The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to take up a lawsuit against a St. Paul police sergeant, bringing to a close a case that began with federal charges 15 years ago.

When the charges were filed in November 2010, Sgt. Heather Weyker and her supervisor said they had spent thousands of hours on the case. Weyker, who was assigned to a human trafficking task force, had started the investigation in 2008, after police said a family had contacted them and asked for help.

Thirty people were accused of being part of a multistate child sex trafficking operation that took place in Minnesota, Ohio and Tennessee.

A district court later opined that Weyker “likely exaggerated or fabricated important aspects of this story,” and she was caught “lying to the grand jury and, later, lying during a detention hearing,” according to a 2016 U.S. Court of Appeals decision for the Sixth Circuit.

One of the people caught up in the case was Hamdi Mohamud, then a teenager.

Hamdi Mohamud (Courtesy of the Institute for Justice)

“Weyker’s false claims led to Mohamud’s arrest, prosecution, and nearly two years in federal detention before the government ultimately dropped the charges and Weyker’s larger trafficking investigation fell apart after courts caught Weyker lying repeatedly and determined that her case may be ‘fictitious,’” the Institute for Justice, who represented Mohamud in her lawsuit, wrote in a press release Monday, the day the Supreme Court decided not to take up her lawsuit.

“In all, more than 30 people had their lives upended because of Weyker’s dishonesty,” the release continued. “None was convicted of a crime, but with the Supreme Court’s decision today, none of the more-than-two-dozen lawsuits against Weyker resulted in accountability. Despite her flagrant disregard of the Constitution, Weyker will face no legal accountability.”

The lawsuits’ demise also point to the difficulty in suing federal officers, such as those who fatally shot Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis in January, said Patrick Jaicomo, Institute for Justice senior attorney, who represented Mohamud.

“The problems of ICE are not just problems of ICE,” he said. “This is a problem of federal accountability across the board.”

She remains a sergeant

Weyker, who joined the St. Paul Police Department in 1997, is still a St. Paul officer. She’s assigned to Western District investigations.

She was put on administrative leave from the department on March 4, 2016, soon after the federal appeals court decision on the case, and returned to work on March 9, 2016.

It does not appear she was disciplined by the police department. Internal affairs investigations that result in discipline against public employees are public information in Minnesota, but no discipline in Weyker’s work record are related to the sex trafficking investigation.

The U.S. Department of Justice represented Weyker in the lawsuit, and a spokesperson declined comment Tuesday.

The Supreme Court typically does not state a reason for not taking up a case, which was true in the lawsuit against Weyker. It marks “the end of the line” for the lawsuits and “accountability” against Weyker, Jaicomo said.

Federal or local officer?

Most of the lawsuits against Weyker were thrown out because people sued her as a federal agent, according to Jaicomo. The Supreme Court has maintained that federal agents can only be sued under narrow circumstances.

Ifrah Yassin was 19 or 20 when she was arrested for allegedly intimidating a federal witness in the sex trafficking case, and she was later acquitted when she proved she was out of the country at the time. Mohamud was charged in the same matter before the case against her was dismissed.

In Yassin’s lawsuit against Weyker, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit previously wrote that Weyker did not have qualified immunity because “a reasonable officer would know that deliberately misleading another officer into arresting an innocent individual to protect a sham investigation is unlawful, regardless of the difficulties presented by the case.”

Compared to people who were imprisoned for years, Yassin said Tuesday that she felt lucky she was only in jail for a couple of weeks and in a halfway house for two months, though she had to give birth while wearing an electronic ankle monitor.

“I really wish people could get their justice,” Yassin said. “It sticks with me because when you google my name, it still comes up and it’s quite embarrassing. It’s caused me issues at work and in my personal life.”

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Attorneys said Weyker was a St. Paul officer who was deputized to work as a federal task force officer. The Eighth Circuit concluded that Weyker could not be sued because she was working as a federal officer at the time.

Continuing to work on Mohamud’s lawsuit, Jaicomo said, “We found all these documents that showed that the task force Heather Weyker was working on … the Gerald D. Vick Task Force of Minnesota, was a St. Paul-led task force,” and they argued she was working as a state officer and not a federal officer.

That led to Jaicomo petitioning the Supreme Court to hear the case. Attorneys ask the high court to take up 7,000-8,000 cases a year, and they hear arguments in about 80 cases.

The Supreme Court had previously declined to hear Mohamud’s lawsuit in 2022 and Yassin’s lawsuit against Weyker in 2023. The DOJ filed a brief in opposition to Mohamud’s case being heard previously.

Rising temperatures are making for a tough drive in some corners of St. Paul.

St. Paul Public Works has posted “Rough Road” signage on arterial street segments where drivers should take extra caution and stay alert for loose pavement, potholes and patching crews.

The road segments will be addressed by street maintenance crews this spring, likely through pothole patching or skim paving, according to Public Works.

The segments include Hamline Avenue from Concordia Avenue to Selby Avenue, Vandalia Street from University Avenue to Interstate 94, Shepard Road from Springfield Street to Gannon Road, and Childs Road at Warner Road.

Why does the freeze-thaw cycle lead to so many potholes? In the winter, water that seeps into pavement cracks freezes and expands underground, acting like a wedge. As the ice melts, it leaves a void beneath the surface, creating ripe conditions for cars passing overhead to disturb the pavement and create holes and loose ground.

Drivers can report potholes to potholes@stpaul.gov or fill out an online form at stpaul.gov/publicworks.

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By TRAVIS LOLLER and KRISTIN M. HALL

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — In the military-heavy communities surrounding Fort Campbell, a sprawling U.S. Army base that straddles the Tennessee-Kentucky line, the war in Iran is on a lot of people’s minds.

The base is home to the 101st Airborne Division, known as “the Screaming Eagles,” which has been a key force in America’s major conflicts since World War II. After Sept. 11, 2001, tens of thousands of troops from the post started regular deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq. During troop surges in those countries, yearly combat casualties in the division surpassed some of its deadliest years in Vietnam.

The towns of Oak Grove, Kentucky, and Clarksville, Tennessee, surround the base and cater to the soldiers there with military clothing stores, barbershops and fast food restaurants. War memorials and monuments fill the cities’ green spaces. There are American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts and military support centers. At Austin Peay State University, in Clarksville, a third of the students are military or veterans.

Fort Campbell Army installation is seen Monday, March 2, 2026, in Oak Grove, Ky. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

‘Mixed emotions’ about the conflict

Juan Munoz is an Army veteran who spent time in Afghanistan and now works as a career counselor in Clarksville for people leaving the military. He said families in the area have “mixed emotions” about the new war. Many younger soldiers are excited to deploy, while their spouses, parents and siblings worry about their safety.

“You can’t ever give up the concern for your loved one, who’s potentially putting themselves in harm’s way,” he said. However, that concern doesn’t stop them from supporting the attack on Iran. “At the end of the day, they’re going to support their service member.”

Munoz said he thinks the war is a “great move,” because Iran is equipping our enemies, putting our troops and our allies in the region in danger.

Army veteran A.J. Mayo sits during an interview Monday, March 2, 2026, in Clarksville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

“It’s what needs to be done,” he said.

Trust in Trump

Edward Bauman, a veteran with 23 years in the Army who deployed to Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan, spoke to a reporter on Monday outside an Oak Grove box store. He based his support for the war on his trust in President Donald Trump.

“My takeaway is there had to have been some reason for him to bomb them. I don’t think he would have just went out of his way to just, ‘I’m going to bomb these people’,” he said.

He does not believe Trump is taking America into another prolonged conflict in the Middle East.

“It’s not going to be another Afghanistan. It’s not going to be another Iraq. We’re not going to go in and try to occupy them,” he said.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Monday that the conflict “is not endless” even as he warned that more American casualties are likely in the weeks ahead.

An entrance to Fort Campbell Army installation is seen Monday, March 2, 2026, in Oak Grove, Ky. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Many unknowns for families

Shannon Razsadin, CEO of the Virginia-based nonprofit Military Family Advisory Network, said there is “a good amount of stress and anxiety from the community just around the unknowns right now.”

In spite of the stress, she said, “They’re incredibly proud. Military families are proud of their service. And our military, our service members are prepared, and they are ready.”

Susan Lynn, a state representative in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, about 70 miles southeast of the Army base, is one of those proud but concerned family members. In 2020, she took to Facebook to thank Trump for not sending her son, who is enlisted in the Air Force, into “another war.” On Saturday, she posted that he has been deployed and asked for prayers.

“From the time my son was a little boy, he wanted to be in the Air Force,” Lynn said in a phone interview on Monday. “He’s extremely patriotic. He will do anything to support our commander in chief. And I feel the same way. That if our commander in chief has made this executive decision, that this is something we should do, then I will trust that.”

Some veterans oppose the attack

Meanwhile, Chris McFarland, another veteran who served out of Fort Campbell and deployed to Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan, has been making his opposition to the war in Iran well known. As soon as he learned of it, he had a sign made declaring “No more wars” and has been holding it on a major thoroughfare in Clarksville every day.

Army veteran Christopher William McFarland protests the war in Iran on Monday, March 2, 2026, in Clarksville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

McFarland, who leads the nonprofit Veterans for All, which advocates for veteran healthcare, said he has seen some hostility from drivers during his protest, but also some people have pulled over to talk to him. Many want more information about what is happening.

They are ”in shock, confused, concerned,” he said.

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McFarland does not mince words in describing his personal feelings about the attack on Iran.

“It is 100% unnecessary. It is unconstitutional. Literally, our own Congress didn’t even approve of this. This was done without anyone’s acknowledgement at 3:00 in the morning to murder people over in Iran.”

For many combat veterans like himself, he said the idea of a new war is bringing up bad memories.

“It just puts us right back in, right back at ground zero.”

Associated Press reporter Allen G. Breed in Wake Forest, North Carolina, contributed.

By BECKY BOHRER and MARK THIESSEN

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A deckhand on the reality television show “Deadliest Catch,” which documents the lives of crab fishermen working in one of the world’s harshest environments, died after he was reported to have fallen overboard, the U.S. Coast Guard said Tuesday.

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The Coast Guard received a notification shortly after 5 p.m. Feb. 25 from the Aleutian Lady that crew member Todd Meadows had fallen overboard about 170 miles north of Dutch Harbor, Alaska, Chief Petty Officer Travis Magee, a spokesperson with the Coast Guard’s Arctic District, said by email Tuesday.

“He was recovered unresponsive by the crew approximately ten minutes later,” Magee wrote. Efforts to resuscitate Meadows were unsuccessful, and the crew brought his body to Dutch Harbor, he said.

The Coast Guard is investigating.

Meadows, from Montesano, Washington, was in his first year as a cast member of the Discovery Channel show. He joined the series last May but no episodes for the new season have aired.

“We lost our brother,” Aleutian Lady Capt. Rick Shelford said in a social media post that did not detail how Meadows died. Shelford called it the “most tragic day in the history of the Aleutian Lady on the Bering Sea.”

Meadows was the newest member of the boat’s crew but quickly became family, Shelford wrote.

“Todd’s love for his children, his family, and his life was evident in everything he did. He worked hard, loved deeply, and brought joy to those around him,” Shelford wrote.

A statement released by the Discovery Channel called Meadows’ death “a devastating loss, and our hearts are with his loved ones, his crewmates, and the entire fishing community during this incredibly difficult time.”

An online fundraiser had brought in about $30,000 by Tuesday to assist Meadows’ family, including his three sons, and pay for funeral costs and other expenses. The fundraiser said Meadows, 25, died what doing what he loved best: crabbing on Alaska waters.

The death is the latest for cast members of the show detailing dangerous crab fishing on the Bering Sea. The show first aired in 2005.

In 2021, crewman Todd Kochutin, 30, died as a result of injuries he received while aboard the fishing vessel Patricia Lee, according to his obituary.

Several other cast members have died of substance abuse or natural causes. They include Capt. Phil Harris of the fishing vessel Cornelia Marie, who died in 2010 at age 53 following a massive stroke, NPR reported.

Thiessen reported from Anchorage, Alaska.