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.”

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.

One of the most iconic scenes in 20th-century American cinema unfolds in the movie “Fargo,” where a villain loads a human foot into a wood chipper as a pregnant cop arrives to arrest him.

Actor Peter Stormare played the villain, Gaear Grimsrud, and will be on hand Tuesday night for the film's 30th anniversary screening at the Fargo Theater.

“I can't wait, and I've never seen the movie,” he said. “So now I can see the movie and see what made it so good.”

That’s right: Stormare has seen clips from the movie but never seen “Fargo” all the way through.

“That's a good thing about human beings. We don't like to look at ourselves, and we don't like to listen to ourselves on tape,” he said.

Stormare and the Coen brothers

Stormare landed the role of Gaear Grimsrud after acting at The Public Theater in New York City alongside Frances McDormand, he said. McDormand is married to Joel Coen, who directed “Fargo” with his brother, Ethan.

Stormare said the brothers wanted to cast him as Grimsrud after seeing his performance in New York.

“They asked me, also, ‘Can you get a beard?’ [Grimsrud] had a beard that was also blonde. So they dyed my hair and my beard blonde, platinum blonde. And I met them in Soho, and they started laughing and said, ‘You look like Kenny Rogers on methamphetamine.’”

Stormare complained that his look was causing too many people to stop and stare at him, and he asked to ditch either the beard or the hairstyle.

“And they said, ‘No, you're right. Just have the hair.’”

Grimsrud is a violent man whose presence is menacing, as he is a man of few words.

“That was what made him special, because he didn't speak much,” Stormare said. “But when he spoke, he sort of spoke in his own language.”

To perform Grimsrud, Stormare said he channeled Clint Eastwood’s performances from movies like “Dirty Harry” and "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.”

“His daring approach to acting, no one had done before. He was a groundbreaking trendsetter, for me, who knew that silence speaks louder than words,” Stormare said.

Stormare’s character may have been mostly silent, but the rest of the cast had lots to say in the film — and their accents scream Minnesotan.

Minnesota accents and other stereotypes

Ethan and Joel Coen grew up in the Twin Cities, and the accents and speech patterns of their characters had to match their vision.

The end result was exaggerated accents, with characters frequently exclaiming “Oh geez,” “You betcha” and “Oh ya” along with other stereotypical Minnesota-isms.

To nail down the accent, the Coen brothers reached out to a friend of theirs who was a reporter in Minnesota, according to Todd Melby, author of “A Lot Can Happen in the Middle of Nowhere,” a book about the making of “Fargo.”

Melby also works as an editor for MPR News.

“Joel and Ethan said to him, ‘Our next project takes place in Minnesota. So we want to find someone who's got that accent. Do you think you could do interviews with people, and that way, we would have several people to choose from who are real Minnesotans, who sound like they're from Minnesota?’” said Melby.

Melby said the Coen brothers also played up the weather. Characters wade through deep snow, and the sun rarely appears.

“It wasn't just that people were insulted because of the accent; their weather was also insulted. Like, it made the weather look really, really bad,” Melby said.

He adds that the Minnesota stereotypes in “Fargo” rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. But the film had an undeniable impact on the state.

“‘Fargo’ put Minnesota on the map nationally. Before that, Minnesota culture — the snow, the accents — had never been portrayed on the big screen,” he said.

Now, 30 years later, the region has embraced the film. The Fargo Theatre has a wooden statue of Marge Gunderson, and tourists can check out the famous wood chipper featured at the end of the film. The Fargo-Moorhead visitors center has both the original and a replica, which tourists take advantage of for photo ops.

“Some people put their babies in the chipper as a joke. Other people, if they have a tiny little dog, will put their tiny little dog in the chipper. They also have a fake leg you can put in,” Melby said.

Tuesday night, though, the hottest place in town will be inside the Fargo Theatre.

Emily Beck, the theater’s executive director, said the venue had to close during the pandemic. Attendance hasn’t gotten to what it used to be. She hopes that this showing of the movie will help rebuild interest in the theater, which is celebrating its own 100th anniversary.

“I hope that this brings some people in, maybe for their first cinematic experience, but primarily people who haven't been to a movie theater for a while,” Beck said. “And I hope they sit down, have a fantastic time and they're reminded of how precious and unique that experience is.”

The movie begins at 7 p.m. with a Q&A session with Stormare shortly after. It’ll be the first in the Fargo Theatre’s new centennial film series, which will screen a film from each decade since the theatre opened.

Friends and family of a Wisconsin man shot and killed last week by a Superior, Wis., police officer are speaking out against the shooting, calling it unjustified and demanding the release of body camera footage of the incident.

David Ducado Menton, 42, from Solon Springs, Wis., was shot around 10 p.m. on April 7, following what law enforcement officials described as a “physical altercation” with the officer.

At a rally outside the Douglas County Courthouse in Superior on April 13, loved ones described Menton as someone who had a tough life and who made mistakes, but also as a passionate, fun-loving, thoughtful person who would do anything for his friends and family, even though he didn’t have much.

“I can't imagine the whole rest of my life without him,” said Autumn Khalar, who has a young son with Menton’s brother. “He's an uncle to my son, and we can't get him back.”

Khalar said she went grocery shopping at Walmart with Menton the night he was killed. Afterwards they stopped to visit a friend when an officer pulled up, looking for the friend who had a warrant out for his arrest.

According to Khalar, Menton got spooked, because he also had an outstanding warrant. He went to their car, and then walked toward his friend’s apartment building. Before Menton made it inside, Khalar said the officer grabbed him and tackled him to the ground.

Shortly thereafter, she said, the officer shot him.

“He didn't even see it coming. And it was why? Because he had a warrant for missing court? I get he has a history. But that does not excuse what happened that night. It was extremely wrong. He doesn't get to die like that. I'm not gonna allow that.”

Khalar acknowledged that Menton resisted the officer. She said he was moving around, trying to get up on his hands and knees. Still, she said the officer didn’t have to shoot him.

“His life shouldn't have ended this short. He should just be in jail right now, getting another chance to turn things around. But instead, his life is over.”

When Menton was 20, he shot and killed his father in self defense at their home near Chisholm in northeast Minnesota, after his father returned home early in the morning and fired a shot at him and his brother, according to several news reports from the time.

More recently, Menton was convicted of several felony charges in northwest Wisconsin, including drug-related charges in 2020.

“He's made some mistakes in his life, but he did not deserve to go out like that. He's gonna be missed by a lot of people in this community,” said his friend Kyle Dodrill.

According to the account released by state officials the day after the shooting, Menton attempted to flee the scene as the officer approached. The officer and Menton then “engaged in a physical altercation. During the altercation, the officer discharged their weapon, striking the subject.”

Officers also recovered a handgun at the scene. It’s unclear whose firearm it was.

The Superior Police Department has not identified the officer who shot Menton. The officer is on standard administrative leave. The officer was wearing a body camera. Footage from the incident has not been released.

A spokesperson for the Wisconsin Department of Justice said the agency’s priority is to investigate the incident “in a thorough and objective manner.” It will then provide the investigation’s reports to the district attorney, who will decide whether to file criminal charges.

In a statement issued Monday afternoon, Superior police chief Paul Winterscheidt acknowledged community members are looking for answers.

“Our officers involved responded to a rapidly evolving and dangerous situation. They are now navigating not only the weight of that moment, but also the scrutiny that follows,” Winterscheidt said.

“We will always support our officers when they act in good faith, in accordance with their training, and in service to protecting this community. That support is not conditional on public opinion or social media narratives; it is grounded in the facts, the law, and the responsibilities they carry every day.”

The City of Minneapolis is gearing up to start construction at 38th Street and Chicago Avenue — the intersection where George Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer. In a public meeting Monday, city staff said they plan to break ground in June.

The rebuilding plan was approved by the City Council in December after years of debate over what to do with the site. The final plan calls for roads open to two-way traffic and maintains the existing roundabout design in the middle of the intersection, with space set aside for memorials.

Construction this year will cover phase one of the project: roadways and sidewalks on 38th Street to the east of the intersection, and on Chicago Avenue south of the intersection. The remaining blocks, and the intersection at the heart of the square, will be rebuilt during phase two in 2027.

At a public meeting Monday, city staff said they’re adding details on detours and schedules to the city’s project website, as well as launching a weekly email newsletter with construction updates.

Mary Altman is the Minneapolis public arts administrator. At Monday’s community meeting, she said city staff are making plans to preserve art currently in the square.

“The city's goal is to make sure that we have an active memorial space at all times during construction,” Altman said.

Some of the artwork — like the iconic raised fist sculptures surrounding the square and at its center — will be temporarily relocated during construction. Altman said city staff are working to plan the relocation with artists behind some of the other art in the square, including Mari Mansfield, the artist who created the list of names of victims of police violence on Chicago Avenue.

Some local residents and activists say they’re still frustrated with the project as the city prepares to break ground.

Currently, community members and local activists keep up the square’s many memorials and artworks, plus regular gatherings and events. Several of those involved protested the city’s plan for reconstruction and say it’s not the city’s place to decide the future of a site where its officer killed Floyd.

A group of community members drafted their own plan for reconstruction, which called for more pedestrian-only space and one-way traffic on a stretch of Chicago Avenue.

George Floyd Square’s lead caretaker Jeanelle Austin said she wanted the city to give more consideration to that plan.

“It's fair to say in the community that there is a desire for the infrastructure changes, but what that change looks like is a different imagination, I think, that the community has put forth from what public works desires,” Austin said.

The City Council considered building a pedestrian-only plaza in the intersection but ultimately voted against it. A public works study that said the project would take several years and raise logistical and legal challenges, and several community members and business owners pushed the council to keep the streets open.

City staff say the intersection is due for regularly slated construction to replace aging infrastructure and lead pipes. In rounds of surveys and community meetings dating back to 2022, many residents and business owners in the mixed-use intersection said they wanted new streets that kept traffic, plus alleyway and driveway access.

The approved plan will also add a sidewalk-level bike lane on Chicago Avenue south of 38th Street. It calls for a wide pedestrian space in front of Unity Foods — formerly Cup Foods — where Floyd was killed, so cars don’t drive over the spot.

The streets at the center of the intersection will be raised to sidewalk level, and the city plans to install gates so the streets can be easily closed to traffic for events.

The city is holding another public meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Phelps Park.

A conservation group has listed a major river in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area as the third most endangered river in the country on its annual list of threatened waterways.

It marks the fourth time American Rivers has included the South Kawishiwi River on its list of 10 most endangered rivers — it was also selected in 2013, 2018 and 2021.

The river winds in and out of the federally protected canoe wilderness area in northeast Minnesota. Twin Metals, a subsidiary of the Chilean mining giant Antofagasta, has proposed building an underground mine for copper and nickel along the pristine river’s shoreline near Ely, just south of the Boundary Waters.

The designation from American Rivers comes as the U.S. Senate is poised to take up a resolution later this month that would reverse the 20-year long ban on mining in the area, which could open the door for Twin Metals to reapply to open a mine there.

Conservation groups argue that mining for metals such as copper and nickel, which carries with it the potential for more severe water pollution than iron ore mining in Minnesota, could cause irreparable harm to one of the nation’s most cherished and highly visited wilderness areas.

“Spoiling some of the purest, most pristine waters for a foreign mine and foreign corporate interests is a short-sighted move that could cause irreversible harm to the region,” said Elizabeth Riggs, Great Lakes regional director for American Rivers.

In 2023, the Biden administration imposed a 20-year mining moratorium covering about 350 square miles of federal land south of the Boundary Waters, including where the Twin Metals mine would be located.

The land is located outside the Boundary Waters but within its watershed. As a result, water pollution from mining could flow into the federally protected wilderness area.

In January, the U.S. House passed a resolution introduced by Rep. Pete Sauber, R-Hermantown, to overturn the moratorium. It would also prohibit future administrations from imposing another ban.

Stauber’s resolution utilizes a law called the Congressional Review Act that allows Congress to overturn federal agency rules with simple majority votes in both chambers. That means it couldn’t be blocked by a Senate filibuster, which, under the upper chamber’s rules, requires 60 votes to call legislation for a vote.

But the Senate is running out of time to take up the measure. Ingrid Lyons, executive director of Save the Boundary Waters, said Congress faces a deadline of April 24 or April 27 to pass the resolution and send it to President Trump for his signature.

Lyons said Senate leadership has signaled the vote could occur in the next 10 days. She said public lands advocates are lobbying furiously against the measure. That includes descendants of former President and noted land conservationist Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt, who sent a letter to Congress urging members to reject the resolution and “seek ways to permanently protect the Boundary Waters.”

“We are having a lot of really good meetings, a lot of surprising meetings, about what overturning these protections would mean,” said Lyons, who describes it as an unprecedented effort to overturn public land management decisions. “It really kind of opens up a Pandora's box in terms of public land decisions.”

When Stauber introduced his resolution in January, he said the “dangerous and illegal mining ban was thrust upon my constituents and our way of life in Northern Minnesota and put our nation’s mineral security in jeopardy.”

Julie Lucas, executive director of the industry group Mining Minnesota, said overturning the moratorium wouldn’t mean an automatic green light for mining projects. They would still have to go through years of applying for permits and environmental impact studies.

“It's about getting us back into the conversations and back into environmental review. Because these are significant deposits there, and we should be looking at what it would mean to mine those.”

Lucas says those in the mining industry also value the preciousness of the Boundary Waters.

“We didn't go into this industry because we don't love the environment. We went into it because we want to make mining better.”

A new film featured at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival is celebrating Indigenous dance.

Meskwaki filmmaker Oogie Push is also making her feature directorial debut at the 45th Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival with “Why We Dance” — a documentary rooted in the Twin Cities that pushes back against the way Indigenous stories have long been told on screen.

"It's a love letter to each character," Push said. "It's a love letter to the land. It's a love letter to our dancing. It's a love letter to our ancestors."

“Why We Dance” had its world premiere at MSPIFF on Sunday night. It will screen again on April 18. A panel with Indigenous filmmakers from Minnesota whose work is also featured in the festival will follow.

“Why We Dance” follows Indigenous people from across the United States, Hawaii and Mexico who share a deep connection to their culture through dance. The film opens on the wind-swept prairie of the Rosebud Reservation, following fancy dancer Canku OneStar across his homelands.

The film also visits O'ahu and Honolulu, where Pualeilani Paia Kamahoahoa and Paisley Paiea Kamahoahoa of the Kingdom of Hawai'i speak candidly about the challenge of practicing their cultural traditions authentically — beyond the cultural tourism that shapes how visitors to the islands experience Indigenous life.

The film also follows Mary Anne and Sergio Quiroz of Indigenous Roots Cultural Center in St. Paul and their travels to Mataxhi, Mexico. The film introduces Loa Miles Simoes, a Meskwaki tribal member adopted into a non-Native family and raised in Hawai'i, whose journey back to her homeland is central to the film's emotional arc.

Deep roots

The stories each have deep roots.

One has to do with how the Meskwaki people purchased their land back in Iowa. In 1923, the U.S. Department of the Interior sent a letter to more than 500 Native American tribes demanding an end to traditional religion, cultural celebrations and social gatherings, including social dances like pow wows.

The threat was not abstract — tribes faced the potential withholding of medical services and trade opportunities, and even the seizure of more land. Many were forced to speak their native languages and practice their ceremonies in secret.

The Meskwaki resisted. What had already been celebrated as a traditional harvest gathering — a multi-week celebration of corn, horse races, games and dance — had by the 1920s evolved into something with broader reach, drawing visitors from across the region as pow wow culture spread across the United States and Canada. When the tribal pow wow committee recognized the onlookers gathering to watch the celebration, they began charging admission.

"That's how we bought our land back," Push said.

The film began as something far more modest.

Push's cousin, Jarod Pushetonequa, approached Push about shooting footage of pow wow dancers for his performance company. Push connected him with Ryan Stopera, a Minneapolis-based filmmaker, and the team began shooting around the Twin Cities: at Minnehaha Falls, Crosby Lake Farm and eventually Dreamland, a black box theater that became the project's first real home.

Push first came on the project as an interviewer. When the original director stepped away, Stopera — acting as the film’s producer and director of photography — asked if she wanted to step in. What followed was a close creative partnership — with editor Ryan McGuire also central to the process — that Stopera says was defined less by disagreement than by the effort to keep Push's own voice where it belonged.

"The only pushback with Oogie and I was her humility in not wanting to center herself, and I encouraged her strongly to do so," Stopera said, "because her story and her voice is so powerful."

The thread of dance

Push herself appears as a character, tracing the history of the Meskwaki Settlement and the pivotal role the pow wow played in buying it back. Over 76 minutes, a supporting cast of dancers, family members and community organizers add texture and depth. Each one is a thread in a larger tapestry about why dance matters culturally and politically.

"I really believe that if you are with the right people, magic happens," Push said. "You just create this synergy and create something beautiful."

The film draws on deeply personal territory for Push. Her uncles are interviewed in it, and her grandfather created the Eagle Dance that appears on screen. Push is also developing a separate collection of Meskwaki cultural documentaries, including a full-length film on the history of the pow wow.

Stopera says learning that history of how the Meskwaki purchased their land back has been one of the most galvanizing parts of the project for him.

"The joyful resilience and defiance of the no dancing letter, the economic ingenuity of the tribe just down the line is really inspiring and motivating," said Stopera.

"We just kept following the relationships and the stories that all connected together," said Stopera.

Both Push and Stopera were deliberate about the film's emotional register.

"A lot of fellow doc filmmakers and I are critiquing how much trauma is used to gain attention in the field," Stopera said. "We know that there's so much more depth to the stories, specifically of BIPOC communities, that need not center trauma."

Push agreed, saying that the film focuses more on cultural resilience.

"It's more about our joy and our love for dancing and how it makes us feel and how it connects us to everything. I just love that people will be able to see our people, our homelands, our joy, and see that no matter where we come from, we're all the same."

Push said she hopes audiences carry something with them when they leave the theater.

"I hope that ‘Why We Dance’ adds a blessing to the audience's life, to their day, that they carry it with them when they leave the theater and they're reminded of their own connection to this land, regardless of where they came from, and connection to their ancestors and how we're all interconnected."

Still Showing: Indigenous & Aboriginal Films at MSPIFF 45

• Why We Dance — Sat 4/18, 4:15 p.m., The Main 1

• The Condor Daughter — Tue 4/14, 2:00pm, The Main 5, Fri 4/17, 9:30 p.m., The Main 5

• Mārama — Tue 4/14, 9:50 p.m., The Main 1

• The Boom (short) — Tue 4/14, 7:05 p.m., The Main 1 & Sat 4/18, 4:15 p.m., Film North

• Aki — Wed 4/15, 2:30 p.m., The Main 2

• Comparsa — Fri 4/17, 2:15pm, The Main 2 & Sun 4/19, 11:20 a.m., The Main 2

• Source to Sea: A Winter Migration — Sat 4/18, 7:00 p.m., The Main 2 & Sun 4/19, 12:00pm, Edina

• Medicine Ball — Sat 4/18, 2:00 p.m., The Main 2

• Legend of Fry-Roti: Rise of the Dough (short) — Sun 4/19, 1:55 p.m., The Main 2

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.”

A Minnesota county is investigating the arrest of a Hmong American man by federal officers that was captured on video as a potential case of kidnapping, burglary and false imprisonment, officials announced Monday.

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi and Sheriff Bob Fletcher said at a news conference they will pursue information from the Department of Homeland Security that they need for their investigation into the arrest of ChongLy “Scott” Thao in January. Ramsey County includes the state capital of St. Paul.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers bashed open the front door of Thao’s St. Paul home at gunpoint without a warrant, then led him outside in just his underwear and a blanket in freezing conditions.

“There are many facts we don’t know yet, but there’s one that we do know. And that is that Mr. Thao is and has been an American citizen. There’s not a dispute over that," Fletcher said. “There’s no dispute that he was taken out of his house, forcibly taken out of his home and driven around.”

He continued: "Is that good law enforcement, to take an American citizen out of their home and drive them around aimlessly, trying to determine what they can tell them?’”

DHS, which oversees ICE, has refused so far to cooperate with other state and local investigations into the killings by federal officers of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

Choi said they’re trying to determine whether any crimes were committed that they could prosecute under state or federal law.

“This is not about, any type of predetermined agenda other than to seek the truth and to investigate the facts,” he said.

Agents eventually realized Thao was a longtime U.S. citizen with no criminal record, Thao said in an interview with The Associated Press in January. They returned him to his home after a couple of hours.

Homeland Security later said ICE officers had been seeking two convicted sex offenders. But Thao told the AP he had never seen the two men before and that they did not live with him.

Videos captured the scene, which included people blowing whistles and horns, and neighbors screaming at more than a dozen gun-toting agents to leave Thao’s family alone.

The state and the chief prosecutor in Hennepin County, which includes Minneapolis, sued the Trump administration last month to gain access to evidence they say they need to independently investigate three shootings by federal officers in Minneapolis, including the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

The lawsuit accuses the federal government of reneging on its promise to cooperate with state investigations after the surge of around 3,000 federal law enforcement officers into Minnesota.

Minnesota and Hennepin County have also appealed to the public to share information about federal officers' potentially illegal activities, given the refusal by federal authorities to provide evidence.

The Trump administration has suggested Minnesota officials don’t have jurisdiction to investigate those cases. State and county prosecutors say they need to conduct their own inquiries because they don’t trust the federal government.

The Justice Department in January said it was opening a federal civil rights investigation into Pretti’s killing, and two officers have been placed on leave, but the agency said a similar federal probe was not warranted in Good's death.

It was a wild severe weather evening across southern Minnesota Monday.

Multiple severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings lit up the MPR Weather board. I can’t recall a night with this many warnings in a long time.

Here’s a select list of preliminary storm reports as of Monday evening with severe storms still in progress.

Tornado reports

NWS issued multiple tornado warnings Monday. This confirmed tornadic supercell produced the tornado west of Amboy, Minn.

• 6 W Elmore [Faribault Co., Minn.] Storm Chaser reports Tornado at 13 Apr, 7:20 PM CDT — Tornado on video. Location and time approximate.

Tornado warnings are still in progress as of this post.

Hail reports

Powerful updrafts in the storms produce numerous damaging hail reports across southern Minnesota.

• 6 SE Morristown [Steele Co., Minn.] Trained Spotter reports Hail of teacup size (M3.00 Inch) at April 13, 7:15 p.m. CDT — Photo with measured hail.

• 2 NE Owatonna [Steele Co., Minn.] Public reports Hail of 2.25 Inch at April 13, 7:45 p.m. CDT — Report from mPING: Hen Egg+ (2.25 in.).

• 2 W Amboy [Blue Earth Co., Minn.] Public reports Hail of tennis ball size (M2.50 Inch) at 6:44 p.m. CDT — Report from mPING: Tennis Ball (2.50 in.)

• Lake Crystal [Blue Earth Co., Minn.] Trained Spotter reports Hail of teacup size (M3.00 Inch) at April 13, 7:15 p.m. CDT

• 4 NNE Faribault [Rice Co., Minn.] Emergency Mngr reports Hail of teacup size (M3.00 Inch) at 3:53 p.m. CDT

Torrential rains have also triggered flash flood warnings. Our weather will quiet down with the severe risk limited to southeast Minnesota Tuesday.

The Minnesota Lynx selected TCU’s Olivia Miles second overall in Monday’s WNBA Draft.

The point guard is known for her stealthy passes. She averaged nearly 20 points and 7 assists per game this season, leading the Horned Frogs to an Elite Eight NCAA tournament appearance.

“The anticipation is unlike anything I've ever felt before,” Miles said in a post-selection interview. “And then to actually hear it and to have your dreams come true, it's amazing.”

Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said they wanted a point guard who could “generate easy baskets, on time, on target.”

“She’s just really gifted,” Reeve said in a post-draft press conference.

Reeve said even though Miles is a rookie, she plans on having her on the court.

“Maybe I can shed some of this idea that we don’t play rookies,” Reeve said.

Reeve compared the talented guard to that of Lindsay Whalen, now a Lynx assistant coach. Miles mentioned Whalen in her post-draft selection speech.

During that speech, Miles revealed her parents’ and brother’s names embroidered inside her jacket, along with the date of the draft.

It was a moment that stood out to Minnesota fan, Elise Goodwin, who has attended Lynx games since the team’s beginning.

Goodwin was one of more than a hundred fans who crowded the Target Center with faces aglow under the jumbotron waiting for the Lynx’s selection. She, along with the rest of the group, cheered as WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced Miles’ name.

“The jacket was so sweet and so beautiful. Oh gosh, it made me cry,” Goodwin said. “It's so sweet. I love it. Like, what a way to honor her family, and I love it.”

Miles said she added the names in homage to all those who supported her throughout her life, including when she tore her right ACL in 2023 while playing with Notre Dame. She finished her college career at Texas Christian University.

With the final pick in the draft, the Lynx selected Utah guard Lani White.

Coach Reeve: ‘We'll find our way forward’

Like many in the league, Reeve knew free agency and the new collective bargaining agreement that allows for higher salary caps never before seen in the WNBA would usher change, but it didn’t make those decisions any easier.

“It sucks for the Minnesota Lynx to have our team broken up this way. But this is life,” Reeve said. “We'll find our way forward and be fans of all those players that gave so much to the Lynx.”

That includes Natisha Hiedeman, Alanna Smith, Jessica Shepard, DiJonai Carrington, Bridget Carleton and Maria Kliundikova.

Napheesa Collier, Kayla McBride and Courtney Williams will return this season after re-signing.

The Lynx signed two veteran players: Minnesota native Nia Coffey and former Lynx player Natasha Howard.

“I think Tash will tell you that we always thought we'd be back together at some point,” Reeve said. “When she left, she was a young player playing behind Rebekkah Brunson and Sylvia Fowles, and wanted to go, kind of spread her wings, and boy, did she.”

Coffey, a Hopkins alum, has played with the Atlanta Dream the past four seasons.

“That's another player, you know, still young and really motivated to improve her game and to be utilized stylistically,” Reeve said. “We think defensively she'll be helpful.”

Reeve, a four-time WNBA champion coach, said the new higher salaries will transform the rapidly growing game.

“This is professional sports, and I think we’ve just entered into a completely brand new era,” Reeve said.

Duluth’s Gianna Kneepkens picked in first round

UCLA guard Gianna Kneepkens had more to celebrate this week as she was chosen as the final pick in the first round by the Connecticut Sun.

The Duluth native won the NCAA championship earlier this month.

Her parents cried after Kneepkens was announced. Her brothers, whom she grew up learning to play basketball with, were also in the crowd.

However, in an interview after the pick, she clarified which of her five siblings fostered her electric shooting ability.

“Not any of them,” she joked.

One fan in the Target Center crowd, Paul Baudhuin of St. Louis Park, made sure to shout out Duluth during Kneepkens’ selection.

“I’m just a huge fan of Minnesota sports. I love seeing Minnesota athletes succeed,” he said. “There’s a lot of talent in Minnesota when it comes to women’s basketball. I’d love for them to stay here, but it’s great to see them get out there and succeed.”

Two years after her son Waeys Mohamed drowned, Fay Jede watches on as her younger son, Warsame learns how to flip himself over to float in water. Warsame is listening as water safety educators from FOSS Swim School give a presentation with the Waeys Water Safety Foundation.

Jede started the foundation in honor of her son to provide education, support and scholarships for mothers in her community who she said are limited in access to water safety information.

“I don’t know how to swim,” she said. “I grew up in Ethiopia and I didn’t have a lot of access to swimming pools. Swimming was not part of my growing up journey at all. But now I learned that swimming is very important and it can save children.”

Research at Columbia University found that children with autism are 160 times more likely to die from drowning compared to their neurotypical peers. In 2025, according to the National Autism Safety Council, the majority of autism-related deaths from wandering were drownings.

Waeys Water Safety Foundation partners with Foss Swim School in Hopkins where Jede and her family used to live. Foss has classes designed specifically for children who are neurodivergent and lessons to teach adults how to be responsible “water watchers.”

“I think it’s doing the education and allowing the communities to then encourage each other,” said Wendy Andersen, executive director of Waeys Water Safety Foundation. “I don’t think it’s up to us to do it all, but it is up to us to educate, to help people become aware.”

Andersen was the Hopkins police chaplain called to the scene when Waeys first went missing. Andersen said after that experience, she wanted to help Jede and other mothers in the community.

Jede’s younger son Warsame was only 2 when his then four-year-old brother Waeys drowned.

“Every time I drive by water, it comes to my mind every time I drive by swimming pools,” Jede said. “Every time I see a missing child — autistic, missing child on Facebook.”

Now Jede wants to protect her younger son and others in her community. She said this foundation is helping her heal.

“It’s something I wish I had,” she said. “And now that I have another child, Waeys’ brother, who’s also autistic. It's one of the things that's now pushing me to do this work.”

Waeys Water Safety Foundation is starting in Hopkins but Jede hopes it expands across Minnesota.

A Burnsville woman could die if she’s not released from immigration detention for medical care, her lawyer warned on Monday.

Andrea Pedro-Francisco, 23, is originally from Guatemala and has lived with her family in Burnsville since 2019. She was arrested by immigration agents on her way to work in early February and sent to a detention center in El Paso, Texas, just days before she was scheduled for surgery to remove a large ovarian cyst.

At a press conference in Burnsville, Asra Syed said her client’s pain was so great that Pedro-Francisco’s doctor prescribed her an opioid before she was arrested. Syed said in detention Pedro-Francisco was given Tylenol as her cyst grew to the size of a tennis ball.

Syed said her client’s doctors “warn that the cyst is at risk of rupturing or cutting off her blood supply, conditions that can cause fatal internal bleeding, infection or the loss of her ovary.”

Syed said over a video call with Pedro-Francisco in February, Pedro Francisco said her pain was so excruciating that she was taken to the emergency room. A doctor agreed she needed surgery, but wouldn’t perform it while she was in detention.

“Andrea also told me that since that event, the pain in her body was growing, stretching across her abdomen and back, so severe she couldn't sleep through it. At times, she was experiencing hot flashes, at other times, shivers, and also waves of faintness so extreme she feared falling,” Syed told reporters.

The health research organization KFF analyzed federal data on deaths in immigration detention and found since President Donald Trump resumed the presidency in January, 2025, more than 40 people have died in ICE custody. The analysis also showed that the number of deaths in 2025 “exceeded the highest seen in over two decades, and deaths in 2026 are on track to meet or exceed that number.”

U.S. Rep. Angie Craig represents Burnsville and spoke about Pedro-Francisco’s case alongside the woman’s attorney.

“For over a month, my office has been going back and forth with ICE officials about Andrea's condition,” Craig said Monday. “We have been ignored, put off, and frankly, lied to about the treatment she has received while in detention.”

Craig added that Pedro-Francisco is just one of about 20 of her constituents she is aware of who are currently in immigration detention and one of five severe medical cases. “It’s now only four because of the individual who had to self deport in order to get the dialysis that he needed,” Craig said.

In a statement, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed Pedro-Francisco was taken to the emergency room during her detention and said “she has been seen by medical staff on-site seven times” and provided “pain medication.”

The statement also read: “ICE maintains longstanding practices to provide comprehensive medical care, including access to vaccines, medical, dental, and mental health services, as well as medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care. This is the best health care that many individuals have received in their lives.”

DHS did not respond to questions asking whether Pedro-Francisco would be released or how the agency determines if a detainee should be released for emergency medical care.

On April 2, U.S. District Judge Leon Schydlower denied the habeas corpus petition Syed filed on Pedro-Francisco’s behalf asking for her release.

When Syed spoke to her client over video in February, Pedro-Francisco said she missed singing in her local church and missed her family. “She cried when talking about being in detention for one of their birthdays,” Syed said.

Syed said the only option left is asking ICE to release Pedro-Francisco on humanitarian grounds. Amnesty International has organized a letter-writing campaign on Pedro-Francisco’s behalf.

The growing conflicts in the Middle East continue to evolve almost every hour, making it hard for anybody to keep up with — let alone kids.

Some of the burden of helping children make sense of those wars and other fraught international relations falls onto teachers. But how do you teach history as it's unfolding?

Scott Glew is a social studies teacher at Sauk Middle School in Elk River and an Iraq war veteran. Glew was also named a Bush Fellow in 2017 and has served on the board of directors for the Minnesota councils for social studies and history education.

Glew told Morning Edition the most important thing in the classroom is to emphasize the humanity of war.

“We need to be talking more than just about battles and strategies, more than just the economic impact, but really how what's going on in Iran right now is impacting people,” Glew said. “Most of the people there, they're just regular people who are going to feel the consequences more than anybody else.”

Glew spoke to MPR News in February 2024 about the same topic, as the world marked two years since Russia invaded Ukraine. Recognizing that many of his current students are consuming news via social media feeds, which “are really difficult to turn off,” Glew has changed his approach in 2026 in one key way.

“I'm really trying to find that balance with them and encouraging them to find the balance of both paying attention and also taking a step back and taking care of themselves,” Glew said, while still ensuring students have a “deep understanding of the consequences of war.”

Listen to the full conversation by clicking the player button above.

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.”

The standoff between the United States and Iran deepened Tuesday as the U.S. declared it had blockaded Iran's ports, Tehran threatened to strike targets across the region, and Pakistan said it was racing to bring the sides together for more talks.

Though last week's ceasefire appeared to hold, the showdown over the Strait of Hormuz risked reigniting hostilities and deepening the region-wide war's economic fallout.

Talks aimed at permanently ending the conflict — which began Feb. 28 with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran — failed to produce an agreement last weekend, though Pakistan has proposed hosting a second round in the coming days.

Two Pakistani officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the matter with the media, said that the first talks were part of an ongoing diplomatic process rather than a one-off effort.

Two U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic negotiations, said on Monday that discussions were still underway about a new round of talks. They said that the venue, timing and composition of the delegations hadn't been decided, but that talks could happen Thursday.

The war, now in its seventh week, has jolted markets and rattled the global economy as a great deal of shipping has been cut off and airstrikes have torn through military and civilian infrastructure across the region.

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

Blockade takes effect

The U.S. military said on Monday that the blockade applied to vessels going to and from Iranian ports. The blockade could restrict the passage of the few ships that Tehran considers friendly, which have been permitted to traverse the Strait of Hormuz, as Iran has curtailed maritime traffic since the start of the war.

Most commercial vessels have avoided the waterway amid Iranian threats, apart from the few allowed to pass through lanes between Iran's islands and coastline.

Both the nature of enforcement and the extent to which ships will comply remained unclear during its first full day in effect on Tuesday. But there were early signs of hesitation — at least two tankers approaching the strait on Monday turned around shortly after it took effect, vessel tracker MarineTraffic said in a Monday post on X.

Iran’s effective closure of the strait, through which a fifth of global oil transits in peacetime, has sent oil prices skyrocketing, pushing up the cost of gasoline, food and other basic goods far beyond the Middle East.

The blockade is intended to pressure Iran, which has exported millions of barrels of oil, mostly to Asia, since the war began. Much of it has likely been carried by so-called dark transits that evade sanctions and oversight, providing cash flow that's been vital to keeping Iran running.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said that Iran's control of the strait amounted to blackmail and extortion as the U.S. blockade took effect. He said in a social media post that Iran’s navy had been "completely obliterated,” but still had “fast attack ships.”

He warned that “if any of these ships come anywhere close to our BLOCKADE, they will be immediately ELIMINATED."

Iran threatened to retaliate against Persian Gulf ports if attacked.

“If you fight, we will fight," Iran's parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said in a statement addressed to Trump.

Israel and Lebanon scheduled for talks

Meanwhile, direct talks between Israel and Lebanon were set to begin in Washington on Tuesday, the first such negotiations in decades.

Israel has pressed ahead with its air and ground campaign since last week’s ceasefire in Iran, insisting that it doesn't apply to fighting in Lebanon. It has, however, halted strikes in the country's capital since April 8, after a deadly bombardment that hit several crowded commercial and residential areas in central Beirut. It sparked an international outcry and threats by Iran that it would end the ceasefire.

After more than a year of near-daily strikes in southern Lebanon, Israel escalated its offensive in the early days of the war following Hezbollah launching rockets into Israel. The fighting has carved a path of destruction from agricultural towns near the border to Beirut, killing more than 2,000 people and displacing in excess of 1 million others, according to Lebanese authorities.

The talks are expected to be preliminary, focused on setting parameters rather than resolving core issues. Lebanese officials have pushed for a ceasefire, while Israel has framed the negotiations around Hezbollah’s disarmament and a potential peace deal, without publicly committing to halting hostilities or withdrawing its forces.

Israel wants Lebanon’s government to assume responsibility for disarming Hezbollah, much like was envisaged in a November 2024 ceasefire. But the militant group has survived efforts to curb its strength for decades and said on Monday that it won't abide by any agreements that may result from the talks.

Victor Caratini and Ryan Jeffers each homered and drove in three runs on Monday and the Minnesota Twins knocked out Boston starter Garrett Crochet in the second inning en route to a 13-6 victory.

Jeffers had three of the Twins' 11 hits, while Ryan Kreidler and Byron Buxton also homered. Minnesota has won seven of its last eight games.

Bailey Ober (2-0) allowed four runs on seven hits while striking out seven in six innings.

Jarren Duran homered and Caleb Durbin had two hits and scored two runs for Boston.

The Twins ambushed Crochet with four runs in the first inning, then knocked out Boston's ace lefty with a seven-run second. Crochet (2-2) allowed 11 runs — 10 earned — on nine hits and three walks in 1 2/3 innings, the shortest start of his career.

The big blows in the second came from two new faces hitting their first home runs with the Twins. Caratini hit a three-run blast off the facing of the third deck in left field. Then Kreidler, a light-hitting utility infielder with two career home runs, sent Crochet's last pitch into the second deck in left for a solo homer.

The Twins posted a 13-23 record against left-handed starters last year. But in the last seven days, they have beaten Detroit's Tarik Skubal and Framber Valdez, Toronto's Eric Lauer and now Crochet. In those four outings, the Twins scored 29 earned runs in 16 2/3 innings pitched by the starters.

Buxton's solo homer in the fifth was the 85th of his career at Target Field, moving past Max Kepler to become the all-time leader at the Twins' ballpark.

Twins hammer Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet for 11 runs and 9 hits in 1 2/3 innings

Boston Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet was battered by the Minnesota Twins for 11 runs — 10 earned — and nine hits in 1 2/3 innings Monday night.

Crochet, a two-time All-Star who finished second in AL Cy Young Award voting last season, became the first Red Sox pitcher to allow 10 runs in less than two innings.

“My command, as a whole, has been spotty," Crochet said following a 13-6 loss. “I've gotten away with it a little this early in the year, but tonight they made me pay. It was weak contact, hard contact, walks, hit by pitch — a little bit of everything."

The 26-year-old left-hander gave up four runs, three earned, in a 31-pitch first inning. Minnesota scored seven more in the second before Crochet was removed with two outs and Boston trailing 11-0.

“I don’t really have one thing to point to,” Crochet said. “I feel like I had a good approach. It was all pitch types that I felt like they were absolutely smothering."

Victor Caratini hit his first home run for the Twins in the second, a three-run drive off the facing of the third deck in left field. Light-hitting infielder Ryan Kreidler ended Crochet's night with his third career home run, a solo shot into the second deck in left.

“As a manager, it’s hard to watch. It was kind of like, OK, when are we going to take him out, you know?” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. “At the same time, you still have to cover innings and keep the bullpen quote-unquote fresh, knowing that there’s two more games in the series.”

Crochet walked three, hit a batter with a pitch and failed to record a strikeout for the first time in 68 career starts. His season ERA climbed to 7.58 after he entered 2-1 with a 3.12 ERA through three starts.

“I'm just going to flush it as best I can and move on to the next one,” Crochet said. “They had a good approach.”

Up next

Twins RHP Mick Abel (0-2, 6.08 ERA) will face Boston RHP Sonny Gray (2-0, 2.76) in the second game of the series on Tuesday.

Theo Lindstein scored and the St. Louis Blues overcame a two-goal deficit and beat the Minnesota Wild 6-3 on Monday night.

Lindstein scored on a backhand shot with 3:19 remaining in the second period to put the Blues up 4-3. Jonathan Drouin and Dalibor Dvorsky each had an assist on the goal.

Pavel Buchnevich scored the 200th goal of his NHL career and Jimmy Snuggerud, Jake Neighbours, Otto Stenberg and Colton Parayko added goals for the Blues.

Parayko's goal was his 81st and he moved into fourth in franchise history in goals by a Blues defenseman behind Al MacInnis (127), Alex Pietrangelo (109) and Chris Pronger (84). He moved out of a tie with Jeff Brown (80).

Nick Foligno, Michael McCarron and Danila Yurov scored for the Wild.

Joel Hofer made 28 saves in the win for the Blues. Filip Gustavsson made 16 saves for the Wild.

The Blues won 58.8% of the faceoffs in the game.

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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

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announced its 2026 class of inductees on Monday night, a list of eight performers that includes an R&B legend, a heavy metal band and a drummer-turned-frontman whose music dominated mainstream pop-rock in the 1980s.

In recent years, the Rock Hall has expanded its definition of rock icons to include artists from a wider range of genres and backgrounds. The basic rules for induction have remained the same, though:

Artists become eligible for nomination 25 years after the release of their first commercial recording (in other words, artists whose debuts came out in 2001 are newly eligible this year). There are four different categories of inductees:

• Performers whose music and cultural impact has changed the course of rock and roll.

• Influential musicians whose innovative styles have propelled cultural change, which this year includes key innovative voices in African and Latin music.

• A "musical excellence" award designated for writers, producers and session musicians who have played a key role in rock history.

• The Ahmet Ertegun award, honoring industry professionals who are not performers but have made a significant impact on the business of music.

The official induction ceremony will take place on Nov. 14 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. It will be streamed on ABC and Disney+ in December.

Performer Category

Phil Collins
Even though he was inducted into the Rock Hall as a member of Genesis in 2010, it was Collins' solo career, especially a string of hits in the 1980s, that helped turn him into one of the most commercially successful artists of that decade. The drummer-turned-singer is widely known for popularizing the "gated snare" recording technique — which cut off the lingering reverb from the drums — and resulted in an explosive sound that became a signature sound of the era. Collins' career spans over five decades and has earned him a long list of accolades, including an Academy Award for best original song in 2000 for "You'll Be In My Heart" from Disney's Tarzan.

Billy Idol
The British rocker Billy Idol enters the Rock Hall on his second nomination. Known for hits like "Dancing with Myself," "Rebel Yell" and "White Wedding," the bleach-blonde singer's punk rock attitude continues to reach fans around the world more than four decades since the release of his debut solo album.

Iron Maiden
Heavy metal fans rejoice! Iron Maiden is finally being inducted into the Rock Hall on its third nomination. Since the 1980s, the band has been redefining heavy rock with anthemic storytelling, full-throttle instrumentation and spooky iconography. Different iterations of the band's mascot, Eddie, have appeared on Iron Maiden's album covers and merch for decades, becoming a key fixture of a particular strain of teen rebellion.

Joy Division/New Order
After three nominations, Joy Division and New Order are entering the Rock Hall under a joint induction, recognizing the link between the groups. Both bands featured guitarist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris, who were forced to reimagine their sound after the death of singer and songwriter Ian Curtis in 1980. Joy Division's moody post-punk sound, which featured the baritone vocals of Curtis, gave way to New Order's more electronic, dance-driven rhythms, which proved massively popular in the 1980s.

Oasis
Today is gonna be the day that Oasis gets into the Rock Hall. (Well, November 14 will be the actual day.) The Britpop group, led by brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher, has had a resurgence since their highly-anticipated reunion tour last year (which briefly broke Ticketmaster and had fans on both sides of the Atlantic crying their hearts out).

Sade
The English band named for lead vocalist Sade Adu changed the sonic landscape of the 1980s and '90s with its blend of jazz, soul and R&B. The velvety, intimate quality of Sade's music echoes across generations of artists, from Drake to Adele, and has now earned the group Rock Hall inductee status.

Luther Vandross
After starting his career as a background vocalist for stars including David Bowie, Roberta Flack, Stevie Wonder and many more, Luther Vandross became an R&B and soul legend under his own name, thanks to the sheer power of his voice beginning in the 1980s. (He was also a producer for A-listers like Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin and Diana Ross.) With over a dozen studio albums, his influence has reached across generations to stars including Beyoncé, Alicia Keys and most recently, Kendrick Lamar, who named one of the biggest hits of 2025 after him. Vandross will be inducted after his first Rock Hall nomination.

Wu-Tang Clan
You can see the Rock Hall's effort to expand the definition of rock icons in past years particularly strongly when it comes to the hip-hop acts it inducts. At least one act from the genre — including the Notorious B.I.G., Missy Elliott, A Tribe Called Quest and Jay-Z — each year since 2020. Considering Wu-Tang Clan's collective and individual output, which spans more than 30 years and expanded the East Coast's mark on the genre with references to vintage kung-fu movies and dark humor, it's no wonder the Rock Hall is finally giving the Staten Island crew its long-deserved flowers.

Early Influence Award

Celia Cruz
The Cuban singer, widely known as The Queen of Salsa, becomes the first primarily Spanish-language artist to be inducted into the Rock Hall. After rising through the ranks of Havana's music scene in the 1950s, Cruz left her home country in exile and eventually landed in New York City, where she became one of the most prominent voices of the legendary salsa label, Fania Records.

Fela Kuti
At the end of the 1960s and into the '70s, the Nigerian singer and political activist helped create the Afrobeat genre by combining West African highlife with elements of jazz and funk. Known for his electrifying, unconventional live performances, the multi-instrumentalist is the Rock Hall's first African pop star.

Queen Latifah
Queen Latifah was only 19 years old when she released her debut album, All Hail the Queen, in 1989. Female empowerment has been at the forefront of her music and image since the beginning of her career. With songs like "Ladies First" and "U.N.I.T.Y.," Queen Latifah changed the landscape of male-dominated rap; alongside her music career, she has found arguably greater success as an actor.

MC Lyte
Another teenage pioneer in the world of hip-hop, the Brooklyn-raised rapper gained popularity with socially-conscious lyricism that tackled issues including street violence and drug addiction.

Gram Parsons
Gram Parsons played with The Byrds and helped spearhead the band's seminal country rock album Sweetheart of the Rodeo, which came out in 1968 — but he was technically considered a "sideman" and not a full member of the band. That's why Parsons was not inducted alongside his bandmates when The Byrds entered the Rock Hall in 1991. Now, the Americana visionary — who recorded a pair of celebrated and influential solo albums that featured duets with Emmylou Harris and also played with the Flying Burrito Brothers and the International Submarine Band — gets his due for melding folk, Southern twang and rock and roll before his death at the age of 26, in 1973.

Musical Excellence Award

Linda Creed
In the 1970s, Linda Creed wrote and produced love songs that would come to define the sound of Philadelphia soul, including the Stylistics' hits "Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)" and "You Are Everything," both of which were later covered by Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye. After being diagnosed with cancer at age 26, Creed wrote the song "The Greatest Love of All." Whitney Houston's rendition of the song would go on to top Billboard's Hot 100 chart shortly after Creed's death in 1986.

Arif Mardin
Arif Mardin's producer credits span more than four decades and dozens of legendary collaborations, including with Aretha Franklin, the Bee Gees, John Prine and Norah Jones. Born in Turkey, Mardin started working at Atlantic Records in the early 1960s and eventually became an executive and one of the label's most reliable hitmakers.

Jimmy Miller
Jimmy Miller signed a recording contract as a singer before finding his true calling behind the console, particularly for his work with the Rolling Stones across five albums: Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main St. and Goats Head Soup. Known for encouraging and harnessing a group's raw, live energy in recording sessions, the producer left an indelible mark on the sound of rock and roll in the 1960s and '70s.

Rick Rubin
Rick Rubin co-founded Def Jam Recordings while studying film and television at New York University. He went on to turn the label into a powerhouse of 1980s and '90s hip-hop, producing and releasing albums by acts including LL Cool J, Beastie Boys, Run-DMC and Public Enemy. He later founded the label American Recordings and served as co-president of Columbia Records. Since the founding of American Recordings, and particularly in his work with Johnny Cash, Rubin has become known for his skill in musical subtraction — paring down a recording to its essential elements.

Ahmet Ertegun Award

Ed Sullivan
He began his career as a sports journalist, but in 1948, Sullivan became the host of a television program — originally called Toast of the Town and later renamed The Ed Sullivan Show — that was welcomed into millions of people's living rooms every week. Sullivan's show widely introduced Americans to countless musicians, including Elvis Presley, The Jackson 5, The Supremes and, maybe most famously, The Beatles, whose first appearance on his show, in February 1964, was, at the time, one of the most-watched programs in history.

Copyright 2026, NPR

Southern Minnesota and western Wisconsin could see severe storms Monday afternoon.

Storms are expected to develop between about 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. and continue into the evening. Heavy winds and tornadoes are possible, with potential tennis ball-sized hail.

Drivers should avoid traveling in the worst of the weather if possible and get off the road if heavy hail starts or if visibility is too challenging, said Minnesota Department of Transportation spokesperson Anne Meyer.

“Don’t stop on the freeway, don’t stop underneath a bridge. You want to get off the roadway completely and get to an area to really wait out for better weather,” she said.

Meyer said drivers should keep an eye on the forecast for their location and destination before heading out.

“These spring storms can change throughout the day,” Meyer said. “Definitely stay up-to-date.”

The most severe storms are expected in southeastern Minnesota, including Rochester, Mankato and the Twin Cities.

Send your storm and hail photos to tell@mpr.org with your name and city.

The Minnesota Timberwolves rested almost all their regulars for the playoffs during a 132-126 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday, as franchise icon Kevin Garnett made a special appearance for fan appreciation night in the regular-season finale.

With the Timberwolves locked into the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference and the Pelicans long ago eliminated, the main attraction was Garnett's first visit to Target Center in eight years.

The Hall of Fame forward and all-time franchise leader in nearly every major statistical category walked into the arena with Timberwolves co-owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez after player introductions, receiving a roar from the crowd and patting his heart with his hand. After giving current star Anthony Edwards a bear hug, Garnett took his courtside seat.

Garnett, who had a falling out with previous owner Glen Taylor after his career was over, reached an agreement last year with the team to serve as an ambassador. His No. 21 jersey will be retired at a later date.

The Timberwolves (49-33) sat nine of their top 10 players, giving fan favorite Joe Ingles a token start in a 15-point, 10-assist performance. Rookie forward Joan Beringer had 24 points, 12 rebounds and seven blocks.

Jeremiah Fears had 36 points and 10 rebounds, and Derik Queen added 30 points with a career-high 22 rebounds for the Pelicans (27-55), who got productive rookie years from their two first-round draft picks amid another injury-affected season. Fears played 82 games, and Queen played 81.

The Pelicans don't have a first-round pick in the draft this year. Their first offseason priority is naming a head coach. Willie Green was fired after a 2-10 start, and James Borrego took the interim role.

The Timberwolves will play the No. 3 seed Nuggets in a first-round playoff series starting in Denver on Saturday.

In a notice on its website, the district says its technology team discovered on Sunday that an outside actor had accessed internal school systems. Staff shut down those systems to prevent any further access, and some are still down. The district says those systems are “needed to safely have school.”

Classes are canceled for the north Metro district’s 6,000 students. Child care, after-school activities and community education programs are also canceled.

The hack came a week after a similar incident in Winona County, where a cyberattack led to a shutdown of the county’s main IT system. It was the latest in a growing number of attacks against local governments’ technology systems.

The district is working with a third-party cybersecurity team and law enforcement to fix the problem and said it plans to update students and families Monday.

The U.S. military will block ships from entering or exiting Iranian ports on Monday after the U.S. and Iran failed to reach an agreement in direct talks over the weekend.

The U.S. Central Command, known as CENTCOM, said the blockade would be enforced from 10 a.m. Eastern Time.

"The blockade will be enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman," CENTCOM posted on social media on Sunday.

CENTCOM said it "will not impede freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports."

President Trump said Sunday he instructed the U.S. Navy "to seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran."

"No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas," he added.

The decision to block vessels entering and leaving Iranian ports came after the U.S. and Iran failed to reach an end to the war, during the direct talks that took place in Islamabad, Pakistan, over the weekend.

Israel and Hezbollah continued to trade strikes on Monday as efforts were underway for Israeli and Lebanese officials to meet in Washington for ceasefire talks.

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron announced preparations for a "peaceful multinational mission aimed at restoring freedom of navigation" in the Strait of Hormuz. He said he would be convening a conference on these plans "in the coming days" together with Britain.

Brent crude, the international standard, jumped to $ 102.24 a barrel on Monday.

Here are more updates from the region:

Click the links below to jump down to a specific section.

France and UK reactions | Iran on Strait of Hormuz| U.S.-Iran talks | Lebanon | U.S. warships | Iran executions

British PM says UK will not join blockade, French president proposes ‘peaceful multinational mission’

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday the United Kingdom will not join President Trump's blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz. Starmer said his focus was to keep the waterway open.

Speaking to BBC Radio, Starmer said he would not go into operational matters, but that the UK's efforts would be aimed at reopening the strait.

"All of the marshalling diplomatically, politically and capability, we do have minesweeping capability… That's all focused from our point of view, on getting the straits fully open," Starmer said.

He said that was the only way to get energy bills down for people in the U.K. who, according to him, were paying the price of the war in Iran.

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that "in the coming days," France and Britain will organize a conference with "those countries prepared to contribute alongside us to a peaceful multinational mission aimed at restoring freedom of navigation" in the Strait of Hormuz.

"This strictly defensive mission, separate from the warring parties to the conflict, is intended to be deployed as soon as circumstances permit," Macron posted on X.

Iran says warships ‘will be met with strong’ response

Trump wrote on social media on Sunday that the talks between the U.S. delegation led by Vice President Vance and the Iranian delegation failed because "IRAN IS UNWILLING TO GIVE UP ITS NUCLEAR AMBITIONS!"

Tehran has repeatedly said that its nuclear program is a civilian one, and that it has a right to continue to enrich uranium for that purpose.

In a series of posts on social media on Sunday, Iran's military spokesman, Ebrahim Zolfaghari, said "warships nearing the Strait of Hormuz will be met with a strong and decisive response."

Zolfaghari also threatened to block the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, in response to U.S. action. The waterway is tucked between Yemen and the Horn of Africa, connecting the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea to the Suez Canal.

Last week's ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran had minimal impact on the movement of goods through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran had largely shut down the strait to commercial vessels and in some cases demanded steep tolls for ships to pass. The decision by the Trump administration to block Iran's ports is likely to further heighten tensions and exacerbate fuel shortages worldwide.

Nearly 20 percent of the global supply of oil and gas moves through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has largely blocked since the joint U.S. and Israeli strikes against it began on Feb. 28.

U.S. and Iran talks fail, sides signal they are far apart on nuclear enrichment

The U.S. and Iran failed to reach an agreement in highly anticipated face-to-face peace talks that took place over the weekend in Islamabad. On Sunday, after 21 hours of talks, Vice President Vance said Iran chose "not to accept our terms."

Asked what the major sticking point had been that led to the breakdown in negotiations, Vance said: "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."

For its part, Iran said the two sides had "reached an understanding on a number of issues, but ultimately the talks did not lead to an agreement."

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghachi, a member of the Iranian negotiating team, said Sunday his country "engaged with (the) U.S. in good faith to end the war," adding that when the two sides were close to reaching an understanding, "we encountered maximalism, shifting goalposts, and blockade."

The status of the two-week ceasefire, which extends until April 22, is now uncertain. But Vance left open the possibility that an agreement could still be reached, saying: "We leave here with a very simple proposal: a method of understanding that is our final and best offer." He added: "We'll see if the Iranians accept it."

The talks in Islamabad were the first face-to-face engagement between the U.S. and Iran since 2015, when the Obama administration negotiated a nuclear deal with Iran that was later scrapped by Trump. They were also the highest-level discussions since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

In a Fox News interview on Sunday, Trump doubled down in his stance that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon, and said he believes Iran will "come to the table" and give up its nuclear weapons efforts. Asked if he will continue to "destruct" Iran if they don't give up their nuclear weapons program, Trump said: "If they don't give that plan up, yeah."

On Saturday, Trump said "We win, regardless" of the outcome of negotiations, adding, "we've totally defeated that country."

U.S. warships pass through Strait of Hormuz

As the talks between the U.S. and Iran were underway, two U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, a U.S. official told NPR, marking the first transit of American warships since the start of the Iran war six weeks ago.

CENTCOM said it had begun setting conditions to clear Iranian sea mines planted throughout the waterway to "encourage the free flow of commerce."

Israel and Hezbollah continue to trade strikes

Attacks continued in Lebanon on Monday as Israeli airstrikes hit border villages that Israel says is it seizing from Lebanon, in order to create a buffer zone to prevent militant group Hezbollah from firing cross-border rockets.

Lebanese authorities said more than 100 people were killed over the weekend from Israeli attacks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who crossed into Lebanon on Sunday, said those displaced from southern Lebanon will not be allowed to return to their homes. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the goal of Israel's campaign is to destroy houses in the area to prevent Hezbollah from using them.

Their statements came as preparations were under way for Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to meet on Tuesday in Washington for ceasefire talks, the first direct official talks between the two countries since 1983. The talks are not supported by Hezbollah, which held a rally in Beirut over the weekend, filling several blocks of the capital.

The Lebanese government said Israel has destroyed around 40,000 houses in the past 35 days.

The Lebanese Red Cross said that one of its ambulance teams was directly targeted by an Israeli drone over the weekend, killing one paramedic and wounding another. The death brought the number of the medics killed to at least 57 in the past six weeks, according to Lebanese authorities. Israel denies it is targeting medics and accused Hezbollah of transporting weapons in ambulances.

Human rights groups say Iran increased executions

At least 1,639 people were executed in Iran in 2025, according to a joint report by the Norwegian organization Iran Human Rights and Paris-based Together Against the Death Penalty.

According to the two watchdogs, the figure represents an increase of 68 percent over the previous year.

A wave of arrests and executions followed the country-wide protests that started in December of 2025 and trailed into January.

Mass arrests have also been regularly reported in Iran's state media since the start of the war, with authorities accusing those it rounds up of having ties to Israel or aiding terrorist groups.

Betsy Joles in Islamabad, Lauren Frayer in Beirut, D Parvaz in Van, Turkey, Fatima Al-Kassab in London and Tina Kraja in Washington, DC contributed to this report.

Copyright 2026, NPR

Two months ago, Democrats in Congress said they would not give immigration enforcement agencies another cent without reforms to limit the tactics of their officers.

But 59 days into a record-long Department of Homeland Security shutdown, that strategy has resulted in none of the policy changes they have demanded, while President Trump's immigration crackdown is still operating at full speed.

That is thanks to congressional Republicans, who gave Immigration and Customs Enforcement a $75 billion windfall last year with few strings attached — money that has helped insulate ICE from congressional pressure and oversight.

And as Congress returns from a two-week recess, top Republicans are making plans to skirt Democrats again to ensure ICE and Customs and Border Protection have funding through the end of Trump's term.

‘A massive shoveling of cash’

With the South Portico adorned in red, white and blue bunting, the White House's Fourth of July celebration last summer doubled as a signing ceremony for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Republicans passed it by circumventing Democrats with a tool known as budget reconciliation. Trump called the law, which cut taxes, slashed Medicaid and eliminated clean energy tax credits, the "biggest bill of its type in history."

That big bill also included $75 billion in new funding for ICE, on top of the agency's annual funding, which is usually only about $10 billion. The infusion made ICE the highest-funded federal law enforcement agency. Other agencies within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including Customs and Border Protection, also received tens of billions of dollars in additional funding.

Democrats have used this party-line reconciliation maneuver too, including in 2021 to approve billions of dollars in COVID-19 relief money.

But Sam Bagenstos, who was general counsel at the White House Office of Management and Budget at the time under President Joe Biden, says this ICE funding is not a collection of targeted funds. Instead, it is more like a blank check.

"Here what we have is just a massive shoveling of cash to an agency with few if any strings," he says. "I can't think of an example that's anywhere close to that."

The expansive pot of money received renewed scrutiny roughly six months after Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act when immigration officers shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.

Democrats pledged to fund ICE and Border Patrol only if the White House agreed to reforms, like requiring judicial warrants to enter homes and banning officers from wearing masks.

Article I of the Constitution says Congress holds the purse strings — a key check on the executive.

"But if turns out Congress had already taken away its ability to do that by passing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which gave ICE enough money that they can say to Congress, 'Yeah, sorry, we don't need to come back to you for money, and there's nothing you can do to us,'" Bagenstos says.

‘A tempering influence on the agency’

The fight over ICE tactics has been at a standstill for two months, leaving DHS without the regular annual funding that Congress is required to approve for all federal agencies.

The lack of funding would typically impact an entire agency. But this shutdown has been different. Unlike airport security employees who worked without pay for weeks, most ICE and Border Patrol operations continued largely unimpaired due to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Trump also signed an executive order to pay other workers, circumventing Congress again.

That flood of money has also allowed ICE to hire thousands of agents and expand the number of detention center beds, even moving to purchase warehouses to house more detainees.

The influx of funding has been a boon for private prison companies, like CoreCivic and Geo Group, which spent millions of dollars on lobbying in 2025, including in favor of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

John Sandweg, who served as acting ICE director and acting DHS general counsel during the Obama administration, says having to ask Congress for money every year makes agencies more responsive to concerns or requests for information from lawmakers.

"Having that appropriations mechanism where you have to get up there and defend what you did and how you did it every year — that is a tempering influence on the agency," he says. "You might get a call from a senior member of the Appropriations Committee. Those calls resulted in a lot more changes."

When Congress gives an agency money, lawmakers usually attach specific guidelines for how that money should be spent. Sandweg says the $75 billion has very few specific guardrails.

Then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem used some of it to buy two luxury jets and has drawn criticism for awarding a multimillion-dollar ad contract to a firm with ties to her and top aides. ICE has also drawn questions from lawmakers for relying more on limited or no-bid contracts as the agency races to scale up capacity.

"When you have tens and tens of billions of dollars that can be easily spent with very limited oversight and no fear that you're going to have problems in the next fiscal year with Congress, you have created a real vulnerability to fraud or misconduct," Sandweg says.

The new DHS secretary, Markwayne Mullin, has moved to roll back some of Noem's spending policies. Democrats say the shutdown fight helped prompt the changes, despite no agreement between Congress and the White House on the list of legislative demands that Democrats are pressing for.

"DHS is still subject to congressional oversight," a DHS spokesperson wrote in a statement. "The 'misconduct' that needs to be corrected is the Democrats' longest government shutdown in U.S. history."

Republicans say Democrats are ‘stretching it’

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., says by withholding funding, Democrats are going beyond oversight, obstructing a basic responsibility of Congress because regular appropriations bills require 60 votes to overcome the Senate filibuster.

"Obviously the Democrats are stretching it by messing with the appropriations process in a way that was never intended," Thune told reporters.

Thune says that's why Republicans "prefunded" ICE with that $75 billion.

Senate Democrats and Republicans reached an agreement to fund DHS, except ICE and Border Patrol, but the House has yet to vote on the Senate-passed deal amid pushback from House Republicans.

Now top Republicans say they will use that same party-line tool again to fund ICE and Border Patrol for the rest of Trump's term, without having to acquiesce to Democrats' demands for reforms.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, says Democrats are blocking Trump's mandate from voters to execute his immigration agenda. He has proposed using reconciliation to fund ICE for a decade.

"I think we may very well be in a world where these Senate Democrats will never again vote to fund ICE," Cruz told Fox News.

Power of the purse in crisis?

Bagenstos, now a law and public policy professor at the University of Michigan, sees a different threat as the White House bypasses Congress on funding in all sorts of ways.

The administration has refused to spend money Congress has appropriated, like for foreign aid, and has spent money that Congress has not appropriated, like to pay DHS employees despite a shutdown.

And though lawmakers did sign off on giving ICE that $75 billion, Bagenstos says sidestepping the regular funding process is one more way Congress has surrendered power.

"We really are at a moment when the power of the purse is in a crisis," he says.

Bagenstos says the Constitution's framers gave Congress that appropriations power because they saw the legislative branch as closest to the people.

"They disagreed about almost everything in the construction of our government, but one thing that people across the board agreed on was that the legislature should have the power of the purse," he says.

If Congress checks out, Bagenstos says, that increases the risk of tyranny from the executive.

"If Congress doesn't stand up, I don't see why every executive in the future isn't going to follow some playbook like this," he says.

Copyright 2026, NPR

The atmosphere is setting the stage for strong to severe thunderstorms Monday afternoon and evening, with the highest risk south of a line from Redwood Falls through the Twin Cities to Eau Claire, Wis.

Active weather week ahead: Severe storms possible Monday afternoon and evening

If you’re in southern Minnesota or western Wisconsin, Monday is a day to stay weather-aware. The Storm Prediction Center has highlighted an area from Redwood Falls east through the Twin Cities and Eau Claire, Wis., including areas south, with an enhanced risk (level 3 out of 5). This means the atmosphere has all the ingredients in place for what could become a volatile weather day.

Timing of the storms

Storms are expected to develop between 3 and 6 p.m. and continue into the evening hours. The most intense activity will likely occur within a 2–3 hour window after storms first form, so things could escalate quickly.

The main threats include large hail, potentially as big as tennis balls or even baseballs, along with damaging wind gusts and a few tornadoes.

Early storms may remain more isolated as supercells, but as the evening progresses, storms may merge into clusters and shift the primary threat toward strong winds.

Temperatures and dew points will surge northward with the advancing warm front. Highs will climb into the mid to upper 70s across southern areas, while cooler 50s and 60s linger north of the boundary.

Conditions quiet down on Tuesday with dry weather expected locally while storms develop farther to the southeast. However, the break will be brief. Another system will bring chances for showers and thunderstorms back to the region Wednesday afternoon and evening, especially across southern and eastern Minnesota into Wisconsin.

Looking ahead to Friday, another round of strong to severe storms is possible. A warm and humid air mass will build ahead of a strong cold front, and thunderstorms are expected to develop during the afternoon.

Severe weather awareness week

Severe Weather Awareness Week begins Monday, and we’re starting with one of the most important topics: alerts and warnings.

It is important to know the difference between a watch and a warning when it comes to severe weather. A watch is issued when conditions are favorable for tornadoes, severe thunderstorms or flash floods. If you're in a watch area, you can continue with normal activities, but it's important to stay alert and make plans to seek shelter if necessary.

Warnings are issued when severe weather has been reported or is imminent. Warnings are issued by county and city names, so it's important to know the name of the county you live in or are visiting and the surrounding cities.

Tacos are a great way to explain the difference between a watch and a warning. A watch means we have all the ingredients ready to make tacos, while a warning means we’re eating tacos right now!

One essential ingredient for success in the 2026 session? Buddying up with a lawmaker from the other party.

While partisanship has dominated much of what has and — more importantly — has not moved along this session, outlier proposals are advancing thanks to across-the-aisle collaboration.

The Legislature is as closely divided as ever: At 67-67 between the parties in the House and 34-33 in favor of DFLers in the Senate.

There are several examples, but among the most common places for common ground are bills focused on putting brakes on technology and gambling. There are bills aimed at protecting minors using artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots, a bill that would require public official economic interest disclosures to include cryptocurrency holdings and a bill to prohibit therapists from using AI in making therapeutic decisions.

A bill to ban crypto currency kiosks — a regulatory hammer that some lawmakers typically flinch at — passed the Senate by a 57-10 vote last week. The companion bill, also with bipartisan backing, awaits a final House vote

Only four bills have made it into law so far this year, but others are on the doorstep. In almost every one of those cases, lawmakers are crossing the aisle to shape or write the bills.

"Good legislators are able to silo different issues,” said Rep. Drew Roach, R-Farmington, who is pairing with a House Democrat on a bill on non-disclosure agreements in economic development projects. “And we may not agree on everything, but we agree on something. We need to set the other differences aside and get good legislation across the finish line."

Roach and Rep. Emma Greenman, DFL-Minneapolis, are a bit of an odd political partnership.

The two agree on very little. But they forged a partnership as both started hearing from constituents about local governments signing non-disclosure agreements with companies hoping to keep major projects out of the public eye.

“It’s brought together folks from across the political spectrum, including us,” Greenman said last week. Greenman and Roach talked about the bill alongside an equally mismatched pair of Senate sponsors. Sen. Erin Maye Quade, DFL-Apple Valley made light of the fact she typically has little philosophical overlap with Sen. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa.

“This does not fall along partisan lines, and that’s because NDAs aren’t being used in just blue cities and townships or red cities and townships,” Maye Quade said. “There really aren’t that many, if any, other Maye Quade/Drazkowski bills out there, so drink it in. But this is one of those bills because we know that public transparency is so important.”

The bill had been humming along, but late last week hit a snag. A House committee divided along party lines to stop it. While the bill has several GOP co-authors, Republican members of the House Judiciary Finance panel did not approve its passage through the committee.

It could take special procedural maneuvering to revive. The companion bill awaits a final Senate vote.

Drazkowski said a similar measure last session found “bipartisan support and bipartisan opposition. It’s one of those issues where you are going to see that.”

“In the Senate, we are seeing momentum growing with additional support happening,” he said. “So I think the bipartisan support part is growing to be bigger than the bipartisan opposition.”

Another bill that threads that same needle deals with online prediction markets, like Polymarket and Kalshi, where people can put money on anything from the weather to sports to political outcomes or when a war might end.

Greenman is involved there, too. Her bill would make it a felony to host or advertise a prediction market in Minnesota.

“States around the country — red states, blue states — are responding to these prediction markets by bringing law enforcement action, and that's what this legislation does,” she said. “It allows us to protect our current regulatory framework in Minnesota by defining what prediction markets are and outlawing them.”

Rep. Greg Davids, R-Preston, is a fan of the bill and put his name on it.

“This bill makes all the sense in the world,” Davids said. “This is a huge, huge expansion of gaming and unregulated and I think eventually, hopefully, we can all support the Greenman bill and get it moving forward.”

But Davids worries the bill got moving too late to gain approval this session.

With about a month to go, the crossover tandems will soon know if their willingness to step across the aisle is enough to land their ideas on the governor’s desk.

About 50 people gathered on a rainy Saturday evening near the intersection of 63rd Avenue North and Kathrene Drive to pay their respects five years after a Brooklyn Center police officer shot and killed 20-year-old Daunte Wright during a traffic stop.

Some prayed and others caught up with friends. Children played nearby, weaving around the memorial that stands in Wright’s honor. Air fresheners dotted a nearby pole on the corner.

Wright, a father and Black man, was known as a jokester and energizer, according to his loved ones.

Brooklyn Center school board member John Solomon said at the memorial that remembering Wright remains essential, no matter how much time has passed.

“Here we are at five, and even 10 years down the road. We need to always know who these young people were,” Solomon said. “Because we will never know who they would actually become, in these times.”

Brooklyn Center police stopped Wright on April 11, 2021, for expired license tags and an obstructed view. Police said an air freshener dangling from his rearview mirror was probable cause.

Wright initially complied with police’s orders, but tried to drive away when he was told he was being arrested on a misdemeanor warrant.

Then-officer Kimberly Potter, a 26-year police veteran, said she mistakenly grabbed her handgun instead of a Taser and fired one shot at Wright.

Potter was found guilty of first- and second-degree manslaughter and served 16 months in prison.

The fatal shooting came at a tense time in the Twin Cities, coinciding with the trial of former Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin. A jury found Chauvin guilty of George Floyd’s 2020 murder just weeks after Wright’s death.

Together, the cases intensified calls for sweeping police reform. Five years later, many said they’re still waiting for change.

Soon after the shooting, the city of Brooklyn Center vowed to make sweeping, progressive changes to public safety. City leaders discussed limiting low-level traffic stops, shifting some mental health crisis response away from armed officers and giving residents more input in policing decisions.

In an emailed statement to MPR News, Brooklyn Center Police Chief Garett Flesland said the department has made changes since 2021 in areas such as decision-making and de-escalation.

“We have reinforced clear expectations for staff to act with professionalism, sound judgment, and respect for every person, especially in difficult moments,” Flesland said.

But Wright’s mother, Katie Wright, said she has not seen enough.

“Our system is still unfortunately killing people. Brooklyn Center has not done what it’s promised,” Wright said at her son’s memorial. “It scares me every day that something like this could still happen, and it still is happening.”

Amity Dimock, whose son Kobe Dimock-Heisler was killed by Brooklyn Center police in 2019, said the city’s response has fallen short.

“I have seen what I would call performative action,” Dimock said in a phone interview with MPR News. “It got passed and Brooklyn Center was like, ‘Yay, we did it. Look at how progressive we are!’ As far as the scale of how impressed I am with what they’ve done with this, it would be in the negatives.”

Former Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott, who led the city at the time of Wright’s death, said at Wright’s memorial he is disheartened more reforms have not come to fruition.

“I’m very disappointed with the pace of change,” Elliot said. “Community members designed what would have been a step forward. And instead the current city council decided to maintain the status quo.”

One of the remaining proposals still in the works from 2021 is the creation of a community-led advisory board to make recommendations on policing and public safety. The city council approved a version of that commission in May 2025.

But, nearly a year later, the city has not launched it.

Brooklyn Center Mayor April Graves said in a statement emailed to MPR News a combination of city commission restructuring and staff shortages contributed to the delay. LaToya Turk, who leads the city’s Office of Community Prevention, Health and Safety, said applications to join the commission are expected to open in May.

For many, grief over Wright’s death remains intertwined with frustration at the lack of progress.

“The work’s not done yet,” Wright said. “Getting something passed is just the first step. You have to make sure it actually happens.”

Kyle Duncan and Kelvin Yeboah each scored a goal Saturday night to help Minnesota United beat San Diego FC 2-1.

Owen Gene had two assists, the 23-year-old midfielder's first two goal contributions in MLS, for Minnesota (3-2-2). Drake Callender had five saves.

Yeboah tapped in a loose ball from point-blank range to make it 2-1 in the 40th minute. Yeboah has scored in back-to-back games and has four goals this season.

Christopher McVey was shown his second yellow card in the 46th minute and San Diego play a man down the rest of the way.

Luca Bombino scored his first career goal in the seventh to give San Diego (3-1-2) a 1-0 lead.

The 28-year-old Duncan, who signed with Minnesota in December after eight seasons with the New York Red Bulls, made it 1-1 with a header in the 15th minute.

Duran Ferree had four saves for San Diego.

Steven Stamkos scored a goal and added an assist to lead the Nashville Predators to a 2-1 victory over Minnesota on Saturday, locking the Wild into the third seed in the Western Conference for the playoffs.

Matthew Wood also scored and Justus Annunen made 21 saves for the Predators, 4-1-1 in their last six.

Minnesota will face the Dallas Stars in the first round of the playoffs.

Michael McCarron scored and Jesper Wallstedt made 20 saves for the Wild, losers of two straight.

The Predators are now three points behind the Los Angeles Kings for the Western Conference’s second wild card. The Kings defeated the Edmonton Oilers earlier Saturday. Nashville has two games remaining and the Kings three.

Stamkos scored the game’s first goal with 4:59 remaining in the opening period on a wraparound tucked just inside the left post.

The goal was the 40th of the season for Stamkos, the eighth time in his career that he’s scored 40 or more.

Wood made it 2-0 at 6:34 of the second after Stamkos corralled the rebound of Nick Perbix's shot and found Wood in the slot, where he beat Wallstedt with a wrist shot.

McCarron, traded by Nashville to Minnesota prior to this season’s trade deadline, scored at 6:54 of the third to avoid the Wild’s first shutout of the season. It was his second post-trade goal.

The Wild did not dress forwards Joel Eriksson Ek and Mats Zuccarello or defenseman Jared Spurgeon for the game.

Nashville captain Roman Josi returned to the lineup after missing Thursday night’s game against the Utah Mammoth with an upper-body injury.

Up next

Wild at St. Louis on Monday night.

Predators host San Jose on Monday night.