Skirmishes within Minnesota’s political parties reach decisive moments Tuesday with primaries that will determine the November ballot choices for governor, U.S. Senate and other downballot offices.

Polls open at 7 a.m. and are open until 8 p.m. or as long as voters in line by the time polls are supposed to close.

Minnesota has an open primary, which means voters don’t have to be a strict partisan to participate. But for a ballot to count, only vote in one party’s primaries on a single ballot.

Here are some of the races primary voters will decide:

Governor

Amy Klobuchar, a household name in Minnesota politics, is the clear favorite on the DFL side.

While she has some primary opposition — Kobey Layne, Ole Savior, Mohammed Wazwaz, Bill Gates Jr. and Thomas Evenstad are on the ballot — those candidates haven't made the four-term senator sweat much.

Klobuchar has raked in money and, throughout the primary, focused on the Republicans who she might face in November.

On the GOP side, there's a bit of a crowd of contenders.

Businessman Kendall Qualls has GOP endorsement, which is usually the gold standard in a Republican primary. But he's trailed in fundraising and polling.

Lisa Demuth is the lone candidate with public office experience. The Minnesota House speaker has deep connections and the most money.

There’s also Mike Lindell. The MyPillow founder rose to prominence by vocally and financially backing conspiracy theories that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election. That loyalty earned Lindell a Trump endorsement. He’s led in several recent KSTP polls. But the state Republican Party has been on the attack against Lindell, questioning his ability to win in November.

Also listed on the GOP ballot are Loner Blue, John Krhin and Ross Nova.

U.S. Senate

This is for the seat of retiring DFL U.S. Sen. Tina Smith.

Two DFLers are in a knockdown contest: Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and U.S. Rep. Angie Craig.

Their race echoes themes in Democratic primaries elsewhere — a progressive versus moderate showdown.

Flanagan is aligned with the Bernie Sanders-Elizabeth Warren movement. Craig has the backing of more moderate Democrats like Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Craig has had more money spent on her behalf. That, in itself, has been a prominent campaign issue. It’s expected to be a close race.

Four other DFLers are on the ballot: Billy Nord, Peter Murgic, George Kalberer and Kurt Anderson.

Like the race for governor, Republicans have three prominent candidates vying for the seat and some lesser-known ones.

Adam Schwarze, a former Navy Seal, has the GOP endorsement but is an underdog and has lagged in polling.

Schwarze has struggled to keep pace with former sports broadcaster Michele Tafoya, a favorite of the national party establishment and the clear money leader.

There's also former pro basketball player Royce White, the party's Senate nominee two years ago. He's leaned into hard-right rhetoric and is known for his confrontational style.

The other options for voters are: Bob Carney Jr., Cynthia Gail, Ahmad Hassan, Joyce Lacey, Patrick Munro and Tom Weiler.

State Auditor

This is another statewide office race that has competition on the GOP side. The two leading candidates are Braham Mayor Nate George, who won the party endorsement, and Scott Jensen, a family doctor who was the Republican nominee for governor last time.

Will Finn is on the ballot as well.

The winner will face DFLer Zack Filipovich and the Forward Independence Party’s Jay Reeves in November.

Secretary of State

Republicans are the only party with a nomination contest.

Former lawmaker and ex-judge Tad Jude has the GOP’s endorsement in a race against Wendy Phillips.

They are vying to take on three-term DFL Secretary of State Steve Simon, the Green Party’s Seth Kuhl-Stennes and Libertarian George Tangen in the fall.

Attorney General

Two-term DFL Attorney General Keith Ellison is after another four years. He faces Minneapolis lawyer David Madgett in the Democratic primary.

Minneapolis attorney Ron Schutz is the Republican candidate for November.

Congress

DFL U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar has DFL challengers in the 5th District again, but unlike past years her primary has been relatively sleepy. There are four challengers: Julie Le, Abena McKenzie, Latonya Reeves and Nate Schluter.

One of the more closely watched races is in the suburban-exurban 2nd District. Three current and former state legislators are after the Democratic nomination: state Rep. Kaela Berg, state Sen. Matt Klein and former state Sen. Matt Little. The winner will face another lawmaker, Republican state Sen. Eric Pratt for the open seat in November.

Up north in the 8th District, former federal worker Trina Swanson and reality TV personality Luke Gulbranson want the Democratic spot in a fall race against GOP U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber. A third candidate, John Munter, is also on the ballot.

An uphill fight awaits the winner. Stauber is the heavy favorite against Anthony Hamilton in a GOP primary.

And in the southern 1st District, either high school teacher Jake Johnson or small business owner Alex Eaton will have a crack at the GOP incumbent U.S. Rep. Brad Finstad in a race Democrats feel they could make into a competitive one. Finstad isn’t likely to be derailed for his party nod in a primary challenge from Gregory Goetzman and Oliver Morlan.

Minnesota Legislature

Eleven incumbents in the Minnesota Legislature are facing challengers within their party this primary.

In the Senate:

• GOP state Sen. Paul Utke vs. state Rep. Mike Wiener in District 5

• GOP state Sen. Nathan Wesenberg vs. Deb Holthaus in District 10

• GOP state Sen. John Jasinski vs. Crystal Alan in District 19

• DFL state Sen. Susan Pha vs. Nehemiah Garley in District 38

• DFL state Sen. Ron Latz vs. Lynette Dumalag in District 46

• DFL state Sen. Omar Fateh vs. Jeanelle Austin and Brenda Short in District 62

• GOP state Rep. Josh Heintzeman vs. Matthew Eric Zinda in District 6B

• GOP state Rep. Tom Murphy vs. Craig Horlocker in District 9B

• GOP state Rep. Dawn Gillman vs. Wayne Olson in District 17A

• DFL state Rep. Hulda Momanyi-Hiltsley vs. Richard Klatte and Wynfred Russell in District 38A

• DFL state Rep. Mohamed Noor vs. Abdurrahman Mahmud in District 60B

There are open seats, too, where primary voters will have choices to make.

Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis are coming home to Minnesota for a special concert at the Minnesota State Fair. The Minnesota music legends are the award-winning songwriting and production duo behind dozens of hits for some of the biggest names in music and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022.

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with the longtime friends and creative partners about their Minnesota roots, the story behind their successful careers and the friendship that has kept them working together for more than 50 years.

Guests:

• Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis are a Grammy Award-winning songwriting and production duo from Minnesota who have created hits for artists including Janet Jackson, Prince, Mariah Carey and Usher. They have been friends and creative partners for more than 50 years.

Do you know a Power Pair?

“Power Pairs” is a series featuring prominent Minnesotans in a close relationship. You may know of them separately but they reveal a new side of themselves when they sit down together. Listen to past interviews here and submit your idea for a future Power Pair here.

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.  

A person was wounded in what St. Paul police are calling an officer-involved shooting Monday morning outside Regions Hospital.

According to an initial account from the police department:

Officers were searching for a suspect in a domestic assault downtown. That person was believed to be armed.

Officers located the person at about 9:30 a.m. on East 12th Street, outside the hospital, “where the encounter resulted in a shooting involving St. Paul police,” according to the department’s initial account. “Officers immediately rendered aid to the suspect, who’s currently being treated at Regions Hospital. No officers were injured.”

The initial police statement did not say who fired a gun and did not provide further details on what led to the shooting. The name of the person who was wounded has not been released.

Police said there’s no ongoing threat to the public, and the department has asked the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to handle the investigation.

This is a developing story; check back for updates

It’s been a dry summer for many Minnesotan farmers as drought conditions blanket much of the state.

But rain has come for key production areas in recent weeks. Minnesota Department of Agriculture Commissioner Thom Petersen called the showers “crop-saving rain” at this year’s annual ag trade show, Farmfest, in Redwood County in southwest Minnesota.

“Right here, we were dry, but the crop looks really good,” Minnesota Farmers Union President Gary Wertish added. “We've been blessed here, just getting some timely rains in this immediate area.”

That rain could make a big difference for farmers’ fields, according to senior marketing analyst Mark Schultz with Northstar Commodities.

“The rain that you picked up last Friday was anywhere from a 20 to 30 bushel per acre swing on the size of your crop,” said Schultz. “I think it was just that big of a difference maker in the crop.”

That rain could help strengthen this year’s crop production. Last year, Minnesota had record or near-record yields of corn, wheat and soybeans. University of Minnesota Extension Professor Edward Usset said this year’s crop is looking “as good or better” than last year’s.

“We have a shot at setting yield records again in all three crops,” said Usset. “A lot can happen in the last four or five weeks of this crop, but we have that chance to do it.”

Southwest and central Minnesota will still need more than five inches of rain in the coming months to reverse drought conditions, according to projections by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Minnesota producers will have a clearer picture of yields on Wednesday when the U.S. Department of Agriculture publishes its latest crop production report.

Mid-summer days are typically the peak time for Minnesotans to spend time enjoying the state’s many lakes.

But Anne and Joe Nicklaus, year-round residents of White Sand Lake in Baxter, spent Friday in mud over their ankles, trying to load their pontoon onto a trailer and hoist it out of the water at the public access.

Because of the lake’s low water level, Anne Nicklaus said they’ve only used the pontoon once since Memorial Day.

“Lake life is awesome, but this is not a nice time with the water so low,” she said.

Recent weeks of below-normal rainfall and above-average temperatures have caused water levels in many lakes to fall, frustrating property owners and cutting into boating, fishing and swimming during the height of summer.

Lake levels around the state are low, but the steepest drops are in northeast and north-central Minnesota. Some lakes in Cass and Hubbard counties are up to 4 feet lower than 2020.

In north-central Minnesota, a persistent drought stretching several years has created a “storage drought,” depleting lakes, streams and groundwater.

That part of the state has received a total of 12 to 16 inches less rain than normal over the past four years, said Luigi Romolo, state climatologist with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

“That repeated accumulation of deficit in water has made the area a lot more susceptible to drought,” Romolo said. “The lake levels, the stream flows, groundwater levels are a lot lower than they should be based on what the drought conditions are today.”

Recovery won’t happen quickly. Romolo said it could take months – or even more than a year – of above-normal precipitation to restore lake levels and soil moisture.

“One wet year might not be enough,” he said.

Winter snowpack also helps determine lake levels and soil moisture. Midwinter thaws, as in Minnesota in recent years, send melting snow downstream instead of allowing it to soak into the ground, replenishing soil and groundwater.

“What we really need to do to get our soils and our lakes and our groundwaters filled back up is we need winters where we can get snow on the ground, hold that snow on the ground and then melt it in the spring,” Romolo said.

Complicating the problem is water consumption increases during dry conditions as people use more to irrigate crops, lawns and sports fields.

The DNR says conserving water is always important, but critical during drought years.

Some benefits of low lakes

Low lake levels can be an annoyance, but fluctuations in water levels are a natural cycle and beneficial to many plants and animals, said Heather Baird, lake habitat supervisor with the DNR’s Brainerd office.

"Our low water years is really when our aquatic vegetation bounces back,” Baird said. “You can have bulrush seeds and bur-reed seeds lay dormant in the soil until we get a dry period. And then they germinate."

Those aquatic plants are important for fish and wildlife habitat to maintain lake health and prevent shoreline erosion, Baird said.

Kayla McBride made a WNBA-record 10 3-pointers and finished with a career-high 43 points on Sunday as the Minnesota Lynx beat the Dallas Wings 103-90, becoming the first team to clinch a spot in the WNBA playoffs.

The Lynx (27-7), who set a franchise record with 18 made 3s, have won 12 of 13.

McBride made 10 of 14 from behind the arc and 16 of 21 overall before she left the game with 1:21 remaining to a standing ovation. The previous mark of nine made 3s had been done eight times by six different players, most recently by Toronto's Marina Mabrey on June 25.

Olivia Miles had 20 points and 13 assists for Minnesota. Napheesa Collier scored 17 and Natasha Howard 12.

Dallas All-Star Jessica Shepard left the game in the first quarter due to an ankle injury and did not return.

The Wings (19-13) have lost three consecutive games and six of their last eight.

Paige Bueckers had 23 points and eight assists, and Aziaha James added a season-high 19 points for Dallas. Odyssey Sims scored 17 and Alanna Smith had 11 points and eight rebounds.

Rookie Azzi Fudd (knee), picked No. 1 overall, missed her second consecutive game.

Up next

Wings: Host Toronto on Wednesday.

Lynx: Play Wednesday at Portland.

Aside from whom to vote for, a source of consternation for some voters this year is the administration of the elections themselves: Will they be secure and will there be any interference?

The questions are relevant given a retreat in federal security support to states and suggestions by President Donald Trump that federal authorities be more assertive in watching over voting activities usually left to state and local authorities.

The Trump administration’s rollback of election security could cost Minnesota up to an estimated $250,000 to make up the difference, according to Secretary of State Steve Simon.

For the last decade, the federal government has provided extensive support to states, including security briefings and cybersecurity testing. Since Trump resumed office, key agencies have been slashed, the administration sued dozens of states for sensitive voter data and officials have been reluctant to tamp down concerns about federal agents showing up at polling places.

Elections experts warn all of it could have a long-term negative impact and inflict damage on what has been a collaborative effort historically.

States have constitutional authority over elections and have successfully run elections without significant federal support in the past. However, Simon said the 2016 presidential election was a “watershed” moment that required the federal government to step up election support.

“You could divide modern day election administration into two halves, the world before 2016 and the world after 2016,” Simon said. Russia “tried to literally hack and get into elections-related databases.”

“Fortunately, in the case of Minnesota, all the defenses held, everything worked, no one got in, but it really was a wake-up call for the whole country and the elections community,” Simon said.

On his way out of office in January 2017, President Barack Obama designated elections as critical infrastructure. That meant the federal government would prioritize protecting and supporting elections just as it would hospitals, water systems and the power grid.

The first Trump administration ramped up election cybersecurity support for states and the Biden administration continued that trend.

“I give credit not just to the tail end of the Obama administration, I give credit to the first Trump administration,” Simon said. “They were really active and effective partners for states in administering elections.”

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA — housed within the Department of Homeland Security — began to function as a hub of election security information. States could report suspicious or malicious activity and CISA would warn other states to be alert.

Ryan Macias is an election technology and cybersecurity expert who teaches at the University of Minnesota and previously consulted for CISA.

Macias said the information sharing allowed CISA to “take a holistic approach of: What are the real threats going on across the entire election infrastructure? And then be able to disseminate that back out to be proactive in advance of something spreading.”

Macias said CISA would also provide states with guidance on how to prevent, identify and respond to both physical and cyber threats to polling places or elections websites.

No more briefings

Since Trump returned in 2025, nearly a third of CISA’s workforce has left or been pushed out and the agency has pulled back support for programs that provided cybersecurity support to states. Another key elections agency lost its bipartisan commissioners.

Elections officials say states are increasingly being left to fend for themselves.

“There was never a memo saying ‘henceforth we're not going to be doing intelligence briefings,’ we just haven't gotten any intelligence briefings,” Simon said.

Simon said the prior CISA briefings provided important information about both the absence of threats and the existence of possible threats. While limited in what he can divulge, Simon said he received “actionable intelligence” and advice.

Simon said CISA also hasn’t provided cybersecurity testing or tabletop exercises to game out security scenarios like it used to.

CISA did not respond to a request for comment on what services the agency is or isn’t currently providing to states.

Simon and Macias said states can do some of their own cybersecurity testing. But it puts an added strain on state budgets.

“It's definitely not dire that the federal government isn't providing these resources because elections officials are still doing all of the security measures that they should be doing to protect the midterms,” Macias said.

“It just means that they are having to scrape from their own budgets or redirect assets and resources that should be going elsewhere,” Macias added.

More concerning to him is the lack of a birds-eye-view of the country’s entire election system that could proactively identify vulnerabilities in the system.

Jennifer Morrell, an elections audits expert who ran local elections in Utah and Colorado who also previously worked with CISA, also worries about the lost community network built up over the past 10 years.

“I understand completely states now wanting to own their own penetration testing or network monitoring,” Morrell said. “But I do think losing that human connectedness and that sort of learning and sharing of best practices. I think that's hard for an individual state to replace on their own.”

Last month, Trump fired the remaining commissioners of the Election Assistance Commission — another key federal agency that provides election support and that has distributed election and voting system funds to states for decades.

Fired Commissioner Thomas Hicks said the agency can run without commissioners in the short term, but will be hobbled in the long term.

“If we had seen this done in another country, of the president removing folks from an election body, would we be quiet and we’d say, ‘Oh, that’s OK. They don't really do anything.’ I would say no. I would say that this is something that should cause alarm to people,” Hicks said. “Especially three months before a major election.”

“[Trump] has advocated for new processes, but not put additional funding in his budgets for those things. And I think that that's something to truly look at,” Hicks added.

Morrell said it all makes for a dramatic shift from a collaborative relationship to an oppositional one.

“Whether it's been the call for immigration agents to be at the polls, raids that we've seen of local election offices, threats of criminal prosecution for election officials not turning over voter files. Even if these don't materialize, it's creating this just unneeded stress and anxiety for election officials,” Morrell said.

ICE at the polls?

For months, Democrats have pressed the Trump administration to say whether armed federal agents would be deployed to polling places. Federal law prohibits federal officers from interfering in elections and bans agents from being deployed “anywhere an election is held.” Minnesota law also restricts law enforcement access to polling places.

The Department of Homeland Security has said it has no plans to target voting locations, but some Republicans argue agents are needed to prevent noncitizens from voting, despite instances of that happening being extremely rare.

Adding to the confusion, federal officials have made conflicting statements. Some, including Trump, have failed to definitively answer whether federal agents would be sent to polling locations this year.

“I think there's real reason to believe that it could intimidate voters or have a chilling effect on voting if people do expect this federal presence to materialize,” Morrell said.

Simon said he’s often asked: Will ICE be at the polls? So far in Minnesota, the answer is no.

Simon said his office has been coordinating with local elections officials and law enforcement to make sure everyone is on the same page about what is legal and what is not.

Simon also pointed to Minnesota’s robust mail-in voting system as an option for any voter who doesn’t want to go to a polling place for any reason. “You can vote from your kitchen table,” Simon said.

Minnesotans have already been voting early for months in the Aug. 11 primary election and turnout has been high.

Minneapolis Director of Elections Katie Smith said at an early voting location in July that things have gone smoothly so far for people casting ballots in person and by mail.

“We haven't heard of any, you know, threats or anything specific around this election. The polling places are safe,” she said.

Smith has encouraged people to get involved in the process if they have concerns about the security or conduct of elections.

“We're hearing a lot about how do I get involved? How do I do my part? How do I protect the process this year?” Smith said.

Smith said she tells voters they can contribute to the democratic process by voting, volunteering as poll workers, translating for friends, or giving rides to the polls.

Election administration expert Morrell said though elections offices across the country are stretched thin, she continues to be impressed by their work.

“We're actually seeing all these great things where they know they're under scrutiny, they know they're under this microscope,” Morrell said.

“So offices all across the country, but especially in Minnesota, are really digging in on physical security and chain of custody, and thinking about how they're limiting access to sensitive areas.”

Paul Busch was 16 years old when he was sexually abused by his ballet teacher at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in 2005. At the time, Busch told NPR, he was living away from his parents, wanted more than anything to be a professional dancer and revered the teacher who harmed him.

Busch is sharing his experience publicly for the first time after spending 21 years reckoning with what happened to him at the Michigan boarding school.

"A lot of my desire was to prove that I was enough," Busch said. "That I was good enough and that I was worthy of love." He said that "this was the perfect condition" for someone to prey on him.

His story reflects the larger themes of a sweeping independent report, released last month, that details decades of sexual abuse allegations on the campus of the prestigious arts boarding school and summer camp.

In the report, former Interlochen students recount some 70 allegations of sexual abuse by nearly 50 adults who were employed or affiliated with the school from the 1950s to the 2010s. It's a stark contrast to the longtime idyllic image of Interlochen, which helped launch the careers of performers such as Josh Groban, Norah Jones, Chappell Roan, Felicity Huffman and Da'Vine Joy Randolph.

The report offers a window into the conditions that contributed to the abuse. In many cases, it says, adults were able to have one-on-one interactions with students, while the children at the school had limited communication with their families and were vulnerable due to age, sexual identity and lack of experience. And, it says, some were scared to report what happened to them.

The report includes allegations of sexual abuse by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, an alumni and benefactor, and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. NPR reported in February that Epstein met and recruited two young teenagers on the campus. But the allegations go far beyond the disgraced financier, who died in prison in 2019.

Interlochen hired Sanghavi Law Office in 2024 to investigate abuse at the school after an alumna came forward about her experience in the 1970s regarding a longtime faculty member and administrator.

In a letter to the community released alongside the report, Interlochen said that today it is "fundamentally different from the institution described in this report." In a statement to NPR, the school described safety measures it has put in place to protect students and a network of resources, including a team of school counselors, social workers and a psychologist.

But for Busch, the response from Interlochen is not enough.

"They get to say, 'Case closed,'" he said. "That is completely unacceptable because — guess what? — my life is still open."

Together, Busch's perspective and the report's observations shed light on a decades-long history of sexual abuse at a school that was built for children and teenagers who aspire to be artists but were often unprotected, due to what the report called "gaps in oversight" and a "permissive environment."

In its letter to the community, Interlochen named three former staff members and one former trustee who have been accused of sexual misconduct. Only one of them is still alive — Thomas Clower, the teacher who pleaded guilty to abusing Busch.

At the time that the law firm's report was released, Clower's name was listed as an instructor on the website of a dance school for children and teenagers in Texas. It has since been removed.

For this story, NPR spoke to nearly a dozen people, including Busch; a witness to his sexual abuse; his mother, brother and sister; and one of his closest friends from Interlochen. NPR also reviewed court documents, a report from the sheriff's office, a recording of a conversation between a Texas parent and Clower, and current correspondence between Busch's family and Interlochen. Clower did not respond to multiple attempts by NPR to contact him, including through his attorney. Interlochen would not comment on the specifics of Clower's case and its aftermath to NPR.

A 15-year-old striving to succeed

In the fall of 2004, Busch felt special. It would take less than a year for that feeling to be replaced with shame and isolation, he said.

After initially attending Interlochen as a summer music student, Busch told NPR, Clower recruited him from a ballet studio in Dayton, Ohio. He secured a partial scholarship as a boarding student for his sophomore year of high school. The summer students dream of being invited to the boarding school, he said.

"It was, at that point, my prayers being answered," said Busch, now 37, in a recent interview from his home in Nashville, Tenn.

But, Busch said, the bliss quickly dissipated as Clower, a well-known and award-winning ballet teacher, showered him with attention and became increasingly involved with his life. Busch said that Clower requested to be his mentor and that he took several of Clower's classes.

The two met often in his office, Busch said. A few months into the semester, Clower began emailing him. Busch would later describe to law enforcement an email that he called "inappropriate," with questions about his personal life and sexual activity. The report, written by the Grand Traverse County Sheriff's Office, also describes warm responses from Busch, which he now says show "how groomed I was … and how vulnerable and dependent that I became to him."

Busch said that because he wanted to do well at Interlochen, he let a lot of Clower's inappropriate conduct slide. "It's really hard to differentiate what's appropriate and what's not until it's too late," he said.

Special permission to visit a teacher

The interaction that led to Clower's conviction happened on a cold spring day during Busch's first year at Interlochen. Clower was 44. Busch had recently turned 16. He wasn't the only student in the room, according to the report from the sheriff's office.

Nellie Salisbury, then a 15-year-old fellow student, told NPR that Clower drove her and Busch to his house after they got special permission from the school. "We thought we were going over there because we were special dancers getting sort of like a treat," said Salisbury, now 36. She remembers the three of them on the couch — Clower next to Busch, and Salisbury a few feet away on Busch's other side. She said Clower handed her a chocolate bar and then put on a movie.

Once the movie was on, she said, she noticed Clower taking off the jangly silver bracelets from his wrist and placing them on the coffee table.

Busch said Clower casually threw a blanket over the two of them. Clower was sitting close enough that their thighs touched, Busch said, and then Clower put his hand on Busch's upper thigh. Busch told NPR that Clower then reached his hand into Busch's pants and began to touch his genitals.

"My heart was like beating out of its chest," Busch said. "I froze."

Clower then moved Busch's hand toward his lap, according to Busch. That prompted him to pull away, Busch said. Clower then stood up and went to the bathroom, according to Busch and Salisbury.

Busch told investigators that when Clower stood up, his "penis was in an erect position." Salisbury remembers Busch turning to her when they were alone in the room, looking scared and saying, "What do I do? Help me." Clower later drove the students home.

"He wanted me and he took me and it didn't even matter that someone else was watching it happening," Busch said.

Busch acknowledged that the description of the abuse that he gave to NPR is more serious than what he told investigators at the time of the incident. Busch denied to a school counselor at the time that Clower had touched his genitals, the report from the sheriff's office says. He told investigators that Clower was "rubbing the inside of his thigh" and "rubbed near his groin area," but said his belt buckle was unfastened afterward. Looking back, Busch told NPR that he didn't describe the full extent of the touching because he was in denial and afraid of getting in trouble.

That's a common response from minors who are victims of sexual abuse, said Matthew Curtis, a Michigan-based attorney representing multiple people who allege they were abused while students at Interlochen. Curtis said minors might not report their abuse at the time it occurs for a number of reasons, including self-protection, and at Interlochen, the stakes were high.

"These are all aspiring students, aspiring fine arts individuals," he said. "They're looking for careers and success. … Coming forward could really have sabotaged their career."

Clower did not respond to requests for comment on Busch's account. But Mike Skaggs, a parent of a former ballet student in Texas, shared a recording with NPR that appears to shed light on how Clower sees the incident that led to his criminal conviction. Skaggs said he recorded himself confronting Clower about what happened at Interlochen.

According to Skaggs, Clower taught Skaggs' 13-year-old daughter at the Dallas-area Ballet Ensemble of Texas. In the 2025 recording, Skaggs can be heard telling a man whom he refers to as "Mr. Thom" and a third person that he has some reservations about an agreement the young dancers must sign. Then, Skaggs says he has been researching Clower and found newspaper articles about his Michigan conviction.

He wants an explanation. He says he heard that Clower claimed the "kids made it up" and that he was "exonerated."

"That's true," the man identified as Clower states, without providing evidence. Skaggs notes that Clower pleaded guilty, and Clower clarifies that it was "to a misdemeanor."

Clower then explains what he views as his mistake: "I was in my house, 30 below zero, and we all got under a blanket. The girl and the boy and me. And I put myself in a place where I was too close to the kids."

Clower casts the incident as a misunderstanding: "I didn't even think, 'This is going to look horrible.' … What happened was the girl thought that something happened underneath the blanket and then she called her parents."

The aftermath

Busch said the details of what happened after the incident are a blur. He told investigators at the time that Clower picked him up from school three days later and drove him to Clower's house, where, Busch said, the teacher apologized. Busch told NPR that Clower told him that he felt "sick to his stomach" about what happened.

Salisbury's parents sounded the alarm to Interlochen. Busch said he was called into an administrator's office. The school had already called his parents, and he said administrators demanded that he tell them what had happened.

"The feeling was I'm in trouble ... which is probably the worst thing to feel," Busch said. "That only leads to more shame, guilt, isolation and fear, you know? I mean, it was just paralyzing." He does not remember anyone from Interlochen asking whether he was OK.

The report from the sheriff's office shows Busch was interviewed by an investigator twice, the second time without another adult present. He was asked about his sexuality. The investigator said in his report that a "reasonable person" would believe the teen and the 44-year-old "have a relationship that may not necessarily be only at a friendship level."

"It was like I was being interrogated," Busch said of the school's and the investigators' responses. "It was like I was the perpetrator." He said it led to years of struggling with his identity and sexuality.

Clower was arrested the next month, in April 2005.

In June of that year, he pleaded guilty to attempted fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct — a misdemeanor — and was sentenced to 90 days in jail. He was ultimately released nearly a month early due to overcrowding, according to court records obtained by NPR, and was added to a sex offender registry. Interlochen fired him.

Busch said he felt like a "social pariah" for his final two years at Interlochen. "I was never integrated back into the community," he said. "I was always looked at as different."

He doesn't recall the school offering him counseling or mentioning the incident to him again after the legal proceedings concluded. He said he was not aware that Interlochen would name Clower in the letter it released last month alongside the law firm's report.

NPR asked Interlochen for comment on how Busch described his treatment at the time of the incident and the lack of support afterward. Interlochen did not comment on Busch's experience specifically but apologized "for the harm experienced by members of our community."

Busch said that the last time he heard from Clower was in a letter he received at some point in his last two years at Interlochen and that in it his former teacher apologized and admitted his actions were wrong. Busch said he burned the letter in his parents' driveway in Ohio.

A ‘freelance master teacher’

Clower was listed on the website of the Ballet Academy of Texas as the director of the men's division as recently as Friday, but his name has since been removed. Clower was also listed as the artistic director of the Ballet Ensemble of Texas, a nonprofit affiliated with the academy, until recently. That nonprofit's website has been taken down.

Clower has worked at the academy since at least 2019, according to an NPR review of the website's archives. The ensemble and the academy did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

In posts on the Ballet Ensemble of Texas' Facebook account, Clower is pictured leading a group of young dancers on a multicountry trip around Europe in June and July of this year.

After his guilty plea, Clower was required to register as a sex offender in Michigan, according to court documents. Clower's name is not currently on the Texas registry. NPR requested records from the Texas Department of Public Safety to see whether he was also previously registered in Texas and did not receive a response by publication time. Clower's record would still be readily available in an employer background check.

A professional biography that was previously on the ballet academy's website indicated that he continued to teach after his guilty plea. It described him as "one of the most energetic and inspiring teachers across the country" and lists a number of dance companies and organizations in multiple states.

In a video posted to YouTube in 2014, Clower said he had been a "freelance master teacher since the year 2000." "Every Monday, basically, I'm in a new location with a new group of kids," he said.

Busch said it makes him uneasy to think about Clower still working with kids. "Are we in that dire of a situation that we need dance teachers that badly that we'll look to the side when we see that they've molested children?" Busch said.

His mother, Nancy Busch, said of Clower: "He should never be able to work with children."

Skaggs, the parent who confronted Clower last year, said he eventually pulled his daughter out of the dance program. "I can't believe I have to say this, but any teacher that's been fired for sexual misconduct should never, ever teach again," Skaggs said. "Full stop." But when Skaggs shared the information with several other parents, he said, some of them defended Clower.

Living with it

Busch's dance career still thrived. He attended Juilliard after Interlochen and danced professionally for more than a decade, most of which was spent in Europe. But despite his success, Busch said, he masked his emotions for years with substances. Recently, he finished a 10-month recovery program for substance use disorder and PTSD.

And as the extent of sexual abuse of Interlochen students has come into sharper focus, he has been reflecting on the school and how it handled his experience. "It's the lack of aftercare … let alone that it happened 69 other times with other people," Busch said. "The fact that the predator was on the campus to begin with is all Interlochen's responsibility."

In response to the Sanghavi report, Interlochen sent the names of those accused of misconduct to the Grand Traverse County prosecutor's and sheriff's offices. Curtis, the lawyer representing multiple individuals who allege abuse at Interlochen, said that there is no route for some of his clients to pursue criminal charges, because their alleged abusers are dead. In Michigan, the statute of limitations for criminal sex crimes depends on the severity of the crime, according to RAINN, an anti-sexual violence organization.

Interlochen's letter to the community says there were very few incidents at Interlochen in the past 25 years, but Busch says this offers little comfort to him. The school established a counseling fund to help cover future care for affected alumni.

That has come too late for Busch, who has already paid for counseling for the last two decades.

During the law firm's investigation, former students were asked what they hoped would come of it. According to the report, a number of alums said that "they hoped that this investigation would lead to cultural changes at Interlochen." Others said they hoped for "accountability," according to the report.

Busch said he's still waiting for accountability from Interlochen — and he has another reason to share his story now.

"I hope that other people understand that they're not alone," Busch said.

Copyright 2026, NPR

Voters in Hennepin County will narrow down a crowded field of candidates for county attorney Tuesday.

Five candidates are running to succeed Mary Moriarty, who announced a year ago that she would not run for a second term.

State Rep. Cedrick Frazier won the DFL endorsement for the position earlier this year. He previously worked as a public defender and a city council member in New Hope.

Frazier told MPR News he’s “the most well-rounded candidate,” vowing a focus on violence prevention and prosecuting ICE agents who commit crimes.

Former U.S. Attorney Anders Folk is also pitching himself as an experienced candidate. He previously worked as a prosecutor in the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office and in the military.

Folk is one of several candidates who told MPR News he wants to depart from Moriarty’s work.

“We need a change of direction at the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office,” Folk said.

Moriarty faced criticism during her time in office for plea deals offered to defendants, and for alleged poor relationships with police departments.

Candidate Diane Krenz, who has previously worked in the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office as a prosecutor, also said she’s running to bring the office in a new direction.

“The Hennepin County Attorney's Office needs to refocus on its core mission, promoting public safety by holding violent and repeat offenders accountable,” Krenz told MPR News.

Ramsey County assistant attorney Hao Nguyen is also seeking the seat. He said his position in a prosecutor’s office has prepared him for the work he wants to do in Hennepin County.

“We’ve lowered gun violence, reduced auto theft, cut racial disparities, and more, all through hard conversations and collaboration,” Nguyen said.

Rounding out the field is local attorney Matt Pelikan. He, too, told MPR News he wants to rebuild trust in the office.

“Hennepin County needs a County Attorney who can bring safety and justice together,” Pelikan said. “That means taking violent crime seriously, protecting constitutional rights, supporting victims, rebuilding trust, and holding power accountable — whether on a street corner, in a boardroom, or wearing a badge.”

The two candidates receiving the most votes in the primary will continue to the general election in November.

Hennepin County voters can compare candidates and find more information with MPR’s voter guide.

On opening day at the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma's new Harrah’s-branded casino, the tribe's chairman watched customers pack the gambling floor while a queue of cars spilled out of the parking lot.

“We couldn’t let them in because we were so full,” Chairman Jacob Keyes said. “That’s a direct impact from the Harrah’s name.”

But a vacancy in Washington is preventing the tribe’s partnership with the gambling giant from moving beyond branding. Plans for Harrah’s parent company to take over day-to-day management of the casino in Chandler, Oklahoma, stalled after it opened in April, because no one is at the helm of the federal commission that oversees tribal gambling.

The last chairperson of the National Indian Gaming Commission stepped down from the role in January. President Donald Trump has not nominated anyone to fill the vacancy. Absent a chair, the commission is unable to perform some key responsibilities, like enforcing legal and safety violations, approving new tribal gambling laws and certifying management agreements between tribes and casino operators.

Industry leaders say the agency's inertia risks delaying business deals, weakening oversight and leaving tribes without a key advocate in Washington as they grapple with an emerging threat posed by online prediction markets.

“At this crucial time, the (National Indian Gaming Commission) is operating with one arm tied behind its back,” said Jonodev Chaudhuri, a former NIGC chair from 2013 to 2019 and a citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. “That’s a very precarious position for tribes and Indian gaming."

There’s a lot at stake for tribes that rely heavily on casino revenue to fund healthcare, housing, education and other vital services. Tribal gambling brought in a record $46 billion in 2025, nearly triple the annual casino revenue of gambling powerhouse Nevada.

The commission's core powers are vested in its chair

With its Harrah’s contract stuck in limbo, the Iowa Tribe’s small government staff finds itself managing the 175,000-square-foot (16,258 square-meter) casino, a mammoth task it had intended to outsource.

“It’s discouraging. We’re paying a fee and not getting the full value,” Keyes said.

The decision to outsource management was strategic: Harrah's branding would bring in more business than existing staff could accommodate. Instead, staff has to balance management with other priorities like preparing tribal budgets and overseeing social programs, Keyes said.

The three-member gaming commission was formed in 1988 to regulate casino-style gambling and promote economic development on tribal lands. Some 250 tribal governments across 29 states now operate 545 gambling facilities, the commission said.

Under federal law, its enforcement powers are vested solely in the chairperson. Industry leaders say its inability to cite casinos for violating federal law or force the emergency closure of unsafe facilities is particularly troubling.

In a typical year, the commission issues several citations to tribes for operating casinos on unauthorized lands, failing to submit required financial statements, misusing revenues and other violations. The commission's last enforcement action was issued on Jan. 12 — the same day acting chairperson Sharon Avery's term expired. She remains on the commission.

The commission declined an interview request and said in an emailed statement that tribal officials and its field staff provide “excellent regulation" amid the leadership gap. But Steven Light, an expert in tribal gambling law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said the lack of enforcement power could discourage investment in tribal gambling and slow business growth.

“Markets function best when there's stability and certainty around processes and rules,” Light said.

Prediction markets have emerged as a new threat to tribal gaming

The commission vacancy comes as the popularity of online prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket explodes. Tribal leaders fear those platforms, which allow users to wager on the outcome of virtually any event, could violate their sovereignty and take a bite out of gambling revenue.

“Every dollar generated by Indian gaming goes to fund healthcare for our people, education for our children, housing for our elders,” said David Bean, chairman of the Indian Gaming Association and a citizen of the Puyallup Tribe.

At least eight tribes have sued prediction market platforms, alleging they accept bets from tribal lands and in states where tribes have exclusive gambling rights in violation of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which the gaming commission is tasked with enforcing.

Prediction markets argue their users are engaging in futures trading, not gambling, and dispute claims that they are circumventing regulation.

The commission chairperson typically serves as an advocate for the tribal gambling industry in Washington, according to former commissioners and staffers. Yet it's been conspicuously silent while the federal government weighs how to regulate prediction markets, said Joe Valandra, the commission’s chief of staff from 2005 to 2007 and a citizen of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe.

James Siva, who leads the California Nations Indian Gaming Association and is vice chairman of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, said the Trump administration's support of and business ties to the prediction markets industry could explain why it hasn't filled the vacancy.

“These things are happening in conjunction with each other,” Siva said in April at a news conference with the Indian Gaming Association. “It is not a coincidence by any means.”

The leadership gap spans two administrations

The commission's last Senate-confirmed chairperson termed out under former President Joe Biden without a successor in place.

A White House spokesperson called the commission a “valued board” but did not say when a new nomination will be made.

In April, Trump appointed Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Billy Kirkland, a citizen of the Navajo Nation, to the commission. That's raised questions about potential executive branch influence over an agency designed to be independent.

“This crosses that threshold in an uncomfortable way,” said Shannon O’Loughlin, the commission’s chief of staff from 2015 to 2017 and a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.

Keyes said a crucial opportunity to develop his tribe's economy hangs in the balance. He doesn't see the commission vacancy as partisan play.

“I don’t want to sound like sour grapes, but when have Native American issues ever been prioritized by the federal government?” he said.

Jake Bauers singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 10th after Luis Lara made a spectacular run-saving catch in the top half of the inning, and the Milwaukee Brewers edged the Minnesota Twins 4-3 on Sunday.

Bauers' one-out single to shallow left off Yoendrys Gómez (2-2) brought home Brice Turang, who slid across the plate before catcher Ryan Jeffers could apply the tag. A replay review confirmed the call from home plate umpire Chad Whitson.

Minnesota went scoreless in the top of the 10th after Lara made a leaping catch at the wall on Kody Clemens' drive to right to prevent a run from scoring. Lara also had made an incredible play in front of the wall to rob Brooks Lee of an extra-base hit in the sixth inning.

Royce Lewis advanced to third on Clemens' drive but was stranded there when DL Hall (1-0) struck out Lee.

Bauers also homered in the fifth inning, and Jackson Chourio also went deep to help the Brewers win the series. Lee and Clemens homered off Milwaukee's Jacob Misiorowski.

Minnesota had tied the game at 3-all on Clemens' two-run shot in the sixth. Clemens’ homer came immediately after Josh Bell drew a free pass for Misiorowski’s only walk of the day.

Both teams wasted chances afterward.

The Brewers left runners on third and second in the sixth. They stranded men on first and second in the seventh and ninth.

Minnesota left the bases loaded in the seventh and eighth.

Misiorowski allowed three runs and four hits in six innings. He struck out nine to increase his major league-leading total to 204.

Minnesota’s Connor Prielipp struck out seven and allowed three runs, five hits and two walks in five innings.

The Twins open a three-game home series with the Baltimore Orioles. The scheduled starting pitchers for Monday's series opener are Minnesota's Dean Kremer (1-4, 5.93 ERA) and Baltimore's Trevor Rogers (7-7, 4.20).

The Brewers start a West Coast trip at San Diego. Logan Henderson (8-1, 2.70) pitches for Milwaukee and Casey Mize (4-7, 3.40) starts for San Diego on Monday.

Minnesota Lynx guard Kayla McBride wanted to give the hometown fans a show Sunday.

She delivered one that the Target Center crowd will never forget.

The five-time All-Star and four-time EuroLeague champion broke the WNBA single-game record by making 10 3-pointers Sunday in a 103-90 victory over the Dallas Wings.

McBride made 10 of 14 shots from behind the arc and finished with a career-high 43 points — and she did it in front of a home crowd that seemed to be urging her to chase the record.

The record-breaker came with 2:23 to play and gave the Lynx a 98-83 lead. She left the game with 1:21 remaining to a roaring ovation. Afterward, she thanked the fans and the organization for their support.

“Minneapolis has become home for me and I want to give my best,” she said. “Whether the ball goes in or doesn’t, I just feel so much love. I think that’s why I can come out here and do my thing. I feel so loved and appreciated for who I am and I just love the game. I want to win. So I'm grateful for these fans, this organization. I’m just overcome with joy, and when I have opportunities like that I want to give it back.”

The previous record of nine 3-pointers in a game had been done eight previous times, including twice this season by Toronto's Marina Mabrey during a six-day span, most recently June 25.. Rhyne Howard of Atlanta also has made nine 3s in a game twice.

McBride's incredible day also helped the Lynx (27-7) break the franchise's single-game 3-point record. The Lynx finished 18 of 39 on 3s and won for the 12th time in 13 games. Minnesota also became the first team to clinch a playoff berth.

Minnesota has been on an incredible offensive run, topping the 100-point mark in four of their last six games and 98 points in Saturday's 11-point victory over defending champion Las Vegas.

But on Sunday, it was time for McBride to take center stage and she didn't disappoint the hometown crowd that has been watching her for 5 1/2 seasons.

“I'm just grateful,” she said. “It's crazy. You know I've been in this league 13 years, and choosing to come back here in the offseason, I didn't know, we didn't know what it was going to look like. Moments like this, times like this, it's when you know you made the right decision.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected President Trump's 15-point peace plan for Gaza, saying Israeli forces will not withdraw from Gaza until Hamas is “genuinely disarmed.”

“We are talking about genuine disarmament, not fictitious disarmament,” he said at a meeting with government ministers Sunday.

Netanyahu's comments come just over a week after President Trump announced that his Board of Peace had reached a deal with the Palestinian militant group to completely give up its weapons.

“Today, the Board of Peace reached a HISTORIC agreement for the COMPLETE DISARMAMENT of Hamas and all other armed groups in Gaza. This is a monumental step toward lasting PEACE and SECURITY,” Trump wrote on social media in late July.

Under Trump's proposed peace deal, Board of Peace officials said Hamas and other militant groups would hand their arms over to a vetted international policing force.

But a senior Hamas official previously told NPR that the group would only hand over their weapons if Israel withdrew from parts of Gaza first.

The latest dispute follows an initial ceasefire reached between Israel and Hamas in October 2025, alongside Trump's broader 20-point Gaza plan.

That first phase of the peace plan halted major fighting, provided for the release of remaining hostages in exchange for some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, increased humanitarian aid, and called for a partial Israeli withdrawal. More contentious issues — including Hamas's disarmament and further Israeli withdrawals — were left to later negotiations.

Trump's new 15-point roadmap, published on July 31, sought to move those unresolved issues forward. It envisioned Israel's withdrawal from Gaza and Hamas's disarmament as part of a phased process, rather than requiring Hamas to fully disarm before Israeli forces began pulling back.

The Board of Peace had already backed Netanyahu on that key point, saying on Aug. 3 that Israeli forces would not withdraw beyond the Yellow Line until Hamas's weapons were fully decommissioned. Netanyahu's decision to emphasize his demand again comes less than three months before Israel's Oct. 27 election, with polls showing his coalition is at risk of losing its majority.

The apparent stalemate comes as Israel still controls roughly 70 percent of Gaza, according to Palestinian officials and aid agencies.

Hamas released a press statement Sunday saying it was still committed “to the roadmap agreed upon” in the agreement.

NPR's Anas Baba contributed to this report from Gaza.

Copyright 2026, NPR

Andrew Vaughn singled home the tiebreaking run in the eighth inning as the Milwaukee Brewers edged the Minnesota Twins 4-3 on Saturday night.

William Contreras led off the eighth with a bloop single to center off Jeff Hoffman (6-8). Brandon Lockridge pinch-ran for Contreras and stole second.

After Hoffman retired Garrett Mitchell on a fly to center, Vaughn singled to right. Lockridge made a head-first slide across the plate as the throw from Austin Martin was off line.

Brice Turang went 3 for 4 and drove in two runs for Milwaukee.

Trevor Megill retired the side in order in the ninth to earn his 21st save in 23 opportunities. Trevor Larnach led off the ninth with a fly ball that right fielder Luis Lara caught at the warning track.

Aaron Ashby (13-2) worked a 1-2-3 eighth inning to earn the win. Abner Uribe worked the seventh inning in his 20th straight scoreless appearance.

Milwaukee took an early 1-0 lead when Contreras was hit by a Taj Bradley pitch with the bases loaded and nobody out in the first inning. Bradley responded by retiring the next three batters.

The Twins then capitalized on Robert Gasser’s wildness to score three runs in the second.

Gasser hit two batters in that inning and issued a bases-loaded, two-out walk to Ryan Jeffers on a 3-2 pitch inside. Royce Lewis followed with a two-run double to left, extending his hitting streak to 13 games.

The Brewers tied the game when Turang drove in two runs with a bases-loaded, two-out single in the fourth.

Brewers third baseman Joey Ortiz left in the fourth inning due to neck tightness.

Minnesota's Kaelen Culpepper was hit by a pitch twice in his second career major league appearance.

Up next

Jacob Misiorowski (11-5, 1.63 ERA) pitches for Milwaukee and Connor Prielipp (3-5, 4.75) starts for Minnesota in the series finale Sunday.

Smokes 4 Less in Fargo is stocked full with a rainbow of colorful products like vapes, pipes and bongs. But one shelf, deep in the store, is completely bare.

It’s been that way since last Wednesday, when North Dakota’s ban on kratom took effect.

Kratom is a substance derived from the leaves of a Southeast Asian tree. Sold in a wide range of products such as pills, beverages and powders, people use it recreationally and to help with pain. Some also say it helps treat their mental health problems.

But kratom-related calls to North Dakota’s Poison Control tripled last year, from seven in 2024 to 22 in 2025, according to reporting from the North Dakota Monitor.

North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong and Attorney General Drew Wrigley announced a ban on kratom products Aug. 3, citing the “addictive dangerous, and potentially deadly nature of kratom.”

Other states, including Kansas and Tennessee banned kratom products outright earlier this summer. Minnesota’s new regulations on kratom products raise the purchase age from 18 to 21.

The executive order highlights the state’s different approaches to products derived from natural kratom leaf and synthetic, concentrated products containing higher doses of a compound called 7-hydroxymitragynine or 7-OH.

The governor signed an emergency rule from North Dakota’s Board of Pharmacy that classifies 7-OH as a Schedule I drug, echoing a temporary federal action from the Drug Enforcement Agency.

The rule is valid for 180 days and triggers a rulemaking process. At the same time, the sale, use and possession of all kratom products has been banned by an emergency order that is effective for thirty days, according to Armstrong.

A special legislative session is set for early September where lawmakers will propose and vote on permanent regulation or prohibition.

Lawmaker reactions in Fargo

Fargo-area lawmakers said they’ve been hearing a lot from their constituents since the ban’s announcement.

“I hear from constituents or other people that live in my state that tote the benefits of kratom to PTSD or other mental health issues,” said Rep. Austin Foss, a Democrat in Fargo. “But then on the other side of that, I've had people reach out to me saying really terrible stories, [of] their son overdosing on kratom and how it is a very addictive drug and how it should be banned.”

Fargo lawmakers on both sides of the aisle said some regulation is necessary, as kratom has largely been legally available without regulations or age restrictions.

“The ban should be for the synthetic version,” said Sen. Michelle Powers, R-Fargo. “All synthetic versions should probably be banned and put an age limit on the purchasing of [natural] kratom.”

But both Foss and Powers disagreed with the governor’s emergency order and said the issue could’ve been tackled during the next regular legislative session.

“There is really no emergency on it, as far as I'm concerned,” Powers said. “We have far more deaths from alcohol than we do from kratom, and we're never, ever, ever going to ban alcohol.”

But Kyle Davison, a Republican representing south Fargo, thinks it was the right call. He said he and other lawmakers still need more education and information before making a decision on how to regulate kratom.

“He's putting a short-term stop to it … so that we can wrap our arms around it,” he said. “I think we'll learn together during the session.”

Regardless of what regulations lawmakers decide on, they might not be as effective in Fargo since people over 21 can easily head across the Red River to buy or consume Kratom in Moorhead, Minn.

“Whether we ban it or not might not matter in the long run,” Foss said.

It's a longstanding dynamic, Powers said, that has also surfaced around marijuana and alcohol sales, which Minnesota and North Dakota regulate differently

“Minnesota, a long time ago the alcohol was sold at 19, and everybody went over there,” she said. “It's nothing new under the sun. People will go wherever they can get it. We can't regulate every state.”

Foss said he’d support some sort of collaboration with Minnesota lawmakers to compromise and align laws across border cities, but thinks it's unlikely that’d ever happen.

“Historically, we have not been very cooperative with the state to the east of us, Minnesota, because a lot of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle really see us as an anti-Minnesota state,” he said.

And that might be a boon for shops on the Moorhead side, even if they don’t sell Kratom. Gabriel Hernandez is general manager at Beezwax Dispensary in Moorhead and said he’s expecting more marijuana customers because of North Dakota’s kratom ban.

“The majority of my customers come in, they say they're trying to treat pain,” he said. “So I absolutely think anyone who's trying to treat something non-medically, we’ll see more business from them, especially if their preferred becomes unavailable, i.e. kratom, which is very popular in the area.”

As Minneapolis leaders start the city’s budgeting process for 2027, Mayor Jacob Frey said he’s taking a close look at the police department after it overspent by millions of dollars in the past two years.

But Frey said the answer isn’t spending less money — it’s budgeting for the spending.

The police department anticipates coming in $23 million over budget this year, after similar overspending in 2025. That money went to overtime pay for officers, which Frey said was needed, particularly after the Annunciation shooting and during the federal immigration enforcement surge.

“These are really not optional decisions when you get down to the nuts and bolts of it,” Frey said. “If we don’t approve these overtime hours, we’re not able to do the basic work that the city demands.”

Minneapolis City Council members have pushed back on that argument. Several cited the overspending as a reason they hesitated to approve renominations of former Police Chief Brian O’Hara and Public Safety Commissioner Todd Barnette.

And several council members criticized the department’s use of overtime during the federal immigration enforcement operation. The department spent millions on overtime, including keeping officers on standby. Council members repeatedly asked O’Hara why officers didn’t do more to intervene between residents and immigration agents.

Frey said his administration is looking to craft next year’s city budget differently. The 2026 budget included about $2.3 million for police overtime, but Frey said that was “never anywhere close to accurate” — city and police department officials knew spending would exceed that.

The department anticipated covering extra costs with vacancy savings — money budgeted for officer pay, but not spent, because the department has fewer officers than allowed in the budget.

But this year, Frey said, hiring went up. Those officers don’t take shifts right away — instead, they start training. Frey said the result was more officers on payroll, but not enough on the streets to curb the need for overtime.

“There was a flood of applicants,” Frey said. “We did not anticipate such an increase in the number of officers that we got.”

Frey said he wants to keep hiring. The current budget allows for 731 officers — the minimum allowed under the city charter. But the department is still below that number. Frey said he hopes to get to 731 officers in 2027.

And Frey said he’d like to hire beyond that number, too — closer to the 888 sworn officers that the department had at the start of 2020. City administrators say the cost of supporting that many officers would be comparable to the city’s current spending on police overtime.

On Thursday, Frey said he hasn’t made any decisions yet on how much money to request for police in the next budget.

“We still can't entirely predict what those overtime hours can be. We can get more in the realm of reality, though,” Frey said.

He said spending less on overtime, or hiring fewer officers, aren’t acceptable solutions.

The budget could already be tight. The city will have to account for a deficit that could total up to $33 million. In a presentation to the city council earlier this year, city finance staff cited personnel costs increasing, with revenue staying flat or decreasing. That could mean tax hikes for residents — and layoffs of some city workers.

Frey is expected to propose a budget Wednesday. He and the council will have to settle a final budget before the end of the year.

Larry Fitzgerald was the first player to have his bronze bust revealed on stage Saturday at Tom Benson Stadium for the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

Fitzgerald, a two-time first-team All-State wide receiver at Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield, was one of five inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year, including former Vikings runningback Roger Craig, former Panthers lineback Luke Kuechly, former Saints quarterback Drew Brees and former Patriots and Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri.

Fitzgerald, an 11-time Pro Bowl wide receiver who played his entire 17-year career for the Cardinals, was introduced by the oldest of his three sons, Devin.

He finished his speech with a message to his boys that’s applicable to everyone.

“Don’t just pursue excellence for yourself,” Fitzgerald said. “Help other people pursue it, too. That’s the part of this story that matters the most. Not the likes. Not the fame. But the people you travel with. The values you uphold. In the end, it’s not just about the excellence. It’s about the people who help get you there.”

Fitzgerald acknowledged his Minneapolis roots during his speech.

“Martin Luther King Park in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is where it all started for me,” Fitzgerald said. “ Had my first touchdown, my first home run, first dunk, first fight, I even had my first kiss. And I almost drowned in the pool there at one time.”

Fitzgerald said he measured himself against his father, famed Minnesota sports journalist Larry Fitzgerald Sr., who died in June.

“Dad, I know there were times where it must have felt like you were carrying the weight of the world, but you always showed up, and your willingness to love and sacrifice with the consistency was the blueprint that I used to raise your grandsons,” Fitzgerald said.

Being drafted No. 3 overall in 2004 by Cardinals coach Dennis Green reunited Fitzgerald with the man who was Minnesota’s coach when he was a ball boy for the Vikings.

“When coach Green hired me as a ball boy, I grew up watching legends being built right in front of me,” Fitzgerald said. “Hall of Fame players like John Randle, Chris Doleman, Randall McDaniel and Warren Moon, who taught me what it means to demand more of yourself than anyone else ever would. Plus, they saw me.”

Fitzgerald also acknowledged former Viking Matthew Hatchette, who Fitzgerald said would stay after NFL practice to help hone the budding wide receiver’s skills.

Fitzgerald thanked Hall of Fame receivers Cris Carter and Randy Moss for their influence on his career during his time working for the Vikings as a kid. He singled out former Cardinals teammates Emmitt Smith and Kurt Warner for showing him how to be a professional.

“Kurt, when you demanded that I elevate my preparation, consistency and accountability, you dragged me to the winner’s circle,” Fitzgerald said. “The timing couldn’t have been better for an impressionable kid, and I continue to aspire to be the kind of man you are.”

Fitzgerald is second on the NFL’s career list in receptions (1,432) and receiving yards (17,492). His 121 touchdown catches are sixth.

The Senate in an overnight vote Saturday approved a short-term measure to fund federal agencies into early December and avoid a potentially chaotic government shutdown during the middle of campaign season.

The late-summer action on a funding fix is unusual. Normally, Congress waits until the final days or hours of a funding deadline to pass short-term patches, but this time senators acted nearly two months before the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.

The 90-6 vote showed lawmakers are still smarting from the two historic shutdowns that occurred this past year and want to avoid another before voters go to the polls. The funding bill also included a delay to a federal hemp ban, which threatened to upend Minnesota’s $200 million cannabis market.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune wanted the funding dealt with before senators went home for the next five weeks to focus on their reelection campaigns and other matters. It got caught up with other issues that pushed votes into the night, but the bill had broad bipartisan support. The House will also have to approve the measure when members return from their August recess before it can go to President Donald Trump's desk for his signature.

The bill generally funds the federal government at current levels though Dec. 11, but includes a variety of exceptions that senators negotiated with the White House.

Democrats secured language to ensure no money could be transferred to the Border Patrol. They also rejected the White House's request of $1 billion for early work on a new "Trump-class" battleship that the administration announced on Dec. 22.

"The only person who wants these golden ships is Donald Trump so he can slap his name on them," Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said.

Hemp provision became a point of contention

The bill also includes language delaying a national ban on most intoxicating hemp products. That one-month delay prompted outrage from some Senate Republicans who say that too many such products are falling into the hands of often unsuspecting children. The packaging of the products often relies on bright colors and intentionally mimics popular snack brands to attract consumers.

Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., said that since 2017 there has been nearly a 10-fold increase in cannabis-related emergency room visits by minors in his home state.

"This is a public health crisis that deserves this Senate's immediate attention," Budd said. "Our children should never be the testing ground for an industry willing to exploit a loophole in federal law for profit."

The original ban was included in a funding bill from November 2025 passed to end a 43-day government shutdown, the longest in history. Minnesota’s DFL delegation, including Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, voted against that bill while Republicans backed the ban.

Klobuchar said during her Senate floor remarks Minnesota had not had the same experience as North Carolina.

“I note in my state we have safety rules in place that have worked very well,” said Klobuchar, who is running for governor. “The product is taxed. We have not had issues with it since we put those rules in place.”

The hemp industry said the delay buys time for Congress to craft legislation that protects hemp farmers and businesses while also putting in place safeguards to protect children.

Trump himself has called Budd to discuss the issue, though the president did not specifically ask the senator to drop his effort, Budd's spokesman said.

"Senator Budd had a friendly phone call with President Trump discussing the legislative efforts regarding THC," said spokesman Christian McMullen. He said the senator outlined his concerns about "any delay to closing the hemp loophole."

Budd tried to strip the hemp delay from the bill, but the Senate turned aside his effort.

The bill delays a Trump administration rule on grants

Democratic lawmakers, along with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, also got language in the bill that would block, for the duration of the funding patch, new regulations on federal grants. The regulations would require a senior political appointee to review grants before they are awarded to ensure, among other things, that they advance the president's policy priorities. Democrats worry it's an effort to kill grants destined for Democratic-leaning states.

"They are not interested in making our tax dollars work better — they just want them to work for Donald Trump," said Sen. Patty Murray, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The White House Office of Management and Budget says its effort is about improving accountability to ensure taxpayer dollars aren't wasted or misused. The issue is sure to be a topic of future negotiations on a full-year spending measure.

But Collins said the vast majority of the nearly 500,000 people and groups weighing in on the rule are opposed to it.

"I don't think in my time that I've been privileged to serve in the Senate that I have ever seen a proposed rule generate that many negative comments," Collins said.

Olivia Miles scored 26 points, Napheesa Collier added 22 and the Minnesota Lynx beat the Las Vegas Aces 98-87 to clinch a WNBA playoff berth.

Natasha Howard added 17 points, nine rebounds and six assists for the Lynx, who improved their record to a league-best 26-7.

Jackie Young led Las Vegas with 23 points, while A'ja Wilson had 16 points and eight rebounds.

Minnesota led by four at the half, but reserve Dorka Juhasz made bit plays on consecutive possessions to help the Lynx push their lead to double figures late in the third quarter. First she hit Courtney Williams on the wing for a 3-pointer, and on the next possession Williams returned the favor, setting up Juhasz for a 3 of her own from the top of the key to make it 66-55.

Las Vegas responded immediately with a 7-0 run, keyed by Young's three-point play. Collier scored the next seven points, including back-to-back 3s off feeds from Miles, to restore Minnesota's cushion.

In the fourth quarter, Jewell Loyd was called for a flagrant foul on a reckless closeout on Kayla McBride's jump shot. McBride made all three free throws, and Collier finished the possession with two more free throws to put Minnesota up 85-72.

Miles scored 10 points in the fourth quarter.

McBride hit four 3-pointers in a back-and-forth first quarter that ended with Miles banking in a buzzer-beater from just over the halfcourt line to give the Lynx a 28-25 lead after 10 minutes.

The Lynx built their lead to six in the second quarter before Young converted all three free throws after being fouled beyond the arc. Young and Smith later added a pair of free throws apiece to bring the Aces within a point, but Collier found Miles atop the key and the rookie buried a 3 to put Minnesota on top 49-45 at the half.

Box Score

LAS VEGAS (87)

Talbot 1-2 0-0 2, Wilson 5-17 5-6 16, Smith 5-8 4-4 14, Gray 4-9 0-0 9, Young 6-13 8-8 23, Turner 1-2 0-0 2, Evans 4-9 0-0 11, Loyd 4-9 0-0 10. Totals 30-69 17-18 87.

MINNESOTA (98)

Collier 7-14 3-4 22, McBride 4-12 3-3 15, Howard 7-11 2-2 17, Miles 11-23 1-1 26, Williams 6-11 0-0 13, Coffey 0-1 0-0 0, Juhasz 1-2 0-0 3, Caldwell 1-2 0-0 2, Delaere 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 37-76 9-10 98.

Las Vegas 25 20 20 22 — 87

Minnesota 28 21 24 25 — 98

3-Point Goals_Las Vegas 10-27 (Evans 3-5, Young 3-6, Loyd 2-7, Wilson 1-3, Gray 1-5, Talbot 0-1), Minnesota 15-29 (Collier 5-7, McBride 4-8, Miles 3-7, Howard 1-1, Juhasz 1-2, Williams 1-2, Caldwell 0-1, Coffey 0-1). Fouled Out_None. Rebounds_Las Vegas 37 (Smith 11), Minnesota 34 (Howard 8). Assists_Las Vegas 17 (Gray 6), Minnesota 24 (Miles, Williams 7). Total Fouls_Las Vegas 11, Minnesota 20. A_14,101 (19,356)

Kaelen Culpepper arrived in the big leagues eager to show he could make a major contribution to the Minnesota Twins' push for a playoff berth.

The 2024 first-round draft pick did just that by homering in his debut Friday night to help the Twins rally for an 8-6 victory over the MLB-leading Milwaukee Brewers.

Culpepper, one of the Twins' top prospects, connected on an 0-2 pitch from Shane Drohan and delivered a 390-foot shot over the wall in left-center field for his first career hit. The fourth-inning homer came in Culpepper's second plate appearance.

"It definitely felt great, you know what I mean?" Culpepper said. "I fell behind in the count, but that didn't change anything. I feel like I strive with two strikes, so I stuck to my approach, got my hands back and saw something I could drive, took a really good swing on it."

Culpepper became the first Minnesota player to homer in his major league debut since Matt Wallner in 2022.

His promotion came on a busy day for the Twins, who also placed two-time All-Star pitcher Joe Ryan on the 15-day injured list due to a left glute strain. In other moves, the Twins called up pitcher Zebby Matthews from Triple-A St. Paul, designated pitcher Taylor Rashi for assignment and optioned infielder Tristan Gray to St. Paul.

Ryan's injury complicates the Twins' hopes of contending for a postsesaon berth, but they're hoping Culpepper can provide a spark.

Culpepper is rated by MLB Pipeline as baseball's No. 29 overall prospect. The Twins drafted him out of Kansas State with the 21st overall pick two years ago.

"I just want to show off, I guess my athleticism, and how hard I work," Culpepper said before the game. "I've been grinding. I'm still grinding. I just want to continue doing what I was doing down in St. Paul here, and just help contribute to what has already been done here. Just looking to make that push, for sure."

Culpepper, 23, has batted .271 with a .367 on-base percentage, .478 slugging percentage, 14 homers, 46 RBIs and 17 steals in 74 games with St. Paul this season. Twins manager Derek Shelton noted that Culpepper also has improved his fielding this year.

"That was something we challenged him on going into the offseason and then during spring training," Shelton said. "He's done a good job. He's worked harder. He's become a better defender. This is a kid who has some tools. That's why he's so highly touted."

Culpepper got a lesson in the fifth when he fielded a grounder and took a tad too long to throw to first, enabling Garrett Mitchell to reach safely on a two-out infield single that brought home a run and allowed Milwaukee to tie the game.

But the rookie shortstop also played a big role in helping the Twins erase an early 4-0 deficit. Culpepper's homer cut Milwaukee's lead to 4-3, and the Twins tied it later in the fourth.

"Definitely some things I need to work on, but for the most part, I got the first-game jitters out of the way, you know what I mean?" Culpepper said. "A lot to improve, a lot to learn from and grow from, for sure. I'm just happy to get that first one out of the way. I felt like I had a solid day. Just keep moving forward."

As for Ryan, Shelton wouldn't speculate on just how much time the right-hander could miss. Ryan is 6-8 with a 3.65 ERA and 138 strikeouts in 125 2/3 innings this season. He has allowed 17 runs — 16 earned — over 15 1/3 innings over his last three appearances.

"We've got to see how he responds to treatment and kind of go from there," Shelton said. "To put a number on it, I don't think it's fair, because if we put a number on it, then everybody gets attached to that number. And then if you don't hit that number, then it's like, 'What's the setback?' Sometimes people just heal differently. We probably won't have any sort of timeline until he starts throwing again."

Minnesota State University, Mankato, the second largest college in the state, is planning to cut 60 jobs across all departments at the school in order to address a $22 million budget shortfall.

MSU Mankato President Edward Inch told MPR News that the deficit was exacerbated by rising operating costs due to inflation and stagnant state funding. A nearly four percent drop in international student enrollment contributed to the deficit as well.

Inch said cutting staff is not something he considers lightly but is necessary because employee compensation makes up about 75 percent of the university’s general fund budget.

“They’re not easy, and there are people involved,” Inch said, “which makes them painful. But they are choices that I believe need to be made now to offset worse choices later if we waited another two or three years.”

The budget proposal calls for 17 employees to be laid off, the rest of the job cuts would come through early retirements and by not filling vacant positions. Those affected will be notified the week of Aug. 24.

There will also be cuts to discretionary spending that includes removing 21 graduate assistant positions, freezing professional development funding for administrators, and ending the lease for space at the Hubbard Building.

The big budget cuts come a year after MSU Mankato began refining its academic portfolio and eliminated 87 degree and certificate programs.

MSU Faculty Association President and professor Jim Dimock told MPR News that some budget cuts were expected but he added that the job cuts will still hurt.

“It’s not like we didn’t sense that something like this announcement was going to be coming,” Dimock said. “And we’ve [the faculty and other employee unions] been putting a lot of energy into working together.”

“For the first time in years, actually, the presidents of the biggest unions on campus are all meeting together regularly,” Dimock said. “We are probably in the best place possible to really organize and push for alternatives to what President Inch is proposing.”

As for the people being laid off, Dimock said at least four of them are faculty members.

“They moved here, they brought their families here, they had every intention of doing their best work here,” said Dimock. “And now they’re going to go.”

But Dimock noted that other employee groups, including maintenance staff, will be hit harder by the layoffs.

“One of the real questions that we have for President Inch is, how did you make these decisions? Why did you elect to cut from these programs and these administrative units and these support services? What was the rationale?” Dimock said.

The university said the number of students enrolled remains steady, but Inch said changes in federal policy and visa processing has created additional challenges to international students who want to enroll. MSU Mankato has about 1,800 international students from more than 100 countries.

International students tend to pay much higher tuition, and Inch said there is a 3.9 percent drop in international student enrollment for the incoming class, which amounts to about 200 fewer students than last year.

Inch said these cuts will help eliminate a good chunk of the deficit and that the university is “financially stable.”

“Whenever you’re talking about people who live in your community, have families in your community, none of these decisions are easy,” he said. “I wish we were not in a place where we had to make these decisions … it’s challenging to go through this process, even though in the long run, it’s the right choice.”

Nonetheless, faculty association president Dimock said there’s a need for greater accountability from the university’s administration, and he questions why the same issues persist despite similar challenges being faced by other institutions.

“This is something that, frankly, we hire a president of a university to deal with exactly these kinds of things, and so we want to know why this is still happening? Why are we still cutting?” he said. “And what is it that we’re going to do to get out of this? And who ultimately, is going to be held accountable? What we seem to have from our perspective is a lot of top-down decision making and then bottom-up accountability.”

Rochester voters will see a long list of candidates on the city's mayoral primary ballot on Tuesday.

Eight candidates are running for Rochester's top office. They include a prominent catering business owner, the president of the local NAACP chapter, and a former school board member.

The race attracted all these candidates after two-term mayor Kim Norton announced she wouldn't run again.

Whoever wins the election in November will have the task of guiding Rochester through tremendous change.

The city is in the second decade of Destination Medical Center, a 20-year, $5.6 billion dollar economic redevelopment plan meant to make Rochester more attractive to visitors and to entice people to move here.

Mayo Clinic is also building a new $5 billion hospital downtown. Construction on the new facility is slated to be done by the end of the decade as well.

That and other construction projects have disrupted traffic throughout downtown. It’s created hassles for pedestrians, visitors and businesses alike. At least one business says it’s shuttering due to the ongoing construction.

The two candidates who get the most votes in Tuesday's wide open primary will face off against each other in November. Candidates on the ballot Tuesday include:

• Ayub HajiOmar, a substitute teacher in Rochester Public Schools.

• Jess Garcia, a psychologist and former school board member.

• Ben Zastrow, a small business owner.

• Joe Powers, a restaurant and catering company owner.

• Jerrod Lucker, a literacy tutor.

• Molly Denis, former city council member.

• Walé Elegbede, Mayo Clinic project manager and president of the Rochester branch of the NAACP.

• Axe Abdimajid Ahmed, business owner.

For more than four decades, Minnesota has been one of the country’s leading refugee resettlement states for people fleeing war, persecution and humanitarian crises. On average, about 2,000 to 3,000 refugees arrived in the state each year over the previous 45 years.

That system has changed dramatically over the past year.

New data from the Minnesota Department of Human Services shows just 111 refugees have arrived in Minnesota so far this fiscal year — and all of them are white Afrikaners from South Africa.

The drop follows the Trump administration’s January 2025 executive order suspending the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. After that change, state officials projected fewer than 300 refugees would arrive in Minnesota between October 2025 and September 2026, and those projections remain unchanged.

The arrivals Minnesota has seen since then have come through an exception process created by the administration that has prioritized Afrikaners from South Africa.

The change has forced refugee resettlement organizations across Minnesota to reconsider what their work looks like — and what the future of the system will be.

‘A sea change’ for refugee resettlement

For more than 40 years, the Minnesota Council of Churches helped newly arrived refugees settle into life in Minnesota.

That work traditionally included meeting families at the airport, finding housing, enrolling children in school, helping adults find employment and connecting families with health care and community resources.

“Traditionally the work of refugee resettlement really focused on the first 90 days, and again this is kind of pre-Trump,” Kathleen Motzenbecker, director of refugee services at the Minnesota Council of Churches, said. “That work would be as tangible as being at the airport when a refugee arrived. It would be to secure housing. It would be to secure enrolling the children in school.”

The Minnesota Council of Churches decided not to participate in the federal program resettling Afrikaners.

Under U.S. law, refugees are people fleeing persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or social group. Motzenbecker said leaders believed the program conflicted with the legal definition of a refugee and the organization’s values.

“That was the right moral decision, if you ask me. However, it did have pretty significant financial costs for us as an organization, and we lost millions of dollars in federal funding,” she said.

Instead, the organization now focuses on helping refugees already living in Minnesota with services including immigration assistance, employment support and community resources.

Motzenbecker said the organization continues to see demand for those services.

“Immigration continues to be an extremely busy office here at the Minnesota Council of Churches,” she said.

Other organizations chose a different path

Not every refugee resettlement agency made the same decision. Arrive Ministries has resettled Afrikaners.

Ruth LePage, director of refugee services at Arrive Ministries, said the organization's decision was driven by a desire to preserve its capacity to resume refugee resettlement in the future.

“We also want to maintain our ability to welcome people, and that's a skill set. It's a niche expertise. And so to walk away from 40 years of resettlement — once that walks out the door, that's hard to rebuild,” she said.

LePage said the organization still wants the refugee admissions program expanded to include people fleeing persecution around the world.

“Our concern is that is exclusive right now to one population, and so we continue to advocate that the program would expand, would open again to be able to welcome refugees, individuals who have fled their countries of origin because of persecution on account of reasons such as their faith or political opinion or race.”

International Institute sees fewer arrivals, more uncertainty

The International Institute of Minnesota has also seen a significant reduction in refugee arrivals.

In fiscal year 2024, organization leaders said they resettled about 660 refugees, including people arriving through refugee and Special Immigrant Visa programs.

This fiscal year, the organization has helped resettle 21 people — including 13 Afghans who arrived through the Special Immigrant Visa program and about eight Afrikaners.

Michelle Eberhard, director of refugee services at the International Institute of Minnesota said those relatively small numbers still matter, both for the families arriving and for the organization's ability to support refugees already living in the community.

“Some have some family here that they're reunifying or being reunified with. And for us that was kind of a tough decision. But we look at the services we provide kind of broadly,” Eberhard said. “For us, it's important to continue to serve people who are newer to our communities as well.”

Jane Graupman, executive director, said the scale of the change is unlike anything she has seen during her nearly four decades working in refugee services.

“I think it's a marked change in what has happened historically in the history of this program, so it's a big change,” she said.

Graupman said refugee resettlement has historically included people arriving from many regions of the world.

“Refugee resettlement usually has refugees arriving from all the regions in the world, you know, where there's civil conflict. So it's a big change.”

For many refugees already living in Minnesota, one of the biggest impacts has been the disruption of family reunification.

Graupman said many families remain in limbo as they wait for relatives to join them in Minnesota.

“We have to tell families that come to us and say, ‘Is there any progress on my kids joining me here in the United States?’ and we have to say no because there isn't any progress,” she said.

She said refugee resettlement has historically been a way for families already in the United States to reunite with loved ones.

“Refugee resettlement really is a family reunification program. It's people here that are sponsoring folks to join them, to join their families.”

What happens next?

State officials say refugee service providers continue assisting people who arrived before the suspension of the refugee admissions program.

Those services include employment assistance, immigration support, English classes and help navigating changes to federal policies.

Graupman said the future of refugee resettlement remains uncertain, but she hopes the program eventually returns to welcoming refugees from around the world.

“The refugee program is a humanitarian program, and it's something that we've really held up as really extraordinary,” she said.

For organizations that have spent decades building Minnesota’s refugee resettlement network, the past year has been a turning point.

The number of new arrivals has fallen sharply. Providers say the effects of that change will continue to shape Minnesota communities for years to come.

Two months after OpenAI and Oracle broke ground on a massive data center campus in Saline Township, Michigan, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed held a rally in front of the site, using the controversial project as a backdrop for his insurgent campaign.

"I stand with local and state elected officials saying that we cannot approve any more of these until we have federal-level guardrails," said El-Sayed with community activists standing by his side.

Data centers, the giant, windowless, server-filled buildings are the backbone of the AI boom. They are also deeply unpopular. A Gallup poll from earlier this year found 7 in 10 Americans oppose the construction of an AI data center in their area. So, perhaps it's not a surprise that candidates across the political spectrum are trying to tap into the backlash.

El-Sayed narrowly won his primary earlier this week, and while data centers weren't the centerpiece of his pitch to voters, they do tie into key themes of his campaign — populist economics and getting money out of politics.

"Unless and until we protect local communities from the power of corrupting money and politics, we're going to continue to see projects like this get pushed on to local communities despite themselves," El-Sayed said.

In Ohio, the Republican nominee for governor, Vivek Ramaswamy, released an "Ohioans-first data center pledge" this week, which called for legislation and, until it passes, a moratorium on data center construction in the state.

"A top concern I hear from Ohioans across our state — second only to property taxes — is the accelerating pace of data center expansion," he said in a statement released by his campaign. "The data center industry has badly failed to earn the trust of millions of everyday Ohioans."

Among the complaints he said he has heard are rising electric bills, noise, pollution and "the absence of clearly defined economic benefits for Ohio families." Ramaswamy even called for data center companies to cover the power bills of people who live nearby.

This followed Ohio Democratic candidate for governor Amy Acton's plan for a "conditional moratorium" on data centers released last month along with a broadside that "Ohio cannot trust Vivek Ramaswamy to protect communities from his fellow big-tech billionaires."

In Michigan's 7th Congressional District, Democrat William Lawrence didn't set out to campaign against data centers. But it quickly became a key plank in his platform because voters kept bringing it up to him.

"It wasn't something that I expected to be part of the campaign last August because data centers weren't on our radar," said Lawrence, who won in a primary against two more moderate Democrats. "But there have been four data centers proposed in the district since I declared my candidacy."

In Wisconsin, calling for a moratorium on data center construction has helped Francesca Hong build a broad coalition as she runs for the Democratic nomination for governor. She talks about data centers a lot and voters are noticing.

"It's time to press control+alt+delete to put a stop to this AI data center crisis, a full moratorium until we have the new regulations we need to protect our energy costs, our economy, our environment," Hong said in a video released by her campaign.

Voting ends Tuesday in Wisconsin and recent polls show Hong favored to win.

At a recent Hong campaign event, supporter Peggy McCrumb didn't hesitate when asked why she backs the candidate.

"I don't think anyone wants data centers, and she's the only one who stands up against it," McCrumb said. "So she's actually listening to what people want."

Hong is a democratic socialist. But this issue cuts through the usual partisan divides, says Amanda Litman, the founder of Run For Something, which works with Democrats running for state and local office.

She says these data centers are the most tangible, physical representation of the threat people perceive from AI, whether it's higher energy prices or making jobs obsolete.

"We're hearing it from urban, from rural, from suburban," Litman said of data center anxiety. "We're hearing it in red states, blue states, purple states. It's all kinds of communities, which I think is really speaking to how visceral people feel this is coming for them."

Wisconsin Public Radio's Anya van Wagtendonk contributed to this reporting.

Copyright 2026, NPR

Former CNN anchor Don Lemon filed motions Friday asking a federal court to dismiss charges against him stemming from his coverage of an anti-ICE protest at a St. Paul church earlier this year.

One of Lemon’s motions argues that the prosecution is vindictive and resulted from President Donald Trump’s repeated public criticism of him. Court documents include screenshots of Trump’s social media posts about Lemon, including one in which the president calls him the “dumbest man on television.”

Lemon and other independent journalists covered a January demonstration inside Cities Church in St. Paul.

Journalist Georgia Fort, who also covered the protest, filed similar motions Thursday. Her attorneys argue that the charges violate her First Amendment rights, amount to vindictive prosecution and fail to identify any offenses she allegedly committed.

The U.S. Department of Justice has charged 38 people with conspiracy in connection with the demonstration. Prosecutors allege the defendants conspired to deprive churchgoers of their right to worship.

All 38 defendants have pleaded not guilty.

A federal appeals court on Friday ordered the Trump administration to halt construction of its $400 million ballroom at the White House without congressional approval.

President Donald Trump doesn’t have the unilateral authority to construct a 90,000-square-foot ballroom where the White House’s East Wing stood before he ordered its demolition, according to the decision by a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals sided with historic preservationists who sued to stop construction. The court said it would stay its own ruling for two weeks to allow the administration to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Whether or not a massive ballroom should be constructed is for Congress to decide and is not a matter for Executive self-help,” the court wrote.

“This holding has nothing at all to do with whether the proposed ballroom is desirable, or not, as a matter of policy. This ruling does not even necessarily mean that the Defendants may not ultimately construct the ballroom.

“What it does mean,” the court continued, “is that the Defendants may not do so during the district court’s expeditious litigation without securing Congress’s authorization, as the Constitution and laws require.”

The panel upheld an April 16 order from U.S. District Judge Richard Leon for the administration to halt above-ground work on the ballroom. Leon, who was nominated to the bench by Republican President George W. Bush, allowed for construction to continue on below-ground work on a bunker and other “national security facilities” at the site.

Trump, a Republican, railed against Leon’s decision on social media, calling him a “Trump Hating” judge who “has gone out of his way to undermine National Security, and to make sure that this Great Gift to America gets delayed, or doesn’t get built.”

The appeals court case was assigned to Judges Patricia Millett, Neomi Rao and Bradley Garcia. Millett was nominated to the court by Democratic President Barack Obama. Trump nominated Rao. Garcia was nominated by Democratic President Joe Biden. Both Millett and Garcia backed the decision, while Rao opposed it.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation sued to challenge the project in December 2025, a week after the White House finished demolishing the East Wing to make way for a ballroom that Trump said would fit 999 people.

Government lawyers have argued that the project — the biggest structural change to the White House in more than 70 years — includes critical security features to guard against a range of threats, such as drones, ballistic missiles and biohazards.

“These upgrades, alterations, and improvements are essential to protecting the President, his family, and his staff, as well as the White House itself, and the entire project flows from them,” government attorneys wrote in a court filing.

Attorneys for the preservation group countered that the lack of a White House ballroom doesn’t constitute a national security emergency.

“That commonsense conclusion is not clearly erroneous, and there is no basis to disturb it,” they wrote.

In an initial ruling that the government also appealed, Leon barred above-ground work on the ballroom from proceeding without congressional approval. In response, the appeals court instructed the judge to reconsider the national security implications of stopping construction.

In his most recent decision, Leon ordered a stop only to the above-ground construction of the planned ballroom. The judge stressed that the White House is free to proceed with below-ground work, including the construction of any bunkers, military installations and medical facilities.

“Defendants argue that the entire ballroom construction project, from tip to tail, falls within the safety-and-security exception and therefore may proceed unabated,” the judge wrote. “That is neither a reasonable nor a correct reading of my Order!”

On April 2, Trump’s ballroom won final approval from the 12-member National Capital Planning Commission, which is charged with approving construction on federal property in the Washington region.

The U.S. job market unexpectedly stalled in July.

A report Friday from the Labor Department shows that employers cut 23,000 jobs last month, and job gains for May and June were revised sharply lower.

The unemployment rate dipped to 4.1 percent, but only because more than 260,000 people dropped out of the workforce.

It was the second month in a row that the monthly jobs tally came in weaker than forecasters had expected.

"We are increasingly hearing from workers that they are anxious about their job security and they are frustrated by the fact that they are stuck in roles that are not necessarily good for them," said Daniel Zhao, chief economist at the job search website Glassdoor. "And that's on top of workers who are not in a job right now and feel frozen out of the job market."

Glassdoor's worker confidence index slumped in July to a record low.

The Fed’s job gets harder

Restaurants and retailers cut thousands of jobs last month and local government also saw large job losses. Healthcare continued to add workers, but at a more modest pace than earlier in the year.

The softening job market may complicate the Federal Reserve's job, since it's also battling stubborn inflation. The Fed may be more cautious about raising interest rates at a time when the labor market appears less stable.

For people who are working, average wages have risen 3.2 percent in the last twelve months. That's likely not enough to keep pace with inflation, however, so workers' paychecks don't stretch as far as they used to.

"Part of the reason that workers are feeling bad about today's job market," Zhao says, is that "a lot of those wage gains have been eaten up by rising energy prices."

Copyright 2026, NPR

Jalapeño peppers linked to a multistate salmonella outbreak have been traced back to a grower in Sinaloa, Mexico, federal officials say.

At least 345 people in 27 states have been reported getting sick from the salmonella strain linked to the jalapeños. Most have been in Minnesota and Colorado. No deaths have been reported, but officials say 36 people have been hospitalized.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that the chili peppers were moved into the U.S. by Coast Citrus Distributors. The company has recalled the peppers and is notifying its customers, which include some prominent Mexican food restaurant chains, officials said.

Coast Citrus Distributors didn't immediately respond to a Thursday voicemail seeking comment.

The Food and Drug Administration said that of the 191 people interviewed in the outbreak investigation, 177 — or 93 percent — reported eating at a Mexican-style restaurant, including Chipotle Mexican Grill and Qdoba, from June 14 to July 14.

Chipotle Mexican Grill said Tuesday that it had removed jalapeños from some of its restaurants. Qdoba on Wednesday said the company had proactively removed jalapenos from all of its restaurants.

“Given their actions to remove product from their stores, neither of these establishments are considered a current ongoing risk to consumers in this outbreak,” CDC officials said in a statement.

Salad chain Sweetgreen said Thursday it also removed jalapeños from its menu, where they are an ingredient in two of its 15 dressings. It was more bad news for Sweetgreen, which also saw sales plummet in July because of customer concerns over the cyclospora outbreak linked to iceberg lettuce. Sweetgreen doesn't serve iceberg lettuce but said Thursday that customers are generally concerned about fresh produce.

The FDA is investigating whether any of the jalapeños went to grocery stores. The agency may announce additional actions on its recalls webpage, health officials said.

Health officials in Mexico said they opened an investigation and made a field visit Thursday to a packing plant in the northern state of Nuevo Leon.

Salmonella bacteria cause about 1.35 million infections in the United States every year, and outbreaks have been tied to sources such as cucumbers, eggs, unpasteurized milk, fresh basil, geckos and pet bearded dragons.

Within hours or days of being exposed to the bacteria, infected people can suffer from diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps. The illness usually lasts four to seven days, and most people recover without treatment.

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Kayla McBride hit a 3-pointer to give Minnesota (25-7) an 82-81 lead, but the Lynx missed their final seven shots and went scoreless over the final 4:53.

Nneka Ogwumike had a go-ahead layup, Wheeler hit a pull-up 10-footer, and Monique Akoa Makani and Wheeler had the final two baskets in the late run for Los Angeles (12-18). The Sparks beat the Lynx for the first time in three tries this season.

Dearica Hamby had 16 points and nine rebounds for the Sparks, and Ogwumike had 16 points and seven rebounds. Wheeler had 12 points and nine assists, and Cameron Brink had 12 points.

Rookie Olivia Miles finished with 23 points, eight rebounds and five assists for the Lynx. Napheesa Collier had 21 points, eight rebounds and six assists.

Minnesota led by 11 points in the first quarter before settling for a 22-21 advantage. The Lynx used an 11-0 second-quarter run to lead 48-40 at the break.

Sparks: Hosts Golden State on Sunday night.

Lynx: Host Las Vegas on Saturday.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is moving to equip officers with body cameras in the next two months but the agency's policy gives it broad control over what footage will be made public by specifying any releases must be in its “best interests.”

After years of delays, ICE said its field officers nationwide will have body-worn cameras by the end of September. The rollout comes after recent fatal shootings by officers enforcing President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown have intensified pressure for accountability that the cameras could provide.

But the agency's body-worn camera policy could mean taxpayers who are pitching in tens of millions of dollars to pay for the cameras may be kept in the dark about some high-profile confrontations, at least in their immediate aftermath.

The policy says ICE will promptly release video of shootings and other encounters in which its agents cause death or serious injury only after determining “it is in the best interests of the agency” to do so. That gives its director discretion to release recordings that reflect well on the agency’s image while working to keep others secret, experts on body camera policies said.

Such selective releases are routine in some law enforcement agencies but usually not so clearly contemplated in policy, according to professor Christopher Schneider of Brandon University in Canada, a co-author of the new book “Police Body-Worn Cameras: Media and the New Discourse of Police Reform.”

“In some ways, ICE is saying the quiet part out loud,” he said. “Body-worn cameras are being used as contemporary image-work tools to present the police to the public in the most favorable way possible.”

Body camera policy allows withholding some video

The policy requires officers to activate cameras during routine enforcement activities, including while making arrests, executing search warrants and responding to emergencies.

After shootings or other serious confrontations, a committee that includes top ICE officials and lawyers will review footage and recommend whether to release it promptly, according to the body camera policy issued in February 2025.

If the answer is yes, the recording could be released within 72 hours. But if the ICE director finds that “specific and compelling circumstances” justify withholding the video, they have the authority to block or indefinitely delay the release, the policy says.

The policy does not elaborate on such circumstances, and ICE did not respond to a question from The Associated Press about how it would make such decisions.

Practices vary widely in the U.S. In Chicago, a police watchdog agency routinely releases body camera video of shootings and other serious use-of-force incidents within 60 days. In Philadelphia, the police department very rarely uses its discretion to release video of specific incidents and has no policy for when to do so.

Even when footage is released, ICE’s policy will require the redaction of all officers’ identifying features such as their faces, names and badge numbers to preserve their privacy.

Schneider, who has studied body cameras since their use began spreading a decade ago, said he does not expect ICE to release footage of fatal shootings like those last month in Houston and Maine.

He noted ICE’s sister agency, Customs and Border Protection, has not released footage of the January shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis even though it was captured on agents’ cameras. CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott told lawmakers in February that the video and other materials were under investigation and would be made public “when it’s appropriate.”

ICE says all officers will have cameras by end of September

ICE spent $30.9 million in July to purchase body camera equipment from Axon, the Arizona-based company that also manufactures Tasers, federal spending records show.

The spending began one day after the fatal shooting of a 25-year-old motorist in Maine by an ICE officer with a history of violent behavior. Days earlier, another ICE officer shot and killed a homebuilder in Houston who was driving to work.

Neither shooting was recorded with body cameras. That news angered members of Congress, who had given ICE $20 million to purchase body cameras in a bill passed to end a partial government shutdown on April 30.

ICE said body cameras have been sent to more than half its field officers and the rest will receive them by the end of September. That timeline pushes back estimates from earlier public statements. Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who backed funding for cameras, said last month that the agency informed her they would be deployed by the end of August. ICE had said earlier that they would be issued by mid-September.

ICE officers working in the Houston area, where the agency sent more than 800 cameras, are among those who have started training, according to U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat and member of the House Appropriations Committee.

At least one member of every arrest team will be required to have a camera, the agency said.

“I think the American people need to see what that officer sees and hears,” White House border czar Tom Homan said July 19 on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.” “And if you look at the data, body cameras actually exonerate agents more than they, you know, provide evidence of wrongdoing.”

Schneider said he expects ICE to release recordings that promote the agency’s mass deportation program by portraying officers as brave and immigrants as dangerous criminals.

“Much of what law enforcement does is convince the public that we need them and feel safe and they do all this good stuff for us,” he said. “The more bad stuff the public sees, the more angry the public gets. And this causes problems for the police brand.”

ICE has taken years to adopt body cameras

ICE began testing body cameras in 2021 during President Joe Biden's administration and distributed 1,400 devices three years later, saying use would expand as funding became available.

After returning to office in 2025, President Donald Trump rescinded a Biden order that required federal law enforcement agencies to use body cameras.

ICE did not buy body cameras even after it received a historic $75 billion infusion in Trump’s signature policy bill in 2025 and began hiring thousands of new officers. The two July purchases from Axon were made through an existing government contract that began in 2023, records show.

“This is not hard to deploy, but they’ve slow-rolled it,” said Jason Houser, who was ICE chief of staff under Biden and helped implement the agency’s pilot program.

Houser said the Trump administration should have equipped officers with body cameras when it expanded mass arrests and traffic stops. Doing so only after several shootings and pressure from Congress “is clearly a political response” that will not make officers or the public safer, he said.

“This doesn’t fix the problem of putting officers in a place where they’re not trained or equipped to carry out the style of operations that the administration is asking them to do,” he said.