Gophers coach P.J. Fleck shared in October how he and Nebraska coach Matt Rhule went to a Kenny Chesney concert at the Sphere in Las Vegas last summer. In November, Fleck mentioned how he bonded with Oregon coach Dan Lanning on a recent Nike trip to a tropical locale.

Going into Saturday’s 2:30 p.m. kickoff at Huntington Bank Stadium, Fleck didn’t mention any offseason activities with Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell. It’s clear come the offseason they are not together swaying to a country crooner nor sipping Mai Tais together on a beach somewhere.

When the Gophers beat Wisconsin 24-7 last year, the two coaches’ postgame handshake more brisk than the freezing temperatures on that Black Friday in Madison, Wis. After the drive-by meeting at midfield, Fleck left out a “whoo!” as he went to celebrate with Paul Bunyan’s Axe.

Minnesota Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck yells at a referee as he disagrees with a Gophers pass interference call against the Michigan State Spartans that was eventually overturned in the fourth of a NCAA football game at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

Fleck’s postgame comments can sometimes reveal a thing stuck in his craw. At Big Ten media days in 2021, Nebraska coach Scott Frost followed Fleck at the podium in Indianapolis and said, “I’m not into sloganeering.”

Fleck, of “Row The Boat” notoriety, seemed to have that snippet on his mind when the Gophers beat Nebraska 30-24 at home that October. “That was truly culture versus skill,” Fleck said.

Fleck had another reference ready a year ago at Camp Randall Stadium; the Gophers had just ended the Badgers’ 22-year streak of consecutive bowl appearances.

“Other people are playing for other things — streaks and all that other stuff,” Fleck said. “We were able to play for each other and get the victory.”

Fleck and Fickell crossed paths at Ohio State in 2006, becoming intertwined in the Jim Tressel coaching tree. Fleck had just finished up his NFL-playing career and was a graduate assistant on the offensive side of the ball; Fickell, who played for the Buckeyes, was in his fifth year on staff, then serving as co-defensive coordinator.

“Didn’t have much of a relationship,” Fickell told the Pioneer Press at Big Ten media days in Las Vegas in July. “It was a short amount of time: one year. … It makes it very difficult to not just have friends but even to share ideas with anybody. Maybe people are better, but I can’t image that many of us share anything no matter what kind of history we have with each other. It’s a shame.”

During interviews spots each week, Fleck continued his modus operandi of showing respect to each opponent. He will boost up foes, regardless of if it’s FCS-level Northwestern (La.) State or No. 1 Ohio State. He was complimenting the Badgers (4-7, 2-6) again this week, but Fleck didn’t mention Fickell by name in his weekly news conference or radio show.

Meanwhile, if Fleck sees others not give his team respect, he will seize on that, too. In 2019, a Purdue player made comments about the Gophers, so Fleck had copies of that newspaper story printed and distributed to players. Fleck carried it around postgame after a 38-31 win in West Lafayette, Ind.

It was a sore spot with then-Boilermakers coach Jeff Brohm — another one of Fleck’s coaching rivalries.

In his first year at Wisconsin, Fickell’s Badgers came to Minneapolis and left with the Axe after a 28-14 win in 2023. Then Fleck and the Gophers evened things up with Fickell last year.

Overall, Fleck is now 4-4 against the Badgers, including three wins in the last four rivalry games. He has beat Paul Chryst (twice), interim coach Jim Leonard and Fickell.

The Gophers’ 37-15 win in Madison in 2018 “was a huge step forward for us, getting over that hump,” Fleck said of ending a 14-year losing streak to the Badgers. “… Being able to get that first one, I think it brought the rivalry back. I’m not saying that we’ve dominated that or they’ve dominated us, but I think that the pendulum has gone right back to you don’t know who’s going to win that football game every single year. And I think that what rivalry should be. I think that’s a healthy rivalry.”

And a rivalry richer with personal grudges.

Zohran Mamdani talked housing policy in the White House, and appointed a transition committee that runs the gamut of housing philosophies.

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announcing members of his transition team on Monday. (X/ZohranKMamdani)

It might be the first time the word “ULURP” was uttered in the Oval Office.

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani went to Washington last week to meet with President Donald Trump. During a surprisingly warm encounter, Mamdani said that he and the president discussed New York’s land use review process (the Uniform Land Use Review Process, or ULURP).

“We had a meeting today that actually surprised me,” said President Trump in a joint address with Mamdani from the Resolute Desk. “He wants to see housing being built. He wants to see rents coming down. All things that I agree with.”

“We may disagree on how we get there,” he added.

The idea of building more housing in New York City as a way to address the rising cost of shelter has captured many of New York’s elected leaders, Mamdani included. It’s part of the reason he ultimately supported ballot measures earlier this month that changed the ULURP process to make it easier to build. 

The mayor-elect told the New York Times in June that his stance on “the role of the private market in housing construction,” has changed over the years. 

“I clearly recognize now that there is a very important role to be played, and one that city government must facilitate through the increasing of density around mass transit hubs, the ending of the requirement to build parking lots, as well as the need to upzone neighborhoods that have historically not contributed to affordable housing production—namely, wealthier neighborhoods,” Mamdani told the paper.

On Monday, he appointed a diverse coalition of officials to assist with developing a housing policy as he transitions into Gracie Mansion. It included YIMBY voices like Open New York’s President Annemarie Gray, New York State Tenant Bloc leader Cea Weaver, and real estate interests like Real Estate Board of New York President Jed Walentas.

Mamdani’s housing transition team.

“I joined this because Zohran is committed to the all-of-the-above approach to the housing crisis,” said Gray in a press conference Monday. “One that protects current tenants while also building the homes future families need.”

The group reflects Mamdani’s sweeping and ambitious housing plans. He’s called for unlocking private market development with zoning reform, having the city finance 200,000 affordable units, and cracking down on bad landlords.

Weaver, in an interview with City Limits earlier this month, expressed her excitement about an election that invigorated public servants clamoring to work with the new mayor—his “resume portal” has seen more than 70,000 applications—and turned out the most voters in a mayoral election since 1969.

“My hope is that this fresh energy of civic engagement, participation, and volunteerism that led to the victory in this election will spin over into the collective project of governing the city,” said Weaver.

Here’s what else happened in housing this week—

ICYMI, from City Limits:

Take a tour of “The Hole,” a neighborhood on the edge of Brooklyn and Queens that’s being eyed for major redevelopment.

New York State is still waiting on federal funds to open applications for HEAP, which helps low-income households pay their winter hearing bills. In the meantime, see if you qualify for another state program that offers utility discounts.

“An estimated 158,214 households are eligible for SCRIE or DRIE—but only 67,132 are currently enrolled. That means nearly 57.6 percent of tenants who could be protected may still face avoidable rent hikes in the months ahead.”

ICYMI, from other local newsrooms:

Attorney General Letitia James is suing over the Trump administration’s new rules for a federal homelessness program called Continuum of Care, changes that local officials say would jeopardize housing for thousands of New Yorkers, the New York Times reports.

AG James is also asking NYCHA delay its plan to demolish and rebuild the Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Houses until the start of the new year, as some residents who need to relocate to make way for the work don’t want to move, Gothamist reports.

A City Council bill wants to bring back SROs, according to 6sqft.

Con Edison is canceling its plans to add e-battery charging stations at NYCHA developments, Streetsblog reports.

The 70 NYCHA employees charged last year in a wide-ranging bribery case have now all been convicted, ABC News reports.

The post Mamdani’s Transition Team, And What Else Happened This Week In Housing appeared first on City Limits.

By The Associated Press

A lot of snow, rain and cold weather await travelers for the rest of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, with winter storm warnings posted Friday across the northern part of the country and more snow falling over the Great Lakes region.

Storm warnings and advisories extended from Montana to New York, the National Weather Service said. Snow was expected to start Friday and last well into the weekend in some areas with Iowa and Illinois getting the brunt of it. Six inches to a foot of snow is expected in much of west-central Illinois Friday night through Saturday night.

So far, forecast conditions do not meet blizzard warning criteria, meteorologists said — winds of at least 35 mph, visibilities of less than a quarter mile and lasting more than three hours.

A storm that already brought snow to parts of the northern Plains states and the Great Lakes region continued Friday. Snowfall totals of at least a foot were expected by the end of the storm, particularly downwind of Lake Superior across the northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan and downwind of lakes Erie and Ontario, the weather service said. Areas of central New York state could see a foot of snow.

Snow squalls Friday bringing quick bursts of heavy snow and dangerous, whiteout conditions for driving were possible across the interior Northeast, the weather service said.

In the Pacific Northwest and the Rockies, a combination of snow and rain was expected Friday. By Saturday, the snow will taper off for the Rockies and northern Plains, but continue on to the Midwest.

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To the south, storms — some of them heavy — are in the forecast, with some flash flooding possible Saturday in the western Gulf Coast.

Temperatures were well below average in the eastern and central parts of the country, with highs Friday expected in the 20s degrees F and 30s degrees F in the Midwest, the 30s and 40s in New England and Mid-Atlantic areas, and the 40s and 50s in the Southeast.

The snowy weather on Thanksgiving brought a number of vehicle crashes in western Michigan.

By JOHN LEICESTER, Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — A man arrested by French police earlier this week is thought to be the fourth member of the team that stole France’s crown jewels in a brazen heist from the Louvre Museum, the Paris prosecutor said Friday, meaning that the entire gang is now believed to be in custody.

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Prosecutor Laure Beccuau, whose office is heading the investigation, said the 39-year-old man has a criminal record, with six previous convictions.

He has now been handed preliminary charges of robbery by an organized gang, punishable by 15 years imprisonment, and criminal conspiracy, which can carry a 10-year sentence if he is convicted for his suspected role in the stunning Oct. 19 theft at the world’s most-visited museum. The robbery gang’s haul of loot was worth an estimated 88 million euros ($102 million) — a monetary value that didn’t include their huge historical value to France.

The prosecutor’s statement didn’t say what role, exactly, the man is thought to have played in the daylight heist, carried out with angle grinders, a freight lift and subterfuge, with robbers dressed as workers in bright vests.

The robbery is believed to have been the work of a four-person team — with two people breaking into the museum’s Apollo Gallery where the jewels were displayed and then being whisked away on motorbikes by two associates who waited outside.

The haul hasn’t been recovered. It includes a diamond-and-emerald necklace Napoleon gave to Empress Marie-Louise, jewels tied to 19th-century Queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense, and Empress Eugénie’s pearl-and-diamond tiara.

The robbery has focused attention on security at the Louvre, the world’s most-visited museum.

The thieves took less than eight minutes to force their way into the museum and leave, using a freight lift to reach the building’s window. Footage from museum cameras showed that the two who broke into the ornate Apollo Gallery used grinders to cut into jewelry display cases.

The emerald-set imperial crown of Napoleon III’s wife, Empress Eugénie, containing more than 1,300 diamonds, was later found outside the museum.