By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ and HAVEN DALEY

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A 77-pound mountain lion set off a scramble Tuesday as it wandered through San Francisco’s wealthy Pacific Heights neighborhood before finally being captured as onlookers safely peered from their home windows or stood across the street.

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Dozens of officials worked to capture and tranquilize the male cat after warnings were issued advising people to slowly back away if they encountered it.

The wild cat was first seen Monday morning.

Roxanne Blank was being dropped off outside her home around 3 a.m. Monday, when she saw the big cat nonchalantly walking down the streets and going up her apartment stoop, about half a mile (0.8 kilometers) from where the animal was caught Tuesday.

“I thought it was a dog at first, but then I saw the tail and realized that it’s not a dog. Then it tripped the light sensor, and that’s when I saw its face and was like, ‘Oh, my God, it’s a mountain lion!’” Blank said Tuesday.

She said she calmly pulled out her phone and began recording as the mountain lion “locked eyes” with her for over five minutes.

“We were just staring at each other, but I felt really calm, and I felt like maybe the mountain lion was calm,” she said. “I just stood there in awe of like, ‘Oh, my God, I can’t believe this is happening to me.’”

A few minutes later, the wild cat began walking down the stairs and took off running when Blank’s dog started barking from inside her apartment, Blank said. She then called 911.

Madrey Hilton took video of the animal later Monday morning and alerted authorities, she told the San Francisco Chronicle.

CORRECTS BYLINE TO DAVID PITT NOT ROXANNE BLANK – This photo provided by Roxanne Blank shows a mountain lion walking down stairs, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026, in San Francisco. (David Pitt via AP)

The mountain lion was found Tuesday hiding in a garden between two apartment buildings, San Francisco Fire Department Lt. Mariano Elias said. Authorities shot the feline with tranquilizers three times “to make sure it was completely unconscious,” Elias said. “They covered his eyes and bound its paws, just to make sure it wasn’t going to run anywhere.”

Veterinarians with the San Francisco Zoo then examined the cat before it was placed in a cage. It will undergo further testing to ensure it is healthy and then released to the wild, Elias said.

The 2-year-old male cougar was tagged and last spotted in Saratoga, about 50 miles south of San Francisco, he said. Cougars, mountain lions, panthers and pumas are the same cat species — puma concolor, according to the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance website.

Mountain lion sightings are rare in San Francisco, where coyotes abound.

In 2020, a young mountain lion was spotted sleeping in a planter box along a normally busy street and looking at his reflection in the glass of an office tower in downtown San Francisco. The animal was later safely captured and released into the wild.

Experts say the animals come up along the Pacific coast from the hills south of the city, but eventually find their way back to the wilderness.

Angela Yip, a spokesperson for the city’s Animal Care and Control, said there was no threat to the public.

Mountain lions also live in Los Angeles, one of the world’s only megacities of 10 million-plus, where large felines thrive by breeding, hunting and maintaining territory within urban boundaries.

Carlos Almendarez, who lives with his family across the street from where the mountain lion was caught in San Francisco, said the wild cat was all everyone was talking about in his neighborhood, but that didn’t deter him or his running club from going on a run Tuesday morning.

“It probably would had been a smarter idea to not go on a run, but we were in a group, so I figured it would be safe,” said Almendarez, who is from Los Angeles.

“In LA, mountain lions are local celebrities,” he said. “Here I’ve seen coyotes right in front of the building, in the park, on the sidewalk, but I had never heard of mountain lions.”

The Big Ten shared Tuesday the dates for the conference’s football schedule in 2026.

The Gophers, of course, maintain their primary rivalries with Iowa and Wisconsin, while adding an intriguing road trip to Washington on Sept. 26. The U has only one bye week this fall, down from two in previous years, and will alternate home and away games all season.

The marquee road trip to play the Huskies will be their Big Ten opener on Sept. 26. It’s the U’s first visit to Seattle since 1976 and the early fall date will give Gopher fans a chance to enjoy the Pacific Northwest and Husky Stadium. Perhaps some fans will be able to partake in their tradition of sail-gating on Lake Washington, with shores that lap up to the stadium.

Minnesota returns to Huntington Bank Stadium for its Big Ten home opener against Michigan on Oct. 3. Former Utah head coach Kyle Wittingham takes over the Wolverines after Sherrone Moore was fired amid scandal.

The U will then head to Purdue on Oct. 10, and the Boilermakers have Minnesota transfer Fame Ijeboi as its potential top tailback for the game at Ross-Ade Stadium.

The Gophers’ only bye week comes on Oct. 17, which will give them added time to prepare for Iowa on Oct. 24 in Minneapolis. But both sides to the rivalry will have extra preparations; the Hawkeyes also have a bye. The U has lost Floyd of Rosedale in nine of the last 10 games since 2015.

A trip to reigning national champion Indiana follows on Oct. 31. So, with Iowa, that two-game pairing represents the toughest stretch on the U’s schedule in 2026.

Minnesota will play a reigning national champion for a third straight season, after playing Ohio State a year ago and Michigan in 2024.

On Nov. 7, Minnesota will host UCLA for the first time since 1977 and will then fly east to play Penn State and new Nittany Lions coach Matt Campbell on Nov. 14. It’s the U’s first visit to Happy Valley since Minnesota was picked for their their annual “white out” game in 2022.

The Gophers will host Northwestern on Nov. 21 and will look to keep Paul Bunyan’s Axe for a third straight year. Minnesota hasn’t done that since they won four in a row over the Badgers from 1984-88.

Minnesota opens its season with FCS-level Eastern Illinois on Sept. 3, followed by an SEC matchup with Mississippi State on Sept. 12 and a MAC opponent in Akron on Sept. 19. Each game is in Minneapolis.

The Mississippi State game will be the first time the U will host an Southeastern Conference opponent since Vanderbilt in 1959 (a 20-6 win).

The U will open its season on a Thursday, which has become a tradition since 2012, and then is scheduled to play on 11 Saturdays. Minnesota still might have a game on a Friday night, but that won’t be known until a later date.

Gophers 2026 football schedule

Sept. 3 — Eastern Illinois
Sept. 12 — Mississippi State
Sept. 19 — Akron
Sept. 26 — at Washington
Oct. 3 — Michigan
Oct. 10 — at Purdue
Oct. 17 — bye
Oct. 24 — Iowa
Oct. 31  — at Indiana
Nov. 7 — UCLA
Nov. 14 — at Penn St.
Nov. 21 — Northwestern
Nov. 28 — at Wisconsin

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President Donald Trump said Tuesday a “big investigation” was underway into the killing of protester and ICU nurse Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis.

“I want to see the investigation. I’m going to be watching over it, and I want a very honorable and honest investigation. I have to see it myself,” the president said as he left the White House for a trip to Iowa.

The comment is the latest marker of Trump’s turnabout on the issue as his administration confronts growing pushback — including from some Republicans and Second Amendment advocates — on federal agents’ tactics in a second fatal shooting in Minnesota. Trump didn’t address the first fatal shooting, of Renee Good on Jan. 7, but called Pretti’s killing “unfortunate.”

“We view that as a very unfortunate incident, OK?” Trump said as he greeted diners Tuesday in a Des Moines-area restaurant, adding that everyone, “unless you’re a stupid person,” viewed it that way.

In comments that were likely to further irritate his backers who are also strong Second Amendment supports, he said: “I don’t like that he had a gun. I don’t like that he had two fully loaded magazines. That’s a lot of bad stuff.”

Trump was asked if Pretti was an “assassin” as a key aide has claimed and answered “no.”

On Saturday, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller on social media described Pretti as an “assassin” who “tried to murder federal agents.” Vice President JD Vance shared the post on X as well.

He was also asked about Pretti’s family and said: “I love everybody. I love all of our people. I love his family. And it’s a very sad situation.”

Trump sent his border czar Tom Homan to Minneapolis and said on Tuesday that Homan was meeting with Mayor Jacob Frey and Gov. Tim Walz.

Dressed as the Minnesota version of Lady Justice, Mina Leierwood, an art teacher from Minneapolis, stands outside the Minnesota State Capitol building in St. Paul on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026. Leierwood wanted to know, “When will there be justice for Renee Good, for Alex Pretti and for Liam Conejo Ramos, the 5-year-old kidnapped by ICE?” (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

“Governor Walz met with Tom Homan this morning and reiterated Minnesota’s priorities: impartial investigations into the Minneapolis shootings involving federal agents, a swift, significant reduction in the number of federal forces in Minnesota, and an end to the campaign of retribution against Minnesota,” the governor’s office announced.

“The Governor and Homan agreed on the need for an ongoing dialogue and will continue working toward those goals, which the President also agreed to yesterday. The Governor tasked the Minnesota Department of Public Safety as the primary liaison to Homan to ensure these goals are met,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said he hopes Trump’s “Operation Metro Surge” will end immediately.

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Asked Tuesday on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe” if Trump’s newly posture has led to more federal cooperation with state and local officials, Ellison said “not that I’ve seen so far.”

“You should understand, Minnesota is abiding by the law as written. We, under the 10th Amendment, the federal government doesn’t have the authority to convert us into its deputies,” Ellison said. “And what the federal government has done is said, ‘well, if you don’t do it our way, we’re going to saturate your state with 4,000 ICE agents until you cry uncle and obey.’ And that’s unconstitutional and illegal.”

“It’s a good thing” Trump talked with Minnesota’s governor and Minneapolis’ mayor, Ellison said. “But we need to see some results … they’ve got to show, not just say.”

By DYLAN LOVAN

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — UPS announced Tuesday that it has retired its fleet of McDonnell Douglas MD-11 cargo planes just months after one crashed during takeoff, causing 15 deaths in Louisville.

CEO Carol Tome said during a fourth-quarter earnings call that UPS decided to “accelerate our plans and retire all MD-11 aircraft in our fleet.”

The Nov. 4 Louisville crash killed the plane’s three-person crew and 12 others on the ground just outside the Muhammad Ali International Airport. The plane’s left engine had fallen off the wing, and the plane was able to climb only about 30 feet before crashing.

The Federal Aviation Administration grounded all MD-11s after the crash. An agency statement Tuesday said the FAA continues to review “all the facts and circumstances” in deciding whether MD-11s would be allowed to fly again.

FedEx and Florida-based Western Global Airlines also had their fleets of MD-11s grounded by the FAA in November. FedEx has said it is working with federal officials to address any repairs “that may be needed to return our MD-11 aircraft safely to service.”

FedEx did not respond Tuesday afternoon to an email to its press office. A call left to Western Global’s headquarters was not returned on Tuesday.

MD-11s made up about 9% of the UPS fleet, and the company incurred an after-tax charge of $137 million in writing them off, Tome said Tuesday.

Tome said the company would be receiving 18 new Boeing 767s in the next 15 months to rebuild. She said during the peak holiday season, UPS had to bring in aircraft from other parts of the world, increase ground transportation volume and lease additional planes.

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“I am incredibly proud of our team at Worldport and how they responded to this accident,” Tome said. “And I would like to thank the Louisville community as well as our business and industry partners for their outpouring of support.”

The National Transportation Safety Board said investigators found cracks in some of the parts that held the engine to the wing of the UPS plane. Those cracks hadn’t been caught in regular maintenance. The last inspection on those key engine mount parts was 2021.

The crash had a devastating impact in Louisville, striking and causing smaller explosions at a nearby Kentucky Petroleum Recycling plant and hitting an auto salvage yard, Grade A Auto Parts, where many of the victims were visiting or working.