaces identified. The frustration level, we have zero confidence that this thing is going to be done.”

Plans for parking ramp, vacant restaurant spaces

Meanwhile, Larson said that holding minority ownership in the Railroader Printing partnership means he’s not in control of next steps, but he’s hoping to step in where he can as Madison Equities retrenches from downtown.

If all goes well at closing on Dec. 15, he’ll be the new owner of the Stadium Ramp at 255 Sixth St., which overlooks CHS Field, home of the St. Paul Saints.

The parking ramp, which has been in receivership, hosts the A’Bulae wedding venue on the sixth floor, as well as ground-level and rooftop restaurant space, both of which are vacant.

His goal is to have both restaurant spaces occupied and greeting customers by spring.

“St. Paul is a beautiful neighborhood city that you can also do business in,” Larson said. “You can still feel that in the air.”

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Missed opportunities early and missed assignments late turned out to be a bad combination for the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night.

A trio of third-period goals by Calgary broke open a tie game, as the Flames skated to a 4-1 win and handed the Wild their first regulation loss in nearly a month.

Yakov Trenin scored the only goal for Minnesota, which had previously claimed at least a point in a dozen consecutive games. While things fell apart in the final 20 minutes, the game may have been lost early, as Minnesota was 0 for 4 on the power play in the first period, missing repeated chances to grab a critical lead on the road.

“I thought we got out-played tonight,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “It was the first time in a while I’ve seen us get out-competed, get out-skated, get out-executed. It wasn’t a good night for us.”

Filip Gustavsson finished with 26 saves, falling to 7-8-3 as Minnesota’s goalie of record this season. He went to the bench with more than three minutes remaining in the third in favor of an extra attacker, but the effort fell short as Calgary hit the empty net with just under a minute to play.

Since a 4-3 loss in Carolina on Nov. 6, the Wild had gone 10-0-2 prior to Thursday.

Calgary, which is the Western Conference’s most-penalized team thus far this season, upheld that reputation in the first period. The Flames spent eight of the opening 20 minutes playing short-handed, which allowed the Wild to enjoy decided advantages in shots and in possession time but not on the scoreboard, as the Calgary penalty kill was perfect.

The Flames’ penalty kill has been among the NHL’s best this season. They did admirable work disrupting the Wild offense, and goalie Dustin Wolf did the rest, with 11 first period saves.

“You’ve got to be ready to go, and tonight we weren’t,” Hynes said. “And that’s what happens. In this league, every night it’s a hard night. And tonight, for whatever reason…no excuses for it tonight, that’s for sure.”

Momentum swung, hard, to the home team in the middle frame, with the Flames taking a lead and holding the Wild without a shot on goal for nearly 14 minutes in the second. Jonathan Huberdeau got the game’s first goal, scoring from his knees after Ryan Hartman blocked the initial shot in front of Gustavsson, but the rebound proved to be dangerous.

“Obviously I don’t think we played up to our best standard, but I still think we created a bunch of chances early on,” Wild forward Mats Zuccarello said. “Second period, third period was so-so, but in the first first two we were creating those chances to lead the game…It’s disappointing to lose, but you’ve got to move on.”

The Wild did some line juggling later in the second to try and generate some offense, putting Joel Eriksson Ek at center between Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy. That trio got some needed offensive zone time and tested Wolf.

Minnesota finally forged a tie when Trenin redirected a Zach Bogosian shot late in the second. The assist was the first point of the season for Bogosian, who missed more than a month with a lower-body injury.

“They played a better long game,” Bogosian said, giving credit to the Flames. “I think they capitalized on their chances and Gus definitely made some big saves to keep us in it there right until the end.”

The third turned out to be disastrous for the Wild. Calgary scored twice in the first six minutes, both of them off defensive miscues by Minnesota, taking control of the game.

Wolf finished with 26 saves for the Flames, who will decide the winner of their season series with the Wild on Jan. 29 when they visit St. Paul. The Wild won their first meeting 2-0 at Grand Casino Arena on Nov. 9.

Minnesota’s four-game western road trip continues on Saturday night when the Wild visit Vancouver for the first time this season. The opening faceoff is at 9 p.m. CT.

Briefly

The Wild were without rookie forward Danila Yurov for a second consecutive game. He is on the road trip but is still working his way back from a lower-body injury.

“He skated today in practice,” Wild coach John Hynes said following the team’s morning skate in Calgary. “He’s going to do some extra hard skate now and see how everything feels. So, it looks like he’s imminent but not tonight.”

Yurov has three goals and four assists in his first 21 NHL games.

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