Minnetonka

When people think of camping in Minnesota, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in the northeastern part of the state immediately comes to mind. Fortunately for Twin Cities residents, one need not drive five hours north to Quetico-Superior Country to experience camping in the woods. Right within the Twin Cities area there are plenty of options for locals […]

Drew Gilbert finished with a sub-0.5 earned-run average as a junior and struck out 15 batters in a shutout victory over Minnetonka in the Class 4A state title game at Target Field. The Ponies’ ace seems to have returned this spring even better, bad news for Minnesota high school batters. Irondale and Cretin-Derham Hall were Gilbert’s first victims of the spring. Gilbert threw four scoreless, one-hit innings against the Knights before he reached an early-season pitch-count limit of 65. Against Cretin-Derham Hall on Tuesday, the senior went the distance, striking out 16 batters and giving up zero runs … and zero hits. It was the first no-hitter of his varsity career after a pair of one-hitters last season. “Obviously, it was pretty cool,” Gilbert said Wednesday. “But at the end of the day, I’m just glad we won the game. That’s what’s most important to me.” The Ponies needed Gilbert’s heroics to do so. Stillwater won the game 1-0 and didn’t score on the Raiders until the sixth frame. Gilbert needed just 88 pitches to complete the game, a sign of his progression. Along with developing a changeup this season, Gilbert hopes to make a leap with his efficiency. Too many times last season Gilbert saw himself drifting past 100 pitches. “(I’m) just honing in on trying to be efficient, get quick outs and just put hitters away once I get them in 0-2 counts or 1-2 counts,” he said. Cretin-Derham Hall provided the Ponies their second stiff test of the season. After Stillwater’s bullpen surrendered a lead against Irondale, the Ponies’ bats had to rally for the comeback victory. Gilbert, who has committed to play baseball for defending NCAA champion Oregon State next season, also has been one of the key bats for Stillwater early in the season. Through three games, he had yet to record an out, going 7 for 7 with a few walks. On the mound, he has thrown 11 innings, surrendering just one hit while striking out about 25 batters. [related_articles location=”right” show_article_date=”false” article_type=”automatic-primary-tag”] Stillwater entered Wednesday’s contest against Park 3-0. “I think it’s nice to get a little confidence just winning these big games, close games,” Gilbert said. “Our chemistry as a team grows through that. Just being able to take it day by day and not take any team for granted is going to help us hopefully make another run again.”

The Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office Water Patrol Unit uses an airboat to glide over the ice on Lake Minnetonka. Deputies park the boat and drill through the ice, taking measurements to see how thick it is.

by Charlie H., Senior Research 2 Student The sight of hundreds of research projects lined up in a stadium was more than a little intimidating to me when my partner and I competed in the Twin Cities Regional Science Fair with the app that we have been working on for the past several months. The […]

If you have an all conference list email kja8067@gmail.com USA TODAY ALL MINNESOTA

Orono is weighing a proposal for what could be the biggest apartment project the city has seen in decades, if not ever. Minnetonka-based Lake West Development is pitching the 244-unit Eisinger Flats project for a 9.8-acre site bounded by Wayzata Boulevard to the north and Highway 12 to the south. Facing a number of unresolved […]

“Lyrid meteor shower: All you need to know” A few folks have been reporting shooting stars or meteors over the last few nights and that’s because the annual Lyrid Meteor Shower is only a few days away from peaking on Apirl 23rd!! “The annual Lyrid meteor shower is active each year from about April 16…

The 2018-19 ALL-USA Minnesota Girls Basketball Team has been announced. Check out the selections!

The U.S.’s biggest health insurer sharply criticized the “Medicare for All” proposals being debated by Democrats, wading into a heated Washington political debate that’s likely to dominate the 2020 presidential race and the conversation about the future of private health plans in America. For months, health insurers have kept mostly quiet about the proposal, the most-ambitious versions of which would replace privately financed health coverage with Medicare, the government program that covers about 60 million mostly elderly Americans. On Tuesday, UnitedHealth Group’s chief executive officer said such proposals would amount to a “wholesale disruption of American health care.” As a source of coverage, Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth is almost as large as Medicare itself. It provides health-insurance services to 49.7 million people, and last year recorded revenue of $226.2 billion. Along with insurance, it operates physician practices, sells consulting and data services, and administers drug benefits. It also covers millions of people in the private-sector versions of Medicare and Medicaid. Despite its immense size, the company has kept a relatively low profile with the wider public. Engaging in a political fight could turn it into a political target as Democrats look for winning issues. “The options are clear between a government-sponsored or government-run system and the one we have to offer,” UnitedHealth CEO Dave Wichmann said on a conference call with investors Tuesday. Wichmann said the costs of Medicare for All would “surely have a severe impact on the economy and jobs — all without fundamentally increasing access to care.” Contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination, including Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, have called for government-run health care as a way of covering more people, calling it a “human right, not a privilege.” Sanders discussed his plans at Fox News town hall in Bethlehem, Pa., on Monday night. Fox anchor Bret Baier asked the audience at the event to raise their hands if they had private health insurance from an employer. “Now of those, how many are willing to transition to what the senator says, a government-run system?” Baier asked the crowd. There were cheers in the room as people raised their hands, and afterward Sanders posted a clip from the event, tweeting “raise your hand if you’re sick and tired of your private health insurance company.” And last week, Sanders specifically called out UnitedHealth, saying in an April 12 tweet “your greed is going to end.” Sanders specifically referenced Steve Nelson, who is chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, the company’s insurance division. Sanders cited a Washington Post story about remarks Nelson made at a company meeting. [related_articles location=”right” show_article_date=”false” article_type=”automatic-primary-tag”] According to the Post, Nelson answered a question from an employee about the insurer’s role in the political discussion, saying, “the last thing you want to do is become the poster child during the presidential campaign.” A spokesman for the company said UnitedHealth has long supported the expansion of health-care coverage. UnitedHealth’s policy positions broadly align with moderate Democrats led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The company has said it favors preserving the employer-based health insurance system, and expanding coverage to uninsured people through public programs and financing. While there are many variations of the Medicare for All idea, in general it involves expanding the program from older Americans to the rest of the population. Some proposals would have Medicare as an option for people to buy into and compete with private insurers, while others would replace the entire private health-insurance system with Medicare. “The path forward is to achieve universal coverage and it can be substantially reached through existing public and private platforms,” Wichmann said on the call, saying there should be a health system that “offers the access, choice and coverage protections people seek at a fair cost to the individual and society as a whole.

UnitedHealth covers nearly 50 million people internationally as the largest U.S. health insurer, but it also has been stoking growth in its Optum segment for several years now.

UnitedHealth Group beat first-quarter expectations and raised its 2019 forecast, as the nation’s largest insurer increased Medicare coverage and received another boost from its growing business outside health insurance. The performance softened, at least temporarily, an unusual stock price slump so far this year. UnitedHealth said Tuesday that revenue from its Medicare and retirement business […]

UnitedHealth and other insurers saw their stocks drop earlier this year after “Medicare for All” legislation was introduced in Congress.

The 2018-19 ALL-USA Minnesota Boys Basketball Team has been announced. Check out the selections!