ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A federal appeals court panel on Thursday put on hold a lower court judge’s order to wind down operations of the immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades.

The three-judge panel in Atlanta decided by a 2-1 vote to stay the federal judge’s order pending the outcome of an appeal, saying it was in the public interest.

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U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami issued a preliminary injunction last month ordering operations at the facility to be wound down by the end of October, with detainees transferred to other facilities and equipment and fencing removed.

Williams’ decision was issued in response to a lawsuit brought by Friends of the Everglades, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Miccosukee Tribe, who accused the state and federal defendants of not following federal law requiring an environmental review for the detention center in the middle of sensitive wetlands.

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration in late June raced to build the facility on an isolated airstrip surrounded by wetlands to aid President Donald Trump’s efforts to deport people in the U.S. illegally. The governor said the location in the rugged and remote Everglades was meant as a deterrent against escape, much like the island prison in California that Republicans named it after.

The state and federal government defendants have appealed Williams’ ruling, asking that it be put on hold. The state of Florida said in court papers this week that it planned to resume accepting detainees at the facility if the stay was granted.

The federal government claims that it isn’t responsible for the detention center since it hasn’t spent a cent to build or operate the facility, even though Florida is seeking some federal grant money to fund a portion of it. Florida claims that the environmental impact statement required by federal law doesn’t apply to states.

Follow Mike Schneider on the social platform Bluesky: @mikeysid.bsky.social

By ANNIE MA, Associated Press

Northwestern University President Michael Schill said Thursday that he will resign, ending a three-year tenure marked by the freeze of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding by the Trump administration and heated criticism from House Republicans over the university’s response to campus protests.

The funding freeze and uncertainty over its finances contributed to Northwestern’s decision to lay off around 200 people over the summer.

In a statement announcing his resignation, Schill acknowledged the pressure from the White House.

“It is critical that we continue to protect the University’s research mission and excellence while preserving academic freedom, integrity, and independence,” he said.

Northwestern emerged as a prominent target of President Donald Trump’s campaign to reshape elite colleges he has derided as hotbeds of liberalism and antisemitism. In April, the administration froze $790 million in federal funding for the private school in Evanston, Illinois, one of dozens of colleges under investigation over claims they did not do enough to protect Jewish students.

During the wave of pro-Palestinian protests in spring 2024, Northwestern drew ire from conservatives over an agreement it struck with demonstrators to take down their encampment. In exchange, Northwestern pledged to reestablish an advisory committee on university investments and made other commitments.

Schill defended the arrangement during an appearance in May 2024 before a House committee investigating campus antisemitism.

“We had to get the encampment down,” Schill said. “The police solution was not going to be available to us to keep people safe, and also may not be the wisest solution as we’ve seen at other campuses across the country.”

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Supporters of Israel and the administration officials have framed the protests at Northwestern and other schools as antisemitic and “pro-Hamas.” But people involved in the demonstrations reject that characterization. They say advocating for Palestinian human rights and territorial claims, or criticizing Israeli military action, is not antisemitic.

Schill also navigated the fallout from a hazing scandal that broke not long after he was named Northwestern’s president in August 2022. Former football players filed lawsuits in 2023 alleging sexual abuse and racial discrimination on the team, and similar allegations then spread across several sports.

Northwestern’s football coach, Pat Fitzgerald, was initially suspended then later fired after an investigation. The school concluded he had a responsibility to know that hazing was occurring and should have stopped it. Fitzgerald denied wrongdoing and filed a lawsuit that ended with a settlement last month.

Schill will continue as president until an interim leader is chosen and will return from a sabbatical as a faculty member at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, the school said. He also will work with the Board of Trustees on efforts to restore the university’s frozen federal funding, Northwestern said.

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Thursday marks 140 days to the 140th St. Paul Winter Carnival.

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The St. Paul Festival and Heritage Foundation — the nonprofit that produces the winter celebration — will lay out what’s new for the 2026 St. Paul Winter Carnival as part of its annual meeting on Thursday evening.

For now, here’s what to know about the carnival and its history.

2026 dates

The 2026 St. Paul Winter Carnival will be held from Thursday, Jan. 22, to Sunday, Feb. 1.

OG festival

The first winter festival was held in the city in 1886, a response to a New York writer describing St. Paul as “Another Siberia, unfit for human habitation in the winter.” Grover Cleveland was president, Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” was new in bookstores and a stamp cost two cents.

Ice Palaces

Throughout the carnival’s history, there have been 36 Ice Palaces of varying styles and sizes (no, they’re not an annual attraction). The first Ice Palace, built in the style of a medieval castle, debuted along with the carnival in 1886; the most recent palace, of modest size and situated in Rice Park, was a popular attraction at the 2016 celebration.

Parades

Breaking tradition, the King Boreas Grande Day Parade — the daytime parade that kicks off the carnival — marched out of downtown St. Paul and onto Grand Avenue in 2024. The Vulcan Victory Torchlight Parade, the carnival’s finale, remained in downtown. Stay tuned for details on 2026’s parades.

Legend

The Winter Carnival’s cast of characters spend the 10 days of the festival playacting the battle between winter and spring — starring the royal family (representing winter) and the Vulcans (representing spring). While winter lasts a long time in Minnesota, we all know who wins in the end.

Where do canines factor into this play? A recent trend is the crowning of a canine king and queen of the St. Paul Winter Carnival and Doggie Depot, a dog-friendly event at Union Depot.

Annual meeting

The annual meeting, to be held Thursday evening at the Harriet Island Wigington Pavilion, is for members of the St. Paul Festival & Heritage Foundation. It includes dinner and drinks and RSVPs are required. More info at wintercarnival.com/event/annual-meeting-for-members-only/.

This story will be updated Friday when 2026 carnival details are available.

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By JENNIFER McDERMOTT, Associated Press

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Rhode Island, Connecticut and the developer of an offshore wind farm that would power 350,000 homes in the two states said Thursday they’re suing the Trump administration for stopping the nearly completed project.

The states will file a complaint in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island Thursday, said Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha,, who accused President Donald Trump of waging an “all-out assault” on the wind energy industry.

Danish energy company Orsted filed a separate lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., arguing that the administration lacks the legal authority to block the Revolution Wind project. Orsted said it would seek a preliminary injunction that would allow it to move forward with the project, which is 80% complete, with all underwater foundations and 45 of 65 turbines installed.

Interior Department spokesperson Elizabeth Peace said Thursday that the department doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

Work on the project was paused Aug. 22 when the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued a stop work order for what it said were national security concerns. It did not specify those concerns.

Trump has been hostile to renewable energy, particularly offshore wind, and prioritizes fossil fuels for electricity. Revolution Wind is the second major wind project that it ordered to stop work. The first, an offshore wind project for New York, was later allowed to resume construction.

In separate recent federal court filings, the administration said it was reconsidering approvals for three other wind farms: the Maryland Offshore Wind Project, SouthCoast Wind and New England Wind. Combined, those projects could power nearly 2.5 million homes in Maryland, Massachusetts and Rhode Island with clean electricity.

Democratic Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, of Massachusetts, said Trump and his Cabinet “need to end their war on American energy and jobs.”

‘Swarm drone attacks’ cited as a reason for stopping work

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told CNN that he’s concerned offshore wind turbines distort radar detection systems, which could give cover to a bad actor to “launch a swarm drone attack through a wind farm.”

Retired U.S. Navy Cmdr. Kirk Lippold called that a “specious and false narrative” pushed by someone with an “overactive imagination in search of a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.” Lippold was commanding the USS Cole when al-Qaida attacked it in a Yemeni port in 2000.

If drones get that close to U.S. shores to be near a wind farm without being detected by the military, he said, “we have had a massive intelligence — a national security — failure.”

U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat and national security expert, has also disputed the administration’s rationale, pointing to the Defense Department’s involvement in reviewing the project.

When it approved Revolution Wind in 2023, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said it consulted with the Defense Department at each stage of the regulatory process for the lease area assigned to the wind farm. The DOD concluded that with some site-specific stipulations, any impacts to its training and activities in the wind energy area would be “negligible and avoidable,” according to the record of decision.

The state and federal reviews took about nine years.

Trump and several Cabinet members repeatedly slammed wind power as ugly and expensive during last week’s Cabinet meeting. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. talked about the failure of a massive wind turbine blade at a different offshore wind farm under construction off Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Fiberglass fragments of a blade from the Vineyard Wind project broke apart and began washing ashore last summer during the peak of tourist season. Manufacturer GE Vernova agreed to pay $10.5 million in a settlement to compensate island businesses that suffered losses due to the blade failure.

Kennedy’s family famously opposed an earlier failed wind project not far from the family’s Cape Cod estate.

Trump said, “We’re not allowing any windmills to go up unless there’s a legal situation where somebody committed to it a long time ago.”

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Wind farm was on track to deliver power in 2026

Revolution Wind was expected to be Rhode Island’s and Connecticut’s first large offshore wind farm, capable of providing about 2.5% of the region’s electricity needs.

Orsted began construction in 2024 about 15 miles south of the Rhode Island coast. Rhode Island is already home to one offshore wind farm, the five-turbine Block Island Wind Farm.

Rhode Island and Connecticut have said that halting construction of Revolution Wind would harm the states, their residents, investments and the offshore wind industry. More than 1,000 people have been working on the wind farm, and Connecticut committed over $200 million to redevelop State Pier in New London to support the industry.

The states said they’re counting on the electricity from Revolution Wind, particularly in the winter, when demand in New England spikes and natural gas is prioritized for heating. The power would cost 9.8 cents per kilowatt-hour, locked in for 20 years. That’s cheaper than the average projected cost of energy in New England.

The head of Connecticut’s top environmental and energy agency, Katie Dykes, predicts it will cost the state’s electricity ratepayers tens of millions of dollars if the wind project doesn’t come online. She also noted the risk to electricity reliability in New England cited by the region’s independent system operator.

Associated Press writers Matthew Daly in Washington and Susan Haigh in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this report.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at ap.org.