U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement made its presence known in Pelican Rapids back in January. Agents blocked roadways, raided several houses and took some immigrants into custody.

Ivan Olson, who’s in his 30s and has lived in Pelican Rapids all his life, was outraged.

According to census data, about 20 percent of residents in Pelican Rapids are foreign born. And Olson said the rich cultural diversity helped form the person he is today.

He was flummoxed by how differently people at the restaurant where he worked viewed ICE’s actions. He said they all seemed supportive.

"From staff to patrons, it got difficult to live in a moral dissonance where my sense of right and wrong was always at odds with what I was seeing and hearing," he said.

Not long after, Olson left his job.

"That was just an individual decision,” he said. “It wasn't anyone's but mine, to leave that world and try to do something I don't really understand all that much."

Olson then began devoting his energy full time to the Pelican Rapids Area Resisters. It's a grassroots collective focused on social justice. And it formed to oppose the Trump administration’s agenda shortly after he was elected to a second term.

"They would rather us not work together. They would rather us be divided,” he said. “They would rather us stand on our diversity, on paper, on letterhead, and then go about our business and stay within our circles. They would rather we have enemies. Enemies keep you busy."

Olson tried his best to track individuals ICE took into custody, oftentimes getting in contact with their family in other countries to update them about their whereabouts.

And, along with others in the group, Olson began delivering meals to immigrants too scared to leave their homes and helping them with money, clothing and transportation. He said the work groups were doing in the Twin Cities became their template.

‘They were like an angel sent my way’

One afternoon in March, Olson was cruising around Pelican Rapids at a small-town pace. His car might have seemed inconspicuous in rural Minnesota, with its brown rust spots near the undercarriage and a white dusting of dry road salt chalking the body.

But Olson was on a mission.

"I'm taking some fish to a friend of mine right now,” Olson said. “The group that we're part of is helping in a lot of different ways: catch some fish, clean them and bring them to whoever might need them for their freezer."

Olson has been helping a woman since ICE was at its zenith in town. MPR News agreed to refer to her by her nickname, Sheena, because she fears deportation. Sheena came to the U.S. from Nicaragua in 2021 to escape political violence.

On a recent afternoon, Sheena’s son was unavailable to interpret, so she and Olson used Google Translate to communicate back and forth between Spanish and English. An MPR News reporter translated her remarks for this article.

Sheena said while she feels things are getting better now, she would've never been able to get to this point without Olson's help.

“Honestly, they were like an angel sent my way. I really don't know how I would have managed. It's really hard,” she said.

Though Olson could not immediately understand what Sheena said, her emotions came through clearly. The two briefly made eye contact and broke down in tears. Olson consoled her.

"He's just always been really looking out for the underdog,” said Nanette Albright, the founder of the Resisters, who has known Olson since he was a teenager. “And just had a real strong sense of what is right, and always is doing the right thing.”

Albright said Olson is one of the group's youngest members — most are in their 60s and 70s. And from early on, he was their “boots on the ground.” But she said the responsibility never fazed him. In fact, she said he wanted the group to do more.

"He cares a lot. He comes on strong sometimes. And, you know, thinks we could all be doing more,” Albright said. “And I try to tell him, ‘Slow down Ivan, you know everyone's doing the best they can.’ He has very high expectations."

Olson said he has found his life’s work. Now that ICE is less active, that work has shifted. He said the group is setting up a legal aid foundation for immigrants facing court proceedings.

As NASA's Artemis II mission rockets four astronauts around the moon this week, an Indigenous symbol stitched onto Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen’s flight suit is drawing attention far beyond Cape Canaveral.

Along with the crew mission patch worn by all four astronauts, Hansen carries a personal patch — the Seven Grandfather Teachings — designed specifically for him by Anishinaabe artist Henry Guimond of Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba.

The patch is more than a mission emblem. It is the result of a decade of relationship-building between the Canadian astronaut and Indigenous communities across Canada, communities whose knowledge Hansen said have guided him on this journey.

It’s also a long-overdue moment of recognition for Indigenous knowledge, said Dennis Jones, an Anishinaabe elder from Nigigoonsiminikaaning First Nation in Ontario who taught Anishinaabe language and culture at the University of Minnesota for nearly two decades.

“I thought the trip to the moon, the Seven Grandfather Teachings, all of this is to open up the eyes of the world that Indigenous people have this knowledge that’s going to help — help us from polluting Mother Earth, help us from self-destructing," said Jones, who’s known by his Anishinaabe name Pebaamibines. “We need to turn to these teachings."

In a video shared on the Canadian Space Agency website, Hansen spoke directly to Guimond about what the patch means to him. “This is a reminder for me on how I need to walk as I go on this journey,” he said.

‘For all people’

The heptagon shaped patch features one side for each of the Seven Grandfather Teachings. It includes seven creatures — a buffalo, an eagle, a bear, a sasquatch, a beaver, a wolf and a turtle — with each carrying a teaching: respect, love, courage, honesty, wisdom, humility and truth.

At the center, aimed toward the moon, sit a bow and arrow launching from Turtle Island, which is an Indigenous term for the Americas. A silver border represents the Orion spacecraft. A thin blue line inside represents the spirit that lives in all living things, according to the Canadian Space Agency.

Hansen visited Indigenous communities across Canada over the past decade, sitting with elders and knowledge keepers.

In 2023, Dave Courchene III — known as Sabe, Leader of the Turtle Lodge Centre of Excellence in Indigenous Education and Wellness in Sagkeeng First Nation — invited Hansen to participate in a four-day ceremony at the lodge.

Afterward, Hansen asked Guimond to design the patch.

“It’s good for everyone to learn those teachings, the seven laws for all humanity,” said Guimond, who spent some 200 hours on the design. “Not just for Indigenous people, but for all people.”

‘Indigenous ways of knowing, Indigenous ways of being’

While the wisdom evoked by the patch is generations old, the origin story of how Pebaamibines came to know the Seven Grandfather’s teaching is more recent.

Pebaamibines said that it was in 2016 in his home community of Nigigoonsiminikaaning First Nation in Ontario, when workers were building a road when they dynamited a hill and discovered a large quarry of black pipestone underneath.

Community elders, alarmed that a sacred site had been disturbed, went to ceremony to seek guidance. The answer that came back surprised them: They had done nothing wrong. It was time for the pipestone to be revealed, Pebaamibines said.

One elder had a dream about a pipe — a Seven Grandfathers pipe — and spent four years carving it from that stone. When it was finished, he presented it to Pebaamibines.

“I had no idea what his Seven Grandfathers pipe was at the time,” Pebaamibines said. “So I went to ceremony, and I asked for clarity on this pipe. This pipe was confirmed — there are seven grandfathers, seven spirits that come with the pipe.”

He learned the origins of the Seven Grandfather teachings, a constellation visible in the Northern Hemisphere.

“The Ojibwe call it Manidoo-wigamig,” he said. “And that’s the origin of the Seven Grandfather teachings that I received. I think it’s time for the world to know Indigenous knowledge, Indigenous ways of being.”

Of all seven teachings, Pebaamibines returns often to the first.

“The first one is Zaagi'idiwin,” he said. “Zaagi'idiwin is love. And the seven grandfathers are teaching us — how do we learn about our purpose in our life? What you do is, you follow these spiritual principles.”

On Monday, those principles traveled farther than any human has gone before as the Artemis II crew broke the distance record for human spaceflight, traveling more than 250,000 miles from Earth.

Hansen, along with NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, rounded the moon Monday and are now heading home, expected to splash down Friday in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego.

Speaking on behalf of the crew as they broke the distance record, Hansen said in a conversation shared by NASA that they had traveled into space “honoring the extraordinary efforts and feats of our predecessors in human space exploration.”

“We will continue our journey even further into space before Mother Earth succeeds in pulling us back to everything that we hold dear,” he added.

Editor’s note: This story comes from the Upper Midwest Newsroom, a public media collaboration between Wisconsin Public Radio, South Dakota Public Broadcasting, Prairie Public in North Dakota, and Minnesota Public Radio News made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis canceled some procedures Thursday after a water pipe ruptured overnight.

The south Minneapolis hospital, which is part of the Allina Health network, was still open for most appointments Thursday.

Allina spokesperson Jenny Steingas said less than a dozen elective procedures had to be rescheduled. The hospital had already contacted those patients on Thursday morning; all other appointments were going ahead as scheduled.

Steingas said the pipe burst around 12:45 a.m. Thursday. The hospital’s facilities team shut off water for a few hours overnight to fix it. Water was restored around 7:30 a.m. Thursday.

“We are extremely grateful for the quick action of our care team members in responding to this incident,” Steingas said in a statement.

The hospital’s emergency room remained open, though some rooms inside could be closed.

Steingas said the hospital is continuing to assess the damage and determine cleanup needs.

While crude oil prices dropped this week following news of a tenuous ceasefire in the United States and Israel’s war with Iran, gas prices continue to rise in Minnesota.

AAA reported that the average price of regular gas in Minnesota on Thursday was about $3.74 a gallon. That’s up more than 15 cents a gallon since Monday, and close to 50 cents higher than a month ago.

The average price in Minnesota is 57 cents a gallon more than it was a year ago.

There was significant variation in gas prices across the state on Thursday. AAA reported an average price of $3.80 a gallon in the Twin Cities, and about $3.83 in Rochester. But average prices were about $3.57 in Moorhead, $3.65 in Duluth and $3.68 in St. Cloud.

Prices in Minnesota remain well below the national average of about $4.17 a gallon.

Diesel fuel prices were averaging about $5.13 a gallon in Minnesota on Thursday — up about 25 cents over the past week, and $1.65 a gallon more than a year ago.

The Associated Press reported that crude oil prices climbed back toward $100 per barrel on Thursday. The price for a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude oil rose 5.6 percent after semiofficial news agencies in Iran suggested forces have mined the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that has been at the center of President Donald Trump’s demands of Iran. Blockages there have kept oil and natural gas stuck in the Persian Gulf, away from customers worldwide.

Brent crude, the international standard, rose 2.3 percent to $96.95 per barrel. It’s still below the $119 level that it briefly reached when worries about the war reached their height, but it remains above its roughly $70 level from before the war.

Given how far apart the United States and Iran seem to be in their demands, upward pressure on oil prices may be “here to stay for a while” according to strategists at the Macquarie Group.

Risks remain for renewed fighting, which could cause customers worldwide to hoard whatever oil supplies they do get. That could itself keep oil off the market, much like actual fighting targeting pipelines or oil tankers.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Electricity transmission lines have long been the focus of local grassroots opposition–typically from landowners concerned about impacts on the environment, their health or property values.

In fact, late U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone helped organize Minnesota farmers against a power line back in the 1970s, long before he entered politics.

Now there's a new group that's joining the fray against proposed power lines across Minnesota — people who have mobilized around the state to fight proposed large-scale, power-hungry data centers.

Residents are pushing back against a massive proposed transmission line in southeastern Minnesota near where Google is planning a data center in the small city of Pine Island.

And at a public meeting in Hermantown this week hosted by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, local residents lined up to voice concerns over a Minnesota Power proposal to build a 67-mile long power transmission line, from near Grand Rapids to Hermantown, outside Duluth.

The power line would end at a substation where Google is also planning an enormous data center in Hermantown.

The transmission lines have been in the works for years, even before tech companies started aggressively targeting Minnesota and other Midwest states to build huge data centers needed for cloud storage and to run AI. But opponents argue the transmission infrastructure is what makes the data center developments possible.

“I recognize that that's not what we're here tonight to discuss,” said Rebecca Gilbertson at the meeting in Hermantown, where she lives a half-mile from the proposed data center. “However, citizens like myself think that this project cannot be separated from that.”

Gilbertson is a member of the community group that formed in opposition to the data center, which is planned for a rural corner of Hermantown about eight miles from Duluth.

Others talked about the deep public mistrust surrounding the data center, and now are equally troubled by the proposed transmission line. The data center was shrouded in secrecy for over a year. Google wasn’t revealed to be the tech giant behind it until last month, as several city and county officials signed controversial non-disclosure agreements which prohibited them from discussing it.

“It's very difficult to have faith in what's being presented to me and my neighbors and our community, because it doesn't feel like it's in the interest of the small folk,” said Emma Richtman. “It feels like it's in the interest to serve higher tech and corporate greed.”

Others echoed that feeling of powerlessness. Hermantown resident Megan Helling believes the community wouldn't sign off on new electric infrastructure and a data center if they were presented all at once.

“And I just feel like, as a resident, we're just in the way,” said Helling.

Reliability and renewables

The proposed power line is one of 24 big transmission projects utilities are planning across nine states in the Midwest, including Minnesota, at a total cost of nearly $22 billion dollars. They're designed to improve the reliability and the efficiency of the entire region's electricity grid.

The Midwest Independent System Operator, or MISO, which manages the region’s electric grid, approved the plan in late 2024. But the planning started as far back as 2020, said Christian Winter, manager of regional transmission planning for Minnesota Power, well before hyper-scale data centers were proposed in the state.

“It was proposed for grid reliability independently of the needs of any individual customer,” Winter said. “To just put a really clear point on it, if there was no proposed data center in Hermantown, we would still be here tonight,” proposing the project.

The way electricity travels across the grid is undergoing a massive shift, Winter explained. There used to be a handful of large coal and nuclear plants that distributed electricity to cities and large industrial users.

Now, those coal plants are closing as part of Minnesota’s shift to a carbon-free electric system. They’re being replaced largely by wind and solar farms and batteries scattered around the region. Green energy advocates and utilities argue the transmission grid needs to be upgraded to move that electricity from where it’s produced to where it’s needed.

Projects like the proposed northern Minnesota line “will actually enable more wind development, a cleaner grid and ultimately less expensive energy,” said Mike Scholwalter, director of transmission policy with the clean energy advocacy group Fresh Energy.

“So transmission is really one of the key things to enable the renewable energy transition that we're on right now."

That transition capacity is also a key driver influencing where data centers seek to locate.

"There's no coincidence that data centers are being proposed where these transmission lines are ending,” said Gabe Chan, a professor at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs.

Data centers require enormous amounts of electricity– as much as entire cities. So they need it delivered over high capacity transmission lines that can deliver a lot of power, Chan said.

“There's definitely a chicken and egg dynamic here,” he added. “The transmission is being planned based on where they think the load is coming, and the load is coming based on where the transmission is available.”

The $400 million cost of the new power line is being spread among power consumers across the region. Minnesota lawmakers also passed a law last year requiring data centers to cover the cost of their electric service.

“They're required to pay for all of their impacts,” said Dan Gunderson, Vice President of Transition Planning and Operations for Minnesota Power. “That’s a really important thing.”

But many local residents at the meeting in Hermantown remained skeptical.

“This is one piece of a very big puzzle,” Jackie Dolentz said of the power line proposal. “And if the hyper scale data center does go in, they’re going to benefit from this, and we are paying for it.”

Chan said it’s extremely difficult to figure out a data center’s true cost of using the transmission system. He said one big concern is that data centers could soak up a lot of the grid capacity that’s going to be needed in the future to support the growing need for electricity to charge cars and heat homes.

The Public Utilities Commission is expected to decide on the power line proposal toward the end of the year. It’s accepting public comments through April 23.

Commissioner Hwikwon Ham said those comments matter.

“Because people living here know better than anyone else in the Twin Cities,” Ham said. “So we really pay attention to what people say about where this line should be located.”

President Trump said late Wednesday that U.S. forces deployed in the Middle East will "remain in place" until an agreement is reached with Iran, and its implementation takes hold.

His comments followed a shaky start to a two-week ceasefire, with Israel continuing its strikes in Lebanon, killing hundreds on Wednesday, Gulf Arab countries also reporting some drone and missile attacks on oil refineries and power plants, and amid reports that Iran had shut down the Strait of Hormuz. The waterway, largely blocked during the war, is a key shipping route for about 20 % of the world's fuel and goods.

The uncertainty was also felt by the markets on Thursday, diminishing gains made a day earlier, with oil prices rising and stocks dipping. Brent crude, the international standard, was at $ 97 per barrel, or up by 2.4%.

Trump warned that strikes on Iran would resume if Iran did not comply with "the REAL AGREEMENT reached."

"If for any reason it is not, which is highly unlikely, then the "Shootin' Starts," bigger, and better, and stronger than anyone has ever seen before," he said.

He also reiterated that the deal would not allow nuclear enrichment in Iran and would keep the Strait of Hormuz open.

"It was agreed, a long time ago, and despite all of the fake rhetoric to the contrary - NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS and, the Strait of Hormuz WILL BE OPEN & SAFE," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The White House denied the reports on Wednesday that Iran closed the strait, saying they are false and that there was an uptick in traffic in the strait on Wednesday.

Here are more updates from the region:

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

Peace talks | Lebanon | Strait of Hormuz

Peace talks to resume, while confusion remains over the terms of the current ceasefire

High-level talks between the U.S. and Iran are slated to start on Saturday in Islamabad, with the mediation of the Pakistani prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif. His government acted as an intermediary between Washington and Tehran to secure the two-week ceasefire. The White House announced that Vice President JD Vance will lead the U.S. delegation.

But confusion remains over the basis of the plan for those talks, with Iran insisting on a 10-point plan that includes its full control over the Strait of Hormuz, removal of sanctions, and accepting Iran's right to enrichment. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday that Iran's 10-point proposal was "literally thrown in the garbage by President Trump." Trump initially called a plan from Iran "workable."

Meanwhile, Israeli attacks in Lebanon, which is observing a national day of mourning on Thursday, drew condemnation from Iran and criticism from Pakistan. The dispute over whether Lebanon is included in the ceasefire terms remains unresolved. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement Wednesday morning that his government supports Trump's decision to suspend strikes against Iran for two weeks, but that the ceasefire doesn't include Lebanon. Pakistani Prime Minister Sharif had announced the Iran-U.S. ceasefire, would also take effect in Lebanon.

Hezbollah said in a statement that it insists the U.S.-Iran ceasefire includes Lebanon. But the militant group said, "if the Israeli enemy does not adhere" to it, then "no party will commit to it, and there will be a response from the region, including Iran."

Iran condemned the continued assault on Lebanon and said it was the U.S. government's responsibility to put an end to it. In a post on social media, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said, "The ball is in the U.S. court, and the world is watching whether it will act on its commitments," above a screenshot of the Pakistani statement including Lebanon in the truce.

Trump, meanwhile, echoed Netanyahu's understanding of the deal. Asked by a PBS reporter why Lebanon was not included, he said, "Because of Hezbollah. They were not included in the deal. That'll get taken care of too."

Lebanon mourns over 250 killed from Israeli attacks

Church bells rang across Lebanon and warplanes tore the skies Thursday morning as the country observed a national day of mourning following the deadliest day of the current Israeli invasion. More than 250 people were killed Wednesday, according to Lebanon's civil defense, in Israeli attacks that hit densely-populated residential areas far from Hezbollah's strongholds, including along Beirut's seaside Corniche promenade.

The Israeli military said it conducted the largest attack so far, with 100 strikes in 10 minutes in Beirut on Wednesday. The military issued evacuation orders for the capital's suburbs, but then attacked central Beirut. That city has swelled in recent weeks with people fleeing the Israeli invasion in the country's south, which has displaced more than a million people. More than 1,160 were wounded in Wednesday's strikes, according to the country's civil defense department.

On Thursday, Israel struck a bridge in Lebanon. Hezbollah, which had held its fire on the first day of the ceasefire, fired rockets into northern Israel on Thursday.

The violence marred the start of a two-week ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran in the wider Middle East war. But Israeli officials justified the assault by asserting that the new deal did not include a pause in its fight against Lebanon's Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

The International Committee of the Red Cross says it's outraged by such attacks in densely populated urban areas. Israeli military spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani explained why Israel made a surprise attack on Beirut.

"Leading up to this operation, we've seen Hezbollah disperse over different areas, taking advantage of the warnings that we provide for civilians to also hide for themselves among the civilians, moving, trying to scatter their operations in different locations and to hide behind civilian locations," he said.

As Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz, confusion reigns and ships remain idle

Trump has repeatedly said that the deal is dependent on the free movement of ships in the Strait of Hormuz to ease the global energy crisis. The strait is a critical throughway that carries about a fifth of the world's oil and provides the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.

Before the war broke out, Iran allowed an average of 120 to 150 ships per day to sail through unimpeded. But in the last five weeks, that traffic has come to a grinding halt. And despite Tuesday's announcement of ceasefire terms that required Iran to reopen the strait for safe passage, more than a hundred ships remained effectively stalled.

Details about the strait's status remain unclear. While Iran announced it had ceased transit operations in response to Israel's continued attacks on Lebanon, the White House denounced the reports as false and said closing the waterway would be completely unacceptable.

If the strait was open, hundreds of other ships in and around the strait still chose to stay put out of an abundance of caution. Ship owners, insurance companies, and seafarers say they are seeking clarity as Iran threatens to attack any vessel transiting without permission.

Erik Broekhuizen, a U.S.-based ship broker and energy consultant with Poten & Partners, told NPR that another concern for the ships is Iran's decentralized military command.

"You don't really know who to talk to, who is in charge, and whether all the sort of regional commanders have gotten the memo that the strait is open and they should stop attacking vessels," Broekhuizen said.

More than 20 ships have been attacked by Iran since the war began.

Operators are also confused by Iran's new fee system and how payments will be collected as the government rolls out new toll procedures. According to analysts, several oil tanker operators said they have paid at least $1 million to transit the strait.

An English language VHF broadcast was blasted to the hundreds of ships in and around the strait on Wednesday. It warned those aboard idling ships that they need permission before they try to transit.

Lauren Frayer in Beirut, Lebanon and Jackie Northam in Washington, D.C. contributed to this report.

Copyright 2026, NPR

Operation Metro Surge has ended but many Minnesotans are still protesting the federal immigration operation, including one group of men in a Minneapolis coffee shop.

Four of these men wear yellow bands on their arms. They say in large black letters, “We are all immigrants.” They look like gear a soccer captain might wear on the field.

“The idea just emerged out of the horrible way that this current administration was dealing with people who they identified as immigrants,” Peter Kramer explained. “It just seemed totally unfair, given the fact that we all essentially came from somewhere else.”

These men haven’t let up on their own form of quiet resistance. The yellow armbands are intentional conversation-starters.

“People will stop me and say, you know, ‘What is that about?’” Kramer said.

An architect by trade, Kramer said he felt compelled to make some sort of statement as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and other federal officers ramped up enforcement in Minnesota.

Kramer meets weekly with this group of friends. On this day, five mostly retired white men met at Sovereign Grounds coffee shop in Minneapolis. They spoke in a common language of inside jokes and women’s basketball.

Kramer printed the first batch of armbands near the end of January. He has made and handed out around 500.

“I ran into a guy who said, ‘I'm not an immigrant. I was born here,’” Kramer recalls.

“And I said, ‘So was I, but my grandmother wasn't. She was born in Ireland, and if she hadn't come here as an immigrant, I wouldn't be here.’”

“My parents spoke Polish in the house when we were growing up, and especially when they didn't want us to understand what they were saying,” said Gerry Kaluzny, a retired legal aid attorney.

“But I was able to go on to school and become a lawyer, and I chose a path in law to represent disadvantaged people, many of whom are immigrants,” he added.

“We've never sat around this table and asked what do you think the best immigration policy should be, because I don't know that we would come to an agreement. But we do, I think, agree that there's humane ways that we ought to be enforcing the law well,” said Jay Wilkinson, another retired legal aid attorney.

Phillip Jacobson, another man at the table, said he finds the views of his friends to be a little simplistic.

“They're reacting emotionally to things. There's a lot of virtue signaling,” said Jacobson, who doesn’t wear the pro-immigration arm band. “They don't want to say anything negative about immigrants. It's just easier to say, ‘ICE out.’ Seems virtuous.”

Wilkinson said the virtue signaling is intentional.

“Well, there is no question about saying ‘ICE out’ as being virtuous. And, yeah, these are virtue signals. I just know that (federal agents) shouldn’t be dealing with anybody, whether they're a criminal or a or an innocent 5-year-old child … the way they did.”

Jacobson is insistent. He said the arm bands send a divisive message. “I think that doesn't move the needle at all. ‘We are all immigrants’ is obviously true. But what does it mean?”

This table is somewhat divided. It’s easy to imagine similar conversations playing out among groups of people like this at coffee shops across Minnesota.

And it’s easy to understand why this group tends to keep the conversation on women’s basketball.

“Probably everybody can agree that the immigration system has been broken for a long, long time,” said Howard Schneider, another man at the table.

This group might not all agree with each other, but their arguments stay civil. They jab at each other, continue with their inside jokes.

And they're going to continue wearing their armbands and having those conversations.

The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office announced charges on Wednesday against the man who attended White Bear Lake Area High School under a different identity last fall.

Kelvin Luekbe, 23, faces three felony counts of forgery.

Authorities said Luebke was 22 when he registered for school in the fall of 2025 as a 17-year-old named “Kelvin Perry, Jr,” according to court documents. He attended classes for about a month before White Bear Lake police received reports about Luebke from a concerned citizen on Sept. 29.

That week, the White Bear Lake superintendent said Luebke had registered as an unaccompanied minor, raising concerns about a process meant to ensure education access for unhoused youth.

In court documents, prosecutors report Luebke enrolled with a Liberian birth certificate with a different date of birth than that listed on his U.S. birth certificate, U.S. passport, Minnesota driver’s license and Minnesota birth certificate — all of which indicated he was age 22 last fall.

Luebke was adopted from Liberia in 2009 at age six, according to his adoptive father. His father told investigators Luebke was homeschooled for the most part and attended Forest Lake Area High School for a period of time at age 18 before he was expelled due to behavioral issues.

Investigators said Luebke acknowledged possessing both U.S. and Liberian birth certificates. He claimed his biological family members told him his true age is 18 and, per court documents, “his biological father recently helped him obtain a Liberian birth certificate listing the name he ‘goes by in Africa,’ Kelvin Ciatte Perry, Jr., with a birth date of May 28, 2007.”

Luebke left his adoptive family home about four years ago to live with a couple in Lino Lakes willing to take him in, according to court records. They were reportedly unaware that Luebke had enrolled at White Bear Lake Area High School.

Luebke is listed as not having a permanent address in other court records.

Luebke is facing other legal issues. Since the discovery, multiple teen girls have reported concerns about the man to White Bear Lake police. At least two parents have filed restraining orders against the man on behalf of their 17-year-old daughters. Washington County charged Luebke with harassment and violating a restraining order in January after police say he made contact with a 17-year-old girl.

Police say they are investigating his contact with a number of minors.

Luebke is currently under court supervision for a 2023 incident where he sent a nude photo to a 15-year-old girl.

Adrionna Otis first started making beadwork last year. The 16-year-old says her first project — a pair of earrings she made with her sister's help — took about three hours from start to finish.

“Immediately, it clicked for me,” she said. Her latest pair of earrings emulates a blooming flower. She used white beads in a circular pattern with two rows of gold beads as the edging.

Indigenous beadwork uses fine glass seed beads often sewn onto leather or cloth for jewelry, bags, clothing and other items. Otis says she mainly beads earrings, but sometimes she will venture into other projects, like a beaded phone strap.

“That one took me a couple days, but it wasn't extremely hard,” Otis said.

For Otis, creating wearable items helps her feel more connected to her Ojibwe identity and culture.

She recently walked the runway in a fashion show in northern Minnesota at Fortune Bay Resort Casino, located near Lake Vermillion. The show, titled Miskwaa Niigaan, or “Red Future,” showcased Native youth and their creations.

Bois Forte Band of Lake Superior Chippewa citizen Deanna Drift is the American Indian education coordinator for the St. Louis County Schools, a geographically large school district in northeastern Minnesota.

Drift says the event brought together students from across the district and the Bois Forte Band’s education and employment training program. She, alongside other organizers, put the show together to “uplift youth” through self-expression of their Native identity.

“I think the main goal behind it was just to instill self-esteem and pride in who they are,” Drift said.

Exploring identity

The students shared their beadwork, ribbon skirts and regalia while a crowd of parents and community members filled the ballroom in support.

Otis says it was her first time participating in an event like the fashion show. She was nervous backstage, but she also felt excited. She traveled from the Cloquet area, where she attends South Ridge School, for the occasion.

“It makes me feel really happy to be able to be here with other people who might even be in the same boat as I am,” said Otis.

She describes herself as having mixed heritage and someone who is “white presenting.”

Otis was adopted by a family from the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. Her family of origin is from the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe.

“Even though [I’m] adopted into a Native American family, it's been hard to figure out stuff about myself and just what my culture really is,” she said.

And it was through art and fashion that she found a sense of belonging after feeling uncertain of her identity when she was younger.

Otis has always been interested in art and fashion, and she says beadwork and exploring different forms of creativity, like making ribbon skirts, have allowed her to explore her Native identity.

Ribbon skirts are traditional handmade garments made from fabric adorned with ribbon designs and are typically worn during ceremonies or celebratory gatherings in tribal communities.

“Beading, sewing — it just really helps me feel a lot more connected,” Otis said.

Drift says she’s observed Otis having an interest in her culture — she’s taking an Ojibwe language class at her school and participates in cultural activity workshops. She recently made a floral ribbon skirt with red and black satin ribbons through a cultural workshop offered through her school, which she wore to the fashion show.

“As mentors, we look at what interests them and then really try to make that happen for them,” Drift said.

Busy parent Earl Otis attended the show. He enjoys seeing his daughter embrace beadwork and sewing.

“I like seeing her doing that a lot,” he said. “It's nice to see her get more involved now.”

Inspiring others

Before the lights dimmed to begin the show, Otis shared backstage that she wanted to inspire others to embrace their identities just as she had.

“I'm hoping I can make other people feel better about themselves, especially if there's anyone who feels the same way as me sitting in the audience,” Otis said.

Music produced by local Native artists played during the event as youth were called onto the stage one by one to show off their creations. The announcer called the powwow regalia category first.

Otis wore her ribbon skirt and earrings on the stage. She says she initially felt embarrassed, but that feeling went away after the first few moments of standing in front of everyone. She walked down the runway with a confident smile on her face.

Afterward, Otis shared how she felt about being on stage. She says she loved being able to be a part of the experience and to be able to share that experience with fellow students who were feeling nervous as she had been before the show.

She even felt that she may have inspired those that were in the audience.

“I definitely felt like everybody was appreciating my work, and just happy that I was there — just like I was happy all of them were there,” Otis said.

Chandra Colvin covers Native American communities in Minnesota for MPR News via Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues and communities.

The Minneapolis City Council is considering ordinances that would allow bathhouses back in the city after a nearly 40-year ban.

What are bathhouses?

Adult bathhouses are community spaces, historically frequented by gay men, where people could also engage in sexual activity or relax after going out to bars.

They were also a cheap place to spend the night, as they were open 24 hours a day. For some, they would go bathhouses to escape unsafe situations at home.

In 1988, Minneapolis passed an ordinance to ban bathhouses. There were three bathhouses that existed in the city: Hennepin Baths, Locker Room Baths and Big Daddy’s Bath House. All of them closed prior to the ban. Locker Room Baths was known as the 315 Health Club at the time of closure.

Why were they banned?

After the first positive HIV test in Minneapolis in 1982, concern grew about the spread of the virus. While the ordinance and others put blame on bathhouses for contributing to the spread of HIV, some health experts at the time said closing the venues did more harm than good.

A community health department study by Hennepin County, done at the request of the council, showed that adult bathhouses and LGBTQ+ bars were providing patrons with sexual health education like condoms and HIV tests. In the current day, many adult bathhouses in other cities have kept sexual health education at the forefront of their business model.

The study reads: “Closing one facility type or another is unlikely to drastically affect transmissibility of the AIDS virus — since the behavior will continue while the person changes location. The key is behavior change, which public policy needs to be addressing — for the use of both heterosexuals as well as homosexuals."

In 1979, three years before the first positive HIV test in Minneapolis, police regularly raided bathhouses. At the time, the city also had laws against sodomy, which advocates say were used to arrest patrons.

In November of that year, police ticketed more than 100 men, including arresting nine for the then-felony of sodomy. Advocates say it is the single largest gay bathhouse raid in U.S. history.

Local LGBTQ+ historians say the 1979 raid — combined with subsequent raids, city redevelopment, gentrification, homophobia and the rise of the AIDS epidemic — contributed to the closures and, later, the ordinance.

Brian Coyle: Influence and legacy

At the time, Brian Coyle, the first out gay city council member, was in favor of bathhouses. That slowly changed as historians say he found himself in the middle of the debate at a time when there wasn’t a lot known about HIV and AIDS.

Communities were scared and this fear contributed to public opposition to bathhouses. Coyle died of AIDS in 1991.

Noah Barth, a queer public historian and exhibit developer, went through Coyle’s papers at the Minnesota Historical Society.

“You see all this feedback that he's getting from community members, people who are calling in, and his secretary is leaving notes about, ‘So and so called, they're in favor of the bathhouse ban,’ ‘So and so called, they're not in favor,’” he said. “It's very easy to see how his head and heart were split on this topic.”

There have been attempts in the past to have the 1988 ordinance updated. In 2023, the Safer Sex Spaces Coalition was successful in removing what it called harmful language from the ordinance. While bathhouses are still banned in Minneapolis, the coalition members believe they are close to getting this changed.

Why is the council considering reopening bathhouses?

In March, council members signaled they were open to considering changes to the current bathhouse ordinance.

Advocates like Claire Kingstad and Ben Carrier, the creators of the Safer Sex Spaces Coalition, support the council’s consideration of the proposed changes. They say the world is different now and the current ordinance needs to be revisited.

“We don’t necessarily look back at the codes that we’ve adopted and revisit them and be like, ‘is this still what we need?’ I think this is something we don’t need if it doesn’t match our current public health landscape,” Carrier said. “They’re places where people can explore different sexual experiences, know themselves better and meet people.”

While places like New York and San Francisco are considered LGBTQ+ capitals of the nation, historians say there was a rich and expanding industry for places like adult bathhouses in the Twin Cities and, until the 1979 raid, they went largely unmonitored by police departments.

Compared to other major cities, Minneapolis is an outlier by not having bathhouses. Numerous cities across the nation including Chicago; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Cleveland, Ohio; Berkeley, Calif.; Dallas, Texas, and more have them. And a bit to the north, Duluth also has one.

The council is expected to forward a series of directives to city staff on Thursday that would decriminalize and legalize adult bathhouses and sex venues and introduce zoning and health ordinances. A final vote is expected in June after a public hearing.

From MPR News, Art Hounds are members of the Minnesota arts community who look beyond their own work to highlight what’s exciting in local art. Their recommendations are lightly edited from the audio heard in the player above.

Want to be an Art Hound? Submit here.

A puppet rock opera returns

Azure Anderson of St. Paul is an artist, musician, and podcaster, and she’s a huge fan of Phantom Chorus Theatre.

They are re-mounting the founders’ 2019 production of “Razia’s Shadow,” a puppet rock opera. The production contains 12 songs by Forgive Durden, performed live, with a new cast of puppet characters ranging in size from two to eight feet.

The show runs April 10–25 at the Hive Collaborative in St. Paul. In-person and live-streamed tickets are available. While not designed as a children’s show, Anderson says the show is recommended for ages six and older due to a few spooky elements; if your child enjoys Tim Burton’s film “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” this show should be a good fit.

Having seen all Phantom Chorus’s productions for the past three years, Anderson raves about them.

Azure says: “The visuals are always incredible. The music's always incredible. And the technical aspect never misses.

— Azure Anderson

Sewing and style at Twin Cities Frocktails

For Hannah Olanrewaju of St. Paul, sewing means community. She’s looking forward to Twin Cities Frocktails, an evening event where attendees are invited (though not required) to wear clothes they made themselves.

This year’s theme is “Making Through the Decades.” Frocktails takes place 6 to 10 p.m., Saturday, April 11 at Steady Pour in Minneapolis.

Hannah describes the vibe of the first Frocktails in 2024.

Hannah says: There's something so uniquely wonderful about being in a room with people who've made at least one part of their outfit and can really speak the same language as you do. And so, I remember walking around with my bingo sheet and getting to know people and where they're from.

They're asking you about your outfit, and you're asking them about their outfit. And so by the end of the night, you're saying goodbye to all these people that you've really never met before, but now, you’re finding ways to keep in touch.

I think that's something that's so beautiful about Frocktails and about sewing, specifically, that I don't think I've been able to find anywhere else.

— Hannah Olanrewaju

Poetry and community in Rochester

John Sievers is a trombonist from Rochester, but tonight, he’s looking forward to an event that celebrates poetry. The Southeastern Minnesota Poets will hold their next Bright Lights Poetry Night tonight at 6:30 p.m. at the historic Chateau Theatre.

The theme of tonight’s reading is “Emergence.”

John says: This event is really a community event that is encouraging people to come together as people who are interested in language and words and poetry.

And I just love the fact that I can hear people from my community sharing their deep thoughts about important themes in today's society.

— John Sievers

A federal judge in Minnesota heard arguments Wednesday on whether the Department of Homeland Security should be required to treat schools as protected areas free of immigration enforcement.

As U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents flooded the Twin Cities in February, the Fridley and Duluth school districts, along with the state teachers union, asked the court to compel Homeland Security to restore its former policy that recognized schools as off-limits.

They argued immigration enforcement conducted near schools had damaged student attendance and enrollment. During Operation Metro Surge, Minnesota districts with widespread federal activity saw as many as 20 to 40 percent of students staying home from school.

In Wednesday’s hearing, lawyers for the districts offered examples of ICE staging operations in school parking lots, pulling people from their cars on their way to school and targeting people for detainment in school parking lots or near bus stops.

One testimony alleged ICE agents drove near an elementary school blaring the song “Ice Ice Baby” in what schools say was an attempt to create fear and intimidation.

In one example, a testifier said that even well after Operation Metro Surge had ended in the middle of March, ICE was still making arrests affecting students. Another said ICE agents made a violent arrest on a property by a school bus stop in a move that frightened children and parents who were waiting to go to school.

Although ICE agents were no longer a daily presence near Fridley schools, students and staff were still affected by what had happened in January and February, said Brenda Lewis, superintendent of the Fridley Public Schools.

“Our educators are still in a constant state of standing up emotional support, not only for their children, but for their families and each other,” Lewis said.

“We also still have families that are not with us, that are in detention facilities,” she added. “So the impact is not just that we haven't had ICE agents on our property in eight weeks, which is good, however, the impact is longstanding and will be seen for many years.”

In January 2025, the Trump administration rescinded its 32-year safe-harbor policy for schools, hospitals and churches, saying that “criminals” would no longer be able to “hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest.”

Lawyers for the Fridley and Duluth schools argued the move violated the federal Administrative Procedures Act.

In arguing to keep the current policy, a government lawyer Wednesday said immigration enforcement officers already apply discretion around when and where they conduct operations and it’s not necessary to create “bright line rules” around where they operate.

She said the Trump administration’s changes last year just eliminated bureaucracy.

Judge Laura Provinzino said at the end of the hearing that this was an important case to her personally as the daughter and granddaughter of educators. She did not indicate when she planned to rule on the matter.

A key measure of inflation stayed high in February, before the war in Iran spiked gas prices, a sign that everyday costs were elevated even before the conflict began.

An inflation gauge monitored by the Federal Reserve rose 0.4 percent in February from January, up slightly from the previous month. Compared with a year ago, prices rose 2.8 percent, the same as January. Thursday's data was delayed by a backlog of economic reports created by the six-week government shutdown last fall.

Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core inflation also rose 0.4 percent in February from January, and it was 3 percent higher than a year earlier. The annual figure is slightly below January's reading of 3.1 percent.

Still, the monthly increases are at a pace that if continued for a whole year, would easily top the Fed's 2 percent inflation target.

“Consumer inflation was firming even prior to the outbreak of war in the Middle East, and it is primed to jump sharply higher in March,” Kathy Bostjancic, chief economist at Nationwide, wrote in a client note. “Even if a long-lasting deal to end the war is reached and the Strait of Hormuz is fully reopened, it would take months for oil, gasoline, diesel and other commodity supplies to snap back to prewar levels and thus for prices to settle back to preconflict levels.”

Thursday's report is largely a warm-up for the more important inflation data to be released Friday, when the government will publish the higher-profile consumer price index for March. The Friday report will be the first to reflect the impact of the gas price spike from the Iran war. Economists forecast it will show a big increase of 0.9 percent just in March from February, and a 3.4 percent gain from a year earlier. The annual figure would be a big increase from 2.4 percent in February.

The large jump in inflation in March will heighten concerns at the Fed that prices are moving further away from their inflation target and make it much less likely the central bank will cut rates anytime soon. At their most recent meeting last month, some Fed officials supported opening the door to the potential for rate hikes if inflation didn't show signs of improving.

Thursday's report from the Commerce Department also showed that Americans' incomes slipped 0.1 percent in February, the first decline since October, while spending after adjusting for inflation barely increased.

Higher inflation is sapping Americans' purchasing power. Spending rose a solid 0.5 percent in February from the previous month before adjusting for higher prices. Bostjancic expects consumer spending, adjusted for inflation, will rise a modest 1.2 percent at an annual rate in the first three months of this year, below the 1.9 percent reached in last year's fourth quarter.

The economy may still grow a decent 2 percent in the first quarter, Bostjancic said, driven by investments in artificial intelligence and a bounceback in government spending after last year's shutdown. The government said Thursday growth was just 0.5 percent at the end of last year.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin is reviewing a plan to transform warehouses across the U.S. into detention facilities for tens of thousands of immigrants.

So far immigration officials have spent a total of $1.074 billion for 11 warehouses. They've mostly faced fierce opposition. And days after Mullin was sworn in, the Department of Homeland Security paused the purchase of new warehouses intended to house immigrants. The department is scrutinizing all contracts signed under his predecessor, Kristi Noem.

A look at some of the locations:

Arizona

Local officials were told nothing before ICE purchased a 418,000-square-foot (38,833-square-meter) warehouse in the Phoenix suburb of Surprise for $70 million, the state’s top prosecutor, Kris Mayes, said in a letter to former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

Documents later provided by ICE said the Department of Homeland Security plans a processing site with an average daily capacity of 1,000 to 1,500, and a contract worth at least $313.4 million was awarded to transform it.

DHS is now planning something more modest, starting out with 250 people per week and capping occupied beds at 542, according to Surprise Mayor Kevin Sartor.

Florida

A TV reporter in Orlando spotted private contractors and federal officials in January touring a 439,945-square-foot (40,872-square-meter) industrial warehouse. ICE senior adviser David Venturella told a WFTV reporter the tour was “exploratory.”

As of April, the city still hadn't heard anything, a spokesperson said in an email.

Georgia

ICE bought a massive warehouse in Social Circle for $128.6 million. The city said the federal government informed it that the facility is expected to house from 7,500 to 10,000 detainees.

The city is so concerned about the strain on its water supply that it put a lock on the warehouse's water meter. DHS has suggested trucking in drinking water and trucking out waste, according to a letter from Georgia Democratic Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, who said the plan was unworkable.

DHS also bought a 540,408-square-foot (50,205-square-meter) warehouse in Oakwood for $68.2 million, a deed shows. City Manager B.R. White said his first inkling that a deal was imminent came when a warehouse supervisor told a city inspector he’d been instructed to clear the job site to make way for the new owners — the federal government.

Indiana

After the town of Merrillville raised concerns about ICE touring a new 275,000-square-foot (25,548-square-meter) warehouse, owner Opus Holding LLC sent a letter stating it isn't negotiating with federal officials for the property. The letter said Opus was limited in what it could share because of legal issues.

Maryland

ICE purchased a warehouse about 60 miles (96 kilometers) northwest of Baltimore in Washington County for $102.4 million and signed a contract worth at least $113 million to renovate it. But work is on hold after Maryland's attorney general sued.

The warehouse has divided the community. County commissioners passed a resolution in support of ICE during a contentious meeting.

Michigan

After DHS paid $34.7 million for a 250,000-square-foot (23,225-square-meter) warehouse in Romulus, the state and city sued. The suit said the warehouse is in a flood plain, and that the sewage system couldn't keep up if 500 people are detained inside. It also faults DHS for not considering any of the state's empty prison facilities and for not talking to state or city officials.

Minnesota

The owners of warehouses in the Minneapolis suburbs of Woodbury and Shakopee pulled out of possible ICE deals after public outcry, according to local officials.

Mississippi

Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker posted that Noem agreed to look elsewhere after local elected and zoning officials opposed a possible detention center in the town of Byhalia.

Missouri

After weeks of public pressure, development company Platform Ventures announced it would not move forward with the sale of a massive warehouse in Kansas City.

New Hampshire

New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte said in March that DHS would not move forward with a proposed ICE facility in the town of Merrimack.

Ayotte, a Republican, had sparred with federal officials after ICE disclosed plans to spend $158 million to convert a warehouse in the town into a 500-bed processing center.

The issue came to a head after an ICE official testified that DHS “has worked with Gov. Ayotte” and provided her with an economic impact summary. Ayotte said the summary was not sent until hours after that testimony.

The document erroneously refers to the “ripple effects to the Oklahoma economy” and revenue generated by state sales and income taxes, neither of which exist in New Hampshire.

New Jersey

After DHS bought a 470,044-square-foot (43,669-square-meter) warehouse in Roxbury for $129.3 million, the township and state sued, alleging that federal officials kept them in the dark.

“State and local officials might not have a veto over DHS’s decisions, but this utter lack of communication and consultation flies in the face of federal law,” the suit said.

New York

ICE said it made a mistake when it announced the purchase of a vacant warehouse in Chester. New York state Assemblyman Brian Maher later said ICE was no longer considering the facility.

Oklahoma

Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt announced in January that property owners had informed him they are no longer engaged with DHS about a potential acquisition or lease of a warehouse.

Pennsylvania

DHS purchased a warehouse in Tremont Township for $119.5 million and one in Upper Bern Township for $87.4 million. Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro has said his administration will fight DHS' plans. The state's Department of Environmental Protection has barred water and sewage from being supplied to them for now.

Tennessee

ICE mistakenly announced it had completed the purchase of a warehouse in Lebanon, Tennessee.

The sheriff, Robert Bryan, wrote that a facility of the size and scope being discussed — 14,000 to 16,000 detainees — would “significantly impact local law enforcement resources.” And the mayor, Rick Bell, wrote that as a conservative Republican, he supports a secure border but that his town “is not the place.”

Republican U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn later announced that the deal was dead.

Texas

In the El Paso suburb of Socorro, ICE paid $122.8 million for a trio of warehouses that span 826,780 square feet (76,810 square meters). ICE also paid $66.1 million for a 639,595-square-foot (59,420-square-meter) warehouse in San Antonio. The mayors of both cities are opposed. Socorro officials — like others — have questioned water supplies. As of April, San Antonio still had heard nothing from DHS.

However, another deal in the state was scuttled following community backlash. In the Dallas suburb of Hutchins, a real estate company confirmed that it was contacted about one of its properties but wouldn't sell or lease any buildings to DHS for use as a detention facility. California-based Majestic Realty Co. provided no explanation in its statement.

Utah

DHS bought an 833,280-square-foot (77,414-square-meter) warehouse in Salt Lake City for $145.4 million without notifying the city’s Democratic leaders or the state’s Republican governor or congressional delegation. Mayor Erin Mendenhall said in a statement released in March that ICE officials later told her that the facility will house 7,500 to 10,000 people.

The city has moved to cap water use at just a fraction of what would be needed to operate the warehouse as a detention site.

The sale of the warehouse came two months after the owner of another Salt Lake City warehouse announced plans not to sell or lease to the federal government amid protests.

Virginia

Following boycott threats, Jim Pattison Developments announced in January that it would not proceed with a planned sale of a warehouse in the suburbs of Richmond, Virginia. It said it was not aware of the intended use until after it agreed to the sale.

Lebanon reeled Thursday after the deadliest day in more than five weeks of renewed war between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group, as rescue workers in Beirut and elsewhere searched for survivors and Israel warned of escalation.

Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, warned that continued Israeli attacks on Lebanon would bring “explicit costs and STRONG responses,” while insisting that a two-week ceasefire in the Iran war extended to Lebanon. Israel has disagreed.

Israeli strikes on Wednesday without warning killed at least 203 people and wounded more than 1,000, Lebanon’s health ministry said. Israel's military said it targeted Hezbollah sites, but several strikes hit densely packed commercial and residential areas during rush hour, leading to widespread civilian casualties. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called the attacks “barbaric.”

Israeli strikes continued targeting southern Lebanon on Thursday. Israel also said it had killed an aide and nephew of Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem, Ali Yusuf Harshi, in the strikes. Hezbollah did not immediately comment.

In Beirut, people waited anxiously on the ragged edges of search and rescue work, covering their faces from the dust. Exhausted firefighters sat on a charred car amid collapsed buildings.

Lebanese Civil Defense spokesperson Elie Khairallah told The Associated Press that a wounded woman was found alive under the rubble overnight in the seaside neighborhood of Ain Mreisseh, and a man was found alive in his collapsed apartment building in the southern suburbs.

Mohammad Chehab, a Syrian man from Deir el-Zour, said six of his 10 family members had been found dead in a destroyed building.

“They’ve been searching all day” for the rest, he said.

At hospitals, survivors and doctors described the carnage.

“I thought I was dead. What happened? A big flash of light struck my face and eyes and I found someone flying over and landing next to me. He was dead,” said Rabee Koshok from his bed at Makassed hospital in Beirut. He had been in the commercial district of Corniche al Mazraa when a strike hit a nearby building.

Dr. Wael Jarrosh said the hospital had received around 70 injured patients within 10 minutes of the blasts. Two people died and five remain hospitalized, including three in intensive care, Jarrosh said.

“This has destroyed us psychologically,” the doctor added. “We have to stay prepared so that we can serve our families and the injuries that come in.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said strikes would proceed “with force, precision and determination." Israel's military has accused Hezbollah members of moving out of the group’s main areas of influence in southern Lebanon and Beirut’s southern suburbs, known as Dahiyeh, and blending into civilian areas.

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Lebanon will file an urgent complaint with the U.N. Security Council, calling the attacks a “blatant violation” of international and humanitarian law.

Salam added that the Lebanese cabinet has ordered security forces to tighten control over the capital by “enhancing the state’s full authority across Beirut and restricting arms to legitimate forces.”

Even before the renewed war, Lebanon's government had been seeking Hezbollah's disarmament. The issue has inflamed tensions among Lebanese who are deeply divided over Hezbollah and its arsenal.

“All the targeted areas are safe residential Lebanese areas,” said Melhem Khalaf, a reformist legislator representing Beirut, while watching a bulldozer clear rubble. “What we are witnessing is a massacre against civilians.” Khalaf was critical of Israel’s strikes but also of Hezbollah for dragging Lebanon back into war.

More than a million people have been displaced by the war, many from the south and Dahiyeh. Israel's military has issued sweeping warnings for the population to leave those areas, followed by heavy bombardment.

The Israeli army has also launched a ground invasion in the border region. The death toll in Lebanon has reached 1,739, the health ministry said, with 5,873 wounded.

Meanwhile, the main border crossing between Lebanon and Syria returned to service Thursday, five days after the Israeli military warned of plans to strike it, alleging that Hezbollah was using it to smuggle military equipment. Lebanese and Syrian authorities denied the claim.

More than 200,000 people have fled Lebanon into Syria since the war resumed.

Higher prices are good news for the oil industry — to a point. But they can bite, too.

Crude oil prices were around $70 a barrel before the war in Iran. After the U.S. and Israel attacked, they started swinging wildly, shooting up to nearly $120; with the current ceasefire, prices are between $90 and $100. Some disruptions to supply could take months to unwind even if the ceasefire holds, which has some analysts predicting a prolonged period of higher prices.

A clip from the TV show Landman recently went viral; in it, Billy Bob Thornton, as Texas oilman Tommy Norris, explains that the industry wants crude prices to live somewhere between $60 and $90 a barrel.

"Don't get me wrong — we're still printing money at $90," he says. "But gas gets up over $3.50 a gallon, it starts to pinch."

NPR doesn't usually turn to TV dramas for economic analysis. But Ed Crooks, the vice chair for the Americas at the energy and natural resources research group Wood MacKenzie, says that clip "is exactly right."

"There is a kind of a sweet spot for the oil price, a nice range for it to be in" from the industry's perspective, Crooks says. The war in Iran pushed the market well outside that range.

As a result, the current crisis isn't just a cash bonanza for the oil industry. It's also a cause for industry concern.

A big boost to profits

We'll have a better sense of exactly how much money oil producers may be printing when the publicly traded companies start to report quarterly earnings in the next few weeks. ExxonMobil, which reports earnings May 1, just told investors that it estimates higher prices have boosted its revenues by more than $2 billion.

For now, the stock performance of the energy sector is a pretty good indicator that the industry is thriving with these prices. Since the start of the year, energy stocks have risen some 25 percent, while the S&P 500 has dropped slightly. That's factoring in a drop in oil stock prices when a two-week ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran was announced on Tuesday.

And the U.S., as the world's largest oil producer, reaps a disproportionate benefit from high prices. While producers like Saudi Arabia have had their exports stymied by the near halt of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. production is unaffected. American oil companies can sell as much as ever, now at an inflated price.

President Trump has pointed to this, posting, "when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money." And that's true, for some definitions of "we."

Isabella Weber, a professor of economics at UMass Amherst, worked on a paper that found that in 2022, after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the global oil industry brought in some $916 billion in profits. The U.S. was the chief beneficiary, raking in $301 billion, some seven times the pre-COVID average annual profits for U.S.-headquartered oil and gas companies.

Weber says this money, through shareholder payouts, disproportionately flowed to the very wealthy. "We find that 50 percent of the profits in the oil and gas industry went to the top 1 percent richest Americans, whereas only 1 percent of those profits went to the bottom 50 percent," she says.

Meanwhile, when fuel is expensive, everyone who drives or buys goods pays more. The costs of high oil prices are widely distributed, while the benefits are concentrated among a few.

In fact, you can think of high oil prices as a redistributor of wealth, away from the American consumer and toward people who work for, and invest in, the oil industry. This could be a political problem for the current administration, says Crooks, because "a lot more people are affected by the downside of high gas prices than benefit from the upside."

Limits to the windfall

While soaring prices mean more cash flows to the oil industry, the conflict hasn't been all good news for producers. Some of the biggest companies are directly hurt by the conflict, because they have invested in facilities in the Middle East that have been under attack or they have oil and natural gas that can't reach markets due to the reduced traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. ExxonMobil, for instance, estimates that lower production in the Middle East and other disruptions tied to the war are costing it between $1 billion and $1.6 billion this quarter, offsetting much of that $2 billion-plus boost from higher prices.

And even companies that operate only in the U.S. might not benefit as much as you might think.

One reason: hedging. That's when a company locks in a price for its oil months in advance of actually selling it. Hedging provides some certainty in an uncertain market, letting both oil producers and consumers plan their budgets in advance.

Some companies locked down relatively low prices before the war began, back when the global oil market was oversupplied and producers were worried about prices dropping even further. Now they can't take advantage of those prices rapidly shooting up instead.

Based on an analysis of public reports, Jai Singh, head of North America oil and gas research at the consultancy Rystad, estimates that companies that primarily make oil "have hedged at an average floor price of $57 [a barrel], and they've hedged about a third of their production coming into this year."

As a result, he says, "There were some limits to how much of this windfall they could enjoy."

Constraints on new drilling

Another reason companies may not be reaping the biggest-possible profits: limitations on how much they can boost production. Producing more oil would seem like an obvious way to rake in more cash, now that prices have spiked. But drilling new wells takes time. The number of partially completed wells that can come online quickly is relatively low right now.

And there are some serious physical constraints to ramping up production. In the Permian Basin in Texas, the most prolific oil basin in the U.S., a single well will often produce both oil and natural gas. You need pipelines to get that natural gas from the field to the market, and those pipelines are pretty much full right now. Producers might want to drill a new well for the oil, but they can't if they don't have any way to move the natural gas that comes with it. There are other constraints too, including staffing shortages and geological considerations.

There's also intense pressure from investors to make sure any new wells will be profitable in the long term. If companies are going to spend cash on drilling instead of paying it out as dividends to shareholders, investors want to be confident that it will pay off down the line — and if the price of oil collapses, it might not.

After all, Crooks points out, investors have been burned before. For the first 15 years of the shale boom, the U.S. shale industry lost enormous amounts of money by drilling lots of wells that turned out to be less profitable than they'd hoped. "People dug big holes in the ground, poured bucketloads of dollars into those holes and then set fire to them," Crooks says. Investors aren't tolerating that anymore.

So, will drilling a new well today make money for investors? It depends on what the price of oil is like months from now.

And nobody knows what the price of oil will be tomorrow, let alone next year.

Volatility ‘is not good for anyone’

That brings up the third challenge: volatility. Prices have been on a roller coaster since the war began.

Several oil producers declined to comment for this story, but Dustin Meyer speaks for the industry as the head of policy and economics for the American Petroleum Institute trade group.

"This amount of volatility that we're seeing in the marketplace is not good for anyone," he says. "Our industry is fundamentally predicated on making long-term investments, and it's very hard to do that when market prices are so volatile and so unstable."

Well, it's good for a very short list of people, perhaps. Bob McNally, the founder of Rapidan Energy Group, is the author of the book Crude Volatility. He says traders can benefit from volatility — if they ride the roller coaster right, buying low and selling high.

So can storage owners that charge fees for keeping oil in tanks; all that oil being traded in a wildly swinging market has to be stashed somewhere while the deals are struck. And analysts who are kept busy writing about the market gyrations. "And lawyers, because lawyers always seem to do well no matter what happens," he says. "Everybody else is harmed."

The downside of entrenched high prices

But what if prices stop swinging and just stay high for a long time?

That, too, could be bad for oil producers, depending on exactly how high. In the Landman clip, that's what Tommy Norris means when he talks about prices starting to "pinch."

When oil prices stay consistently above that $90 mark, "the economy suffers and inflation rises," Crooks, of research group Wood MacKenzie, says. "Growth falls. Interest rates may go up. People in the wider economy lose their jobs."

Oil demand is typically quite resilient; people need gasoline to go to work and get their kids to school, even if prices make them wince. But a global economic slowdown or even a recession could bring demand sharply down.

Meanwhile, high prices also increase interest in alternatives to oil, Crooks says. That's good news for electric car makers and the environment, but not for oil companies.

A recession and a boom in alternatives to oil are both examples of what the industry calls "demand destruction," meaning long-term reductions in how much oil the world wants to buy.

If global oil prices are high enough for long enough and demand drops substantially, that "puts the oil industry on a weaker footing looking years and decades into the future," Crooks says.

Copyright 2026, NPR

After giving Republicans control of the White House and Congress in the 2024 presidential election, voters have continued to swing their support toward the Democratic Party in races held since then.

In Tuesday's elections, that shift was on display for key races in Wisconsin and Georgia, where results saw a shift of nearly 20 percentage points away from GOP margins in 2024.

Liberals on Wisconsin's Supreme Court expanded their majority to 5-2 after Chris Taylor beat conservative Maria Lazar 60 percent to 40 percent. Trump carried the state by less than a point.

Taylor's win was even larger than liberal victories in 2023 and 2025 court races, which are officially nonpartisan, that attracted national attention from figures like billionaire Elon Musk and a surge in record-setting outside spending.

Georgia's 14th congressional district, one of the most conservative in the country, saw Republican Clay Fuller win a special election runoff with 56 percent of the vote. Democrat Shawn Harris earned 44 percent after getting less than 36 percent against former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in 2024.

Trump beat former Vice President Kamala Harris in the district by nearly 40 percentage points.

Shawn Harris will likely face off against Fuller again for a full term in November's general election that also features an open governor's race and Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff's reelection campaign.

According to the election analysis publication The Downballot, Democrats have improved upon their 2024 presidential election margins by an average of 11 percent in special elections so far in 2026 and roughly 13 percent since the start of 2025.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court race shows increased support for Democrats is not limited to special elections, either. Commanding Democratic victories in the New Jersey and Virginia governors' races and flipped municipal races across the country continue to highlight how unpopular Republican governance in Washington is with voters.

President Trump faces a record-low job approval rating average of 39 percent amidst an unpopular war in Iran, rising gas prices and generally sour views on the economy.

The party in power tends to lose ground in midterm elections, and 2026 is shaping up to likely be no different. Polls show more voters say they'd prefer Democrats to control Congress and Democratic voters have higher enthusiasm for voting in the election – even as the Democratic Party is also historically unpopular.

Some of that disconnect is driven by Democratic base voters who are dissatisfied with the way their current leadership is responding to Trump's policies coupled with a recent trend of Democrats being the party most likely to show up and vote in lower-turnout special elections, primaries and non-presidential races.

For statewide primaries that have occurred so far in 2026, that Democratic enthusiasm is on display: In Texas' primary last month, a record 2.3 million votes were cast in the Democratic contest. More people voted in the Democratic statewide primary in North Carolina than the Republican one. Mississippi saw a nearly 80 percent increase in Democratic primary turnout since the last Senate primary in 2018.

Copyright 2026, NPR

Paolo Banchero had 20 points and eight rebounds, Desmond Bane added 18 points and six assists and the Orlando Magic beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 132-120 on Wednesday night.

Franz Wagner scored 17 points and Goga Bitadze came off the bench with 14 points and 15 rebounds for the Magic, who have won four straight.

The win pulled the Magic (44-36) up to seventh place in the tight race for playoff/play-in positions. With two road games remaining (Chicago on Friday and Boston on Sunday), they could finish anywhere between six and ninth in the Eastern Conference.

Terrence Shannon Jr. led the Timberwolves with a career-high 33 points. Jaden McDaniels, back in the lineup after missing six games with a left knee injury, added 18 points in 19 minutes.

The Timberwolves, who have lost five of seven, played without Anthony Edwards (right knee injury) and four players who started Tuesday night’s win at Indiana that clinched their Western Conference playoff spot.

Julius Randle missed his first game of the season and Rudy Gobert missed his fifth.

Wagner scored twice to help Orlando break away from a 47-47 tie to a 63-53 halftime lead. Jalen Suggs hit a couple of 3-pointers and a layup on a 22-6 burst that broke the game open in the third quarter. The Magic led by 24 at one point.

Shannon scored 29 points in the second half, hitting five of seven 3-point shots. He made 11 of 14 shots overall and also had five assists.

The Magic shot 53.7 percent overall in their home finale.

Timberwolves play at Houston on Friday night. Magic play at Chicago on Friday night.

Byron Buxton had three hits and the Minnesota Twins batted around in a six-run first inning against Framber Valdez before holding off the Detroit Tigers 8-6 on Wednesday night.

Bailey Ober (1-0) allowed two runs in 5 2/3 innings for the Twins, who will go for a four-game sweep of their AL Central rivals Thursday afternoon. Cody Laweryson struck out two in 1 1/3 innings before Kody Funderburk got two outs for his third career save and first this season.

Buxton singled on the first pitch from Valdez (1-1) and later scored on a wild pitch. Ryan Jeffers had a sacrifice fly, Josh Bell singled in a run and Matt Wallner added an RBI double. Royce Lewis made it 6-0 with a two-run single before Valdez retired the side on his 29th pitch.

Buxton singled and scored on a two-out base hit by Luke Keaschall for a 7-0 lead in the fourth. Buxton also doubled and scored the Twins' final run in the sixth.

Ober allowed RBI singles to Kerry Carpenter and Dillon Dingler before leaving with two on in the sixth. Justin Topa gave up an infield single to Parker Meadows that loaded the bases before Zach McKinstry lined out to left field.

Anthony Banda allowed a two-run double to Gleyber Torres and an RBI single to Riley Greene in the seventh. Cole Sands let Greene score on a wild pitch before striking out Meadows to keep it 8-6.

Valdez exited after Buxton and Austin Martin singled to start the sixth. The left-hander gave up eight runs — matching his career high — on 10 hits and two walks.

Valdez had allowed just one earned run over 12 innings in his first two starts for Detroit after signing a $115 million, three-year contract as a free agent in February.

Twins RHP Mick Abel (0-2, 11.05 ERA) starts Thursday opposite Tigers RHP Jack Flaherty (0-1, 7.56).

In the face of heightened immigration enforcement earlier this year, Minnesotans showed up for one another, organizing marches, coordinating food drop-offs and donation drives and offering strangers and loved ones their support. A new coloring book captures that Minnesota spirit.

Mariusz Kujawski, executive director of the St. Paul Art Collective, told Morning Edition the effort was born from a monthly sketch night program and food drive.

“Some people did make beautiful paintings for kids to hang in their homes. And some people didn't make a painting; they just made outlines. And I said, Well, this is like a coloring page. Why don't we make more of those coloring pages?” Kujawski explained. The “idea was to just create something welcoming and accessible for kids and families, something that reminds them of community being there, neighbors organizing.”

More than 100 local artists and students contributed pages to the coloring book, “Draw Together.” The images range from monarchs to a raccoon with birthday cakes, hearts and “love” written in several languages, and a family of loons with the words “You belong here” floating above.

There's a free PDF download available online, or paper copies are available at St. Paul art store Wet Paint and on Amazon, where it ranks at No. 1 as the new release in Children's Drawing Books as of Wednesday afternoon.

The book’s release comes on the cusp of the Spring St. Paul Art Crawl, which begins Friday and runs for three weekends.

Listen to the conversation by clicking the player button above.

A federal jury today on Wednesday convicted a Fridley man of trying to firebomb a Minneapolis ice cream shop last year.

Jurors found Firomsa A. Umar guilty of arson and explosives crimes after determining that he threw Molotov cocktails at Fletcher's Ice Cream and Cafe late on Oct. 19, 2025 and again the next afternoon.

In the first incident, Umar broke a window and started a small fire. The device that he threw on Oct. 20 failed to ignite but damaged another part of the window.

Fletcher's displays a large Pride flag above its entrance. In a separate decision, jurors found that Umar targeted the business based on “actual or perceived gender identity or sexual orientation,” making him eligible for a lengthier sentence. The arson counts on which Umar stands convicted carry a mandatory minimum prison sentence of five years.

Police arrested Umar after the second attack and found a gas can, lighter, and bottle in his vehicle.

Umar, 31, remains jailed pending sentencing.

President Donald Trump, over the course of a single day, went from threatening Iran with “annihilation” to proclaiming that the battered Islamic Republic's leadership had presented a “workable” plan that led him to agree to a 14-day ceasefire that he hopes will pave the way to end the nearly six-week war.

The dramatic shift in tenor came as intermediaries led by Pakistan worked feverishly to head off a further escalation. Even China, Iran's biggest trading partner and America's most significant economic competitor, quietly pulled strings to find a path toward a ceasefire, according to two officials briefed on the matter who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

“The reason for doing so is that we have already met and exceeded all Military objectives, and are very far along with a definitive Agreement concerning Longterm PEACE with Iran, and PEACE in the Middle East,” Trump said in a social media post Tuesday announcing the temporary ceasefire. It came about 90 minutes before his deadline for Tehran to open the critical Strait of Hormuz or see its power plants and other critical infrastructure obliterated.

But even as the White House was celebrating the moment as a victory, the fragile ceasefire appeared in danger of falling apart Wednesday as the U.S., Iran and Israel offered differing statements on what was included in the deal less than 24 hours after it was brokered.

Iran insisted that an end to the Israeli war in Lebanon was part of the ceasefire agreement with the U.S. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump said the truce did not cover Lebanon and the Israeli operations there continued.

The U.S., meanwhile, demanded that Iran make good on reopening the strait after the Islamic Republic closed the waterway in response to Israel's intensifying attacks against the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon.

Trump to hold talks with NATO secretary-general

The president was to meet at the White House with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Wednesday, with the emerging plan to reopen the strait expected to be at the center of their talks. Trump has been angry that NATO member countries ignored his call to help reopen the vital waterway as gas prices soared during the war.

As the deadline neared, Democratic lawmakers decried Trump's threat to wipe away an entire civilization as “a moral failure." Pope Leo XIV warned that strikes against civilian infrastructure would violate international law and said the Republican president's comments were “truly unacceptable.”

In the end, Trump may have backed down because of a simple truth: Escalation could risk involving the United States in the sort of “forever war” that had bedeviled his predecessors in the White House and that he had vowed he would keep the U.S. out of if voters elected him again.

Controlling the strait would have been long and costly

As Trump boasted about U.S. and Israeli military success over the past six weeks, he appeared to be working from the premise that he could bomb Iran into capitulation.

Starting with the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the opening salvos, he seemed to discount that the Iranian leadership could opt for a long and bloody war.

The Islamic Republic over the past 47 years has shown it is willing to dig in, even when it appears to America to be working against its own self-interest.

The clerical leadership held Americans hostage for 444 days, from late 1979 to early 1981, at the cost of the country’s international standing. The mullahs allowed the Iran-Iraq war to go on for years, leaving hundreds of thousands dead. Iran stood by Hamas after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ultimately defanged the Iran-backed group in Gaza as well as Hezbollah in Lebanon, and created the conditions that led to the collapse of Bashar Assad's government in Syria, an authoritarian rule supported by Tehran.

Iran's leadership exuded confidence that it could bog down the world's superpower in a costly and extended conflict even if it might not defeat the U.S. military.

Defense analysts largely agreed that the U.S. military could quickly take control of the narrow Persian Gulf waterway between Iran and Oman through which roughly 20% of the world's oil flows on any given day. But maintaining security over the strait would require a high-risk, resource-intensive operation that could be a yearslong American commitment.

Ben Connable, executive director of the nonprofit Battle Research Group, said securing the strait would require the U.S. military to maintain control of about 600 kilometers (373 miles) of Iranian territory, from Kish Island in the west to Bandar Abbas in the east, in order to stop Iran from firing missiles at passing ships. It is a mission that Connable said would likely require three U.S. infantry divisions, roughly 30,000 to 45,000 troops.

“This would be an indefinite operation — so, you know, think: be ready to do this for 20 years,” said Connable, a retired Marine Corps intelligence officer. “We didn't think we were going to be in Afghanistan for 20 years. We didn’t think we’re going to have to be in Vietnam as long as we were, or Iraq.”

The two-week ceasefire includes allowing both Iran and Oman to charge fees on ships transiting through Hormuz, a regional official said. The official said Iran would use the money it raised for reconstruction.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday noted that Trump has considered the idea of a toll for vessels passing through the strait. But in the near term, his priority “is the reopening of the strait without any limitations, whether in the form of tolls or otherwise.”

Vance played a bigger role close to the deadline

The White House confirmed that Vice President JD Vance will lead the U.S. negotiating team in talks with Iran aimed at finding a permanent end to war.

The delegation is also expected to include special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. The talks are expected to begin Friday in Pakistan.

“Vice President Vance has played a very significant and a key role in this since the very beginning,” Leavitt said.

Trump’s deadline was nearing with no resolution in sight when Vance, who has long pushed for restraint in U.S. military intervention overseas, got roped into the conversation, according to an official from one of the mediating countries who was briefed on the matter and spoke on the condition of anonymity to share sensitive diplomatic discussions.

Vance, who was traveling in Hungary in support of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán before upcoming elections, said Wednesday that the agreement with Iran was “a fragile truce.”

“I think if they negotiate in good faith, we will be able to find a deal. That’s a big if. And ultimately, it’s up to the Iranians how they negotiate. I hope they make the right decision,” said Vance, who was to travel back to Washington on Wednesday before heading to Islamabad.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice said the officer approached a wanted person on the 1700 block of Oakes Avenue in Superior just before 10 p.m. Another person who was at the scene reportedly attempted to flee when the officer approached.

According to the account from state officials, that person and the officer got into a physical altercation. During the altercation, the officer fired their gun, striking the other person. That person died at the scene. Their name has not been released.

The police officer was also injured, and was taken to a local hospital in stable condition.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Superior Police Department said officers and sheriff’s deputies remained on the scene early Wednesday morning, as the incident remains under investigation.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice said a firearm was recovered from the scene. The officer involved was wearing a body-worn camera and is on standard administrative leave.

The department’s Division of Criminal Investigation will investigate the shooting, with assistance from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.

Minneapolis could soon get a coveted culinary honor: a Michelin-star restaurant.

Michelin announced Wednesday that it’s launching an American Great Lakes guide to restaurants, including Minneapolis and five other Great Lakes-area cities. It’s the first time reviewers will consider Minneapolis restaurants for the honor.

The inaugural guide, with its first restaurant selections, is set to be released next year.

Michelin Guide leaders made the announcement in Milwaukee on Wednesday morning, alongside tourism leaders from each city included in the new guide. Meet Minneapolis President Melvin Tennant said he’s excited to put a spotlight on the city’s restaurants.

“For years our culinary scene has earned national acclaim, yet we’ve still been called unexpected, underrated,” Tennant said. “We’re taking a major step on the global stage.”

The city’s culinary scene boasts a number of other awards, including James Beard nominees and winners. Diane’s Place was named the 2025 Restaurant of the Year by Food & Wine magazine.

But Michelin reviewers have never worked in Minneapolis — until now.

Minneapolis’ tourism industry has long eyed the Michelin honors. But it’s often expensive to bring Michelin reviewers to a city.

The Minneapolis Tourism Improvement District is investing $250,000 per year in the project. That fund is generated by a service charge on hotel room revenue within city limits, for use in tourism and marketing. The partnership with the Michelin Guide runs from 2027 to 2029.

In an interview, Tennant said it’s a way to boost the city’s tourism industry after a challenging few years, with travel taking a hit during the COVID-19 pandemic and in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd. The city’s restaurants also saw revenue drop drastically this winter during the federal immigration enforcement surge.

“With an announcement like this, we know that it’s going to create greater awareness for Minneapolis as a global food destination, and help to shape the perception of Minneapolis as a destination,” Tennant said.

The guide will only include restaurants within Minneapolis — not St. Paul or the suburbs.

In a statement, Visit St. Paul President Jaimee Lucke Hendrikson said they’re still excited to see the attention the Michelin Guide could bring to the region.

“We know that increased awareness and recognition in the region can benefit all of us," Hendrikson said. "St. Paul’s restaurant industry is unique, diverse, and stands up to the best in the country.”

Karyn Tomlinson — the James Beard Award-winning chef and owner of Myriel in St. Paul — said in a post on the restaurant’s social media that it’s hard to see St. Paul “specifically excluded.”

“Community-shaping food and hospitality is never defined by city limits or by award systems. I will hang on my hat on that forever,” Tomlinson wrote. “At Myriel we will always strive to be the very best we can regardless of who is looking.”

Gwendal Poullennec, international director of the Michelin Guide, said the cities included in the new guide — Cleveland, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh and Detroit, in addition to Minneapolis — all deserve the recognition.

“We are excited to finally be putting a stake in the ground in the Great Lakes region, spotlighting the talent and food cultures across these six great cities,” Poullennec said.

Poullennec said Michelin reviewers are already on the ground in those cities. Michelin keeps the specifics of its reviewing process secret, along with the identities of its reviewers.

Oil prices plunged and stocks surged as global investors breathed a sigh of relief after the U.S. and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire and President Trump backed off his threat to wipe out Iran's "whole civilization."

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged more than 1,000 points in early morning trade, while the S&P and Nasdaq also rallied, following strong gains in Asian and European stocks overnight.

Meanwhile, both U.S. crude futures, as well as Brent, the global benchmark, plunged amid hopes that ships could soon transit through the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway through which about 20 percent of global oil flows. The strait had been virtually shut down by the war, sparking a global energy crisis.

The strong market reaction comes after Trump announced the ceasefire on social media Tuesday evening, less than two hours before a deadline he had imposed for Iran to meet his demands or face wide-scale destruction.

Wild swings in the markets

Trump's threat — and its reversal — marked the latest rhetoric to roil Wall Street and global investors since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran more than a month ago.

Investors have swung from hope that Trump and Iran will de-escalate the war, to panic when it appears that the conflict is heating up, and back again.

Trump said his agreement to a ceasefire is contingent on Iran reopening the Strait of Hormuz immediately. It could take some time for global energy markets to recover, since some damage has already been done to oil refineries and other infrastructure in the Middle East.

The energy crisis sparked by the war with Iran has hurt consumers all over the world, including in the U.S., where national gasoline prices have risen above $4 per gallon.

Copyright 2026, NPR

The Education Department said Monday it has terminated agreements with five school districts and a college aimed at upholding protections for transgender students, backing away from requirements negotiated by previous administrations that took a different interpretation of civil rights.

The decision removes the federal obligations for the schools to keep up measures such as faculty training on abiding by a students' preferred name and pronouns and allowing students to use bathrooms that align with their gender identity.

One of the school systems, Delaware Valley School District in rural eastern Pennsylvania, received notice of the change from the Trump administration in February and has since voted to roll back its antidiscrimination protections for transgender students. Another district, Sacramento City Unified, said Monday it "remains committed to the support of our LGBTQ+ students and staff.”

The other affected districts are Cape Henlopen School District in Delaware, Fife School District in Washington, and La Mesa-Spring Valley School District and Taft College in California.

Under the Biden and Obama administrations, the department interpreted Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in education, to include protections for transgender and gay students.

The Trump administration has penalized schools that have made efforts to accommodate students based on their gender identity. It has filed lawsuits in California and Minnesota over state policies permitting transgender students to participate in interscholastic sports, and opened civil rights investigations into schools and universities over their policies on transgender students.

Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said the action reflects the administration’s efforts to keep transgender students from participating in girls’ and women’s sports teams and accessing shared locker rooms.

“Today, the Trump Administration is removing the unnecessary and unlawful burdens that prior Administrations imposed on schools in its relentless pursuit of a radical transgender agenda,” she said in a written statement.

Rescinding civil rights agreements is an unusual step, but one the Trump administration has taken before on education issues. Last year, the Education Department terminated one agreement involving books removed from a school library in Georgia, and another targeting harsh discipline and unequal education opportunities for Native students in the Rapid City Area School District in South Dakota.

The rescission of the agreements would mean a step back from protecting vulnerable students in schools, said Shiwali Patel, senior director of education justice at the National Women’s Law Center.

“This is part of the Trump administration’s assault on education and assault on those who are most vulnerable to experiencing discrimination and harassment, including trans students,” Patel said. “They’ve made their intention very clear in wanting to erase protections for trans people.”

Taft College, a community college in California’s Central Valley, settled a case in 2023 with the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights after a student accused faculty of discrimination that included refusing to use the student’s preferred pronouns. The college agreed to faculty training on Title IX and a revision of college policies to clarify that refusal to use a person’s preferred name and pronoun could constitute harassment.

The agreement with Sacramento City Unified School District stemmed from a complaint brought in 2022 by a student after a teacher refused to use preferred pronouns or to place the student, who identified as male, in a boys’ group for a class activity. The 2024 resolution agreement mandated training for employees on civil rights law, sexual harassment and how to handle formal complaints.

Under a settlement the Delaware Valley School District reached with the Obama administration, the district was required to permit students to use bathrooms that aligned with their gender identity.

In February, the Trump administration sent the district a letter saying it was rescinding the settlement. The administration went further, requiring the district to roll back antidiscrimination protections for transgender students.

The school board voted in late March to change its transgender student policies to abide by the Trump administration’s demands.

Since the day he returned to the White House more than a year ago, Trump and his administration have aimed at the rights of transgender people in several ways — and not just in schools.

He has tried to end participation of transgender women and girls in women’s and girls' sports competitions and has sued states that don’t comply. He’s also blocked transgender and nonbinary people from choosing the sex markers on passports. His administration has also tried to stop those under 19 from receiving gender-affirming medical care. ___

Associated Press writers Jocelyn Gecker in San Francisco, Moriah Balingit in Washington and Geoff Mulvihill in Haddonfield, New Jersey, contributed to this report.

Democratic-backed candidate Chris Taylor won election to the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday, growing the liberal majority on the court as cases affecting congressional redistricting, union rights and other hot button issues await in the perennial battleground state.

Taylor, who focused her campaign on abortion rights, handily defeated Republican-backed Maria Lazar in the fourth straight victory for liberal court candidates dating back to 2020. Liberals are now guaranteed to hold a majority on the court until at least 2030.

“Once again, Wisconsin showed the entire nation that we believe that the people should be at the center of government and the priority of our judiciary, not the billionaires, not the most powerful and privileged, but the people,” Taylor said in her victory speech.

Wisconsin Republican Party Chair Brian Schimming, in the wake of Lazar's double-digit defeat, called for Republicans to “stay united and continue fighting for our conservative values.”

Democrats tightened their control of the court just months before a November election in which they seek to keep the governor’s office and flip the state Legislature, where Republicans have held the majority since 2011. Democrats aspire to undo a host of Republican-enacted laws that made Wisconsin a focal point for the nation’s conservative movement in the 2010s.

This year’s Supreme Court election stands in stark contrast to the swing state’s previous two, where national spending records were set in battles over majority control. Spending and national attention was down dramatically this year without control of the court at stake.

Liberals took control of the state’s top court in 2023, ending 15 years under a conservative majority. They held onto their majority with last year’s victory in a race that drew involvement from President Donald Trump and billionaires George Soros and Elon Musk, who personally handed out $1 million checks to voters in the state.

Liberals argued that democracy was at stake in the 2025 election, noting that when the court was controlled by conservative justices in 2020 it came just one vote shy of siding with Trump in his attempt to invalidate enough votes to overturn his loss in that year’s presidential election.

The court under liberal control has reversed several election-related rulings, including one that overturned a ban on absentee ballot drop boxes, and it is poised to once again be in the spotlight around the 2028 presidential election.

Races for the court are officially nonpartisan, but support for candidates breaks down mostly along partisan lines. The seat was open due to the retirement of a conservative justice.

Taylor, who is a state Appeals Court judge and previously worked for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, focused much of her campaign on abortion rights. One of her TV ads argued that “abortion is on the ballot.” In another ad, she criticized Lazar for calling the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 “very wise.”

Lazar, who is also a state Appeals Court judge and was supported by anti-abortion groups in her run for that court, tried to brand Taylor as nothing more than a politician who will push a partisan agenda on the high court.

They sparred over each other’s partisanship during the campaign’s sole debate last week.

Lazar accused Taylor of being a “radical, extreme legislator” and a “judicial activist.” Taylor said that Lazar would bring “an extreme, right-wing political agenda to the bench.”

But she had a much harder time getting her message out. Taylor had a large fundraising advantage and spent about nine times as much as Lazar on television ads, based on a tally by the Brennan Center for Justice.

The liberal-controlled court has already struck down a state abortion ban law and ordered new legislative maps since taking control of the court, fueling Democrats’ hopes of capturing a majority this November.

Taylor has been a judge since 2020 and before that spent 10 years as a Democrat representing the liberal capital city of Madison in the state Assembly.

Lazar, a judge since 2015, previously worked four years under a Republican attorney general in the state Department of Justice. In that role, she defended a law enacted under former Republican Gov. Scott Walker that effectively ended collective bargaining for most public workers.

A circuit court judge ruled in December that the law is unconstitutional, a decision expected to ultimately land before the state Supreme Court.

Lazar also defended laws passed by Republicans and signed by Walker implementing a voter ID requirement and restricting abortion access.

Democrats had been optimistic given the past two Supreme Court elections, which saw candidates they backed winning by double digits.

Another conservative justice is retiring next year, giving liberals a chance to take 6-1 control of the court thanks to Taylor’s victory.

Republican Clay Fuller on Tuesday won Marjorie Taylor Greene’s former U.S. House seat in Georgia, turning back a Democratic challenge with the help of President Donald Trump’s endorsement despite uneasiness over the war in Iran.

In a deep red district that Greene won by 29 points and Trump carried by almost 37 points two years ago, Fuller was on track to prevail by about 12 points with almost all votes counted. The result added to a string of special elections where Democrats performed better than expected, a track record that the party hopes will create momentum toward November's midterm elections when control of Congress hangs in the balance.

In another election held Tuesday, a Democratic-backed candidate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court won by double-digit margins, growing the liberal majority there.

Fuller insisted that his victory over Democratic candidate Shawn Harris in Georgia was a testimony to Trump's staying power.

“They couldn’t beat Donald Trump and they never will,” he told supporters in Ringgold, near the border with Tennessee. “And I will be on Capitol Hill as a warrior to have his back each and every day.”

However, Trump’s escalating rhetoric had some Republicans concerned, even in this deep red district. The president had set a deadline for Tuesday at 8 p.m. — one hour after polls closed in Georgia — for Iran to reach a deal with the United States, saying that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” However, he later announced a two-week ceasefire to allow negotiations to continue.

Acworth resident Jason McGinty said he was worried Trump was “about to go too far" and "may be committing a war crime” if he followed through on threats to bomb power plants and other infrastructure in Iran. He voted for Fuller to “make sure the America First party is still in place.”

Retiree Judy McDonald agreed with the president’s decision to go to war but was “very anxiety-ridden” over the conflict.

“Eventually we will have peace and the Iranians will kind of come to a conclusion that they won’t have a country if they don’t stop the terrorism,” she said.

Some Democrats hoped the election would send a message to Trump

Fuller will serve out the remaining months of Greene’s term, bolstering the party’s slim majority in the House, where Republicans control 217 seats to Democrats’ 214, with one independent.

He’ll have to face another Republican primary on May 19 to win a full two-year term, and could face a June 16 party runoff. Harris is already the Democratic nominee for November.

Retiree Melinda Dorl supported Harris “so it sends a message to Trump and his cronies that people aren’t happy," she said.

“This war was totally uncalled for. Trump is a liar. Everything he says is a lie,” Dorl said, adding that Trump was wrecking relationships with countries that have traditionally been American allies.

Harris, a cattle farmer and retired general who describes himself as a “dirt-road Democrat,” stirred enthusiasm even among supporters who expected him to lose.

“I voted for the Democrat even though this is a very red district and the Democrat has almost no chance of winning,” said Michael Robards, a software engineer from Kennesaw who calls himself a center-right independent. He said he wants to see Trump’s policies rolled back and the president again impeached.

Georgia's 14th District stretches across 10 counties from suburban Atlanta to Tennessee. After losing to Greene two years ago, Harris said his strong showing this time would be a stepping stone to November.

“We’re going to beat him next time,” Harris said on Tuesday in Rome, Georgia.

Fuller said he had withstood Democrats’ best punch.

“The left did their best. They poured in millions upon millions of dollars,” Fuller told reporters. “And what you’re seeing is the best that they can accomplish.”

Fuller had presidential support

Trump endorsed Fuller, a district attorney who prosecuted crimes in four counties, to succeed Greene in February, boosting him over other Republican candidates in a crowded field.

Greene, once among Trump’s most ardent supporters, had split with the president by criticizing his foreign policy and his reluctance to release documents involving the Jeffrey Epstein case. The president eventually had enough, saying he would support a primary challenge against her. Greene announced a week later that she would resign.

Outside of Congress, Greene has continued to assail Trump.

“Trump was elected to go to war against America’s deep state and to end America’s involvement in foreign wars,” she wrote on social media on Tuesday. “Not to kill an entire civilization while waging a foreign war on behalf of Israel, another foreign country.”

However, Fuller has backed Trump to the hilt — including the war — and has identified no issue on which he disagreed with the president.

Trump reiterated his support for Fuller on Monday night and then again on Tuesday.

“To the Great Patriots in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District: GET OUT AND VOTE TODAY for a fantastic Candidate, Clay Fuller, who has my Complete and Total Endorsement!” the president wrote on social media.

The U.S. and Iran reached a temporary ceasefire, with Israel saying it supports the agreement but is continuing its assault on Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. Iran and several Gulf Arab countries also reported some attacks, in an early test of the fragile truce.

The Israeli attacks in Lebanon, including what Israel called its largest strikes in Beirut since the start of the war, drew condemnation from Iran and criticism from mediator Pakistan.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whose government has acted as an intermediary between Washington and Tehran, called out violations of the agreement and urged "all parties to exercise restraint and respect the ceasefire for two weeks, as agreed upon, so that diplomacy can take a lead role towards peaceful settlement of the conflict."

The ceasefire announcement marked a breathtaking comedown from President Donald Trump's pledge that a "whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again" if Iran did not reach a deal to open the Strait of Hormuz Tuesday night. His threat had drawn rebukes from other countries and from Pope Leo XIV, who called it "truly unacceptable" and appealed for dialogue.

Trump hailed the ceasefire agreement early Wednesday as "a big day for World Peace!"

As Trump pledged the U.S. would help free up the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route for the world's fuel and goods that Iran has largely blocked during the war, global investors breathed a sigh of relief, markets surged and crude oil prices plunged.

In another morning social media post, Trump said the U.S. will work with Iran to "dig up and remove" Iranian nuclear material he said is buried after U.S. bombings.

The president also warned the U.S. would slap an immediate 50% tariff on imports from any country supplying weapons to Iran.

Here are more updates from the region:

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

Israel pounds Beirut | Attacks in the region | Iran hails ceasefire win | What are the "10 points"? | Israeli opposition fumes | Shelly Kittleson freed

Israel carries out its largest strikes in Beirut and south Lebanon

Israel carried out its largest attack in Lebanon since the start of the war last month, after asserting that the U.S.-Iran ceasefire deal did not include its fight against Lebanon's Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

A series of Israeli airstrikes hit multiple neighborhoods in the heart of Beirut during morning rush hour, causing panic around the capital.

Lebanon's Health Ministry said 112 people were killed and more than 800 wounded in Israeli attacks in different parts of Lebanon on Wednesday.

Israeli military spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani explained why Israel made a surprise attack in Beirut. "Leading up to this operation, we've seen Hezbollah disperse over different areas, taking advantage of the warnings that we provide for civilians to also hide for themselves among the civilians, moving, trying to scatter their operations in different locations and to hide behind civilian locations," he said.

Since Hezbollah entered the fray last month in support of Iran, Shoshani said, the group was firing more than 100 rockets at Israel on most days.

After more than a month of Israel's assault, the death toll in Lebanon has surpassed 1,500, and more than 1 million people have been displaced by the fighting, according to Lebanese authorities.

Many displaced Lebanese, when they initially heard the ceasefire news, rejoiced, packed up and started driving home to areas they had evacuated.

But then Israeli attacks continued. Lebanese news reports showed a car in flames hit by an Israeli strike on the seafront in Sidon, a city in southern Lebanon that's not one of the areas the Israeli military had warned it would attack. Israeli artillery shelling also continued. Lebanon's state media said there were airstrikes in the southern port city of Tyre and on a unit of paramedics affiliated with Hezbollah.

Lebanon's government asked displaced people to stay put saying that it's still dangerous.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement Wednesday morning that it supports Trump's decision to suspend strikes against Iran for two weeks, but that the ceasefire doesn't include Lebanon.

That's despite the fact that when Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, acting as mediator, announced the Iran-U.S. ceasefire, he specifically mentioned it would take effect including in Lebanon.

Hezbollah said in a statement that it insists the U.S.-Iran ceasefire includes Lebanon. But it said "if the Israeli enemy does not adhere" to it, then "no party will commit to it, and there will be a response from the region, including Iran."

Iran condemned the continued assault on Lebanon and said it was the U.S. government's responsibility. "The world sees the massacres in Lebanon. The ball is in the U.S. court, and the world is watching whether it will act on its commitments," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on social media, with a screenshot of the Pakistani statement including Lebanon in the truce.

The English arm of Iran's state broadcaster quoted an Iranian security official warning that Israel would be punished.

President Trump echoed Netanyahu's understanding of the deal. Asked by a PBS reporter why Lebanon was not included, he said, "Because of Hezbollah. They were not included in the deal. That'll get taken care of too."

Iran says a refinery was hit and Gulf Arab countries report Iranian attacks

Iran said its Lavan oil refinery was attacked around 10 a.m. local time, after the ceasefire took effect, and several Gulf Arab countries reported interceptions of Iranian drones and missiles.

Israel's military said it was not behind the strike on the Iranian refinery.

Kuwait's army said drone attacks caused significant damage to oil facilities, power stations and water desalination plants.

People were wounded from fallen debris in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, where its main gas complex also caught fire.

According to the Financial Times and Reuters, Saudi Arabia's critical east-west oil pipeline was also attacked.

In Iraq, Iranian-backed militias continued drone attacks near the Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center and Baghdad International Airport on Wednesday, according to the U.S. Embassy in Iraq.

Iranian leaders hail ceasefire as victory

Iranian leaders touted the ceasefire as a victory, noting they believed the "criminal U.S." agreed to "the general framework" of Iran's 10-point proposal.

"Good news to the dear nation of Iran! Nearly all the objectives of the war have been achieved," the Supreme National Security Council said in a statement.

But the statement warned any deviation from the agreement could lead to future violence. "Our hands are on the trigger, and the moment the enemy makes the slightest mistake, it will be met with full force," the Supreme National Security Council said.

Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, thanked Pakistan Prime Minister Sharif for his role in the negotiations.

"If attacks against Iran are halted our Powerful Armed Forces will cease their defensive operations," Araghchi said in a statement. "For a period of two weeks, safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be possible via coordination with Iran's Armed Forces and with due consideration of technical limitations."

Uncertainty around the terms of agreement

In his message announcing the ceasefire with Iran late Tuesday, President Trump said, "We received a 10 point proposal from Iran, and believe it is a workable basis on which to negotiate."

But it was not immediately clear what the points are. NPR has been trying to independently verify the terms.

A plan published by the Iranian Mehr news agency said the points include Iran's control over the Strait of Hormuz, acceptance of its nuclear enrichment, the withdrawal of all U.S. combat forces from the region, the lifting of all sanctions and U.N. resolutions against Iran, compensation for damage as well as cessation of war on all fronts, including in Lebanon.

But on Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the 10-point plan distributed by Iran was not the basis for negotiations. She declined to detail the points the two countries are discussing.

And Trump said on social media that terms were being circulated by people who had nothing to do with the negotiations. "There is only one group of meaningful 'POINTS' that are acceptable to the United States, and we will be discussing them behind closed doors during these Negotiations," he wrote.

Iran's Parliament speaker later accused the U.S. of violating three of the points Iran claims the U.S. has agreed to. He said the violations were the noncompliance of the ceasefire in Lebanon, the entry of a drone into Iranian airspace and the denial of Iran's right to enrichment.

Israeli opposition slams Netanyahu

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid blasted the ceasefire on social media, saying, "there has never been such a political disaster in our entire history." He criticized Prime Minister Netanyahu for not being a party to the ceasefire agreement, adding that Netanyahu "failed to meet a single one of the goals he set for himself."

Netanyahu spoke on TV defending the ceasefire, saying Israel was stronger than ever and Iran had been rendered weaker than ever.

Netanyahu and Trump spoke on the phone before Trump announced the ceasefire with Iran, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

It's still unclear where negotiations stand regarding Iran's assertion that it can continue its enrichment of uranium. In a statement, Netanyahu said Israel "supports U.S. efforts to ensure Iran no longer poses a nuclear or missile threat."

Netanyahu also said on TV Iran's highly enriched uranium, which could be used to create a nuclear weapon, would be removed from Iran whether through negotiations or by force.

A senior Israeli official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told reporters that the U.S. has assured Israel that it will insist on the removal of enriched uranium from Iran, an end to further enrichment, and "the elimination of the ballistic missile threat" during future negotiations.

Trump also referred to this in his Truth Social post.

American journalist Kittleson is freed

Freelance journalist Shelly Kittleson has been released a week after she was kidnapped by Kataib Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Iraqi militant group.

"We are relieved that this American is now free and are working to support her safe departure from Iraq," Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in a statement on X on Tuesday evening.

Kittleson, 49, has spent over a decade covering the Middle East, according to Columbia Journalism Review. She was captured by the militia group on March 31, in broad daylight on a Baghdad street corner. Her release was a multi-agency effort, according to Rubio.

"The U.S. Department of State extends its appreciation to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of War, U.S. personnel across multiple agencies, and the Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council and our Iraqi partners, for their assistance in securing her release," Rubio said.

He added: "Under President Trump, the wrongful detention or kidnapping of U.S. nationals will not be tolerated. We will continue to use every tool to bring Americans home and to hold accountable those responsible."

Kataib Hezbollah, one of Iraq's most powerful Shia paramilitaries, announced earlier on Tuesday that it was releasing Kittleson in appreciation of "the patriotic positions" of Iraq's prime minister, who helped negotiate her release. It said she had to leave the country immediately.

The group in Iraq is not related to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. It's part of a coalition of Iran-backed militias that have been attacking U.S. military and government targets in Iraq. The U.S. and Israel have launched airstrikes in response.

When Kittleson was kidnapped last week, the U.S. State Department said it had warned her of threats against her beforehand, and that it was working with the FBI to secure her release. The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad has said all American citizens should leave Iraq because of attacks.

Lauren Frayer in Beirut, Daniel Estrin and Carrie Kahn in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Jane Arraf in Amman, Jordan contributed to this report.

Copyright 2026, NPR

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has authorized the Minnesota National Guard to help Winona County officials respond to a cyberattack.

Winona County Administrator Maureen Holte said the county detected and responded Tuesday to a ransomware attack on its computer network, according to a statement released Wednesday afternoon. The county has taken its systems offline, “out of an abundance of caution,” while it works to secure and restore services safely. The public should expect delays as a result.

There has been no interruption in emergency services. 911 fire and emergency resources continue to operate.

The governor’s office said the county requested and received support from the Guard “due to the scale and complexity of the incident.'“

“Cyberattacks are an evolving threat that can strike anywhere, at any time,” Walz said in the statement. “Swift coordination between state and local experts matters in these moments. That's why I am authorizing the National Guard to support Winona County as they work to protect critical systems and maintain essential services.”

Winona County also immediately began an investigation, notified the FBI and Minnesota cyber resources, and worked with third-party cybersecurity and data forensics consultants. It also declared a local state of emergency to it could access all necessary resources to respond effectively.

“The County is following industry best practices and developing a comprehensive strategy to address this incident,” the press release continued. “We are continuously working to identify and mitigate threats when they occur. Winona County is committed to evaluate IT security protocols to make sure that sensitive data is protected to the greatest extent possible, across all networks where data resides.”

This is the second time Winona County has experienced a cyberattack this year. The county identified and responded to a “ransomware incident affecting our computer network” in January, according a Jan. 23 statement. Based on a preliminary investigation, Holte said the cybercriminal responsible for that earlier attack is not the same one responsible for the current incident.

But she said what they learned from the first attack may have helped prepare them.

“[We have been] in the process of implementing critical improvements to our network. In fact, those improvements helped us to detect this incident, investigate and take steps to recover.

Cyberattacks on local government entities appear to be becoming more commonplace. The city of St. Paul and Rochester Public Schools, for example have experienced attacks in recent years.

Given the ongoing criminal investigation, the county said it is unable to provide additional details at this time. It is actively monitoring the situation and will provide updated information as it becomes available.