Fifth-seeded New Life Academy fell behind in its Class 2A semifinal and could not recover as top-seeded Hawley swept the Eagles in straight sets Friday night at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul.

Fresh off a five-set thriller, New Life rolled into the match with a chance to knock out the Nuggets, the reigning Class 2A champs. Instead, Hawley took care of business 25-17, 25-15, 25-23.

Nuggets head coach Kathleen Rustad said there is “confidence” within this group, with experience from state title games in various sports.

“They’ve been in the state championship for softball, too, multiple times,” Rustad said. “So when you get into a tight (situation), whether it’s a match or a game or a set or an inning or whatever, it’s just like, all right, next play. They just know how to do it. They’ve got a lot of experience.”

The familiarity with the moment, and the opponent, helped the Nuggets. Hawley defeated New Life in two sets back on September 20 and showed off its dominance again to open the state semifinal.

Hawley began the match on a 5-0 run, setting the tone and forcing New Life into an early timeout.

Back-to-back solo blocks by eighth-grade middle blocker Grace Baur pulled the Eagles within three points partway through the opening set. Baur was a part of all three Eagles blocks in the first set, and head coach Dede Lawson said it was important to have Baur step up in the middle.

“To go against that speed of tempo and get the blocks that she did is always motivating,” Lawson said. “When our eighth grader comes up with those big plays, it just energizes everybody.”

But Nuggets seniors Sella Fleming and Annaka Johnson formed a wall of their own at the net. The duo was a part of each of Hawley’s three first-set blocks.

Fleming, Hawley’s setter, finished with a match-high 31 assists to go along with three block assists.

Johnson, after delivering defensively, finished off the first set, 25-17, with a cross-court swing that caught the Eagles’ block off guard.

A tightly contested second set saw Hawley begin to break away after consecutive service aces by junior outside hitter Katie Vetter, giving the Nuggets an 11-7 lead.

Hawley halted every New Life run and pulled away late, earning a 25-15 second-set victory. It was a position the Eagles knew all too well, trailing 2-0 in each of their first two tournament matches.

New Life battled back after a slow start to the third set and took a 20-16 advantage. But Hawley showed its resolve by racing back on a 4-0 run.

Lawson said the experience Hawley has in big situations showed late.

“They’re the returning stage champions, and they showed it when it got 20-20,” Lawson said. “They stepped up and finished off, where we just came up short in that third set.”

That momentum swing determined the match as the Nuggets roared past the Eagles late, claiming the third and final set 25-23.

Hawley will face the winner of second-seeded Albany and the third-seeded Chatfield at 3:00 p.m. Saturday in search of its repeat state championship.

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By CHARLOTTE GRAHAM-McLAY

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — There are easier ways to cross an ocean, but few are as slick or stylish as the remora’s whale-surfing joyride.

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Scientists tracking humpbacks off the coast of Australia have captured rare footage that shows clutches of the freeloading fish peeling away from their host in what looks like a high-speed game of chicken, just moments before the whale breaches.

As the humpback plunges back below the surface the remoras, also known as sucker fish, return to the whale, sticking their landings with the timing and precision of Olympic gymnasts. It’s elegant work for a hitchhiking fish that lives upside-down and survives on dead skin flakes.

Remora australis spend their lives aboard whales or other large marine mammals, which they ride like giant cruise ships, breeding and feeding their way across stretches of ocean. The species has an adhesive plate on its head that helps to create a kind of vacuum seal, allowing the fish to grab a whale and hang on for the ride.

On whale cams, clingy fish steal the show

The marine scientist who recorded the accidental close-ups of the remoras’ high-speed whale surfing had placed suction-cup cameras on humpbacks during their annual migration from Antarctica to the waters off Australia’s Queensland state. Olaf Meynecke planned to study whale behavior, but his video feeds regularly filled with dozens of photobombing remoras, which rode in groups of up to 50 as they clung to the same spots where his cameras were attached.

“Whenever the whale was breaching and doing in particular fast movements it appears that the sucker fish were responding very quickly to the movements,” said Meynecke, from the Whales and Climate Research Program at Griffith University. “They knew exactly when to let go of the body of the whale before it was breaching the surface of the water and then returned to the same spot only seconds later.”

A hitchhiker with good instincts

Remoras are harmless to the 40-metric ton (44-U.S. ton) giants of the ocean, feeding on the whales’ dead skin and sea lice in a mutually beneficial arrangement — or at least that’s what scientists say. Meynecke said his footage suggested the whales found their hangers-on annoying.

“We’ve had individuals with high numbers of these remoras and they were continually breaching and there were no other whales that they were communicating with,” he said. “It appeared that they’re trying to just get rid of some of these remoras and they were checking whether they had less after they breached.”

In this image made from video remora fish swim near a humpback whale off the coast of south-east Queensland, Australia, on Sept. 3, 2025. (Whales and Climate Program/Olaf Meynecke via AP)

The journey’s end remains a mystery

Australia’s so-called humpback highway is a migratory corridor traversed by 40,000 of the mammals, bringing them close to the country’s eastern coastlines for months each year as they move from icy Antarctic waters to the balmy seas off the coast of Queensland and back. How long much of the 6,000-mile journey is undertaken by the freeloading fish, which only live for about two years, is still a puzzle, Meynecke said.

“I suspect that the majority would probably leave at some point, maybe in temperate waters, but then where do they go?” he said. “Do they find other species that they can then use as a host and wait until the humpback whales have come back?”

In this image made from video remora fish ride a humpback whale off the coast of south-east Queensland, Australia, on June 15, 2024. (Olaf Meynecke/Whales and Climate Program via AP)

In the absence of whales, sucker fish avoid predators by seeking other large creatures to latch onto, including manta rays, dolphins and unlucky scuba divers.

“Much to the annoyance of the divers, of course,” Meynecke said. “They’re not easy to get rid of.”

By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON

WASHINGTON (AP) — As Democrats savor their Election Day victories, some are capitalizing on the victory of New York City Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani and calling out party leaders for snubbing progressives, warning that alienating the left could cost them crucial House seats needed to take control and counter President Donald Trump’s agenda.

Democrats gathered for a conference hosted by progressives were sneering at Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, who was not present, for shutting down popular new faces based on disagreements over specific issues.

“There are no people, I think right now, who have a worse read on what electable means and less of a pulse on voters than the Democratic establishment,” said Morris Katz, who managed Mamdani’s campaign. He was then asked if anyone cared that Schumer did not endorse in the New York City mayoral race.

Panelists, from left, Jon Lovett, of “Pod Save America,” Jessica Tarlov, co-host of Fox News’ “The Five,” Tim Miller, of “The Bulwark Podcast,” Hasan Piker, streamer and political commentator, and Symone Sanders Townsend, co-host of MSNBC’s “The Weeknight,” speak during Crooked Con , Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

“Who?” Katz said, feigning familiarity with the leader’s influence and drawing laughs from the audience.

The discussions and jeers at the event Crooked Con, put together by a progressive media company founded by three former President Barack Obama aides, are coming days after Democrats secured wins in the swing states of Georgia, Pennsylvania and Virginia, with signs that key voting groups, including young people, Black voters and Hispanics were shifting away from Republicans. Other victories on Tuesday included Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill, center-left Democrats who won gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey.

Some attendants used the time to reflect on those victories and said they have to redefine their vision to energize voters to turn out to vote.

Fear of progressives

Rep. Sarah McBride, D-Del., is interviewed while attending Crooked Con, Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

“There’s just a lot of fear around progressive policies that’s misunderstood,” said U.S. Rep. Yassamin Ansari, an Arizona Democrat. “But when it’s actually articulated to people, you will see that even on the right, it’s more of a populist agenda that a lot of people actually are behind.”

Progressives and other elected Democrats, strategists, campaign managers, and liberal commentators gathered and agreed that focusing on affordability and rejecting Trump’s economic agenda was key to the party’s success on Tuesday. Some credited Trump’s 2024 campaigning for ideas like “no tax on tips” and saying they could learn from Republicans to stand strongly by their candidates. They urged Democrats not to overanalyze things and to take risks.

Former President Barack Obama urged Democrats “not to impose litmus tests” when talking about the different factions that won on Tuesday. He launched his presidential bid in 2007 with a progressive platform focused on health care and climate change.

“They are part of a vision for the future. Our job is to say that we want everybody engaged, and we want to have a conversation about how to make sure that every person in this country is treated with dignity and respect,” Obama said.

Democratic Party chair speaks about the rise of Mamdani

Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin, who endorsed Mamdani last month, said he had no advice for Mamdani, “other than to keep doing what he’s doing.”

Democratic National Chairman Ken Martin attends Crooked Con, Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

“He’s inspired people throughout New York,” Martin said, adding that he is cheering him on and “making sure that all of us are helping to contribute to his success.”

Schumer did not endorse Mamdani. Katz, Mamdani’s campaign manager, said there were private discussions between the two.

Mamdani’s comfortable victory over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the primary excited progressives, but worried the party establishment. Some Democrats have been critical of Mamdani because of his stance on Israel. A longtime advocate of Palestinian rights, Mamdani has accused Israel of committing genocide.

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Party leaders, including Gov. Kathy Hochul and U.S. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, eventually endorsed the self-described democratic socialist months after he won the nomination.

Frustration with factions and labels

Some Democrats mentioned as 2028 presidential hopefuls appeared frustrated with the discussion on the divisions facing the party and said that voters are not ultrafocused on that, and that Republicans don’t really bother with that.

U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego described it as “internal pearl clutching” that is not happening on the Republican side, and said Democrats “don’t have to agree on everything.”

Gallego said the normal voters don’t think that way.

Sen. Ruben Gallego, D- Ariz., front, is greeted by attendees of Crooked Con after he spoke, Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

“They think, ‘Is this person going to fight for me? Does this person understand what I’m going through? Do I trust them?’” he said. “Instead of trying to focus on this tribalism in our party, we should be figuring out how to do those three things right.”

By ERIC TUCKER

WASHINGTON (AP) — New York Attorney General Letitia James asked a federal judge Friday to dismiss a mortgage fraud case against her, calling it a vindictive and politically motivated prosecution brought at the behest of a president who regards her as an enemy.

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The motion, which had been expected, lays out a litany of comments from President Donald Trump designed to show the case was driven by personal animus that arose out of James’ lawsuit against Trump and his companies in her capacity as state attorney general.

“This lawsuit, and AG James’ outspoken criticism of the President, triggered six years of targeted attacks. President Trump and his allies have used every insulting term in their vocabulary to deride AG James and call for criminal penalties in retaliation for the exercise of her rights and fulfillment of her statutory duties to fulfill her obligations as New York state’s attorney general,” lawyers for James wrote in urging that the case be dismissed.

The name-calling by Trump includes describing James as “crooked,” “scum,” “a monster,” and “criminal,” according to the filing.

The filing is similar to one from another of Trump’s perceived adversaries, James Comey, who has pleaded not guilty to charges of making a false statement and obstructing Congress and who has said the case against him is similarly vindictive and inspired by the president’s desire for retribution.

James is accused of lying on mortgage papers to get favorable loan terms when purchasing a modest house in Norfolk, Virginia, where she has family. She pleaded not guilty last month, and told reporters outside the courthouse that the Trump administration was using the justice system as a “tool of revenge.”

To bolster their claim of a vindictive prosecution, James’ attorneys also assert that the Justice Department has singled her out for scrutiny “while ignoring apparent inconsistencies in the mortgage records of numerous other public officials.”

They say the activities that form the basis of the indictment match the conduct of other high-profile figures who have not been investigated or charged.

“The only meaningful difference between AG James and these individuals is that AG James is a Democratic Attorney General who spoke out against the President, while the others are his allies and cabinet members,” defense lawyers wrote.

Like Comey, she was charged in Virginia by a hastily appointed U.S. attorney, Lindsey Halligan, a White House aide without any prosecutorial experience who was named to the post by Trump after the administration effectively forced out the prosecutor who had overseen both investigations, Erik Siebert, but had not brought charges in either case.

After Siebert’s resignation, Trump, in an extraordinary social media post, urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to prosecute James and other political foes, noting that he had been impeached and indicted himself multiple times. Trump wrote the administration “can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility,” adding: “JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”

James was first elected in 2018 as New York state’s top lawyer, after holding elected jobs in New York City. She is the first woman elected as the state’s attorney general.

James has been a frequent target of Trump’s ire, especially since she won a staggering judgment against the president and his companies in a lawsuit alleging he defrauded banks by overstating the value of his real estate holdings on financial statements. An appeals court overturned the fine, which had ballooned to more than $500 million with interest, but upheld a lower court’s finding that Trump had committed fraud.

An earlier version of this story misstated who was the target of President Trump’s name-calling. He used the terms “crooked,” “scum,” “a monster,” and “criminal” to describe New York Attorney General Letitia James, according to the filing — not himself.