Good morning. Tonight could either reinforce Minnesota’s fragile sports psyche or conjure up a Kirby Puckett “see you tomorrow night” moment.

The images out of the Middle East remain difficult to absorb and the rockets, troop mobilizations and fear among civilians aren’t abating. NPR’s Daniel Estrin writes that today Israel is carrying out “heavy bombardments across the Gaza Strip” and repeatedly hitting targets tied to Hamas, which has threatened to kill hostages in response. Air strikes were also happening in southern Israel. Since last weekend’s terror spree, 14 Americans are known to have been killed and 20 remain unaccounted for, according to U.S. officials. Closer to home, MPR’s Matt Sepic was at a gathering of Minnesota Jewish communities that was attended by top political leaders.

The Star Tribune has a look at tensions within wings of the Democratic Party over the situation in Israel. Although it should be noted that the clear majority of elected DFL officials have been united in condemning the terror attacks by Hamas.

The U.S. House speaker drama reaches another pivotal point today. Republicans will go back into a closed-door meeting to cast votes on who they’ll nominate to lead the chamber and be the highest-ranking party member in the federal government. We know that the two announced candidates are Steve Scalise, the House majority leader, and Jim Jordan, the judiciary committee chair. But if neither can win enough party support, others could emerge as consensus picks for speaker. A vote on the House floor would follow, but there is no telling when that might happen. AP reports that deep divides among Republicans remain. The wire service also reports that the internal GOP strife in Washington isn’t confined to the nation’s capital. 

Local angle reminder: Minnesota’s Tom Emmer is currently in House Republican leadership but could move up the ladder if Scalise wins. We’ll be keeping tabs on that.

Another member of Minnesota’s congressional delegation could be gearing up to make his own splash. Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips, a third-term lawmaker from the western Twin Cities suburbs, said he’ll decide on a presidential bid within the next few weeks. He told reporters, including MPR’s Mark Zdechlik , that filing deadlines and the buildup to the 2024 primaries makes an in-or-out decision imperative. Phillips has tried to encourage somebody in his party to take on Democratic President Joe Biden or urge the incumbent to pass the torch, but none of note have done so.

Minnesota’s tax collections for the past few months blew by projections by $400 million, or nearly 7 percent. The Department of Minnesota Management and Budget put out its quarterly update. All major tax categories exceeded expectations. Of note: The total tax rebate that state revenue officials have finished sending wound up to be $144 million lower than anticipated. In the near term, the economic outlook is solid, but it is expected to taper starting the middle of next year.

There haven’t been any updates yet from the Office of the Legislative Auditor about whether to move beyond an initial examination of hiring practices. That follows a bungled appointment of a cannabis regulatory agency leader. Gov. Tim Walz said Tuesday he welcomes the look and would be open to any recommendations for improving the hiring and vetting process. "I've had the opportunity to earn the privilege to appoint about 2,600 Minnesotans to do jobs, whether it's overseeing our state parks or, or other things. So certainly welcome, see what they can find and get some. If there's any improvements there. We welcome them."

That MPR News Capitol and politics reporting job I mentioned earlier in the week has been posted. Apply here to work with Dana Ferguson, Mark Zdechlik, me and the rest of the news team.