Vice President Vance is expected to travel to Islamabad soon to lead a U.S. delegation for a second round of peace talks with Iran as the countries' two-week ceasefire nears its expiration day.

But the prospects for renewed diplomacy remain unclear. Iranian state media say no Iranian delegations have traveled to Islamabad "so far." President Trump reiterated, in an interview with CNBC Tuesday, that he does not want to extend the ceasefire.

On Monday, Trump told Bloomberg News the ceasefire expires Wednesday evening Eastern time.

Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, Iran's chief negotiator and parliament speaker, accused the United States late Monday of forcing Iran to the negotiating table and said that on the contrary, Iran has been preparing "to reveal new cards on the battlefield."

"We do not accept negotiations under the shadow of threats," Qalibaf wrote in a post on social media.

Officials in Islamabad say the city remains ready to host the talks, though Pakistan's government has given no formal indication about the status of its ongoing mediation efforts.

The first round of talks, held just over a week ago in Islamabad, ended without an agreement. Vance later accused Iran of refusing to accept Washington's terms on Iran's plans for nuclear enrichment.

Here are the main sticking points in the negotiations:

What is the U.S. asking Iran to do?

For officials in Washington, the main points of contention remain control over the Strait of Hormuz and the future of Iran's nuclear program.

The Trump administration has said it wants commercial shipping through the strategic waterway to be fully restored. Around 20% of the world's crude oil and natural gas passes through the narrow strait.

Since the start of the war on Feb. 28, Iran's main leverage over the U.S. has been its control of the strait, including the collection of tolls from commercial ships passing through it as a condition for reopening the waterway.

"The weaker party gains just by virtue of entering into a negotiation process," Mark Freeman, executive director of the Institute for Integrated Transitions, a peace and security think tank based in Spain, told NPR.

Iran's grip on the Strait of Hormuz has rattled global markets, raising the national average price of gas above $4 a gallon.

The other big demand coming from Washington centers on Iran's nuclear program – and whether Tehran will accept limits on nuclear enrichment.

In an interview with The John Fredericks Show Monday, a pro-MAGA radio talk show, President Trump said Iran would return to negotiations, but insisted the country "will not have a nuclear weapon."

"They're going to negotiate," Trump said. "And if they don't, they're going to see problems like they've never seen before."

Trump has consistently said that one of the main objectives of the war with Iran is to ensure that it never has a nuclear weapon. In his first interview after the fighting started, he said he believed Iran was "going to attack first" if the United States did not act. Trump did not cite intelligence to support that claim.

Vice President Vance said the first round of ceasefire talks held over a week ago broke down because Iran would not commit to forgoing a nuclear weapon.

"The simple fact is that we need to see an affirmative commitment that they will not seek a nuclear weapon, and they will not seek the tools that would enable them to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon," Vance said.

For Iran, Lebanon and end to U.S. blockade remain key demands

For Tehran, the key demands for extending the ceasefire include an end to the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports and guarantees that the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah will not resume.

Israel and Lebanon agreed on a 10-day ceasefire last week, pausing fighting between Israel's military and the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. That ceasefire is still holding.

Iran had earlier refused to engage in more negotiations with the United States unless Israel stopped its attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Israel, however, has vowed to keep its troops in southern Lebanon, and Hezbollah said the Lebanese people maintain the "right to resist" Israeli forces in the country.

Fighting between Israel and Hezbollah broke out shortly after the start of the war with Iran on Feb. 28, with Hezbollah firing rockets into northern Israel in a show of solidarity with Tehran. Israeli forces responded with airstrikes and an invasion of southern Lebanon. Israel says it is creating a "buffer zone" to distance Hezbollah fire from Israeli border communities.

Israel's strikes have killed more than 2,300 people and displaced over 1 million in Lebanon, according to Lebanese authorities. Hezbollah's attacks have killed at least 12 Israeli soldiers and two civilians, according to Israeli authorities.

As for the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports, Iran has made it clear it sees lifting the blockade as a condition for further diplomacy.

After the first round of ceasefire talks in Islamabad ended without an agreement, the U.S. military blockaded Iranian shipping ports, in a bid to pressure Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz as well as put economic pressure on Iran to end the war. The U.S. military says it has forced 27 ships to turn back since the blockade began. However, maritime data analysis firm Lloyd's List says it has tracked "shadow fleet" vessels moving in and out of Iranian ports.

Iran briefly reopened the key shipping route for less than a day, only to announce it was reinstating control over the strait once more in response to the continued U.S. blockade.

Iranian officials have also signaled they want financial relief, including access to $6 billion in frozen assets, and do not want to negotiate while Washington keeps up military and economic pressure.

Rebecca Rosman contributed to this report from London.

Copyright 2026, NPR

The midterm elections are still months away, but voting is already a major focus.

President Donald Trump has claimed that non-citizens vote illegally in large numbers, though there’s no evidence of widespread fraud. Still, he has backed the SAVE Act, which would require in-person proof of citizenship to register. It passed the House, stalled in the Senate and some Republican-led states are moving ahead with similar requirements.

At the same time, the federal government is seeking access to state voter rolls, the president’s attacks on mail-in voting have ramped up and the Supreme Court may weigh in on mail-in ballot deadlines.

So how secure are elections in Minnesota and across the country? Are new laws needed — or not? MPR News host Angela Davis and her guests talk about how our election systems can balance security with access.

Guests:

• Steve Simon has been Minnesota’s Secretary of State since 2015. He oversees elections and partners with township, city and county officials to organize elections on behalf of Minnesota’s four million eligible voters. He previously served in the Minnesota House of Representatives representing St. Louis Park and Hopkins. He’s a past president of the National Association of Secretaries of State.

• Jennifer Morrell is the CEO and co-founder of The Elections Group, which works with election officials from across the country on how to conduct fair and secure elections. She is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Minnesota’s Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs in its graduate Certificate of Election Administration program. She’s also a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and served as an election official in Utah and Colorado.

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.    

Out at a farm near Farmington, a dozen greenhouses sit on 12 and a half acres of land that have been left untouched for over a year.

Overgrown weeds poke out of a clear tarp that just barely covers the greenhouse roofs. Tangled hoses are piled on the floor by one of the doors. Bundles of blue wire hang from the ceiling in the main corridor, where a new security system was supposed to be installed.

Regulatory problems, namely getting local signoff, have the plans stuck in place. That’s led to litigation and is among a series of lawsuits cropping up around Minnesota as the still-forming legal marijuana industry is getting off the ground. Clashes between local authorities and would-be cannabis operations are leading to rearranged plans, court fights or resignation that some might not come to pass as planned.

In the case of the Farmington fields, things are in limbo.

“It’s honestly depressing,” said Josh Kasprzyk. “We’ve invested millions here.”

Farm sits idle amid township conflicts

Fullscreen SlideshowPrevious Slide

5 of 5

1 of 5

2 of 5

Next Slide

Since 2019, Kasprzyk and his business partner, Richard Brama, have grown hemp at the farm to produce low-dose THC products under BKR Brands. The plan had always been to cultivate recreational cannabis there once it became legal in Minnesota and lease some of their space to other license holders.

“We were transparent [with the township] about what we were attempting to do,” Brama said. “We felt like we had a really good relationship with the community.”

But when the time came to pivot into the adult-use market, the duo ran into issues with the local township. They spent about half a year working with Eureka Township — which has jurisdiction in this instance — but couldn’t get approval for their cultivation plans.

Now, Kasprzyk is suing the township for barring their operation.

“It's absolutely been very painful for us personally, for our business, employees, and our families,” he said.

Denied approval

Last year, Kasprzyk and Brama stopped cultivating hemp at the farm to prepare for the shift into cannabis. In early 2024, they got approval from Eureka Township to construct two buildings where he planned to grow indoors for hemp and later for cannabis.

Kasprzyk then secured one of 50 cannabis cultivator licenses through a lottery held by the Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management last June. Everything seemed to be on track, except for the local township.

It started out as Eureka requiring them to obtain an interim use permit.

“Instead of bringing us into a conversation to see how we could make this work together in a partnership, they passed a special use permit without informing us knowing that we had put all this money into the infrastructure anticipating adult-use cannabis,” Brama said.

The operators applied for an interim use permit, a process that cost more than $100,000 between architects, lawyers and site planning. They were also invoiced by Eureka about $24,000 for legal research.

After months of back and forth on building codes and other disputes, Kasprzyk told the town they would scratch plans for the two new buildings and use the existing land they had used for hemp. But the town ultimately denied their permit last November.

“The township had multiple reasons the proposed project did not meet the criteria for issuing an IUP, including but not limited to the incompatibility with the neighboring property, the adverse effect on the neighboring property and the traffic concerns,” said Jason Kuboushek, the township’s attorney.

In its denial letter, the town cited concerns with increased traffic on a nearby public road, neighbors who were worried about their property value dropping and an “unwillingness” to comply with local building codes and other rules.

“The law is clear that they can't deny us because we're asking for cannabis, as long as we meet the conditions,” Kasprzyk said.

State law says cities and counties can only govern time, place and manner of a cannabis business and enact “reasonable restrictions,” but cannot prohibit it. Despite that, several municipalities have passed ordinances that zone out or restrict cannabis.

In response to allegations that Eureka is acting in defiance of state law and is biased against cannabis, Kuboushek said cannabis businesses are allowed in certain locations but “for the reasons set forth in the resolution, this was not the right location.”

A few other lawsuits are pending challenging similar decisions by local governments. Minnesota’s cannabis agency says it cannot compel a city or county to action even if it’s not complying with state law.

“The office has recommended that license applicants seek legal counsel about their options if they believe their local government is not complying with the law,” said Jim Walker, an agency spokesperson.

The agency is monitoring ongoing cannabis lawsuits and court decisions.

In Albert Lea, a dispensary owner argues the city unlawfully denied him registration for his retail cannabis store after a past criminal conviction involving a minor became the center of controversy. And a farmer in Silver Bay is fighting against an ordinance that explicitly prohibits local approval of all cannabis businesses.

House DFL Speaker Zack Stephenson, one of the major sponsors of cannabis legalization, said he anticipated conflicts with local governments. He’s confident lawsuits like Kasprzyk’s will be successful.

“We wanted a uniform approach across the state, so cities have very little discretion when it comes to these businesses. And yet they are. Some of them continue to try and push the envelope,” he said.

Other efforts are underway at the Capitol to focuses on local government’s ability to approve a cannabis business. Rep. Jessica Hanson, DFL-Burnsville, is pushing a bill that would allow the OCM to waive the requirement of getting local government certification and may issue a license to an applicant if a municipality does not issue certification within 30 days of receiving a copy of the application. The prospective business owner still has to comply with local zoning ordinances and state fire and building codes.

A companion bill is also making its way through the Senate.

Early struggles

That leaves Minnesotans like Kasprzyk and Brama with losses they’ll never be able to recover.

They estimate damages could stretch into the millions if they can't get crop into the ground. That’s from the farm sitting idle, missing out on getting into the market early and an ongoing lawsuit with the township.

“They went behind our backs, pulled the rug out from underneath us, and put us in a position where not only could they have bankrupt our businesses, but they could have bankrupt us personally,” Brama said.

Many say the most crucial time to get into the market is the first 12 to 24 months, which is the goal for most prospective cannabis business owners. The adult-use market is still in its early stages, but is slowly shaping up with at least 180 businesses licensed and more than $64 million in retail revenue.

Supply is still extremely limited and Minnesota only has four licensed cultivators so far.

The pair say they have lost the opportunity to take advantage of that window where their business would be the most successful. Fortunately, Kasprzyk and Brama found a new cultivation facility in St. Paul and have about another year before the market matures and profit margins slim down.

The difference between Eureka and St. Paul is night and day. Their focus now is getting the facility ready to grow cannabis.

“Our hope is to get operational within three to four months,” Brama said.

He also hopes they win the lawsuit so they can still grow cannabis at the farm in Farmington, like they originally planned eight years ago.

“The damage has been done,” Brama said. “And so at this point, I'm hopeful that we can continue to find a path forward in Farmington, that’s the goal.”

MPR News political correspondent Dana Ferguson contributed to this report.

By May 18, Minnesota lawmakers will wrap-up their legislative session and the financial future of the state’s largest medical trauma center may be more clear.

HCMC has been pushed to the financial brink in recent years and is relying on the Legislature to provide relief. Currently, a bill that would funnel money to HCMC from a sales tax dedicated to pay for Target Field is awaiting possible inclusion into a larger tax bill. However, lawmakers are also considering a one-time cash infusion.

Hennepin Healthcare oversees HCMC and CEO Dr. John Cumming said there isn’t a back-up plan yet.

“There is very clear bipartisan support that something needs to be done, so we are optimistic that a solution will be crafted by the Legislature,” he said on Monday’s Morning Edition.

Cumming is returning to the role of CEO since he last served in 2020. His appointment came earlier in the month after the two previous co-administrators resigned. He said until financial stability is brought via legislature, his work is calming the atmosphere within the walls of HCMC and Hennepin Healthcare.

Listen to the full conversation by clicking the player above.

A U.S. negotiating team is headed to Pakistan Monday for a second round of peace talks with Iran – which says it might not even show up.

Tehran's reticence comes after the U.S. on Sunday fired on and seized one of its cargo ships in the Strait of Hormuz as part of Washington's blockade on Iranian vessels in the vital waterway, and just two days before the ceasefire is set to expire.

A video released by U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) shows the operation, with Marines descending from a helicopter by rope to board the vessel, the Touska, after "guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance…disabled Touska's propulsion."

President Trump said Sunday the U.S. military had "stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engine room" after the ship failed to heed repeated warnings.

Trump said Marines then took control of the vessel and moved to investigate its cargo. He said the Iranian flagged ship was under the existing U.S. Treasury Department sanctions.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard warned it will take action against the U.S. military for the seizure of that ship, without elaborating.

Oil prices surged in reaction to these developments, rising more than 5.3 percent at $95.62 a barrel on Monday from Friday's close at $90.38 a barrel.

The April 8 ceasefire agreement between the U.S.-Israel and Iran is set to expire on Wednesday.

Here's more news from the Middle East war on Monday:

Talks or no talks?

Preparations to host Iranian and U.S. negotiating teams were underway in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, on Monday, despite questions over whether Iran would attend.

Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Monday Tehran had no plans yet regarding a second round of talks, accusing the U.S. of lacking "seriousness in pursuing a diplomatic process," according to Iran's state news agency, IRNA.

Trump announced Sunday that a negotiating team was headed to Islamabad on Monday evening and warned Iran against walking away from negotiations.

Trump said "We're offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don't, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran. NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!"

The first round of peace talks led by Vice President Vance just over a week ago broke down, with Vance accusing Iran of being unwilling to accept Washington's terms on Iran's plans for nuclear enrichment.

A poll released this week by NBC shows Trump's approval rating has hit a new low, with 63 percent of those surveyed disapproving of the president's performance.

Two-thirds of respondents disapproved of Trump's handling of the Iran conflict and inflation, the poll showed.

Chinese condemnation

Iran ally China has weighed in on the U.S. seizure of the Touska, according to the Associated Press, expressing concern over "the forcible interception" and calling for a resumption of peace talks.

China is heavily reliant on Iranian oil imports.

Death toll in Iran

Iran officials said Monday at least 3,375 people had been killed during the war.

Abbas Masjedi, the head of Iran's Legal Medicine Organization, didn't give separate figures for civilian and security force casualties.

He said 383 of the dead were children under 18 years old, according to Iran's Mizan news agency.

Lebanon ceasefire holding

The temporary ceasefire to pause the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon is holding, though shaky.

In the south, where the Israeli military is still occupying a large swath of land, Israel has carried out a number of airstrikes against what it called "terrorist activity."

The ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon says Israel can continue military activity in self-defense.

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for an explosion that killed at least one Israeli soldier over the weekend and said the explosive device was planted before the ceasefire.

Jane Arraf in Amman, Jordan, Aya Batrawy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Kate Bartlett in Johannesburg contributed to this report.

Copyright 2026, NPR

The FBI and Justice Department are scrambling to rebuild a depleted workforce after a wave of departures over the past year, with leaders easing hiring requirements and accelerating recruitment in ways that some current and former officials see as a lowering of long-accepted standards.

The FBI has used social media campaigns to attract applicants, offered abbreviated training for candidates from other federal agencies and relaxed requirements for support staff seeking to become agents, according to people familiar with the changes and internal communications seen by The Associated Press. At the same time, the Justice Department has opened the door to hiring prosecutors right out of law school to help fill vacancies in U.S. attorney’s offices across the country.

Some current and former agents also say the FBI is promoting into positions of leadership employees with less experience than is customary for the jobs.

The moves reflect a broader effort to stabilize a workforce strained by retirements and resignations prompted in part by concerns over the Trump administration's politicization of the department, along with the firings of lawyers, agents and other employees deemed insufficiently loyal to the Republican president's agenda. Critics of the changes say they amount to a reduction in standards for a law enforcement institution that has long prided itself on professional expertise and bears responsibility for everything from preventing terrorist attacks to building complex public corruption prosecutions.

“It’s a sign of, among other things, the difficulty the department is having right now in keeping and recruiting people,” said Greg Brower, a former U.S. attorney in Nevada who left the FBI in 2018 as its chief congressional liaison.

The FBI defended the changes as a necessary modernization of its hiring pipeline, saying it is streamlining, not lowering, standards and removing what it says were “bureaucratic” steps in the application process. It said applicants were still evaluated “on the same competencies.”

“The Bureau holds high standards for potential and current employees, and there is a rigorous application and background process to join the FBI,” the FBI said in a statement.

Waived requirements in some cases to become an FBI agent

The FBI has long been seen as the nation's premier federal law enforcement agency, with a recruitment process anchored around physical fitness tests, a writing assessment, interview and training academy at Quantico, Virginia.

Elements of the regimen have been periodically tweaked to fit the bureau's needs, including over the past year under FBI Director Kash Patel 's leadership.

With a mantra to “let good cops be cops,” Patel announced last year that transfers from other agencies such as the Drug Enforcement Administration would be able to complete a nine-week training academy instead of the traditional academy that spans more than four months. The change rankled some current and former officials who say the FBI's protocols, culture and diversity of cases it handles help to distinguish it from other agencies.

For support staff employees looking to become agents, the bureau more recently said it would waive requirements of a written assessment and an interview with a three-member panel of FBI agents meant to measure life experience and judgment, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the moves and an internal message seen by the AP.

The FBI said onboard employees would still need recommendations from a senior leader and to complete Quantico training.

“We are not lowering standards or removing qualifications in any way. What we are doing is streamlining the process to remove duplicative, bureaucratic steps to the application system for onboard employees,” the FBI said in a statement, adding, "These are changes based on a wide variety of feedback from successful agents with over 20 years’ experience.”

Patel boasted in January of a 112 percent increase in applications, and the FBI says it has a “clear path” to add around 700 special agents this year and that its current Quantico class is one of its largest in years. But some people familiar with the matter say an applications uptick does not necessarily correspond to a surge in high-caliber recruits that can offset the attrition the bureau has endured.

At the other end of the employment spectrum, the FBI also faces turnover among senior leaders, including special agents in charge, the title given to heads of most of the bureau's 56 field offices. Some were fired by Patel over the past year. Others retired. Many offices are now led by someone who has been in the job for under a year.

Facing what current and former officials say is difficulty in filling some of the positions, the FBI has moved quickly to promote agents up the ladder, people familiar with the matter say. That includes elevating assistant special agents in charge to special agents in charge and opening the door for employees to be considered for leadership roles without the significant headquarters experience the FBI historically regarded as necessary for a holistic view of bureau operations.

As a conservative podcast host before becoming director, Patel talked about shutting down FBI headquarters and transforming it into a museum of the “deep state” and immediately upon his arrival told colleagues that as director he would move hundreds of employees from Washington into the field.

“As a field agent, you have a field agent’s mentality, you have a field agent's view,” said Chris Piehota, a retired FBI senior executive. Without adequate headquarters experience, he added, you don't know “the business side of the FBI, the logistical side of the FBI or the political jungle" that can accompany the job.

Justice Department changes

The Justice Department, meanwhile, has lowered hiring prerequisites for some federal prosecutors.

Department officials recently suspended a policy that U.S. attorneys offices only hire prosecutors with at least one year of experience practicing law. The department did not explain the reason, but said in a statement that it is “proud to empower young and passionate prosecutors and offer attorneys at every level the opportunity to invest their talents into keeping their communities safe."

It comes as parts of the agency are struggling to keep up with the workload amid critical staffing shortages, with the department recently acknowledging that it has lost nearly 1,000 assistant U.S. attorneys.

In Minnesota, for example, the federal prosecutors’ office has been gutted by resignations amid frustration with the administration’s stepped-up immigration enforcement and the department’s response to fatal shootings of civilians by federal agents.

Justice Department headquarters in Washington has endured staffing losses, too.

The number of lawyers in the Criminal Division’s Violent Crime and Racketeering Section, which prosecutes organized crime groups and violent gangs, is down significantly, though the section is looking to hire additional attorneys. A National Security Division section that works espionage cases has reported a 40 percent drop in prosecutors.

The department said in a statement that it has seen an increase in criminal complaints and indictments despite a loss in prosecutors, underscoring the “bloated, ineffective and weaponized” institution it says the administration inherited.

Officials have enlisted military lawyers to serve as special prosecutors in some offices. The Justice Department has taken to social media to recruit applicants, and the FBI has done the same in search of new agents. One recent post from the FBI's Indianapolis office said: “A calling bigger than yourself. A mission that matters. If you’re ready for the challenge, there’s a place for you on the FBI team.”

Chad Mizelle, who served as chief of staff to Trump's first attorney general, Pam Bondi, recently urged lawyers to contact him on X if they want to become prosecutors, “and support President Trump and anti-crime agenda.” Mizelle’s post raised eyebrows not only because federal prosecutors have not generally been solicited over social media, but also because support for the president has not been a prerequisite for career employees.

“We need good prosecutors,” wrote Mizelle, who left the department in October. “And DOJ is hiring across the country. Now is your chance to join the mission and do good for our country.”

In her first State of the City address Monday, St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her promised improvements to the nuts and bolts of city services, as the city continues its path to recovery from the federal immigration enforcement surge.

The speech marked Her’s first 100 days in office. It was a much different start to the term than she expected. Her campaigned on those nuts-and-bolts promises, like streamlining the city’s permitting process and smoothing out relationships with businesses. But less than a week into her first term, federal agents in Minneapolis killed Renee Good.

“In public service, you rarely know everything you are stepping into until you sit behind the desk,” Her said. “These first few months have reminded me of that truth.”

Her was quickly launched into the response to the federal immigration surge, from allocating funding to rental assistance for residents to meeting with immigrant business leaders to suing the federal government.

That response also led to disagreement between Her and the city council. Her declined to sign the council’s ordinance extending the city’s eviction notice timeline, a measure meant to help people stay housed if they struggled to pay rent due to the federal surge. Her said she believed the measure could end up pushing tenants further into debt. But the ordinance took effect anyway, as the council passed it with a veto-proof 7-0 majority.

Council president Rebecca Noecker introduced Her at Monday’s speech, and said she’s been grateful for collaboration with the mayor’s office — even through disagreements.

“The council and the mayor have already had our disagreements, and we will continue to do so, but because of who our mayor is and how she’s showing up every day, the state of our City Hall has never been stronger,” Noecker said.

Her said the work of responding to the surge isn’t done. Residents continue to apply for funding to help pay their bills. The city estimates businesses lost more than $129 million in January and February.

“We feel this economic pain deeply here in our city, but as the capital city, it will echo throughout the entire state,” Her said.

She’s advocating for state funding to help with that recovery process.

St. Paul State of the City

Fullscreen SlideshowPrevious Slide

6 of 6

1 of 6

2 of 6

Next Slide

That funding — and other requests for money from the state — is uncertain, with the legislature closely split.

Another big ask is for $200 million for renovations to Grand Casino Arena. It’s part of a deal between the city and the Minnesota Wild to improve the facility without raising property taxes to pay for it.

That’s part of Her’s goal to revitalize downtown St. Paul. She highlighted progress on that front, with an Aldi slated to open as the downtown’s only grocery store. Ramsey County also recently announced its own investments in small business support and development projects downtown, which also includes requests for funding from the state legislature.

Her said she’s also seeking state funding to maintain the St. Paul Police Department’s nonfatal shootings unit, a new city project. Her said the unit has been essential in reducing shootings by 32 percent in 2025, and driving down the city’s homicide rate by 50 percent.

“These are real, measurable wins,” Her said. “We will continue to invest in proven programs that keep our neighborhoods safe on the public safety front.”

For her next 100 days, Her said she wants to get back to the nuts-and-bolts changes she campaigned on. That includes lead pipe replacement, patching potholes quicker and simplifying permitting systems for businesses to get off the ground.

A refund system for businesses that paid tariffs which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled President Donald Trump imposed without the constitutional authority to do so is scheduled to launch Monday.

Importers and their brokers will be able to begin claiming refunds through an online portal beginning at 8 a.m., according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the agency administering the system.

It's the first step in a complicated process that also might eventually lead to refunds for consumers who were billed for some or all of the tariffs on products shipped to them from outside the United States.

Companies must submit declarations listing the goods on which they collectively put billions of dollars toward the import taxes the court subsequently struck down. If CBP approves a claim, it will take 60-90 days for a refund to be issued, the agency said.

The government expects to process refunds in phases, however, focusing first on more recent tariff payments. Any number of technical factors and procedural issues could delay an importer's application, so any reimbursements businesses plan to make to customers likely would trickled down slowly.

In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court on Feb. 20 found that Trump usurped Congress' tax-setting role last April when he set new import tax rates on products from almost every other country, citing the U.S. trade deficit as a national emergency that warranted his invoking of a 1977 emergency powers law.

Although the court majority did not address refunds in its ruling, a judge at the U.S. Court of International Trade determined last month that companies subjected to IEEPA tariffs were entitled to money back.

Not all taxed imports immediately eligible

Customs and Border Protection said in court filings that over 330,000 importers paid a total of about $166 billion on over 53 million shipments.

Not all of those orders qualify for the first phase of the refund system's rollout, which is limited to cases in which tariffs were estimated but not finalized or within 80 days of a final accounting.

To receive refunds, importers have to register for the CPB's electronic payment system. As of April 14, 56,497 importers had completed registration and were eligible for refunds totaling $127 billion, including interest, the agency said.

System requires accuracy

Meghann Supino, a partner at Ice Miller, said the law firm has advised clients to carefully list in their declarations all of the document numbers for forms that went to CBP to describe imported goods and their value.

“If there is an entry on that file that does not qualify, it may cause the entire entry to be rejected or that line item might be rejected by Customs,” she said.

Supino thinks the portal going live will require composure as well as diligence.

“Like any electronic online program that goes live with a lot of interest, I would expect that there might be some hiccups with the program on Monday,” she said. “So we continue to ask everyone to be patient, because we think that patience will pay off.”

Nghi Huynh, the partner-in-charge of transfer pricing at accounting and consulting firm Armanino, said most companies claiming refunds will have imported a mix of items, and not all will qualify right away.

“It’s about having a clear process in place and keeping track of what’s been submitted and what’s been paid, so nothing falls through the cracks,” she said. “Each file can include thousands of entries, but accuracy is critical, as submissions can be rejected if formatting or data is incorrect.”

Patience with the process

Small businesses have eagerly awaited the chance to apply for refunds. Brad Jackson, co-founder of After Action Cigars in Rochester, Minnesota, said he starting compiling records and preparing to enter information into the system the minute CPB announced the launch date.

The company imports cigars and accessories from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. Last year, it paid $34,000 in tariffs and absorbed much of the cost instead of raising customer prices, Jackson said.

Last spring, he had a two-week delay in a shipment due to a missing document, so he is being more careful with refund documents, he said.

“My main concern is the turnaround time,” Jackson said. “A refund process that takes several months to complete doesn’t solve the cash flow problem that it is supposed to fix.”

Will consumers see refunds?

Tariffs are paid by importers, and some companies pass on the tax costs to consumers via higher prices.

The system starting up Monday will refund tariffs directly to the businesses that paid them, which are not obligated to share the proceeds with customers. However, class-action lawsuits that aim to force companies, ranging from Costco to Ray-Ban maker Essilor Luxottica, to reimburse shoppers are winding their way through the U.S. legal system.

Individuals may be more likely to receive refunds from delivery companies like FedEx and UPS, which collected tariffs on imports directly from consumers. FedEx has said it would return tariff refunds to customers when it receives them from the CPB.

“Supporting our customers as they navigate regulatory changes remains our top priority,” FedEx said in a statement. “We are working with our customers as CBP begins processing refunds and plan to begin filing claims on April 20.”

State lawmakers returned to the Capitol this year vowing to address school safety in the wake of the Annunciation Catholic Church and School in August.

But with a month left in the legislative session, they’ve yet to coalesce around a proposal that can pass the narrowly split Capitol.

Across party lines, lawmakers agree that more funding is needed to augment safety in schools — and districts should adopt plans for violent incidents and implement anonymous reporting systems to flag potential threats.

The disputes are around the way to distribute a yet-decided pot of money. They’re also not in harmony about whether to recommend them or to require them. DFL efforts to restrict access to firearms have so far stalled without Republican support.

Here’s a look at what’s in consideration and what might make it over the finish line.

School safety funding

Gov. Tim Walz and lawmakers in both chambers are proposing additional money, but who would receive the funding and what could be covered varies in the proposals.

House Republicans have pitched additional school safety funding for traditional public, charter, private and tribal schools. That could cover more school safety officers, harden schools against potential intruders or pay for additional mental health counselors. They say it’s important to direct funding to all schools given previous shootings have occurred at public, private and tribal schools in Minnesota.

“To make school safer for every student in the state of Minnesota – and that's the key for us today is addressing the safety of all kids in our schools,” said Rep. Bryan Lawrence, R-Princeton.

Senate Democrats and Walz also proposed school safety funding to public and nonpublic schools. Walz’s proposal would earmark $5 million to the school safety center and school safety grants in this budget and $10 million in the next. The Senate is proposing a one-time $40 million round of grants.

House Democrats, meanwhile, are recommending more money to public and charter schools with a focus on adding support personnel that work in mental health. They point to research on school shooters that suggest most are students or former students. So they say rather than focusing on bulletproof doors or barriers, lawmakers should fund people that can help young people deal with challenging things in their lives.

“Do we want them to experience entering into a `hardened complex?’ Or do we want them to experience a caring and supportive environment where they are known, where they are supported and where they are taken care of?” Rep. Josiah Hill, DFL- Stillwater. “Allowing students, districts and charters to move away from having those professionals onsite to care for our kids and to educate our kids to put in bulletproof glass or other features that would harden the structure comes at quite a cost.”

The size and funding source of the school safety money is also a point of contention in the House.

With limited dollars available this year, lawmakers are also grappling with where to find money for the potential safety grants. That could be part of a broader budgeting discussion in the final weeks of the session.

Threat reporting systems

Both parties also agree on creating an evidence-based school safety plan and having school districts put individual plans based on that state model. But there’s a snag around whether they would be compelled to do that or whether they should just be strongly encouraged.

Democrats said the state should require schools create school safety plans and set up anonymous reporting systems or direct the school community to the state’s reporting system. House Education Finance Committee Co-Chair Cheryl Youakim said the issue is urgent given the potential danger that schools face.

“We're to a point now that we do have to say it has to be done. We have to start this process now. We can't keep waiting,” Youakim said. “Childhood doesn't have a rewind, and we can't have a whole other generation being afraid when they go to school.”

Republicans agreed those reporting systems and safety plans should be put in place. But they said schools are already facing too many mandates. Instead, they recommend districts take these steps rather than require it.

“We want schools to be able to have the option to opt into a good thing,” said Rep. Peggy Bennett, R-Albert Lea. “They're smart enough. They can figure this out. They can see what good things are. There's no need to mandate that our schools are so over mandated right now.”

Proposed restrictions on firearms

Democrats want to ban assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines. But those have stalled so far in the tied House. Despite that, DFL leaders plan to keep pressing forward because as a piece of the school safety equation.

The House DFL safety proposal would also require locking up firearms on school campuses and prohibit possession of a firearm on school property or during school activities if posted signs say firearms are not allowed.

“We want to do something meaningful on school safety, but that requires taking seriously the issue of guns,” said House DFL Leader Zack Stephenson. “We will continue to support keeping our schools safe, but the idea that we can't do anything on guns is anathema to most Minnesotans.”

School suspension options for young students

House Republicans propose restoring the option to suspend students in kindergarten through third grade when they act out in violent ways. They said other students and teachers can be put in harm’s way when they lack the ability to remove students from the classroom.

“The educators across the state are begging you to listen to what is happening,” Rep. Ben Bakeberg, R-Jordan, said. “Those are educators being hurt by kids. We talk a lot about retention and growing our workforce. It starts with respecting educators.”

Democrats argue students need more support in schools, not a step to remove them.

What are lawmakers saying about a final compromise?

Leaders of the tied House Education Finance Committee said they’re prepared to work together on a compromise school safety package.

“I think it's a has to get it done,” House Education Committee Co-Chair Ron Kresha said. “I think if we were to finally close out the session in May and my head were to hit the pillow that night and we didn't get a school safety package done, that would be a great sense of sadness.”

Youakim, a Hopkins DFLer, agreed they could reach an agreement if given time to negotiate in advance of the May 18 adjournment deadline.

“I know if we sat in a room for a day, we could get this done,” Youakim said. “I look forward to that. And you know, really it is not too late for our community to come together and pass a multi-layered approach to school safety.”

Iran said Friday it fully reopened the Strait of Hormuz to commercial vessels, but U.S. President Donald Trump said the American blockade on Iranian ships and ports “will remain in full force” until Tehran reaches a deal with the U.S., including on its nuclear program.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X that the crucial waterway, through which about 20% of the world's oil is shipped, was now fully open to commercial vessels, as a 10-day truce between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon appeared to hold.

Araghchi said ships will use routes designated by the Islamic Republic in coordination with Iranian authorities, suggesting Iran planned to retain some level of control over the channel. It was not clear if vessels would have to pay tolls.

A data firm, Kpler, said movement through the strait remained confined to corridors requiring Iran’s approval.

Trump initially celebrated the Iranian announcement, posting on social media that the strait was "fully open and ready for full passage.” But minutes later, he issued another post saying the U.S. Navy's blockade would continue “UNTIL SUCH TIME AS OUR TRANSACTION WITH IRAN IS 100% COMPLETE.”

Iran protests continued blockade

Iranian officials said the blockade was a violation of last week’s ceasefire agreement between Iran and the U.S. The strait "will not remain open” if the blockade continues, Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, posted on X early Saturday.

Trump imposed the blockade earlier this week after Iran restricted traffic through the strait due to fighting in Lebanon, which Iran claimed was a breach of the Pakistan-brokered ceasefire.

The president's decision to continue the blockade despite Iran’s announcement appeared aimed at sustaining pressure on Tehran as the fate of the two-week ceasefire reached last week remained uncertain. The ceasefire paused almost seven weeks of war between Israel, the U.S. and Iran.

Direct talks between the U.S. and Iran last weekend were inconclusive, as the two nations could not agree about Iran’s nuclear program and other points.

Trump says new talks could happen soon

Trump suggested a second round of talks could happen this weekend.

“The Iranians want to meet,” he said in a brief telephone interview with the news outlet Axios. “They want to make a deal. I think a meeting will probably take place over the weekend.”

Oil prices fell Friday on hopes the U.S. and Iran were drawing closer to an agreement . The head of the International Energy Agency had warned that the energy crisis could get worse if the strait did not reopen.

Two Iranian semiofficial news agencies seemed to challenge Araghchi's announcement about the strait.

Considered close with Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard, the Fars news agency issued a series of posts on X criticizing what it said was a lack of clarity over the decision to reopen the waterway and a “strange silence from the Supreme National Security Council and the negotiating team.”

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council has recently acted as the country's de facto top decision-making body, amid doubts over the status of the new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who was reportedly wounded early in the war.

The Mehr news agency also said the decision to reopen the strait needed “clarification” and required the supreme leader’s approval.

Truce in Lebanon could help US-Iran peace efforts

The ceasefire in Lebanon could clear one major obstacle to an agreement between Iran, the United States and Israel to end the war. But it was unclear to what extent Hezbollah would abide by a deal it did not play a role in negotiating and which will leave Israeli troops occupying a stretch of southern Lebanon.

Trump said in another post that Israel is “prohibited” by the U.S. from further strikes on Lebanon and that “enough is enough” in the Israel-Hezbollah war.

The State Department said the prohibition applies only to offensive attacks and not to actions taken in self-defense.

Shortly before Trump's post, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel agreed to the ceasefire in Lebanon “at the request of my friend President Trump,” but that the campaign against Hezbollah is not complete.

He claimed Israel had destroyed about 90% of Hezbollah’s missile and rocket stockpiles and added that Israeli forces “have not finished yet” with the dismantling of the group.

Celebrations in Beirut

In Beirut, celebratory gunshots rang out at the start of the truce. Displaced families began moving toward southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs despite warnings by officials not to return to their homes until it became clear whether the ceasefire would hold.

The Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon had reported sporadic artillery shelling in some parts of southern Lebanon in the hours after the ceasefire took effect.

An Israeli strike in the area of Kounine hit a car and a motorcycle, killing one person and wounding three, including a Syrian citizen, the Lebanese Health Ministry said Friday. It was the first airstrike and first fatality reported since the truce took effect.

There was no immediate response from the Israeli army or Hezbollah.

An end to Israel’s war with Hezbollah was a key demand of Iranian negotiators, who previously accused Israel of breaking last week's ceasefire with strikes on Lebanon. Israel had said that deal did not cover Lebanon.

The fighting has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, more than 2,290 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen U.S. service members have also been killed.

Israel says it will keep troops in Lebanon

Israel’s hardline Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel would continue to hold all the places where it is currently stationed, including a buffer zone extending 10 kilometers (6 miles) into southern Lebanon. He said many homes in the area would be destroyed and Lebanese residents will not return.

Hezbollah has said Lebanese people have “the right to resist” Israeli occupation and that their actions “will be determined based on how developments unfold.”

Israel and Hezbollah have fought several wars and have been fighting on and off since the day after the start of the Gaza war. Israel and Lebanon reached a deal to end the earlier fighting in November 2024, but Israel has kept up near-daily strikes in what it says is an effort to prevent the Iran-backed militant group from regrouping. That escalated into another invasion after Hezbollah again began firing missiles at Israel in response to its war on Iran.

Mediators seek compromise on three points

In the Iran war, mediators are pushing for compromise on three main points: Iran’s nuclear program, the Strait of Hormuz and compensation for wartime damages, according to a regional official involved in the mediation efforts.

Trump on Friday suggested Iran has agreed to hand over its enriched uranium.

“The USA will get all the nuclear dust,” Trump said in a speech in Arizona. “We’re going to get it by going in with Iran with lots of excavators.”

Nuclear dust is the shorthand Trump frequently uses to refer to the highly enriched uranium that is believed buried under nuclear sites the U.S. bombed during last year’s 12-day war between Israel and Iran.

If true, it would be a major concession from Iran and would lock in a key demand of the U.S. to end the conflict. Neither Iran nor countries acting as intermediaries in the conflict have said Tehran has made such an agreement.

Trump said no money would exchange hands to end the war.

Minnesota is suing — and has been sued — a lot.

There are cases over health care funding, immigration, clean energy policy, election laws, tariffs, diversity policies and much more.

Playing point for much of it: Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. He’s teamed up with Democratic attorneys general in other states for some of the litigation and has gone solo in other cases.

Closer to home, he’s in negotiations with the Legislature over ways to beef up fraud investigations and prosecutions.

MPR News politics editor Brian Bakst speaks with Keith Ellison.

Later in broadcast, a breakdown on the debate over data centers. We’ll get a look at the projects across the state to build more of the information warehouses are getting pushback.

Guests:

• Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison

• Dan Kraker, correspondent for MPR News based in Duluth

• Kirsti Marohn​, correspondent for MPR News based in Collegeville

• Dana Ferguson, political correspondent for MPR News

• Peter Cox, correspondent for MPR News

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation or subscribe to the Politics Friday podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.

A proposal that would lift a 20-year mining ban near the Boundary Waters is on its way to President Donald Trump’s desk for final signature. It passed the Senate Thursday by a single vote.

The repeal was spearheaded by Minnesota Republican U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber, who represents the area where the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is located. Mining supporters say it will jump-start a second mining boom, boosting the economy. Opponents argue it's a gamble at the cost of irreparable damage to the wilderness area.

One of the groups that opposed repealing the ban is the Minnesota Legislature's Native American Caucus. In a statement, the caucus called the Senate vote, “A dark day for our people and homelands” and an “assault” on tribal sovereignty.

State Rep. Shelley Buck, DFL-Maplewood, is part of that caucus. She said she and her colleagues see the world differently than those in favor of mining near the BWCA.

"The water, the plants, the animals — they’re our relatives,” Buck said. “Waters here in Minnesota especially are very sacred and important to us as Dakota people.”

She added that lifting the mining ban also interferes with treaties.

“When things happen to those waters and those lands that contaminate what we get out of them, we're not able to eat and sustain ourselves like the treaties say we are allowed to.”

Listen to the full conversation by clicking the player above.

Their backgrounds stand out. And not in a good way.

Two bankruptcies and six law enforcement jobs in three years. An allegation of lying in a police report to justify a felony charge against an innocent woman — an incident that led to a $75,000 settlement and criticism of his integrity. A third job candidate once failed to graduate from a police academy, then lasted only three weeks in his only job as a police officer.

Their common bond: All were hired recently by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during an unprecedented hiring spree — 12,000 new officers and special agents to double its force — after the agency received a $75 billion windfall from Congress to enact President Donald Trump's mass deportation campaign.

The president put a premium on swift action, and for ICE that meant rapid-fire recruitment and hiring, which in turn led to new employees with questionable qualifications. Their backgrounds and training have come under scrutiny after numerous high-profile incidents in which ICE agents used excessive force.

“If vetting is not done well and it’s done too quickly, you have higher risk of increased liability to the agency because of bad actions, abuse of power and the lack of ability to properly carry out the mission because people don’t know what they are doing,” said Claire Trickler-McNulty, who served as an ICE official during the Obama, first Trump and Biden administrations.

The agency has said the majority of new hires are police and military veterans. But evidence is mounting that applicants with questionable histories were either not fully vetted before they were brought on or were hired in spite of their past, an investigation by The Associated Press found.

ICE’s acting director, Todd Lyons, said during a congressional hearing in February that he was proud of the hiring campaign, which drew more than 220,000 applications. “This expansion of a well-trained and well-vetted workforce will help further ICE’s ability to execute the president’s and secretary’s bold agenda,” he said.

AP finds legal issues in new ICE hires’ backgrounds

Unlike many local law enforcement agencies, ICE said it shields the identity of employees to protect them from harassment, making a full accounting of the new hires impossible.

The AP focused on more than 40 officers who recently made public their new jobs as ICE officers on LinkedIn pages, using public records to check their backgrounds. All but one were male.

While most of them had conventional qualifications as former correctional officers, security guards, military veterans and police officers, it's unclear how many should have potentially been disqualified because AP did not have access to their full personnel files. But several had histories of unpaid debts that resulted in legal action, two had filed for bankruptcy and three others had faced lawsuits that alleged misconduct in prior law enforcement jobs, the AP found.

Marshall Jones, an expert on police recruiting at the Florida Institute of Technology, said it's hard to get a full picture of ICE's new employee pool without more data. But he said ICE has likely hired some “less than ideal candidates” who meet minimum requirements but would be passed over in a normal hiring cycle.

“If you’re hiring hundreds or thousands of people, even with the best of background processes, there are going to be outliers,” he said. “The question is, are these normal outliers from human beings doing things, or is there a systemic challenge in properly vetting folks if there are issues?”

DHS says ‘vetting is an ongoing process’

The Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s parent agency, did not answer questions about specific hiring decisions. But it acknowledged some applicants received “tentative selection letters” and offers to begin working on a temporary status before they had been subjected to full background checks.

“ICE is committed to ensuring its law enforcement personnel are held to the highest standards and rigorously vets them throughout the hiring process,” the department said. “Vetting is an ongoing process, not a one-time occurrence.”

The process includes reviewing their criminal histories and credit scores and conducting background investigations that include interviewing prior employers and other associates, which can take weeks. But the deluge of hires has strained the agency, which promised signing bonuses of up to $50,000 and advertised that college degrees were not required.

An internal memo, first reported by Reuters in February, told ICE supervisors that if they receive “derogatory information about a newly hired employee’s conduct” they should refer the allegations to an internal affairs unit for investigation. Such information could include the employees’ termination or forced resignations, the memo said.

Two bankruptcies, six jobs before ICE hired him

Among the new hires is Carmine Gurliacci, 46, who resigned as a police officer in Richmond Hill, Georgia, to join ICE in Atlanta in December, according to a resignation letter obtained by AP.

He filed for bankruptcy in 2022, saying he had no income and had been unemployed for two years after moving from New York to Georgia, court filings show. He said he was living with a friend and doing chores in exchange for housing, listing tens of thousands of dollars of unpaid loans, bills, child support and other debts. He also had filed for bankruptcy in 2013 in New York, when he listed $95,000 in liabilities, records show.

Serious financial problems are “a pretty big red flag” because they might make employees susceptible to bribes or extortion, which have been problems at ICE, Trickler-McNulty said.

After his 2022 bankruptcy petition was approved, Gurliacci rejoined the work force, hopping to six Georgia law enforcement agencies within three years, each time resigning before moving on, records obtained by AP show.

He left one campus security job in 2023, citing “unforeseen personal issues that render me unable to fulfill my duties,” a resignation letter shows. But he then began working for the Butts County Sheriff's Office soon after.

He lasted months there before moving to the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office, where he quit after two months on the job, records show. The federal government recently obtained his Chatham County personnel file as part of a background check, two months after he started at ICE.

Reached by phone, Gurliacci told a reporter he would call back. He never did and did not respond to follow-up messages.

Critic says new ICE hire ‘abuses his power’

Another new hire is Andrew Penland, 29, who joined ICE after resigning in December as a sheriff’s deputy in Greenwood County, Kansas.

Penland had spent most of his career as a deputy in Bourbon County, Kansas, but left last year after facing a lawsuit alleging he arrested a woman on false allegations in 2022. The county’s insurer paid $75,000 to settle the case, the agreement shows.

The woman, June Bench, recounted in an interview what happened. One of her neighbors, a county official, claimed Bench had purposely made a wide turn and nearly hit him with her car.

Penland responded to the property. Body camera video shows he urged the neighbor to press charges and told the man Bench would go to jail but he would not have to testify in court because it would get resolved through a plea.

Bench denied the allegation and said it was part of a personal dispute. But Penland arrested her on a felony assault charge, took her to jail and seized her car. Penland wrote in a report that he watched surveillance video showing her neighbor jumping out of the way of her speeding car.

It took a week for Bench to get out of jail and more than a year to defeat the charge, which was dismissed for lack of evidence. When she obtained the video Penland cited as proof, it showed her car appearing to make a routine turn and no near-collision with the neighbor.

Bench said she was outraged to learn Penland had been hired by ICE.

“That’s scary to me. He abuses his power,” she said.

After being reached for comment, Penland deactivated his LinkedIn account and alerted ICE to the inquiry but did not respond to AP.

New hire struggled at police academy

A third new ICE hire, Antonio Barrett, initially failed to graduate from a Colorado law enforcement academy in 2020, one of two students who did not “complete portions of the academy” and received “an incomplete grade,” an email obtained by AP shows.

He finished the program after a community college arranged a special one-day training and test for him, and landed a job at the police department in La Junta, Colorado, in July 2020. But he only worked three weeks before resigning and never worked in local policing again.

Previously, Barrett worked as a corrections officer at a Colorado prison.

He was accused in a lawsuit of excessive force for inflicting pain on a handcuffed inmate when he and another colleague forcibly removed the man from a wheelchair in 2017. But state officials argued their actions were not excessive and a court agreed, dismissing the case.

Barrett didn't respond to a message seeking comment.

Ex-ICE instructor says training is inadequate

ICE has denied removing any training requirements, saying new recruits receive 56 days of training and 28 days of on-the-job training. The agency said that most of the new officers have already completed law enforcement academies.

But former ICE academy instructor Ryan Schwank testified in February that agency leaders cut training on the use of force, firearms safety and the rights of protesters. He said the new recruits include some as young as 18 who lack college degrees and whose primary language is not English.

“We’re not giving them the training to know when they’re being asked to do something that they’re not supposed to do, something illegal or wrong,” he said.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting director Todd Lyons, a key executor of President Donald Trump’s mass deportations agenda, will resign at the end of May, federal officials announced Thursday.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin announced Lyons' departure, calling him a great leader of ICE who helped to make American communities safer. Mullin said Lyons' last day will be May 31.

“We wish him luck on his next opportunity in the private sector,” Mullin said in a statement. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press asking why he is resigning.

Lyons, who was named acting director in March 2025, led the agency at the center of President Donald Trump’s plans to reshape immigration to the U.S.

Under his leadership, the agency was granted a massive infusion of cash through Congress, which it used to expand hiring and detention capabilities, and it ramped up arrests to meet demand from the administration.

ICE was also central to a series of high-profile immigration enforcement operations in American cities, including Chicago and Minneapolis, a deployment that ended after backlash erupted over the deaths of two American protesters at the hands of federal immigration officers.

Stephen Miller, the president’s deputy chief of staff and the main architect of his immigration policy, called Lyons a "dedicated leader."

“His courageous work at ICE has saved countless thousands of American lives and helped deliver safety and tranquility to millions of Americans,” Miller said in a statement.

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson described Lyons in a post on X as “an American patriot who made our country safer.”

It’s not clear who might replace Lyons. But whoever does will take over an agency flush with cash while still a flashpoint for controversy. ICE is at the center of a battle in Congress, with Democratic lawmakers demanding restraints on immigration officers before agreeing to restore routine funding for DHS.

On Thursday, Lyons, along with two other top immigration officials, appeared before a House subcommittee to argue for his agency’s budget and faced continued scrutiny from lawmakers of ICE’s actions.

Lyons' departure also comes as DHS is under new leadership after Trump fired former Secretary Kristi Noem, who led the department through the administration’s major immigration policy changes.

Mullin, who took over as secretary last month, is likely to continue to advance the president’s agenda but has struck a softer tone on some of the administration’s most contentious policies.

Public perceptions of ICE during Lyons' tenure were low. In a February AP-NORC poll, most U.S. adults, including independents, said they have an unfavorable view of the agency.

Lyons faced questions in Congress over the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti and was asked if he would apologize for the way some Trump administration officials characterized Good as an agitator. He declined to do so.

“I welcome the opportunity to speak to the family in private. But I’m not going to comment on any active investigation,” Lyons said.

Lyons said he had seen video that captured Pretti’s shooting but said he could not comment, citing an active investigation.

Lyons, who joined ICE in 2007 as an immigration enforcement agent in Texas, signed off on a memo, first obtained by The Associated Press, that granted federal immigration officers sweeping powers to forcibly enter homes and make arrests without a judge’s warrant.

Trump’s border czar Tom Homan described Lyons as serving selflessly and “a highly respected and effective acting Director of ICE

Minnesotans between the ages of 21 and 64 who apply for Medicaid will need to demonstrate that they have been working, attending school or volunteering for at least 80 hours each month to qualify for or retain health insurance under the joint federal-state program.

This requirement follows President Trump’s signing of HR. 1 into law, a sweeping tax and spending bill, last July.

The new law is set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2027, leaving Minnesota lawmakers grappling with how to implement changes to the state’s administration of Medicaid funds before the legislative session ends on May 18.

Both Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature said they need to either pass legislation or update existing rules soon to ensure that state programs comply with the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services new requirements.

But some state legislators have raised concerns about the lack of clear guidance from CMS on how to implement the upcoming work requirement changes.

This uncertainty puts the state at risk of noncompliance, which could result in the loss of Medicaid matching funds, the percentage of state spending matched by the federal government.

To meet the upcoming deadline, Minnesota needs to quickly implement a plan to upgrade agency databases and modernize verification processes.

Sen. Melissa Wiklund, DFL-Bloomington, chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, said lawmakers are working on proposals to address impacts of HR. 1.

“DHS has received some guidance from the federal government, but they haven't received all the final guidance on how to implement some of these provisions, and that is making it tricky for us because our session is fixed in time,” Wiklund said. “So, we have to get something created and passed before our adjournment date.”

‘The clock is ticking’

The new federal law includes the largest cut to Medicaid in history, reducing funding by $1 trillion. As a result, nearly 12 million Americans are expected to become uninsured over the next decade, and according to Minnesota health officials, an estimated 140,000 Minnesotans are likely to lose health coverage.

These upcoming cuts come in addition to a federal hold on $243 million of Medicaid funding that the Trump administration imposed because of possible fraud in state programs. This funding has not yet been released by CMS, despite the federal government approving the state’s corrective action plan aimed at preventing fraud.

Medicaid, known as Medical Assistance in Minnesota, provides health coverage for about 1.2 million residents, offering affordable health insurance to more than one in five Minnesotans, including children, people with disabilities and seniors.

To qualify for Medical Assistance, individuals must meet specific income requirements based on factors such as age, pregnancy status and family size. Enrollees do not pay a premium for coverage, nor do they share costs for comprehensive health services.

A 2023 analysis by KFF shows that most Medicaid enrollees in the U.S. are employed.

Specifically, 92 percent of adults under the age of 65 are working or cannot for reasons such as caregiving responsibilities, illness or disability, or being enrolled in school. The remaining 8 percent of adult Medicaid recipients indicated that they are either retired, unable to find work or not working for other reasons.

Currently, Medicaid enrollees are required to prove their eligibility at least once a year. But the new law will change this, mandating that states check recipients' eligibility every six months. This means more paperwork and consequently, some people may lose their eligibility or decide to opt out of Medicaid as these changes roll out over the next few years.

Tina Rucci, director of public policy at disability advocacy organization The ARC Minnesota, said this situation creates additional barriers for people with disabilities and others who rely on Medicaid for healthcare access. She pointed out that it places extra responsibilities on counties, which will need to verify all eligibility information and manage double the paperwork.

She is urging Minnesota lawmakers to collaborate to mitigate the potential negative impacts of the legislation on Medicaid beneficiaries, and she noted that states are required to inform Medicaid enrollees between June 30 and August 31, 2026, about what the new work reporting requirements will entail.

“We have to trickle that down into the community, and that takes time,” Rucci said. “So, the clock is ticking, and we just want to make sure that we have time for people to understand all of these intricacies before they might accidentally miss the exemption period and fall off their coverage.”

‘Where do we start?’

The Minnesota Department of Human Services analyzed the Medicaid provisions in the 2025 tax and spending bill and found that work-reporting requirements create high costs for taxpayers to ensure that only a small number of people are employed. They estimate that this will lead to a $200 million loss in federal funding each year due to fewer people having coverage, along with a possible $165 million increase in administrative costs for the state, counties, and Tribal entities.

Rep. Danny Nadeau, R-Rogers, introduced a bill Tuesday aimed at helping Minnesota comply with federal Medicaid work requirement regulations. But action on the bill was postponed.

No one testified either in favor of or against the bill, according to the House of Representatives, “but social service organizations submitted letters expressing” their opposition. Many of these letters highlighted concerns that the bill would deny essential health coverage to low-income individuals, as it appears to go beyond what is required by federal mandates.

In an interview with MPR News last month, Nadeau said the new work requirements allow the state to create a better system for verifying Medicaid eligibility. He added that agencies are working on this, but Nadeau thinks the Legislature should be more involved too.

“One of the requirements is you can volunteer for 80 hours a month. Well, we don't have a way to capture that,” Nadeau said. “The proof of that. So, there's a lot of unknowns right now.”

Rep. Mohamud Noor, DFL-Minneapolis, said the state cannot ignore the numerous changes that need to be addressed.

“The implementation risks are too high for us not to be able to do things quickly and to be able to have all hands-on deck from the counties to the state,” Noor said. “If we don't do that, we will end up creating a lot of backlogs, and too many people may lose their coverage.”

Noor added that safeguards must be put in place so people can continue to maintain their health insurance coverage and do not face wrongful denials.

“I don't think any of this can wait. So, the question is, where do we start?” Noor asked. “And how we can make sure that we protect services for the most vulnerable Minnesotans.”

Correction (April, 17, 2026): An earlier version of this story misstated the breakdown of working-age Medicaid recipients in the U.S. The story has been updated.

NPR has received two of the largest gifts in the public media network's existence, totaling $113 million. They will go toward fueling innovation in NPR's use of digital technology, increasing its connection with audiences, and ensuring the viability of public radio stations after Congress eliminated all federal funding for public media.

NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher said the gifts would help to set up the network and its stations for the next 50 years, beyond the radio network infrastructure that sprang up in 1970 from a coalition of community and university-owned public radio stations across the country.

Maher said that requires NPR and its stations to use tech to collaborate more effectively in providing programs and news coverage, to analyze how people are consuming their offerings and to discern how to raise money more effectively to pay for it. She said the gifts would be "catalytic investments" in NPR's future.

"Audiences don't just listen in their cars or in their kitchens," Maher said. "They're reading, they're viewing, they're listening on the go."

The donations would help answer a key question, Maher said: "How do we make sure that we have the infrastructure necessary to be able to deliver the high quality reporting to people in all those places when they want?"

The philanthropist Connie Ballmer contributed $80 million specifically toward ensuring NPR transforms its technology to meet the needs and serve the interests of public media audiences on whatever platforms or devices they may seek it.

"I support NPR because an informed public is the bedrock of our society, and democracy requires strong, independent journalism," Ballmer, a former member of the NPR Foundation board, said in a statement. "My hope is that this commitment provides the stability and the spark NPR needs to innovate boldly and strengthen its national network."

Ballmer and her husband, former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, have given away more than $3 billion in recent years, according to a joint interview they gave last year to the "Chronicle of Philanthropy."

Another donor, who has elected to remain anonymous, has given NPR $33 million to build and acquire tools and services that will be shared with public media organizations across the nation. The network intends to aid stations in analyzing their audiences, marketing themselves, and raising money, among other things.

The gifts arrive at a time of great financial strain for public media.

End of federal funding

Last summer, under pressure from President Trump, the Republican-led Congress voted along party lines to claw back all $1.1 billion in federal funding that lawmakers and the president had already approved for public media. The move represented the shattering of a tradition of bipartisan support for public broadcasting stretching back more than a half-century.

The average public radio station lost about 10% of its annual budget; for public television stations and PBS, the figure stood closer to 15%. NPR itself lost about 1 to 2% of its annual budget with the end of federal dollars. The elimination of federal funds has forced widespread layoffs throughout the system.

Though NPR owns no stations, more than 240 public radio stations are full NPR News member stations and hundreds of others carry some of its content.

NPR moved to shore up station finances by easing the fees it charges them to carry its major news programs, such as Morning Edition and All Things Considered, and to offer assistance in fund-raising, marketing, and other endeavors.

The gifts announced Thursday are the largest NPR has received since Joan B. Kroc, the widow of McDonald's magnate Ray Kroc, left more than $200 million to the network. That bequest, in 2003, elevated NPR's newsgathering capabilities, allowing it to open international bureaus and NPR West in Culver City, Calif. It also established a major endowment that has enabled it to weather a series of financial storms.

In 2018, former NPR CEO Jarl Mohn and his wife Pamela gave the network $10 million from the personal fortune he had made as a tech investor when he announced he would be stepping down from role running the network.

Questions remain about layoffs

Asked about concerns that NPR may still face layoffs to ease ongoing budget strains, Maher noted the contributions announced Thursday were intended for specific purposes, not to build the endowment or to expand news coverage. And, when asked, Maher did not rule out job cuts this year.

"This does not replace federal funding," Maher said. "This does not replace the shortfalls. We still need to continue to operate effectively in order to be able to do the work that we do day in and day out."

Several people within NPR said the network has been planning scenarios for alternative levels of job cuts, though no plans are currently set. Executives also are trying to figure out the degree to which the network could rely more heavily on reporters from local stations for national coverage, staffers said. (They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on internal matters.) The ability to do so could be complicated by two factors: the fact that covering the same story often requires a different emphasis for local audiences familiar with a subject, as opposed to a national audience; and the additional strain on local newsrooms, which are often quite small, as a result of the loss of federal funds.

The question of NPR's relationship to its stations was thrown into sharp relief during the Washington debate over federal funding. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which had dispensed federal dollars to public media outlets until its demise, had sought to withhold money from NPR last year for a satellite distribution service it provides local stations. A federal judge ruled that CPB officials were trying to distance themselves from NPR in an attempt to appease Trump. Ultimately, CPB paid the money.

In the wake of the loss of federal funds, some stations have decided to rely more heavily on NPR programming as they've been forced to cut their budgets for local news. Yet Maher says the local stations' journalism represents a competitive advantage for NPR.

"This has been my ambition for us as a network since I arrived," said Maher, who became NPR's chief executive in early 2024 after a career spent mostly in the tech world, including as CEO of the Wikimedia Foundation. "My intent was for us to find ways to work together as a network, to be greater than the sum of our parts, so we were able to take advantage of our footprint... to tell stories that matter to the country from the places where that was occurring."

Disclosure: This story was written and reported by NPR Correspondent David Folkenflik and edited by NPR Deputy Business Editor Emily Kopp and Managing Editor Vickie Walton-James. Under NPR's protocol for reporting on itself, no corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted publicly.

Copyright 2026, NPR

Minnesota Sen. John Hoffman, DFL-Champlin, and his family have filed a civil lawsuit against Vance Boelter, who is accused of shooting Hoffman and his wife Yvette and shooting and killing Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Hennepin County, seeks the maximum damages permitted by law and accuses Boelter of assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

In the early hours of June 14, 2025, the Hoffmans were shot multiple times in their home by a man posing as a law enforcement officer. Their daughter, Hope, was also present in the home at the time and called 911.

The lawsuit alleges that Vance Boelter attacked the Hoffmans as part of a “mass assassination plot” that targeted members of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. It also alleges that Boelter prepared extensively for the attacks, buying weapons and disguises and stalking the Hoffmans to learn their daily movements.

“On at least one occasion, Boelter tailed Yvette as she drove to work,” the civil complaint reads.

The Hoffmans suffered physically, emotionally and financially from the shootings, according to the complaint.

Sen. Hoffman was struck by nine bullets and Yvette Hoffman by eight. Though they survived the shooting, both have permanent injuries and “are likely to require significant medical care in the future,” according to the complaint. Both lost income during their recovery.

Hope Hoffman also suspended her education to process what happened and to help coordinate the clean up and repair of the family home, the complaint reads.

Sen. Hoffman declined a request for comment on the lawsuit at the Capitol Thursday, but the Hoffman family released a written statement.

“Our lives have been forever altered; the trauma and injuries haunt us daily and will for the rest of our lives. Our attacker should be held to account in every manner that is legally possible,” the statement read.

Boelter is facing federal and state criminal charges for the shootings of the Hoffmans and the Hortmans. He has pleaded not guilty.

The city of Minneapolis could be headed for a “never-ending loop” in a dispute over the reappointment of its commissioner of community safety, according to the city attorney’s office.

The Minneapolis City Council and Mayor Jacob Frey are at odds over whether to reinstate current commissioner Todd Barnette to another term. The council voted last week not to confirm him. Frey vetoed that vote, and says he wants to keep Barnette in his position.

The council is expected to try to override that veto at next week’s meeting, but they likely won’t have the votes. The council denied Barnette’s reappointment in a 7-6 vote; they would need nine votes to override the veto.

The city attorney’s office says a failure to override the veto could get the city stuck in a legal stalemate. In that case, Barnette’s nomination would stand — but he can’t take the job without approval from the council.

In a lengthy memo this week, the city attorney’s office said the only way out of that loop would be for Frey to nominate someone new, or for enough council members to change their votes to either approve Barnette for another term or override the mayor’s veto.

“Our City Charter forces the Council and the Mayor to find compromise — and compromise is the heart of democracy,” Frey said in a statement responding to the city attorney’s memo.

Several council members who voted against Barnette’s reappointment said they want Frey to nominate a new candidate.

“The council followed the process. The question now is whether the mayor will respect our decision or continue using a never-ending loop of vetoes to strong-arm the council and distract from the important public safety work we must do together,” council member Aurin Chowdhury said in a statement.

Barnette has said he wants to continue in the job, and plans to accept another term if the council and the mayor can agree to it.

Days after the U.S. Navy began blockading the Strait of Hormuz, key questions remain unanswered about how such a large-scale operation can be sustained — and history suggests naval blockades are difficult to enforce and their results are often unpredictable at best.

The White House says it wants to choke off Iran's main source of revenue, oil exports, by cutting the country off from global maritime trade. It's a move aimed at increasing economic pressure on Iran after weeks of U.S. strikes have failed to persuade the country's leaders to agree to end the war on Washington's terms.

The U.S. Middle East command, known as CENTCOM, said on Sunday that it would intercept all vessels going to and from Iranian ports and will "not impede freedom of navigation" for ships from all other Persian Gulf ports.

Meanwhile, President Trump has made clear that stopping all shipping to and from Iran is aimed at strangling Iran's ability to export petroleum. The administration labels the pressure tactic as a blockade — though Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, argues it's more of a naval quarantine, because "the U.S. is only stopping traffic that's coming from Iran."

Such a tactic is simply a new facet in the long-term sanctions that the U.S. has placed on Iran, says Eric Schuck, an economics professor at Linfield University in Oregon. He says the U.S. is following the classic economic pressure tactic aimed at breaking an enemy's economy. The way to do that is finding and cutting off "something which is nonsubstitutable, something that is so essential to their economy that everything else is going to come to a halt." In Iran's case, that is oil.

But will the strategy work? Here are three lessons learned from the history of naval blockades.

Blockades zap resources and are hard to enforce

For much of history, naval blockades were mostly enforced through coordinated patrols, control of key routes and strategic positioning of ships. During the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars of the early 19th century, for example, Britain imposed blockades on key French ports, which required a significant portion of the Royal Navy's ships. And even then, some nimble French vessels — blockade runners — were still able to slip through the British screen.

Unlike the British squadrons off French ports or blockades during the 20th century, the U.S. Navy can use shipboard position beacons, satellites, drones and helicopters to locate and watch vessels coming in and out of the Strait of Hormuz, according to Steve Dunn, author of Blockade: Cruiser Warfare and the Starvation of Germany in World War One.

"Detection of vessels is much easier, with satellite, [planes and drones] and radar," using helicopters and fast boats to send boarding parties to determine whether a ship will be allowed to pass, Dunn wrote in an email to NPR.

The Navy will likely need "six or so destroyers in rotation" to enforce the strait blockade, according to the Hudson Institute's Clark, who is an expert in naval operations and electronic warfare. Prior to the U.S.-Iran war, an average of 138 ships passed through the strait daily. With so many vessels going through the strategic choke point, "it would be almost impossible [for the Navy] to keep up with that traffic volume," he says.

The early months of the Ukraine war demonstrated a similar difficulty: Russia's navy initially tried to restrict Ukrainian maritime exports from the Black Sea, using sea mines and warships to threaten commercial traffic. It resulted in a de facto partial blockade of Ukrainian grain exports, which are crucial to Ukraine's economy. But it was "quite quickly negotiated away," partly because Russia lacked the full military capacity needed to enforce it, according to Nicholas Mulder, a professor at Cornell University who specializes in the history of sanctions, blockades and economic warfare.

"That's the difficult thing about blockades — you have to enforce them," Mulder says.

The logistics of enforcing a blockade are not simple, Clark says. The blockading country's navy must essentially pull over ships, like a traffic cop at sea. In the Arabian Sea outside the strait, the U.S. Navy "would intercept [ships] and basically get in their way and force them to turn … or take them over to a marshaling area or an anchorage in Oman," he says.

The Navy isn't prepared to track and stop that many ships, he says: "I don't see the U.S. mounting a scorched-earth campaign of attacking every little vessel that tries to evade the blockade."

They aren’t always effective

Schuck, of Linfield University, says during World War II, the Allied and Axis submarine campaigns — effectively naval blockades of shipping — provide a stark dichotomy of outcomes. The German U-boat campaign against Britain in the 1940s operated under the assumption that "if we sink everything, then it doesn't matter. … We can cripple the British war economy," Schuck says. However, in the end Britain was "able to make sure that the one supply line that mattered, that North Atlantic supply line," remained open.

By contrast, the U.S. submarine campaign against Japan was "brutally effective," targeting oil and resource flows from the Dutch East Indies to the Japanese home islands. The pressure forced Japan to shift its fleet in a way that undermined its own defense, since "they had to relocate a bunch of their fleet" just to defend their oil supply. As a result, things deteriorated on the homefront, Schuck says: By the closing months of the war, the caloric intake in Japan had dropped dramatically.

They don’t always hit their target

If history is any guide, naval blockades often have unintended consequences. "In most cases, what we're aiming at and what we actually break are two different things," says Schuck, who has studied the economics of naval blockades.

During World War I, the Allies imposed a naval blockade on Germany to restrict imports of strategic materials such as nitrates and phosphates used in explosives. However, these same chemicals were also critical for the production of fertilizer.

"What wound up breaking wasn't so much the German defense industrial base — it was their agricultural sector," Schuck says. As a result, Germany's civilian population faced severe food shortages and widespread malnutrition in the latter years of the war.

Likewise, during the British blockade of French ports around the turn of the 19th century, French trade collapsed along with the economy.

In the case of Iran, Schuck says, its oil revenue is its lifeblood, so "there is a potential … that their food supply could be exposed from this." But that likely depends on how long the blockade lasts or how effective it is at shutting down Iran's commerce.

Copyright 2026, NPR

The U.S. Senate has voted to overturn a 20-year ban on mining on about 350 square miles of federal land near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, paving the way for Twin Metals to renew efforts to open an underground copper mine near Ely, on the doorstep of the wilderness area.

The resolution, sponsored by Minnesota Republican U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber, is expected to be signed by President Donald Trump, who promised during his 2024 campaign to repeal the mining moratorium, which President Joe Biden imposed three years ago.

The vote is a major victory for Twin Metals, a subsidiary of the giant Chilean mining company Antofagasta, which has been working for more than a decade to open a mine along the shore of Birch Lake, about seven miles east of Ely, just south of the wilderness area.

The measure passed 50-49, mostly along party lines. All Democrats opposed it, including Minnesota U.S. Sens. Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar. Smith spoke for hours against the proposal late Wednesday night and again Thursday morning, urging her Republican colleagues to oppose the resolution.

Two Republicans broke ranks and voted against the proposal: Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, and Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina.

Mining supporters believe rich deposits of copper and nickel beneath northeastern Minnesota’s forests could jump-start a second mining boom near the state’s Iron Range, providing a giant boost to the region’s economy while also producing critical minerals needed for electric vehicle batteries and other 21st-century technologies.

“The Biden Administration’s decision to enact its illegal mining ban in Northern Minnesota was not only an attack on our way of life and cost countless good-paying, union jobs, it also put our nation’s mineral security at risk.” Stauber, who represents the region, said when he introduced the resolution in January.

Stauber called Thursday’s Senate vote a “major victory for America and Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District. Mining is our past, our present, and our future — and the future looks bright!"

‘Dark day’

The Senate vote is a big blow to conservation groups and others who argue the watershed of the Boundary Waters — a fragile and unique ecosystem and one of the most popular wilderness areas in the country — is the absolute wrong place for this kind of mining, which carries with it much more serious water pollution risks than iron ore mining.

“We can support the need for mining, but that doesn't mean that we mine on the edge of Chaco Canyon or on the rim of the Grand Canyon, and it does not mean that we think that a copper-sulfide mine on the doorstep of the Boundary Waters is a good idea,” Smith said in her remarks before the vote today.

Conservation groups sounded off following the vote.

"Today is a dark day for America’s most beloved Wilderness area, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, and a stark warning call for public lands nationwide," said Ingrid Lyons, executive director of Save the Boundary Waters.

"This is a serious blow to the Boundary Waters and to the future of America’s public lands," added Chris Knopf, executive director of Friends of the Boundary Waters. "A few politicians in Washington chose the interests of a foreign mining conglomerate over the will of the American people, over sound science, and over one of the most irreplaceable wild places on the planet."

Earlier this week, the advocacy group American Rivers listed the South Kawashiwi River as the third most endangered waterway in the nation because of its proximity to the proposed Twin Metals mine.

They also argue the opening of copper-nickel mines on the edge of the wilderness threatens a burgeoning outdoor recreation based economy that supports tourists and retirees and cabin-owners drawn to the area’s quiet beauty.

Political football

The vote culminates a decade-long political tug of war over the potential for mining and exploration on land within the watershed of the Boundary Waters that’s spanned the past four presidential administrations.

The Obama administration first began a study on a possible 20-year mining moratorium just before he left office in 2017. President Trump quickly halted that process during his first term. Then Biden restarted it, and ultimately approved the so-called mineral withdrawal in 2023.

Mining is not allowed inside the Boundary Waters, nor in a small buffer zone around it. The moratorium banned mining within the watershed of the wilderness area. That’s critical, supporters argue, because any mining pollution in those 225,000 acres outside of the BWCA could flow directly into the protected wilderness area. And many of the region’s richest copper-nickel deposits lie within the watershed.

As part of its analysis of the mining ban, the U.S. Forest Service looked at 20 other copper-nickel mines across the U.S. and Canada, and found all resulted in some level of environmental degradation, and that the environmental reviews of those projects frequently underestimated their eventual impacts.

“We support mining, just not this mine in this place,” Minnesota Senator Tina Smith told her colleagues on the Senate floor during a speech Monday in which she urged her Republican colleagues to vote against the proposal. “This is an incredibly special place and this mine poses an unacceptable risk.”

Congressional Review Act

The resolution to reverse the mining ban relied on a law called the Congressional Review Act, a tool that Congress can use to overturn federal agency rules with simple majority votes in both chambers. That prevented Democrats from using the filibuster to derail the measure.

Critics of the resolution said it was the first time the law has been used to overturn a public land order.

“What would it look like if Congress gets into the business of repealing administrative actions that have been in place for years?” said Smith. “I think many people look at that and say, ‘Well, that would just be chaos.’”

The resolution does not allow for a future President to put in place another mining moratorium.

What’s next for mining?

The vote does not mean mining in the region is going to happen anytime soon.

“This vote does not open a mine. It opens the door for a transparent, science-based review,” said Julie Lucas, executive director of the industry group Mining Minnesota.

"We don’t need a mining ban for the entire watershed to protect the Boundary Waters. They are already protected by strict federal and Minnesota laws that require environmental review and permitting processes for any proposed mine,” she added.

Lucas said the public would have “ample opportunities” to comment during the state and federal reviews.

Twin Metals also needs to resecure federal mineral leases for its project that were canceled by the Biden administration in 2022. Stauber has introduced legislation to return those leases to the company.

Ultimately, any proposed mining project in Minnesota needs to go through an extensive environmental review process that typically takes several years, and secure federal permits and state permits from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

Owatonna’s fire department is still using a station house built in the early 1900s, when many firefighting apparatus were still pulled by horses. The police station is housed in a former bank and is more than 60 years old.

Owatonna city officials propose building new fire and police facilities. But many residents have questions about the project and are pushing back, hard enough to force the question of whether the city should issue $65 million in bonds to pay for the police and fire stations to be put to the city’s voters later this year.

Nearly 2,500 Owatonna residents signed the petition. Many aren’t sold on the proposal, said Melissa Zimmerman, who coordinated the effort to gather signatures.

“One [concern] is the cost of the project: $65 million dollars. Two is the location: They want to put it on a national historic register property. And number three: the public needs a voice,” said Zimmerman.

The old bank that houses the city’s police station was built in the 1960s, said City Administrator Jenna Tuma. And she said It lacks some basic amenities most police stations have.

“[It doesn’t have] a victim's room, an interview room, holding cells or an evidence room that's located in an appropriate space,” she said.

Meanwhile, the fire station is more than 120 years old.

Earlier this year, the city approved a plan to use bonds to pay for the $65 million cost of building new police and fire facilities that would be paid off over two decades with tax dollars, but the plan was met with concern from residents.

Tuma said residents would likely see about a $35 per month tax increase if the plan moves forward.

“I think people signed the petition because they wanted to learn more about the project. I think some people signed the petition so they could have a vote in it,” said Tuma.

City officials will decide in coming weeks whether the question will be put on the ballot during the August primaries or on the general election ballot in November.

On Wednesday, a Manhattan federal jury found that Live Nation and its subsidiary, Ticketmaster, operated as a monopoly that harmed consumers and overcharged ticket buyers. The Associated Press reported that the decision came after four days of deliberations.

The decision is a victory for 33 states and the District of Columbia, which accused Live Nation of unfairly controlling too many aspects of the live entertainment industry at the expense of venues, artists and fans after the company settled an earlier antitrust suit with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Live Nation has not responded to NPR's request for comment on the verdict. In past statements to NPR, the company has denied the claim that it operates a monopoly, stating that there's more competition in the marketplace than ever.

Live Nation owns, manages or works with hundreds of venues across the United States. In 2024, the Justice Department, under the Biden administration, filed a lawsuit accusing Live Nation of unfairly wielding its power over concert promotion, artist management, venue operations and ticketing services to shut out competition in the industry.

The DOJ contended that Ticketmaster controlled around 80 percent of concert ticketing in the primary marketplace, plus a growing share of the resale market. The District of Columbia and 39 states joined the government's case.

Live Nation merged with Ticketmaster in 2010. Pearl Jam, Taylor Swift, The Cure and Olivia Dean are among the artists who have criticized how Ticketmaster has handled concert sales.

One week after the trial began in early March of this year, the Justice Department and several states reached a $280 million settlement with Live Nation. The company agreed to cap service fees at certain amphitheaters and allow some concert venues greater flexibility over the promoters and ticket distributors with whom they choose to do business.

Stephen Parker is head of the National Independent Venue Association, a member-based trade association advocating on behalf of live music venues. After news of the settlement, he told NPR that it was "not significant enough to call a slap on the wrist."

After the Justice Department settled its case, 33 states and the District of Columbia decided to move forward with the trial. Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino, who spent hours on the witness stand, denied accusations that his company engages in anticompetitive practices. In an email, University of Notre Dame law professor Roger Alford commended the states for seeing the antitrust trial through.

"This was a massive win for the state AGs and an historic miss for the DOJ," Alford wrote. "The DOJ had the talent, the material, and the audience. It just lacked leadership with the courage to step on stage."

After the jury reached a decision, U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian ordered both parties to meet with each other and "the United States" to propose a schedule for the next steps, according to the Associated Press.

Copyright 2026, NPR

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey is among the people selected by Time magazine for its annual list of the 100 most influential people.

Frey is included in the “Leaders” section of the list, which was announced Wednesday.

Frey’s entry notes the third-term mayor’s experience leading Minneapolis through the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd and the COVID-19 pandemic — and more recently through this winter’s federal immigration enforcement surge, the largest in U.S. history. That included the fatal shootings of two Minneapolis residents by federal agents.

“As the enforcement surge recedes, Frey is trying to knit together a city where businesses and daily life were hollowed out by fear,” the magazine reported.

Frey told the magazine that delivering core city services — showing the city working for its residents — is part of how he’s moving forward from Operation Metro Surge.

Time’s other selections among the “Leaders” section of its list this year included Pope Leo XIV, President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Last year, Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier was named to the Time 100 list alongside fellow WNBA star Breanna Stewart. The selection highlighted their creation of Unrivaled, the women’s professional 3-on-3 basketball league.

A Minnesota House committee went into rare and highly polarizing territory Wednesday, discussing and then rejecting a proposal to start impeachment proceedings against DFL Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison.

The evenly split House Rules and Legislative Administration Committee, made up of veteran chamber members, considered the preliminary step in a process that had next-to-no chance of coming to fruition. It fell on an 8-8 vote.

The resolution before the committee laid out a process to impeach the constitutional officers over their leadership during a time Minnesota programs experienced widespread fraud.

“We have a historic amount of fraud taking place in our state. Historic actions are warranted,” said Rep. Ben Davis, R-Merrifield. “Minnesota deserves accountability and transparency with its constitutional officers.”

In laying out the proposal, legislative staff pointed to cases in which the impeachment process was invoked in the late 1800s to deal with Minnesota judges. The Minnesota Constitution calls for an immediate suspension of duties for those who are impeached from office, restoring them only upon a Senate acquittal.

Republicans who align themselves with the Freedom Caucus in the House initiated the conversation in what turned into a tense hearing. They argued Walz and Ellison should face impeachment over their failure to head off widespread fraud in state government programs in recent years.

Ellison is a candidate for reelection in November; Walz is not.

Democrats opposed the move for which there is no modern precedent. They said it was a distraction with a little more than a month in the legislative session.

“Amid serious times with families facing serious economic challenges, this is a fundamentally unserious proposal by a fundamentally unserious party who isn't interested in governing,” Rep. Michael Howard, DFL-Richfield, calling the resolution motivated by grievance politics. “Let's actually get stuff done instead of just catering to a narrow band of folks and the narrow band of legislators that seem to have Walz derangement syndrome.”

Multiple Democrats turned the attention toward President Donald Trump, saying Republicans hold him to a lesser accountability standard than they want for Walz and Ellison.

“What I have a problem with is the sincerity of this,” said Rep. Erin Koegel, DFL-Spring Lake Park, listing some inflammatory rhetoric and ethically dubious actions by Trump.

“What is happening at the federal level is also wrong,” she said.

Trump was impeached twice during his first term in office, acquitted by the U.S. Senate in both cases. Democrats say they could pursue it again if they retake the U.S. House.

House Republican Leader Harry Niska, R-Ramsey, said Minnesota lawmakers don’t have many options but should take a step to hold state officers accountable.

“As the House, the only step that we have to do direct accountability is the tool of impeachment. We do not have the power to arrest or prosecute for crimes, but Article Eight of the Minnesota Constitution gives the House the sole power of impeachment, and states a legal standard for impeachment for ‘corrupt conduct in office, or for crimes and misdemeanors,’” Niska said. “This is an important legal process.”

The resolution would have tasked another House panel with conducting an impeachment investigation and reporting back by May 1.

The investigating committee would be the House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy Committee, which is the only House panel to have a majority of Republicans and permanent gavel in GOP control. Democrats voiced concerns about effectively giving Republicans, including Republican gubernatorial candidate Rep. Kristin Robbins, that authority in the final weeks of the legislative session. Robbins chairs the anti-fraud committee.

At an event in Rochester, Walz said lawmakers should focus more on bringing down costs for Minnesotans, rather than picking political fights.

“I would just encourage those legislators maybe get out of the basement of the Capitol, where they're putting on a little play,” Walz told MPR News. “They don't like me, but they were not elected to like me. They were elected to serve their constituents.”

MPR News Correspondent Catharine Richert contributed to this report from Rochester.

Minnesota lawmakers working now to write a law to prevent grooming of children by adults in schools are parsing through the same questions district administrators, sports officials, caregivers and others have struggled for years to answer: What is grooming and how do we stop it?

Experts say it’s incredibly difficult to recognize, legislate and prevent this aspect of child abuse — but it’s not impossible.

“The difficulty with grooming is that most of us can't identify it,” said Dr. Mark Hudson, a Children’s Minnesota physician who specializes in handling cases tied to possible child abuse.

“The things that are grooming are things that are normal activities oftentimes, and that’s where making specific grooming legislation is really hard,” Hudson added. “Then you have to get into intent.”

Writing law around it is especially complicated because the abuse often happens over years with actions that in isolation seem harmless.

Grooming is “a pattern of boundary-crossing behaviors that is about building trust, secrecy and then dependency. It’s rarely dramatic, it’s rarely the things that would even trigger as a red flag,” said Monica Rivera, vice president of education and research at Safe Sport, a nonprofit created in the wake of sexual misconduct at USA Gymnastics.

“It often looks like special attention, isolated one-on-one time, private communication, bending small rules in ways that seem harmless, giving preteens and teenagers a space to talk about things that are taboo, like sex and relationships. But it’s actually creating an environment where those boundaries are blurred,” said Rivera, whose group offers a guide to help parents recognize grooming.

Hannah LoPresto, a former student at Eagan High School who’s testified in support of the bill at the Capitol, cited her own experience with a band teacher who, according to an investigative police report, had a “pattern of predatory grooming behaviors … with numerous students” going back a decade in two school districts.

She described it as a feeling of deep confusion that leaves victims detached and trapped.

“It’s this whole other world you live in that's separate from your own, where they convince you that all of these things are true that aren’t true. And it’s what slowly pulls you away from your friends and family and support network,” LoPresto said.

‘The environment that we’re in’

Lopresto, Rivera, Hudson and other advocates and experts agree that it’s important for people to understand what grooming is, but they say actually preventing grooming and abuse has less to do with being able to recognize the manipulation, and more to do with creating the conditions that make grooming and abuse impossible.

Rivera believes abuse prevention in schools should be approached the same way institutions prevent fires.

“The restaurant industry has food inspectors. We have fire inspectors that go in and look at the environment to determine, is this a safe environment. Schools should be audited for safeguarding the same way that we are auditing them for fire safety,” Rivera said.

At Safe Sport, educating people on what grooming looks like is key. The organization also has a process for investigating accusations of abuse, maintains a database of sports professionals who have violated the organization’s code of conduct and does regular audits of its registered members to ensure safety standards are being upheld.

“It’s less about spotting the specific behaviors and more about looking at the environment that we're in,” Rivera said. “It’s important to be able to know how to put out a fire, but we spend a lot of energy also looking at what kinds of environments are combustible, and how do we need to maintain those environments.”

Hudson, the Minnesota Children’s physician, sees the Safe Sport model as an answer. He wants schools to implement easily identifiable safety standards such as restricting the types of communications between staff and students” and rules that define “what activities need to be easily interruptible and observable,” said Hudson.

“If you’re seeing that happening, that needs to be reported, and needs to be reported not just to your principal, right?” Hudson explained. “And then, why not make everybody aware of those rules? Why not have signs up around the schools so the kids know those rules, and that the parents know those rules and stuff.”

‘Long past time’

The vast majority of child sex abuse that happens does not occur in a school setting. Still, child abuse at the hands of an educator is not outside the norm for American students.

A study published in 2022 found rates of child abuse by educators affected nearly 12 percent of the almost 7,000 students surveyed. The vast majority of abusers were male and academic teachers and the vast majority of students experiencing the misconduct were female. Only 4 percent of those abused reported their experiences.

The anti-grooming legislation currently working its way through the Minnesota Legislature has many of the hallmarks experts say are necessary to prevent grooming in schools.

If approved, the bill would make grooming a felony and an offense that triggers the automatic revocation of a teaching license in Minnesota.

It would require police to notify the state teacher licensing board when an educator is convicted of grooming or other crimes triggering the automatic revocation of teaching licenses.

The law would also require the Minnesota Department of Education to develop training on grooming for mandatory reporters and prohibit school employees and volunteers from being alone with students during field trips.

MDE would also be allowed to investigate allegations of student maltreatment older than three years, a current provision that hamstrung the department’s ability to investigate LoPresto’s allegations.

While the bill doesn’t cover all the bases experts say are necessary to prevent grooming, they say it covers important ground.

“It's important to have it on the books,” said Elizabeth Jeglic, a professor of psychology at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York who recently worked with lawmakers in Vermont to pass what she considers model anti-grooming legislation.

“Everybody now has to do criminal records checks. And so if you run it, and then there's a charge for grooming, that's already a red flag to you that something has happened,” she said.

For LoPresto, it’s important that Minnesota’s criminal code address not just assault, but the process of grooming itself, which she believes should be a felony.

“Often, when I share that I was groomed and sexually assaulted, most people focus in on the sexual assaults as being the most horrific and impactful, LoPresto told lawmakers. “But for me, the five-plus years of grooming were even more harmful to my long-term health and well-being.”

For now, Minnesota lawmakers on both sides of the aisle seem to be in agreement that passing legislation to prevent grooming is a priority.

At a recent Senate hearing, Sen. Mary Kunesh, DFL-New Brighton, thanked lawmakers and testifiers for working to pass anti-grooming legislation.

“It’s long past time for us to have addressed this issue of grooming, not just in our school setting, but … it extends into day care and child care,” she said.

“Grooming is certainly a serious, serious offense, and there are many people that have gotten away with it mostly because the legal framework has not been there,” she added. “This really lays that framework for that.”

A prominent Minnesota Catholic bishop with close ties to President Donald Trump is sharply criticizing the president for his social media comments over the weekend lambasting the pope.

President Trump posted a long tirade on his Truth Social account Sunday night criticizing Pope Leo XIV, calling him “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy” and “WEAK on Nuclear Weapons.” The president accused the first ever U.S. born pope of “catering to the Radical Left,” and he credited himself as the reason Pope Leo was elected by his fellow cardinals last year to lead the Vatican.

The pope has been critical of the U.S.-Israel war with Iran, calling Trump’s threat last week to destroy Iran’s “entire civilization” as “truly unacceptable.” It appears those comments and the Pope’s even harsher criticism of the war on Saturday are what sparked Trump’s social media diatribe.

Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, who has been a close Catholic ally of the president, called Trump’s verbal attack on the pope “entirely inappropriate and disrespectful," adding that the comments “don’t contribute at all to a constructive conversation.”

“It is the Pope’s prerogative to articulate Catholic doctrine and the principles that govern the moral life,” Barron wrote on X. “In regard to the concrete application of those principles, people of good will can and do disagree.”

Barron softened his criticism a little by adding that he thinks there are “many ways that the Trump administration has reached out to Catholics and other people of faith.” But he added that “the President owes the Pope an apology.”

Pope Leo’s comments the day before may have provoked Trump’s ire.

At a special prayer vigil Saturday night at St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Leo denounced the “delusion of omnipotence” that is fueling the U.S.-Israel war in Iran and said political leaders need to stop and negotiate peace.

"Enough of the idolatry of self and money! Enough of the display of power! Enough of war! True strength is shown in serving life," Leo said.

Even after Trump’s lengthy critique of him Sunday night, Pope Leo told reporters Monday he’s not backing down.

“I have no fear of the Trump administration or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do, what the church is here to do,” said Pope Leo aboard his plane as he started his trip to Africa.

That same day, Trump told reporters at the White House that he will not apologize to the pope.

“He was very much against what I’m doing with regard to Iran, and you cannot have a nuclear Iran. Pope Leo would not be happy with the end result,” Trump said.

In his tweet, Bishop Barron, who sits on the president’s Religious Liberty Commission, offered an olive branch and called for an end to the war of words between the White House and the Holy See.

“I would warmly recommend that serious Catholics within the Trump administration–Secretary Rubio, Vice President Vance, Ambassador Brian Burch, and others–might meet with Vatican officials so that a real dialogue can take place,” Barron continued in his post. “This is far preferable to the statements on social media.”

Barron has a wide base of support on social media, and his words come with some heft. He is well known for his Word on Fire media empire of books, videos, web casts, and blogs and has amassed 2.5 million YouTube subscribers.

In November, he was one of the candidates for the most prominent leadership role in the American Catholic Church – president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. He did not win the election.

Ramsey County is launching a new plan to sell off county-owned property and invest millions of dollars into development in downtown St. Paul.

The county’s Board of Commissioners passed the wide-ranging economic development plan unanimously in a vote Tuesday. It calls for $320 million in investments across the county. The investments are aimed at rejuvenating downtown St. Paul and bringing in needed tax revenue — without raising property tax rates.

County Manager Ling Becker said the county needs the funding boost.

“We are as counties under unprecedented pressure when it comes to federal cost shifts,” Becker said. “We've heard loud and clear from our community that they can’t take this burden.”

As part of the project, the county plans to invest millions of dollars into major development projects in downtown St. Paul. One of those is the RiversEdge project, a development along the Mississippi River including housing, a park and office space.

The plan also calls for selling county-owned land and finding buyers who will develop those and contribute to the city’s property tax revenue.

“The county owns, currently, hundreds of acres of vacant, underutilized land across the county that is truly ripe for redevelopment and ready for redevelopment,” said Josh Olson, the county's Community and Economic Development Director.

The funding for the plan will come from existing county budgets and proposed state bonding dollars.

State Representative María Isa Pérez-Vega, a St. Paul Democrat, supports extra help for the city.

“We know our community has been through so much and is at or beyond capacity. Residents and businesses cannot take on additional strain right now,” Pérez-Vega said. “This plan responds to that reality by supporting thoughtful growth that benefits everyone.”

For decades, presidents avoided even the appearance of profiting from their office.

Harry Truman refused to lend his name to any business, even in retirement. Richard Nixon so feared a brother might profit off their ties, he had his phone tapped. And George W. Bush dumped his individual stock holdings before taking office.

President Donald Trump is taking a different approach.

The family real estate business is undergoing the fastest overseas expansion since its founding a century ago, each deal potentially shaping everything from tariffs to military aid.

Led by Eric, and his brother, Donald Jr., the family business has expanded into cryptocurrencies with ventures that brought in billions of dollars but raised questions about whether some big investors received favorable treatment in return.

The brothers have also joined or invested in a number of companies that aim to do business with the government their father runs. Last month, they struck a deal giving them stakes worth millions in an armed drone maker seeking contracts with the Pentagon and with Gulf states under attack by Iran and dependent on the U.S. military led by their father.

The White House and the Trump Organization deny there are any ethical problems. Asked about the issue at a recent crypto conference, Donald Jr. said, “Frankly, it’s gotten old.”

The problem of conflicts of interest goes back a decade to when Trump first ran for office, but some government ethics experts and historians argue it’s more pressing than ever as conflicts pile up in his second term that they consider unprecedented, blatant and dangerous to democracy.

“I don’t think there’s any line right now between policy decisions and political calculations and the interest of the Trump family,” said Julian Zelizer, a presidential historian at Princeton University.

Deal-making spree abroad

In Trump’s first term, the Trump Organization did zero deals in foreign countries. In a little over a year into his second term it did eight, all ostensibly complying with the Trump Organization’s self-imposed rule not to do business directly with foreign governments.

But governments in authoritarian and one-party states rarely take a hands-off approach — especially when the business belongs to a sitting president.

In Qatar, a Trump golf club and villa project is being developed in part by a company owned by the Qatari government. In Vietnam, where The New York Times reported the government pushed farmers off their land to make way for a Trump resort, the country’s deputy prime minister signed off on the deal at a ceremony. And in Saudi Arabia, a planned “Trump Plaza” resort on the Red Sea is being built by a Saudi real estate developer close to the ruling family.

Whether the deals played any role in changing U.S. policies in ways these countries sought is nearly impossible to know but the countries did get what they wanted – access to advanced U.S. technology for Qatar, tariff relief for Vietnam and fighter jets for Saudi Arabia.

And the Trump Organization got something too: Tens of millions in fees.

Asked about those projects, the Trump Organization said it has done no deals with governments so far, noting that the Saudi company was private and has said it is “collaborating” with the Qatari business and had not struck a “partnership” with it that would have broken its self-imposed rules.

The UAE, crypto and Binance

Another deal raising conflicts of interest questions first came to light in a Wall Street Journal article in January — a year after it was struck.

Days before the inauguration, the Trump family sold nearly half of its World Liberty Financial crypto business to a UAE government-linked company run by a member of the UAE royal family for $500 million.

A second UAE entity, a government fund, invested in the offshore cryptocurrency exchange Binance using $2 billion worth of a digital currency called a stablecoin issued by World Liberty. That allowed the Trump company that received the dollars to put it in safe investments such as bonds or money market funds and keep the tens of millions of dollars in interest for itself.

Shortly after, the Trump administration reversed a Biden-era restriction and granted the UAE access to advanced U.S. chips. Binance’s founder, Changpeng Zhao, later got a pardon from Trump, despite having pleaded guilty to failing to stop criminals from using his platform to move money connected to child sex abuse, drug trafficking and terrorism.

A lawyer for Zhao denied any connection between the Binance’s business with the Trump family and the pardon.

“Any claim of a quid pro quo by Binance or CZ, or preferential financial treatment by Binance, is a clear misstatement of the public record,” said Teresa Goody Guillen in a email to the AP, referring to Zhao by his initials.

Asked about the pardon, the White House said federal authorities had unfairly punished Zhao in what it called “The Biden Administration’s war on crypto.”

World Liberty dismissed the notion of a conflict, saying the UAE deal had no connection to the president’s chips policy.

Crypto billions

World Liberty has also provided a separate income stream to a new Trump limited liability corporation through sales of “governance tokens” that give owners certain voting rights in its business, though not equity stakes, raising $2 billion last year. That translates into hundreds of millions of dollars for the Trumps through their World Liberty ownership stake and a separate side deal allowing them a cut of these sales.

One big token investor was Justin Sun, a cryptocurrency billionaire who as a foreign citizen would be banned under U.S. law from making political donations to U.S. politicians. Between Trump’s election and inauguration, Sun spent $75 million on the tokens.

In February last year, a federal lawsuit charging Sun with duping investors was paused before being settled last month for a $10 million fine.

Then there are the souvenir-type “meme” coins stamped with Trump’s face that went on sale days before he took the oath of office last year.

Over the next four months, the coins generated $320 million, mostly going to Trump-related entities, according to blockchain tracker Chainalysis. That is more than double the money collected in four years running his Washington D.C. hotel in Trump’s first term.

Unlike the lobbyists or campaign donors trying to influence Trump, the coin buyers can buy anonymously. One who chose to make his purchase public was Sun, who spent $200 million on the coins and got access to Trump at a gala party he held for the biggest buyers.

Another family cryptocurrency business, American Bitcoin went public in September, giving Donald Jr. and Eric about $1 billion in paper wealth at that time. Months earlier, their father announced a new national bitcoin reserve, sending the price for the cryptocurrency soaring to a record.

The Trump businesses aren’t completely immune to crypto’s notorious volatility. The value of bitcoin and other digital tokens have since plunged and rattled investors. Both American Bitcoin stock and the value of Trump’s souvenir meme coins have collapsed 90% from their highs.

Last month, Trump announced he would hold another dinner with new top holders of his meme coins, giving the coin a boost before it fell back again.

“Whatever constraints there were in the first term appear to have completely disappeared,” says Columbia University historian Timothy Naftali. “Do you want future presidents to be open to the highest bidder?”

Trump thinks people don’t care

Asked to comment for this story, the White House said Trump acts in an “ethically-sound manner” and that any suggestion to the contrary is either “ill-informed or malicious.” It reiterated that his assets are in a trust managed by his children and stated he has “no involvement” in family business deals.

“There are no conflicts of interest,” said spokesperson Anna Kelly.

In a separate statement, the Trump Organization said it is “fully compliant with all applicable ethics and conflicts of interest laws” and added, “The implication that politics has enriched the Trump family is unfounded.”

Trump in January told The New York Times that when it comes to potential conflicts of interest, “I found out that nobody cared, and I’m allowed to,” alluding to an exemption the president gets from the federal statute banning federal officials from holding financial interests in businesses impacted by public policy they help shape.

It’s not clear he’s wrong about American attitudes, though they appear to be changing even among Republicans. In a Pew Research Center poll in January, 42% of those voters said they were confident that Trump acts ethically in office, down from 55% at the start of his second term a year ago.

Change of fortune

Forbes estimates Trump’s net worth is now $6.3 billion, soaring 60% from before he returned to office, a striking development given how much the Trump Organization struggled before.

The Trump International Hotel in D.C. never turned a profit before being sold. Two Trump hotel chains catering to middle class travelers in his first term shut down for lack of demand. Condominium buildings stripped the Trump name off their facades after discovering that instead of attracting buyers, it was repelling them.

No new U.S. condominiums are putting the Trump name above their entrances in his second term, but his name is prized in Washington where people have business before the federal government.

Donald Jr., Trump’s oldest son, opened a private club in the Georgetown section of Washington that is charging initiation fees as high as $500,000 for founding members.

One of the few clubs with comparable fees, the Yellowstone Club in Montana, offers access to multiple resorts, 50 ski trails and more than a dozen restaurants across a members-only area the size of Manhattan.

Donald Jr.’s club is in the basement of a building but offers something else — proximity to power.

The club’s name is “Executive Branch.”

Bibles, guitars and sneakers

Other presidents and their families have done things in pursuit of profit that stained that high office.

Hunter Biden got paid as a director of a Ukrainian gas company while his father was vice president. The Clinton Foundation got foreign donations, though after Bill Clinton had left office. And Jimmy Carter’s brother Billy cashed in on the family name by selling beer.

In Trump’s case, the president himself is hawking goods, including $59.99 “God Bless the USA” Bibles, $399 sneakers stamped “Never Surrender” and electric guitars priced up to $11,500 — shipping not included — for a model autographed by the president.

New year, new profits

In the first months of Trump’s second year back in the White House, the momentum hasn’t let up.

In January, the Trump Organization announced its third deal involving Saudi Arabia in less than a year, this time a “collaboration” with a company more directly tied to the government because it is owned by the country’s sovereign wealth fund chaired by its crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. Asked by the AP whether the project outside Riyadh for Trump mansions, a hotel and golf course violated the company’s pledge not to strike deals with foreign governments, the Trump Organization said it doesn’t “conduct business with any government entity” but didn’t address the project specifically.

Meanwhile, as the two oldest brothers’ new drone company seeks Pentagon contracts, other government contractors in which one or both have gotten ownership stakes this past year are taking in tens of millions of dollars of new taxpayer money. That includes a rocket motor maker, an AI chip supplier and a data analytics company, according to government contracting records.

Asked about potential conflicts after the drone deal was announced, Eric said, “I am incredibly proud to invest in companies I believe in.” A spokesman for Donald Jr. said he doesn’t “interface” with the government on companies in his portfolio, adding that “the idea that he should cease living his life and making a living to provide for his five kids just because his dad is president, is quite frankly, a laughable and ridiculous standard.”

A new investment firm that the brothers joined as advisers last year has raised $345 million in an initial public offering to buy stakes in U.S. companies designed to help their father revive America’s manufacturing base. After the AP asked Trump’s chief business lawyer about language in a regulatory filing stating the firm would target companies seeking federal grants, tax credits and government contracts, he filed a new document with that language removed.

Zelizer, the Princeton historian, says he expects future presidents will show more restraint in enriching themselves, but worries about the message Trump is sending.

“He has shown politically there is no price to be paid to making money,” he said. “You know you can go there.”

Stay up to date with our Politics newsletter, sent weekly.

A key tool of the U.S. spy community will expire this month without action from Congress. The government says the intel gathered through the provision — Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA 702 — underpins a majority of the articles in the president's daily intelligence briefing and is a key asset in international counterterrorism and the fight against trafficking.

But a number of lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, are concerned that FISA 702 allows for the federal government to spy on the communications of American citizens without a warrant, violating their constitutional right to privacy.

The looming fight to bolster the law's civil liberties protections is likely to be bruising — and the provision's advocates claim it could jeopardize national security.

What is Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act?

Section 702 of FISA empowers U.S. intelligence agencies to collect and review the electronic communications of foreign nationals located outside the United States without obtaining individual court orders.

Sometimes, foreign nationals communicate with people in the United States, leading to incidental collection of Americans' communications.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence says the government uses the information collected through the program to protect the U.S. and its allies from foreign adversaries — including terrorists and spies — as well as to inform cybersecurity efforts.

"No one denies the immense intelligence value of Section 702," Stewart Baker, former National Security Agency general counsel, told Congress in January.

"The U.S. government recently credited the program with helping to disrupt several terrorist attacks here and abroad, identify the Chinese origins of imported fentanyl precursors, respond to ransomware attacks on U.S. companies, identify Chinese hackers' intrusions into a network used by a key U.S. transportation hub, and disrupt foreign government efforts to carry out kidnappings, assassinations, and espionage on U.S. soil. Those examples just scratch the surface," Baker said.

Why is Congress debating this now?

The program's 2024 authorization is set to expire on April 20 — unless Congress votes to renew it. Congress has always attached an expiration date to Section 702, which makes its renewal a recurring fight on Capitol Hill.

Civil liberties-minded legislators of both parties have long been concerned that Section 702 enables illegal, warrantless surveillance of American citizens by the federal government. And unlike most issues in contemporary politics, the issue doesn't break cleanly along party lines.

Prominent critics include Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio.

But, with a change in administration since the last renewal battle, some lawmakers have switched sides.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who previously voted against the renewal because of its lack of a warrant requirement to query information about Americans, told The Hill he thought reforms to the program were working.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., is working to rally his colleagues against a renewal — after voting for it in 2024.

President Trump supports an extension with no changes to the program.

"When used properly, FISA is an effective tool to keep Americans safe. For these reasons, I have called for a clean 18-month extension," Trump wrote in a March post on Truth Social. "With the ongoing successful Military activities against the Terrorist Iranian Regime, it is more important than ever that we remain vigilant, PROTECT our Homeland, Troops, and Diplomats stationed abroad, and maintain our ability to quickly stop bad actors seeking to cause harm to our People and our Country."

That position is a major shift for Trump, who railed against the program in the past. Ahead of the last renewal vote in April 2024, during the Biden administration, Trump posted "KILL FISA, IT WAS ILLEGALLY USED AGAINST ME, AND MANY OTHERS."

How is the information actually collected?

A special court, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), issues a blanket authorization each year that allows the government to collect information about any targets who fall within certain categories proposed by the attorney general and director of national intelligence.

The National Security Agency, National Counterterrorism Center, Central Intelligence Agency and FBI obtain that information directly from the U.S. companies that facilitate electronic communication such as email, social media or cellphone service.

The National Security Agency also collects communications "as they cross the backbone of the internet with the compelled assistance of companies that maintain those networks."

What role does Section 702 play in the landscape of American intelligence gathering?

A massive amount of information is collected under Section 702 authority: There were 349,823 surveillance targets in 2025, up from about 246,000 in 2022. Targets could each have many records collected — think about the number of emails that hit your inbox each day — leading to a giant database of information.

In 2023, 60% of the president's daily brief items — a daily summary of pressing national security issues prepared for the most senior administration officials — contained Section 702 information, according to a government release.

It is also used extensively to combat weapons and drug trafficking — 70% of the CIA's illicit synthetic drug disruptions in 2023 stemmed from FISA 702 data, the document said.

Can the government search for Americans' information inside the trove of information it has collected under Section 702?

Yes, under certain parameters that have been gradually narrowed over the nearly two-decade lifespan of the legislation.

Here are some of the reasons the government says it might search for Americans, as included in a public report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI):

• "Using the name of a U.S. person hostage to cull through communications of the terrorist network that kidnapped her to pinpoint her location and condition;

• Using the email address of a U.S. victim of a cyber-attack to quickly identify the scope of malicious cyber activities and to warn the U.S. person of the actual or pending intrusion;

• Using the name of a government employee that has been approached by foreign spies to detect foreign espionage networks and identify other potential victims; and

• Using the name of a government official who will be traveling to identify any threats to the official by terrorists or other foreign adversaries."

Does the government need specific permission from a court to search for an American's information?

No, the government does not need — and has resisted reforms that would require — a targeted court order to search for an American's information in corpus of material gathered under Section 702 authority.

Intelligence community and FBI advocates argue that a requirement to obtain a court order to query an American's information would be overly burdensome.

"I am especially concerned about one frequently discussed proposal, which would require the government to obtain a warrant or court order from a judge before personnel could conduct a 'U.S. person query' of information previously obtained through use of Section 702," then-FBI Director Christopher Wray told Congress in 2023, amid the last reauthorization fight.

"A warrant requirement would amount to a de facto ban, because query applications either would not meet the legal standard to win court approval; or because, when the standard could be met, it would be so only after the expenditure of scarce resources, the submission and review of a lengthy legal filing, and the passage of significant time — which, in the world of rapidly evolving threats, the government often does not have. That would be a significant blow to the FBI," Wray said.

What do civil liberties and privacy advocates say about the legislation?

Privacy advocates say that, as written, the FISA statute allows the government to spy on the communications of Americans and others in the U.S. without the permission of a court, in contravention of the privacy guarantees in the Fourth Amendment.

"The FBI — and every other agency that receives Section 702 data — routinely goes searching through that data for the express purpose of finding and using Americans' communications," according to Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of the Brennan Center's Liberty and National Security Program. "The government conducts literally thousands of these backdoor searches every year."

Lawmakers in support of reforming Section 702 share her concern.

"The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is supposed to be about surveilling foreigners overseas. That way the government doesn't need a warrant," Sen. Wyden told The Lever. "But because so many of these targets are going to be talking to Americans, Americans get swept up in these searches, and that's what I want to have some checks and balances on."

Rep. Tim Burchett, a Tennessee Republican, said in a video that his concerns stem from past privacy violations from the government: "The system was abused and they spied on thousands of Americans, violated the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution — and, well, it was a horrible situation."

Has Section 702 information been improperly used to surveil American citizens?

Yes, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court characterized the FBI's violations as "persistent and widespread" in a 2022 court document that recertified the 702 program.

Documented abuses, detailed in congressionally mandated transparency reports from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, include warrantless searches for a U.S. senator, journalists and political commentators, 6,800 Social Security numbers, 19,000 donors to a congressional campaign and an FBI employee's family member, who the employee's mother suspected of having an extramarital affair. Anti-surveillance advocacy group Demand Progress put together a detailed timeline of major violations by the FBI and intelligence agencies, as identified by the FISC.

What are the current restrictions on queries for Americans' information by federal law enforcement?

FBI agents must receive annual training on FISA and are generally prohibited from searching for information about people in the U.S. if the sole goal of the search is to investigate general criminal activity, rather than find foreign intelligence information, and those searches need approval from a supervisor or an attorney.

More senior approval is required when searching for information connected to U.S. political or media figures. Moreover, information from queries cannot be used without court authorization to conduct criminal investigations of people in the U.S., unless the charges pertain to national security, death, kidnapping, serious bodily injury, or a handful of other serious crimes.

According to disclosures from the bureau, the number of searches for Americans has declined dramatically in recent years — from 119,383 queries from December 2021 to November 2022 to 7,413 queries in the same 2024-2025 window.

Copyright 2026, NPR

There are a number of elections happening across the state on Tuesday as voters fill a vacancy on the Columbia Heights school board and voters decide on city, school district and county referendums.

See a list of elections below, including sample ballots.

Faribault County ballot question

“Shall the office of Faribault County Recorder be appointed rather than elected at the expiration of the current term?”

Aitkin Public Schools (School District ISD 1) ballot question

Question 1: “Shall the school board of Independent School District No. 1 (Aitkin Public Schools) be authorized to issue its general obligation school building bonds in an amount not to exceed $49,790,000 to provide funds for the acquisition and betterment of school sites and facilities, including the construction and equipping of a new PreK-6 elementary school?”

Question 2: “If School District Question 1 is approved, shall the school board of Independent School District No. 1 (Aitkin Public Schools) also be authorized to issue its general obligation school building bonds in an amount not to exceed $3,190,000 to provide funds for the acquisition and betterment of school sites and facilities, including the construction and equipping of a transportation center?”

Question 3: “If School District Question 1 and School District Question 2 are approved, shall the school board of Independent School District No. 1 (Aitkin Public Schools) also be authorized to issue its general obligation school building bonds in an amount not to exceed $2,235,000 to provide funds for the acquisition and betterment of school sites and facilities, including the construction and equipping of an auxiliary gym at the new PreK-6 elementary school?”

Wayzata Public Schools (School District ISD 284) ballot question

Question 1: Renewal of Expiring Capital Project Levy for Technology

“The board of Independent School District No. 284 (Wayzata Public Schools), Minnesota has proposed to renew its capital project levy, scheduled to expire after taxes payable in 2029, in the maximum amount of 2.66075 percent times the net tax capacity of the school district to provide funds for the purchase and installation of software and technology equipment and the support and maintenance of technology. The proposed tax rate is not being increased from the previous year’s rate. The proposed renewal of the expiring capital project levy authorization will raise approximately $7,039,362 for taxes first levied in 2029, payable in 2030, and will be authorized for ten (10) years. The estimated total cost of the projects to be funded over that time period is approximately $70,393,620.

Shall the renewal of the expiring capital project levy authorization to fund technology proposed by the board of Independent School District No. 284 (Wayzata Public Schools), Minnesota be approved?

BY VOTING “YES” ON THIS BALLOT QUESTION, YOU ARE VOTING TO RENEW AN EXISTING CAPITAL PROJECTS REFERENDUM THAT IS SCHEDULED TO EXPIRE.”

Question 2: Approval of School Building Bonds

“Shall the board of Independent School District No. 284 (Wayzata Public Schools), Minnesota be authorized to issue general obligation school building bonds in an amount not to exceed $465,000,000 for acquisition and betterment of school sites and facilities including, but not limited to, a new elementary school, a new middle school, an addition to Wayzata High School, safety and security improvements and various other capital projects districtwide?

BY VOTING ‘YES’ ON THIS BALLOT QUESTION, YOU ARE VOTING FOR A PROPERTY TAX INCREASE”

Question 3: Approval of School Building Bonds

“If School District Question 2 is approved, shall the board of Independent School District No. 284 (Wayzata Public Schools), Minnesota be authorized to issue general obligation school building bonds in an amount not to exceed $31,000,000 for acquisition and betterment of school sites and facilities including, but not limited to, construction of an 8-lane swimming and diving pool?

BY VOTING ‘YES’ ON THIS BALLOT QUESTION, YOU ARE VOTING FOR A PROPERTY TAX INCREASE.”

Little Falls (School District ISD 482) ballot question

Question 1: “Shall the board of Independent School District No. 482 (Little Falls), Minnesota be authorized to issue general obligation school building bonds in an amount not to exceed $34,305,000 for acquisition and betterment of school sites and facilities including, but not limited to, remodeling and indoor air quality and safety and security improvements at Little Falls Community High School?”

Question 2: “If School District Question 1 is approved, shall the board of Independent School District No. 482 (Little Falls), Minnesota be authorized to issue general obligation school building bonds in an amount not to exceed $9,520,000 for acquisition and betterment of school sites and facilities including, but not limited to, construction of a new gymnasium at Little Falls Community High School?

Passage of School District Question 2 is contingent upon passage of School District Question 1.”

Staples-Motley (School District ISD 2170) ballot question

Approval of School District Bond Issue

“Shall the school board of Independent School District No. 2170 (Staples Motley) be authorized to issue its general obligation school building bonds in an amount not to exceed $42,500,000 to provide funds for the acquisition and betterment of school sites and facilities, including the construction and equipping of a secure entry and career and technical education (CTE) addition to the High School/Middle School site; the construction and equipping of an addition to the Elementary School; the renovation and remodeling of classrooms and restrooms at school sites and facilities; upgrades to casework and finishes; the acquisition and installation of furniture, fixtures and equipment at school sites and facilities; the construction of athletic and activity field improvements, including track replacement and renovations and upgrades to the football field, bleachers, press box, scoreboard, concession stand and locker rooms; the construction of upgrades and improvements to the High School/Middle School building envelope; and the acquisition and installation of lighting, acoustic, sound and other enhancements to the High School/Middle School auditorium?

BY VOTING "YES" ON THIS BALLOT QUESTION, YOU ARE VOTING FOR A PROPERTY TAX INCREASE.”

Columbia Heights School District (School District ISD 13) election

The two candidates running for the Columbia Heights school board vacancy are Adam Davis and Jenna Fodness-Bondhus. Here are their platforms:

Adam Davis, according to his campaign website:

Advocate for students

• Ensure a welcoming and safe environment

• Help students learn to their full potential

• Creatively support the joy of art and music

Partner with parents

• Prioritize success in math, reading and science

• Encourage parents partnering with their child’s teachers

Mindful of the taxpayers

• Make sure that education dollars are well spent

• Supporting shifting school funding away from local property taxes to help fixed income and low income earners

Champion for teachers

• As a teacher myself, I uniquely understand the challenges facing out educators and how to help them

• Empower our teachers with the tools they need in the classroom and ensure that they are supported

• Address the unique challenges of our district, such as the influx of English learners with additional staff and resources

Work with state legislators

• Seventy-five percent of our school district budget is restricted, which meant the state legislature decided how it is spent, not your local school board

• Encourage legislators to provide more flexibility to our independent school districts and fully fund their mandates

Jenna Fodness-Bondhus, according to her campaign website:

Protecting Safe Learning Environments

• Recent immigration enforcement actions have deeply affected many families in our community and have had a lasting impact on our schools. When students are afraid to come to school or worried about their families, it disrupts learning and creates lasting trauma. Our schools must remain safe and welcoming places where every child, regardless of immigration status, can focus on learning and feel a sense of belonging. As a school board member, I would support policies and protocols that protect our students and their right to an education. Every child deserves access to education without fear.

Communication

• Clear, reliable, and accessible information helps students thrive and families stay aware. I will strengthen two-way engagement, ensure language access, and provide personalized outreach so families feel informed, heard, and empowered.

Advocacy

• Our district needs strong, proactive leadership. When our district faced a budget shortfall, I organized a petition to make sure our district's voice was heard. When many families were impacted by Metro Surge, I organized a Mutual Aid fund to help those in need. I will continue fighting for sustainable funding, protecting programs students rely on, and keeping our schools strong.

Fairness and Inclusivity

• Every student deserves opportunity and belonging. I will ensure all students have the tools, resources, and accommodations they need, from academic supports to special services. CHPS students and families deserve a safe, inclusive, and respectful learning environment.

Academic Excellence and Enrichment

• Students deserve both strong academics and meaningful enrichment opportunities. I support diverse coursework and programs that reflect students' interests and strengths. I firmly believe students should have access to a wide range of books and perspectives that support learning and critical thinking. Decisions about curriculum and library materials should be guided by educators and educational standards, not censorship or book bans.”