At the Minneapolis Hockey Association’s “Take Back the Ice” children’s skating session on July 25, volunteer coaches skated for an hour while waiting for children to arrive, but they never came. 

The session was held at Parade Ice Garden, the association’s home rink. The program is designed for Minneapolis children ages 4 through 9, aimed at first-year skaters interested in learning to play hockey. The marketing for the program was minimal, due to the fear of more children signing up than the program could support, said volunteer coach Anthony Walsh.

“We don’t want to have a broad net cast because there’s only 20 scholarship opportunities,” Walsh said. “We’re not gonna run out of scholarship money with zero kids showing up.”

In June, the Supreme Court upheld a ruling that allows states to ban transgender women from competing in sports at public schools. The ruling comes after years of right-wing contention surrounding trans athletes competing amongst cisgender peers.

This debate around transgender women athletes reflects a misunderstanding on the part of dissenters and a prejudice against female athletes that is sadly familiar. 

We’ve all seen the haze and heard the news. Currently, there are three major fires spreading through northern Minnesota, including the Little Knife Fire, which has burned 4,598 acres of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. Just miles away sits the late Dorothy Molter’s cabin on the Isle of Pines, a series of islands bordering Canada. 

To remind us of the importance and beauty of the Boundary Waters, the History Theatre in St. Paul brought back “The Root Beer Lady,” a one-woman show written and performed by Kim Schultz and directed by Jess Yates about “the luckiest woman alive,” Dorothy Molter, the last legal non-indigenous resident of the Boundary Waters. 

“You know, she’s an icon,” Schultz said. “She’s a Minnesota legend. So many people know about her, and dozens of people come up to me and say how they met her and how great she was.”  

The Minnesota Gopher football team added eight new receivers this past spring, leaving senior Javon Tracy and junior Jalen Smith to lead one of the most inexperienced position groups for the Gophers ahead of the 2026 season. It will be up to them to teach the newcomers what they have learned as Gophers. 

At the July 22 Gopher football media day, Tracy said he learned that little details are the most important part of a receiver’s game, especially in the Big Ten. Tracy transferred from Miami (Ohio) to Minnesota last season. He had 454 receiving yards and a team-leading six receiving touchdowns for the Gophers.