Nine years after an apparent arson fire destroyed a city hall building under construction in Lakeland, the City Council could soon be purchasing a commercial property at 84 St. Croix Trail South for a new city hall.

The Lakeland City Council is moving forward with plans to purchase the Telus commercial property at 84 St. Croix Trail South for a new city hall. A letter of intent to purchase the property went out on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025. (Courtesy of the City of Lakeland)

The council voted unanimously last month to discuss the potential of developing an offer to purchase the Telus commercial building and its property. The council voted to provide a non-binding letter of intent to the owners of the property consistent with an independent appraisal commissioned by the city, said City Clerk Michelle Elsner. The appraised price of the property was not disclosed.

The letter of intent requires 60 days to further evaluate the building and property on how it will fit the city’s needs; that period would also provide an opportunity to gather more public input, she said.

Telus, a real-estate management company, is moving to Hudson, Wis., Elsner said.

City officials have spent years trying to determine what should be done with the current city hall, an octagonal building at 690 Quinnell Ave. that was built as a Baptist church in 1868. Structural problems include bowing exterior walls, a sagging roof frame and cracks in the basement walls.

A retaining wall is leaning and separating behind the Lakeland City Hall, which is deteriorating badly, Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021. (Scott Takushi / Pioneer Press)

There are also signs of mold and water infiltration in the basement, Elsner said, which is a problem. Plus there are serious accessibility issues and high levels of radon have been detected.

City staff had to move out of the building and into the city’s water department building because of all the issues, Elsner said.

The new building, which is 1,860 square feet, could definitely accommodate the city’s needs, Elsner said. “The office spaces are beautiful, but it will need some work to set up council chambers,” she said.

Lakeland officials have struggled with making plans for a new city hall ever since the city hall that was under construction was destroyed by an apparent act of arson in 2016. No one has been charged or convicted in the case.

The remains of what was to be Lakeland’s new city hall seen the morning of Monday, Nov. 14, 2016, after a fire late that Sunday destroyed the building. (Mary Divine / Pioneer Press)

The building burned on Nov. 13, 2016, just five days after then-Mayor Amy Williams, who supported building a new Lakeland City Hall, was defeated by then-council member Richard Glasgow, who opposed it.

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Just give ’em a chance.

That’s been the mantra for success for the Vikings’ offense for nearly a decade now, as Minnesota has consistently been blessed with elite wide receiver play.

First, it was Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen. Now, it’s Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. While the value of edge rushers, offensive linemen and quarterbacks are continuously harped on in football — and justifiably so — Minnesota’s narrow victory Sunday in London was another reminder that pass catchers can win you football games.

Justin Jefferson of Minnesota Vikings catches a pass in the first quarter during the NFL 2025 game between Minnesota Vikings and Cleveland Browns at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Oct. 05, 2025 in London, England.”” (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)

That’s what Addison and Jefferson ultimately did against Cleveland.

Credit is certainly due to Carson Wentz, who efficiently operated the game-winning drive. And it’s due for the defense, which allowed just one first down over the course of four consecutive Cleveland possessions in the final frame.

Credit is due to Kevin O’Connell, as well, for breaking out of his box a bit to deliver a gameplan better suited to fit the available personnel.

But football games are ultimately determined by big plays, and Addison and Jefferson made the pivotal ones whenever they were required in London.

Addison’s game winner was an excellent ball by Wentz into a tight window, but Addison’s ability to reach back to the side of his head, opposite the direction of his momentum, was a special display of skills. Minnesota somehow rosters two players capable of such acrobatics.

Jefferson is the king of those maneuvers, and was the engine behind Minnesota’s best offense in London.

He drew a pass interference for a key third-down conversion, then high-pointed a ball down the sidelines on consecutive plays to set up Minnesota’s go-ahead touchdown early in the third frame.

Facing a 3rd-and-10 early in the fourth quarter, Wentz seemingly intentionally placed a deep ball over the middle behind Jefferson to keep the ball away from the lurking safety. Jefferson contorted his body to nab the ball, turning away from the defense in the process for a 38-yard pickup.

The same guy who can do that can also go over a cornerback to catch a jump ball for a 21-yard gain in the final 2 minutes on what ultimately proved to be the game-winning drive.

Jefferson finished Sunday with seven catches for 123 yards, more than half of Wentz’s passing yardage.

“Yeah, he’s different. He’s different. I’m still finding out every week, I’m not going to lie,” Wentz said. “You know, a couple of high balls down the field today. Just giving him a chance, and his ability to go up and obviously at times go up and over guys, but just in traffic to go high point a ball gives a quarterback the utmost confidence to just let it rip, honestly.”

That’s the magic of Jefferson and Addison. They can elevate the quarterback in the same way a quarterback often makes players around him better. Because their play creates confidence and trust, two of the most important traits a signal caller must possess.

Suddenly, a quarterback is willing to throw a ball into stiffer coverage because he knows the pros of giving his two star receivers a chance far outweigh the cons. So, the ball is held less, the pass protection isn’t as big of a concern, and the offense can function.

So the team can win.

Wentz’s scoring strike to Addison delayed Minnesota’s funeral by at least a couple weeks. Beating a bad Browns team was a must leading into the bye.

Judging by Minnesota’s overall play, and the schedule waiting for it on the other side of the bye, death could still be waiting on this team’s doorstep. Unless a lot changes when a few players return to full health, very little suggests the Vikings are a championship-caliber team at this point.

But they do have a couple championship-caliber pass catchers. And, as Sunday reminded us all, that at least gives you a fighting chance to make some magic.

Minnesota Vikings players celebrate after a touchdown catch by wide receiver Jordan Addison in the second half of an NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns in London, Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025. (Dave Shopland/AP Content Services for the NFL)
Minnesota Vikings running back Jordan Mason (27) crosses into the end zone to score a touchdown during the second half of the NFL game between Minnesota Vikings and Cleveland Browns at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium in London, Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)

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LONDON — Britain’s main opposition party on Sunday promised that, if it returned to power, it would deport 150,000 immigrants living in the country illegally each year by creating a new removals force with far-reaching powers, modeled on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in the United States.

Under the plans, announced by Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservative Party, facial recognition technology would be used to track immigrants lacking permanent legal status, the asylum system would be overhauled and Britain would leave an international human rights treaty.

“The fact is, there are too many people in our country who should not be here,” Badenoch told the BBC, adding that “they don’t belong here, they are committing crimes, they are hurting people.”

Badenoch made her pledge on the opening day of an annual conference that is seen as critical for her leadership of the party, which has sunk in opinion polls since she took over in November. Even if she steadies her position, the next general election could be as far off as 2029, making Badenoch unlikely to reach Downing Street any time soon.

The announcement reflects a hardening stance on migration and other issues in Britain, where the political debate has been influenced by Nigel Farage, the leader of a populist anti-immigration party, Reform UK, and by the policies of President Donald Trump.

The center-left Labour government, led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, has responded to the shifting landscape by toughening its stance on immigration and taking a hard line on pro-Palestinian protests.

On Sunday, the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, promised to give the police more powers to curb such protests in the wake of an attack on a Manchester synagogue last week in which three people were killed.

Immigration has risen to the top of the political agenda, and Trump made headlines when he visited Britain last month by suggesting that the Labour government could use its military to stop illegal migration. Badenoch, who met Trump during his trip, later praised him on social media for delivering a speech that, she said, reminded people “about all the things that put the ‘Great’ in Great Britain!”

In another echo of Trump’s agenda, Badenoch has also proposed to weaken British moves to combat climate change.

The U.S. administration claims to have carried out 400,000 deportations since January, but ICE’s aggressive tactics have drawn widespread criticism, with American citizens among those arrested.

Badenoch’s pledge to emulate U.S. policies reflects the pressure she faces and her battle for relevance as the Conservative Party fights for its survival and Reform UK grabs the political initiative.

Reform now leads in the opinion polls, with Farage campaigning against the arrival of thousands of migrants, many of whom cross the English Channel on small boats, and promising to remove up to 600,000 immigrants in the country illegally.

Starmer has negotiated an agreement with the French government to return some of those arriving in Britain — but so far only a handful have been sent back to France.

Farage’s popularity has spread alarm throughout the government, but his success presents a more immediate threat to the Conservative Party, whose approval rating languishes at around 16% in opinion polls.

Many analysts believe that Badenoch could face a leadership challenge by next summer if she fails to turn around that polling deficit.

The Tories are in a difficult position because legal immigration into Britain surged under the previous government, to which Badenoch belonged, before her party was swept from power in 2024.

Speaking on Sunday, Badenoch said her removals force would have a budget of 1.6 billion British pounds (about $2.15 billion), to be paid for by cutting the cost of accommodating those claiming refugee status. She said she would also restrict criteria for claiming asylum and abolish the immigration tribunals that hear challenges to failed asylum claims.

Badenoch also promised that a Conservative government would leave the European Convention on Human Rights, which was drafted decades ago to safeguard the rights of people like refugees — a significant shift on a policy that has long divided the Tories. Anyone who opposes leaving the convention will not be allowed to run as a candidate for the Conservatives, she said.

But Badenoch was vague when challenged in her BBC interview about how and where to she would deport 150,000 people a year.

“I’m tired of us asking all of these irrelevant questions about where should they go,” she said. “They will go back to where they should do or another country, but they should not be here.”

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She added, “We cannot have a situation where we cannot deport people, and say, ‘Well, we don’t know where they will go so they can stay here.’”

In a statement, the Labour Party said Badenoch couldn’t “answer the most basic questions about the policies she’s supposedly spent months thinking about,” adding, “It’s the same old Tory Party making the same old mistakes — and the public shouldn’t and won’t forgive them.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem gave the clearest indication yet that agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement would attend the Super Bowl in February, where Latin superstar Bad Bunny is scheduled to headline the halftime show.

Asked Friday by right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson if there would be “ICE enforcement” at the Super Bowl, Noem replied, “There will be,” adding that federal immigration officers would be “all over” the event.

“I have the responsibility for making sure everybody goes to the Super Bowl, has the opportunity to enjoy it and to leave,” Noem said on “The Benny Show.” People should not attend the event, she went on, unless they are “law-abiding Americans who love this country.”

Bad Bunny, a Grammy-winning musician who is from Puerto Rico, rose to fame with hits such as “MIA,” “I Like It” and “Me Porto Bonito.” He recently finished a 31-show residency in Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, saying he chose not to perform in the continental United States because he feared that his fans would become targets of ICE agents.

After the NFL announced last week that he would appear at the Super Bowl in Santa Clara, California, on Feb. 8, far-right commentators complained that Bad Bunny did not sing in English and that he had been openly critical of the Trump administration’s immigration policies. Johnson wrote on social media that Bad Bunny was a “massive Trump hater.”

When Johnson suggested in his interview with Noem that the NFL was sending a message to the Trump administration by choosing Bad Bunny to headline the Super Bowl halftime show, Noem replied, “They suck and we’ll win and God will bless us.”

Bad Bunny, who hosted the season opener of “Saturday Night Live” this weekend, used his monologue to respond to the backlash.

“I’m very happy, and I think everyone is happy about it,” he said, referring to his Super Bowl appearance. “Even Fox News.” The show then played a montage of Fox News hosts whose words had been spliced together to say, “Bad Bunny is my favorite musician, and he should be the next president.”

The artist later spoke in Spanish, saying that his Super Bowl performance would be an important milestone not readily erased. “And if you didn’t understand what I just said, you have four months to learn,” he added.

A representative for Bad Bunny, a representative for the NFL, and a representative for Roc Nation, which will produce the Super Bowl halftime show, did not immediately respond to requests for comment Saturday.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said, “There is no safe haven for violent, criminal illegal aliens in the United States.”

The Trump administration has for months cracked down on illegal immigration in several big cities. U.S. citizens, many of them Latino men, have been stopped by ICE agents and in some cases taken into custody.

Noem’s comments echo those made by one of her chief advisers, Corey Lewandowski, on “The Benny Show” on Wednesday.

“There is nowhere that you can provide safe haven to people who are in this country illegally,” Lewandowski said. “Not the Super Bowl and nowhere else.

“We will find you,” he went on. “We will apprehend you. We will put you in a detention facility, and we will deport you.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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