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Good morning, Minnesota! A propos of nothing, I'd go insane if one of my friends changed their phone number every six months ☎️ On to the news 📢

Carlos Gonzalez/The Minnesota Star Tribune

Whatever you say in the Timberwolves group chat stays in the Timberwolves group chat.

At least that's what guard Donte DiVincenzo says of the text thread where players hash things out, share memes and generally bond with each other when they're not on the court. It's a place where cooler heads can prevail.

“Sometimes the worst time to talk about things is right after it happened, and I think that’s what the group chat allows us to do," DiVincenzo said.

I don't want to spoil too much of Chris Hine's whimsical tour through the players-only group chat, but I can't get over the fact that Anthony Edwards regularly changes his number and thus baffles his teammates when he texts from a new one.

"I got like five numbers or something from him," Naz Reid said. "I don't know who to text."

I understand that the Wolves need a space where they can all let loose and speak candidly, but I'd be lying if I weren't intrigued by the offshoots of the group chat Hine mentions in his story. One of them is reserved for players who like to fire up a game of "Call of Duty" from time to time. While the first-person shooter isn't exactly my jam, I'd play some "Mario Kart" with these guys. (And I'd win, too.)

So if Reid, Edwards and the gang want to start a general group chat — maybe with other people who work for institutions owned by Glen Taylor? — you know where to find me, boys.

Read Hine's full story at the link here.

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David Joles/The Minnesota Star Tribune

There is apparently a naturally occurring temperature at which the air becomes so frigid that you can drive nails into a wooden board using a frozen banana. Don't believe me? Well, a man in Tower, Minn., did just that back in 1996 when the temperature reached ...

Well, I'm not going to tell you.

That would give away the premise of this week's edition of the Minnesota Star Tribune's reader-powered reporting project. Audience producer Casey Darnell set out to track down the answer to the question, "What's the coldest it's ever gotten in Minnesota?" Check out the full story at the link here.

@mplsphotobot via Bluesky

We've all noticed an uptick in erratic driver behavior since the pandemic.

Some of us are still driving like the streets were as barren as they were during lockdown, with little regard for other motorists or pedestrians. Heck, I routinely see vehicles blazing through the intersection of 3rd Avenue S. and S. 4th Street driven by daredevils who can't wait the extra 45 seconds it'll take to wait for the light-rail trains. (And don't get me started on the dinguses who use bike lanes as their own personal loading zones.)

This is the part where one might say, "Ah! But it wasn't always this way."

As it turns out, maybe it was. The Bluesky account @mplsphotobot regularly posts historic photos from the Hennepin County Library. Yesterday, the account featured this frame from way back in 1946 featuring — you guessed it — motorists displaying an utter disregard for pedestrian safety in downtown Minneapolis.

Thanks, I hate it.

Eder Campuzano, reporter

David Taintor, editor