And, of course, pickles at the State Fair.

Judge rules Christian Castro, accused of shooting man and lying about it, cannot be held pending extradition request

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer charged with shooting a man and lying about it during the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis was released from a Texas jail on Thursday, after a judge refused to order his return to Minnesota.

Christian Castro was released at the break of dawn from a detention center in Brownsville. He motioned his hand toward a few camera operators and a reporter crowding around him and quickly got into an SUV that drove off.

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© Photograph: Michael Gonzalez/AP

© Photograph: Michael Gonzalez/AP

© Photograph: Michael Gonzalez/AP

The two states have waged an unusual court battle over the agent facing charges over a shooting in Minneapolis. The agent could be released from jail on Thursday.

© David Guttenfelder/The New York Times

Christian Castro charged with assault after allegedly shooting Venezuelan man and remains in custody in Texas

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A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent accused of firing his gun and wounding a Venezuelan man in the leg is caught in an interstate extradition dispute between Texas and Minnesota – and could walk out of a Texas jail as soon as Wednesday after a federal judge refused to intervene.

Christian Castro is charged in Minnesota with assault and falsely reporting a crime by another, in relation to the incident in which he was involved in the wounding of 24-year-old Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in January.

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© Photograph: Yuki Iwamura/AP

© Photograph: Yuki Iwamura/AP

© Photograph: Yuki Iwamura/AP

DHS officers posed as concerned citizens, joining Signal groups and taking photos of community meetings

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Newly disclosed records reveal how undercover federal agents posed as concerned community members to spy on residents and activists who opposed Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) crackdown in Minnesota.

Internal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) files, disclosed in federal court and reviewed by the Guardian, document the actions of several undercover agents, including one who went by the username “peanutbutterjelly” in Signal chats with activists. The documents show that the officer kept records of Signal conversations, screenshotting chats about protest plans and volunteer recruitment, and offering to help with fundraising efforts.

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© Photograph: Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

© Photograph: Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

© Photograph: Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

And a special Minnesota-themed crossword just for you.

© Jenn Ackerman for The New York Times

Officials are investigating after multiple strains of E. coli and a type of salmonella sickened dozens of people across the United States. Two people were infected with both salmonella and E. coli.

© St Petersburg Times/Zuma Press Wire, via Reuters

The former Sunday Night Football stalwart is now one step from a seat in the US Senate. And she could cause a shock in liberal Minnesota

As the third leg of NBC’s Sunday Night Football crew alongside play-by-play man Al Michaels and the tart-tongued analyst Cris Collinsworth, Michele Tafoya was a paragon of deference and neutrality for 11 years as an NFL sideline reporter, dutifully relating boilerplate tactics, talking points and injury updates when she wasn’t nodding along to softball interviews or fumbling through hammy production gimmicks for viewers who might have been too offline to get the bit. She was almost pathologically committed to not doing anything to draw attention to herself or her gender in an era when sideline reporting was a fast track to national celebrity. Even her football takes hewed to the middle. (“New Orleans doesn’t want to lose to Atlanta twice in a season …”) Anyone who says they saw the 61-year-old emerging as a rightwing firebrand was watching a different game.

And yet here we are. Last week, Tafoya was the decisive winner of Minnesota’s US Senate Republican primary, earning the party’s nomination for November’s general election. Even more striking: she beat back eight challengers, not least Adam Schwarze, the party-endorsed pro-gun, pro-military ex-Navy SEAL, and Royce White, the anti-leftist, anti-trans NBA flameout currently testing WNBA gender norms.

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© Photograph: Star Tribune/Getty Images

© Photograph: Star Tribune/Getty Images

© Photograph: Star Tribune/Getty Images

MyPillow founder and Trump ally lost primary to Lisa Demuth by 11 points, but still refuses to concede defeat

The pillow salesman, Donald Trump supporter and election denier Mike Lindell has offered to personally fund a recount and audit of every paper ballot cast in Minnesota’s Republican gubernatorial primary, which he lost last week.

Lindell’s announcement on Wednesday escalates his bid to challenge the results of last week’s vote, after finishing a distant second to the Minnesota house speaker, Lisa Demuth.

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© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

Why so many kids in Minnesota aren’t getting vaccinated.

A federal agent facing assault charges in Minnesota has been jailed in Texas since May. Gov. Greg Abbott has not granted an extradition request.

© Christopher Lee for The New York Times

A string of primary wins by progressive candidates has revealed the strength of a high-energy insurgent movement but also its possible limitations.

© Angelina Katsanis for The New York Times

The government said it could not prove that a man accused of threatening federal agents had committed a crime, adding to the scores of cases in the administration’s deportation efforts that have unraveled.

© Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times