President Emmanuel Macron and far-right contender Marine Le Pen will face off in a French presidential debate on Wednesday evening.

Macron is currently leading in the polls but Le Pen has significantly narrowed the gap in public support compared to the last presidential election against the two, which was five years ago.

Le Pen recently called the 2017 presidential debate the “biggest failure” of her political career. This time, she has pledged to be better prepared, working “at home” with her closest advisers. Both candidates need to broaden support before Sunday’s vote. Many French, especially on the left, say they still don’t know whether they will even go to the polls.

The Minnesota Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to hear a challenge by environmentalists over portions of a lower court ruling involving a key permit for the proposed PolyMet copper-nickel mine.

The Minnesota Court of Appeals in January reversed a 2018 decision by state regulators to issue PolyMet Mining Corp. a water quality permit for the project.

The Supreme Court’s order is just the latest step in a long legal battle. Several other key permits that PolyMet needs also remain tied up in litigation or the regulatory process.

Twenty positive COVID-19 cases were reported by St. Thomas’ Center for Well-Being during the week ending April 17.

Fourteen cases came from the St. Paul campus and six came from the Minneapolis campus; 15 were students and five were employees.

The Center for Well-Being states that the numbers have “remained steady and well below previous highs from the semester” and that there is no evidence of classroom transmission.

Beyond the university’s vaccine requirement, St. Thomas encourages the community to get boosted. Anyone exposed to COVID-19 who is not boosted is required to quarantine according to Centers for Disease Control health guidelines.