DULUTH — Margins in last week's gubernatorial election swung in favor of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party in all 87 Minnesota counties compared to the presidential election just two years ago. DFL Governor-elect Amy Klobuchar outperformed Republican President Donald Trump's 2024 margins in every county, signaling a shift in voter sentiment reflected in races across the country last week. The swing was most pronounced in Nobles County, which saw a nearly 14-percentage-point shift to Democrats. Home to Worthington, the southwestern Minnesota county backed Trump over Kamala Harris by nearly 36 percentage points in 2024, but last week it favored Republican Lisa Demuth, Klobuchar's competitor, by 22 points. In the Northland, St. Louis County saw the largest difference, reinforcing its DFL preference by nearly 10 points — moving from Harris' 14-point margin in 2024 to Klobuchar's 24-point margin last week.
We just returned from a trip to Worthington, Minnesota, filming a Fishing the Midwest TV episode. We caught nice walleyes casting small crankbaits to rocky shorelines. Last October and November, a couple fishing buddies and I had productive days targeting walleyes, trolling deep diving baits on South Dakota's Lake Oahe on a pair of trips. In fact, the biggest walleye of my fishing career came on Oahe last fall. Those experiences reminded me of how productive crankbaits can be during fall. Fall crankin' can be very effective for walleyes, but bass eat cranks in fall too. In fact, one of the most productive methods I use to catch largemouth bass during my last open water fishing days in November involves casting deep-diving crankbaits. Here are some keys to late fall crankbait fishing. High-action crankbaits are top producers during the warm waters of summer and early fall.
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SIOUX CENTER, Iowa — Dakota Wesleyan University men's soccer's quest for its first Great Plains Athletic Conference championship ran short on Tuesday night, as Dordt downed the Tigers 2-1 with a golden goal in overtime. With the win, No. 2-seeded Dordt (13-5-3) — which was picked eighth in the preseason GPAC coaches poll — will go to the NAIA men's soccer tournament for the first time with the conference's sole automatic bid. DWU, which was seeded fourth in the GPAC tournament and won the quarterfinal and semifinal matches in penalty kicks, finishes the season with a record of 9-6-2.
SIOUX CITY, Iowa — Third-seeded Morningside edged No. 7 Dakota Wesleyan in each of the three sets on Wednesday night and clinched a spot in the Great Plains Athletic Conference tournament championship with a semifinal victory at the Rosen Verdoorn Sports Center. Set scores were 25-20, 25-22 and 25-23. DWU (19-11) will await its national tournament fate on Monday, Nov. 16, when the 48-team NAIA field will be announced. Morningside (25-6) advances play No. 1-seeded Northwestern (29-1) in the GPAC championship on Saturday, Nov. 14 in Orange City, Iowa. If selected, it will be DWU's fifth all-time national tournament appearance and the fourth in the last six seasons. Morningside finished with a 48-43 edge in kills and hit .254 for the match, while DWU was hitting .197. DWU finished with a 9-5 lead in total blocks. In the first set, Morningside used a 7-1 stretch to take control and land the first salvo in the contest.
