Happy Wednesday Minnesota!

Here's the latest news from across the state to start your day. ☕

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WEATHER

☀️ Our extended summer lingers through most of this week, but a strong cold front will deliver the coldest air mass of the season so far into Minnesota early next week.

🍂 Temperatures peak Thursday afternoon with more 80s across much of southern Minnesota. Then temperatures cascade downhill through the weekend and bottom out in the 20s and 30s by Tuesday morning.

Get the latest weather news on Updraft.

Lynx return to finals with 88-77 win over Sun

Napheesa Collier had 27 points and 11 rebounds and Courtney Williams contributed 24 points and both-ends-of-the-court energy to lead the Minnesota Lynx past the Connecticut Sun 88-77 and into the WNBA Finals for the first time in seven years on Tuesday night.

The Lynx will face the top-seeded New York Liberty in Game 1 on Thursday night. The best-of-five series continues with Game 2 in New York on Sunday afternoon, before Minnesota hosts Game 3 on Oct. 16.

Latest Catan board game adds new challenge: produce power without over-polluting

As players build settlements, they can choose renewable energy or fossil fuels. The company behind Catan: New Energies hopes the abstract game can spark real conversations about energy use. Catan is produced by the French game publisher Asmodee, whose North American headquarters are in Lino Lakes, Minn.

NEWS ROUNDUP

🌪️ Minnesotans in Florida brace for arrival of Hurricane Milton; Minnesota National Guard ready to provide help. MPR’s Cathy Wurzer spoke with retired MPR and National Weather Service Twin Cities meteorologist Craig Edwards on Tuesday morning. Edwards is now living in Fort Myers — away from the coast — and is sheltering in place for the storm.

🗣️ Business groups push back after Walz says they supported paid leave program. The Minnesota Chamber quickly pushed back on the new Walz comments, stressing that the trade organization backed the proposal.

🏪 ‘We’re grateful’: Rapidan Dam Store reopens in new temporary location. The Rapidan Dam Store reopened in a new location in Mankato Monday. The original building was demolished before it fell into the Blue Earth River during severe flooding which swept around the dam in June.

🏥 Minnesota hospitals scramble to conserve IV fluid during nationwide shortage. Allina Health, Hennepin Healthcare and M Health Fairview are rescheduling and delaying some non-emergency surgeries in response to the IV shortage. The health systems say they are contacting patients.

⚾ Blackouts be gone: MLB to stream, distribute Twins games next season. The Twins announced Tuesday that it will partner with the MLB to produce and distribute its games next season.

🍉 Minneapolis city leaders want to make food vendor licenses more accessible. During a council committee meeting on Tuesday, members Jason Chavez and Aurin Chowdhury introduced a legislative directive to address issues facing local food vendors, who are mostly immigrants.

🧑🏻‍⚖️ Jury convicts three members of Minneapolis Bloods gang at racketeering trial. A federal jury on Tuesday convicted three members of the Minneapolis Bloods gang in connection with the murder of two rivals. The case is notable because jurors found one of the defendants guilty of racketeering.

🏫 MSU Mankato launches new applied ag school, partnership with South Central College. MSU Mankato Provost David Hood called it a “a once-in-a-generation development” during Monday’s announcement.

🍁 Photos: Fall colors cover northern Minnesota as autumn seeps in. Despite the warmer than normal weather, the leaves are beginning to change across northern Minnesota.

🚌 Some Minneapolis Metro Transit trains will switch to buses starting Oct. 9. Part of the Metro Transit’s Blue and Green Lines will be closed starting at 10 p.m. on Wednesday for scheduled maintenance. It will reopen by 3 a.m. Monday, Oct. 14.

MUST LISTEN

🎧 Engaging younger adults in news in new ways. MPR News host Angela Davis and her guests talk about Reverb — an MPR reporting team focused on serving younger Minnesotans.

🎧 Former U.S. attorney general: If we want real policy solutions, we need to be more civil. Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder gave a lecture at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law on Tuesday on civility and its impact on public institutions.

🎧 Listen to today's headlines on our Minnesota Today podcast .

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