By MIKE SCHNEIDER

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A federal lawsuit that temporarily had interrupted operations at an immigration detention in the Florida Everglades dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” was paused Wednesday by an appellate court because of the government shutdown.

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Earlier this month, U.S. government attorneys had asked the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals to stay proceedings in the case because funding for the Justice Department, as well as the Department of Homeland Security which is a defendant, had expired because of the government shutdown.

They requested the pause until appropriations were restored by Congress.

The appellate court on Wednesday granted the request. While the facility was built and operated by the state of Florida and its private contractors, federal officials have approved reimbursing the state for $608 million.

Attorneys for the environmental groups that had sued the federal and state governments over environmental concerns about the facility said that the administration of President Donald Trump had been litigating hundreds of cases around the country during the shutdown.

“Apparently, the government has sufficient money and manpower to operate a detention center in the heart of the Everglades to detain foreign born workers, but not enough to file a brief in court to justify its conduct, which the trial court held unlawful,” said Paul Schwiep, one of the attorneys.

Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity, along with the Miccosukee Tribe, sued federal and state agencies this summer, alleging they didn’t follow federal law requiring an environmental review for the detention center in the middle of sensitive wetlands.

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams agreed and ordered in August that the facility needed to wind down operations within two months. However, that injunction was put on hold in early September when the appellate court panel in Atlanta issued a stay, pending the outcome of an appeal, allowing the facility to stay open for the time being.

An opening appellate brief from the federal government had been due on Friday.

Two other lawsuits challenging operations at the Everglades detention center are proceeding in federal court in Florida.

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

As Carson Wentz stood at the podium on Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium, the Vikings’ quarterback shook his head as he went over some of his mistakes that cost Minnesota in the 28-22 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

He was then asked how he planned to get his body ready to compete roughly 96 hours later when the Vikings traveled to play the Los Angeles Chargers on Thursday at SoFi Stadium.

“It’s a great question,” Wentz said. “The recovery starts immediately.”

As he continued with his answer, Wentz voiced his displeasure with such a quick turnaround, making it clear that he doesn’t believe the NFL should ask players to play games roughly 96 hours apart.

The idea of the NFL having a primetime game on Thursday initially debuted in November 2006 as a way to increase eyeballs leading up to the playoffs. The coverage expanded in September 2012 to make it more or less a regular occurrence.

Though most players across the NFL would rather do away with it completely, they all seem to understand they don’t have a choice in the matter.

“It is what it is,” Wentz said. “It’s part of the business.”

As soon as Wentz stepped down from the podium on Sunday, he went to ice his body in trainer’s room, particularly the injured left shoulder that has been bothering him for the better part of a month. The next 72 hours were a blur for Wentz as he dove headfirst into the game plan on Monday, participated in a pair of walkthroughs on Tuesday and boarded a flight on Wednesday.

To fully understand how condensed that schedule actually is, it’s important to know the routine players go through between games.

If the Vikings are operating under normal circumstances, for example, they will have players come in on Monday before giving them off on Tuesday to recharge their batteries. There will then be a lighter practice on Wednesday, a more intense practice on Thursday, a walkthrough on Friday, and a flight on Saturday if the Vikings are traveling for the upcoming game.

The quick turnaround on a short week is a total departure from how the Vikings are used to preparing.

“It’s a little bit difficult,” receiver Justin Jefferson said. “We really can’t recover as much as we want to.”

As a way to mitigate some of the stress, head coach Kevin O’Connell decided not to have any practices at full speed. He opted for walkthroughs instead to keep the Vikings as fresh as they can when they play the Chargers.

“We know it’s going to be here before we know it,” O’Connell said. “We’re doing everything we can to turn over our players.”

That included resources available at U.S. Bank Stadium and TCO Performance Center alike. Whether it was basic treatment like time in hot tub or cold tub, or more advanced treatment like deep tissue massages, the players had the tools they needed to get themselves feeling good again.

“We’re blessed to have the facilities we do,” O’Connell said. “We had guys immediately from the time I broke down the team starting to do something.”

After initially being listed as a limited participant on Monday as he worked through some soreness, Wentz was able to be a full participant on Tuesday when he talked to reporters. He was asked at the time how his body was feeling and noted that he still had 48 hours before kickoff.

“I’m feeling fine,” Wentz said. “We’re using every minute we have to recover and get ourselves physically and mentally ready to go.”

The process of the Vikings getting themselves ready will continue until kickoff against the Chargers. It’s a grind both physically and mentally for everybody to get themselves turned over in time.

“We’re not the only ones doing it,” Wentz said. “Obviously they have a short week too.”

That doesn’t make it any easier.

“I don’t think anybody goes from playing on Sunday to playing on Thursday and actually feels good,” Wentz said. “It’s more, ‘How good can I get myself feeling?’”

Briefly

The final injury report for the Vikings did a good job showing the effects of the short week as left tackle Christian Darrisaw (knee) and right tackle Brian O’Neill (knee) were both listed as questionable despite being able to finish the game against the Eagles. The other players that were questionable included quarterback J.J. McCarthy (ankle), running back Aaron Jones (hamstring), and running back Zavier Scott (wrist). The only players ruled out were fullback C.J. Ham (hand) and edge rusher Andrew Van Ginkel (neck).

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A controversial proposal to open a cannabis retail location near the St. Croix Valley Recreation Center in Stillwater goes before the city’s planning commission on Wednesday night.

Nicholas Benson, the owner of the building that houses Brine’s Market at 1754 Washington Ave., has applied for a conditional-use permit to open a licensed adult-use recreational cannabis retail business at that site.

The proposal has upset residents and business owners because of its proximity to the recreation center, The LumberYard Hockey Sports Center and Curio Dance & School.

Lee Erickson, general manager and co-owner of The LumberYard, said he emailed every family on the business’s email list about the proposal and asked them to attend the public hearing. “This is 150 feet from our building,” he wrote. “In our one-block radius is the St. Croix Rec Center, ETS, Curio Dance School and the LumberYard that have thousands of youths using this area. We believe this violates the intent of the city code to distance youth from adult-oriented businesses.”

The proposal is one of three for cannabis retail locations in the city before the planning commission on Wednesday evening. The other two sites are Mango Cannabis, proposed for the former Devil’s Advocate restaurant at 14200 60th St. N., and Hash Browns LLC at Valley Ridge Mall at 1360 Frontage Road W., said Jason Zimmerman, the city’s community development director.

The Stillwater City Council in June approved plans for another cannabis retail location, Silver Therapeutics at 1778 Greeley St. S., but they do not have their license from the state so they cannot open yet, Zimmerman said.

Restrictions and limits

In accordance with state law and city ordinance, Stillwater, population 19,200, is allowed to issue one cannabis business registration per 12,500 residents, as determined by the most recent state demographer’s estimate. The cap on registrations does not apply to a medical cannabis combination business or a lower-potency hemp edible retailer.

The Stillwater City Council on Oct. 7 increased the cap on the number of cannabis retail locations allowed in the city from one to three, Zimmerman said, and there are four parties – as of Wednesday – interested in those three spots.

“There is a lot of interest and a lot of people pursuing applications, and there is a fairly limited area where they can even locate and the council did not want to be picking and choosing,” he said. “They would rather have it open enough to allow the market to decide.”

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The city requires a 1,000-foot separation between retail cannabis dispensaries, including lower potency businesses, Zimmerman said. Other restrictions: they must be 500 feet from any residential treatment facility, 500 feet from a park attraction and 200 feet from any residential use, he said.

The LumberYard and Curio Dance School do not qualify as operations included in the buffer of a cannabis retail operation, he said.

“We are not allowed by state statute to not approve cannabis retail because of their proximity to those sorts of operations,” Zimmerman said. “A private sports club isn’t something that can limit it. Same thing with the dance studio. While people are upset about that, it’s not something that we can legally limit the location of. State statute is very clear about what you can and can’t set your regulations around. Unfortunately for some, the hockey center and the dance studio, that’s not something that we can rule out the retail just because they’re across the street from these locations.”

Recreation center

Erickson argues that the sheer number of children who come to the area for sports and dance should be a factor.

“This one-block radius is probably the biggest hub for youth activities in all of Stillwater,” he said. “Even though we’re not officially a city park or officially a public school, you can’t find any place with more youth wandering around and coming in and training and skating and training for baseball and dance.”

The LumberYard focuses on hockey, but the company leases its space to Stillwater Baseball, Stillwater Youth Hockey, Mahtomedi Youth Hockey, Forest Lake Youth Hockey, ETS Performance and ReadReact Hockey, he said.

“In the summertime, we run our camps and clinics, and we have thousands of kids coming through here at our location,” he said. “Probably 90 percent of our users are kids, basically from kindergarten to eighth grade.”

Erickson said he thinks the St. Croix Valley Recreation Center, which is owned by the city of Stillwater, should qualify as a public park, which would trigger a buffer requirement.

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“It’s not all inside rec activities,” he said. “In the wintertime, they make a huge outdoor ice skating rink on a flat area right outside the doors, and they have an outdoor warming house, and they use that outdoor area in the summer for training. You see kids out there, you know, getting run through different agility type stuff. And so it’s year-round use outdoors. That certainly seems like it would fit the classification of a public park as far as I’m concerned.”

Zimmerman said the city attorney and the Stillwater City Council will likely be asked to weigh in on the matter of the St. Croix Valley Recreation Center.

“Is that a park or is that an indoor facility? How do they want to interpret it?” he said. “It’s possible that that may qualify as a buffer. We have said no, because it’s an indoor facility. It’s not your traditional outdoor playground, but the council and city attorney will probably have to weigh in on that when it gets to the council.”

The matter is expected to go to council on Nov. 5.

Rochester Mayo finished off a three-peat as state champions — first two at the Class 2A level — Wednesday evening with a 5-2 win against Minnetonka to complete a perfect season at 23-0.

Rochester Mayo’s boast two of the top-five singles players in the state in juniors, Malea Diehn (No. 1 singles) and Aoife Loftus (No. 2 singles). The duo led the way in an all-encompassing triumph for the Spartans at the Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis.

Diehn and Loftus won their first sets 6-1 against Skippers senior Tessa Trivedi and junior Bella Starkman, respectively.

Loftus polished off a commanding 6-1, 6-0 win to hand the Spartans the first match of the first-ever Class 3A state championship. Diehn followed in Loftus’ footsteps, knocking off Trivedi in straight sets and only allowing one point overall. A strong 2-0 Rochester Mayo lead after two completed matches as the Spartans searched for their third consecutive state title.

Moments later, Minnetonka made it 2-1 as junior Sofia Jalil and senior Lucy Prondzinski (No. 2 doubles) topped Mayo’s pairing of junior Isla Huebner and eighth grader Emily Loftus 6-2, 6-2.

Minnetonka’s No. 1 doubles pairing of senior Martina Francisco and junior Ariya Hook, and No. 2 doubles grouping of junior Sofia Jalil and senior Lucy Prondzinski nabbed the first sets of their matches.

Mayo snatched an all-important first set in No. 4 singles, 6-4, via junior Eliana Elder. The Skippers won the No. 4 singles spot in the lineup in the regular-season matchup in which they were the only team that won three individual matches during a meeting with Mayo this season.

Elder took Set 2 6-1, which clinched the match against seventh grader Emily Leviton, a victory that gave Mayo a glimpse of their third crown in three years.

The match that clinched the title for the Spartans came from freshmen Eden Bendel and Annabelle Camp (No. 3 doubles). The pairing defeated Tonka seniors Alisa Ivanov and Allison Britzius, 6-3, 6-2 to give Mayo a 4-1 lead.

The Spartans were not done racking up victories as senior Ana Medina (No. 3 singles) would go on to beat Skippers’ sophomore Alyssa Ren.

Francisco and Hook defeated Mayo sophomore Grace Pickering and junior Ella Brinkman in three sets, ending the state championship.

Mayo’s 5-2 conquest clinched their third crown in as many years as the Spartans’ dynasty continued to make its mark in the history books.

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