Bill Guerin rarely minces his words, and the Minnesota Wild general manager didn’t pick last week to start. When announcing the signing of star forward Kirill Kaprizov to a record eight-year contract worth $17 million per season, Guerin was asked if it was the most important deal in the 25-year history of the franchise.

“Yes, very much so,” he said.

There are not many questions about the impact Kaprizov can have on the ice. He is renowned as the most dynamic and talented player employed by the Wild since they entered the league as a 2000 expansion team. Since he joined the team for the 2020-21 seasons, he has been the team’s leading scorer (185 goals, 386 points).

If there are questions about the deal, they come not regarding goals and assists, but in the realm of dollars and cents, and what having the NHL’s biggest contract ever on their books will mean for the Wild. History tells us that taking big swings and making big investments in the future is exciting, and can be risky.

Fiscal fireworks

Prior to last week, unquestionably the biggest off-ice moment in Wild history came on July 4, 2012. On that hot, steamy Independence Day, then-Wild general manager Chuck Fletcher landed the two biggest fish available in the NHL free agent waters when forward Zach Parise and defenseman Ryan Suter agreed to identical 13-year, $98 million contracts.

Those salaries, with their average annual value of $7.5 million, were high for the time, but not ridiculously so — especially for a team that had missed the playoffs in each of the preceding four years and was clearly in need of a notable spark. The trouble with numbers stemmed from the lengths of the contracts, which in theory had them playing in Minnesota until 2025.

To most, it seemed like a good idea at the time, and in the short term, the Wild became an every year playoff team thanks in large part to the work of that duo. They even got to the second round of the playoffs, twice, and won two second-round games for the first time since 2003.

But there were no parades to commemorate the achievement, and by the summer of 2021 — with the players aging, their production slipping, and talk of a tense locker room — Guerin bought out what remained of their contracts. They were off the roster, but not off the books.

The four years that remained on those contracts followed the franchise in the form of a salary cap hit, and during the ensuing trade deadlines and free agency periods in 2022, 2023 and 2024, Guerin lacked the cap space to do much of anything.

The new money

In November 1989, the Minnesota Twins made, at the time, the biggest salary splash in the history of Major League Baseball by making outfielder Kirby Puckett the league’s first $3 million player. The milestone didn’t even last a full year, as Oakland slugger Jose Canseco was making $4 million a season by June 1990.

Similarly, Kaprizov’s contract will not be a record forever, with the likes of Jack Eichel, Kyle Connor and Connor McDavid all due for new deals within the coming year. And while the combined contracts of Parise and Suter claimed roughly one-fourth of the Wild’s salary cap space in the 2012-13 season, when teams could spend no more than $70 million on players, the cap for the current season is $95.5 million — and it’s expected to be $104 million in 2026.

That means Kaprizov’s salary, as history-making as it is, will comprise roughly 15 percent of the team’s salary cap. And unlike the constraints on Guerin when he was still paying Parise and Suter, he made it clear that Minnesota is still solidly in the game for free agents and trades as they plan to build around the Russian star.

“It doesn’t stop here. That’s something that we talked about. We want to win. We want to do the things that you have to do in order to win,” Guerin said. “So, you know, somewhere down the line, start to add pieces or change where necessary, or whatever. … We haven’t been able to be in the game because of our cap situation, but now that’s passed.”

That was a refrain Wild fans also heard back in July 2012. When Parise and Suter were introduced, they talked of being the first of many big name free agents who would want to work, live and win in Minnesota. Parise even suggested that they would be “recruiters,” spreading the word that the Wild sweater would be the hot fashion item for the top players of the 2010s.

It didn’t happen for various reasons, not least of which was that under the salary cap of the time, the Wild simply didn’t have the money to significantly build around their new stars. Perhaps the biggest-name free agent the Wild signed during the Parise/Suter era was former Gophers star Thomas Vanek before being bought out. But he lives here in retirement and was one of the coaches that helped Stillwater High School make a run to the boys state title game last season.

With those history lessons learned, there seems to be a determination, and financial flexibility, to do it better this time around.

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Rent increases on stabilized units took effect this week. Tenants and mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani rallied to protest the change, which they hope will be the last for four years.

Rent stabilized tenants marched to Gracie Mansion on Manhattan’s Upper East Side to protest rent hikes Tuesday evening. (Adi Talwar/City Limits)

Eric Adams’ re-election campaign is over, according to a video announcement from the mayor from Gracie Mansion Sunday afternoon. But his administration’s policies continue to shape New Yorkers’ lives.

On Wednesday, rent increases from New York City’s Rent Guidelines board took effect. That means rents for the city’s 1 million rent stabilized units can go up no more than 3 percent for new one-year leases, and 4.5 percent for two-year leases.

Tenants, alongside mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani, took to the streets to protest the rent hike, which they hope will be the last for four years.

“This policy of raising the rent year after year like we’ve seen from this administration… that is a policy that will come to an end when I am the mayor,” Mamdani said, while standing before a rent stabilized building in the Bronx at another rally Wednesday. 

If Mamdani wins, he’s promised to freeze rent-stabilized rents for four years. The mayor appoints the Rent Guideline Board members that set allowable increases.

“People are lining up at food pantries because they can’t eat and pay the rent. It’s just unbearable. We are suffering. They’re pushing all of us out. 32 years I worked, and now I am worried about becoming homeless,” said Patricia Jewett, a rent stabilized tenant in the Bronx.

Tenants marching to Gracie Mansion on Manhattan’s Upper East Side Tuesday night to protest rent hikes approved by the Rent Guidelines Board, which took effect this week. (Adi Talwar/City Limits)

The cumulative stabilized rent increase under Eric Adams’ administration amounts to 12.6 percent, according to an analysis by the Community Service Society. That would make it the largest on-term increase since the Bloomberg era, when Mayor Michael Bloomberg raised the rent 13.4 percent, 15.6 percent, and 12.5 percent over his three terms.

Building owners have pushed back against Mamdani’s idea of a rent freeze, saying that buildings with a lot of rent stabilized units don’t have enough revenue to keep up with costs, resulting in deferred maintenance.

But, “the relationship between rents paid and repairs delivered is a tenuous one at best,” countered Mamdani.

Here’s what else happened in housing this week—

ICYMI, from City Limits:

Hundreds of privately-run buildings across New York City collect federal subsidies under Project-Based Rental Assistance, which helps some 100,000 low-income tenants afford housing. But the program has major flaws, a three-part City Limits’ investigation found: paperwork errors on behalf of property managers are shockingly common, many buildings have repair and maintenance needs, and it can be hard to know who’s responsible for enforcing the rules.

During the most recent fiscal year, more New Yorkers reported not having heat in their apartments than any time on record. Here’s how to get help if your landlord won’t turn up the thermostat this “heat season,” which kicked off Oct. 1.

The federal government is shut down. But public benefits and federal housing subsidies shouldn’t see disruptions, at least through the month of October, legal experts say.

ICYMI, from other local newsrooms:

Investigators are looking into whether a boiler safety system failure is responsible for the partial collapse at NYCHA’s Mitchel Houses earlier this week, according to THE CITY.

The city hired a batch of new water ecologists to inspect buildings’ cooling towers after a deadly Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in Harlem this summer, Gothamist reports.

Two prominent political clubs are throwing their weight behind the housing-related Charter change measures on the ballot next month, which would reform the city’s land use approvals process, according to City and State.

The New York Times looks at what the city’s next mayor can do to address student homelessness.

The NYPD plans to expand the number of NYCHA campuses where a free internet program is being used to tap into security cameras, according to New York Focus.

To reach the reporter behind this story, contact Patrick@citylimits.org. To reach the editor, contact Jeanmarie@citylimits.org

Want to republish this story? Find City Limits’ reprint policy here.

The post Tenants Protest Final Rent Hike Under Eric Adams, and What Else Happened this Week in Housing appeared first on City Limits.

By DANICA KIRKA, KWIYEON HA and JILL LAWLESS

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — One of the two Jewish men killed in a car and knife attack on a synagogue in the English city of Manchester appears to have been accidentally shot by a police officer as worshippers tried to stop the attacker entering the building, law enforcement authorities said Friday.

Police said local residents Adrian Daulby, 53, and Melvin Cravitz, 66, died in Thursday’s attack on the Heaton Park Congregation Synagogue on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. Three other people are hospitalized in serious condition.

Police shot and killed a suspect seven minutes after he rammed a car into pedestrians outside the synagogue and then attacked them with a knife in what the police force called an act of terrorism. He wore what appeared to be an explosives belt, which was found to be fake.

Greater Manchester Police chief Stephen Watson said a pathologist has provisionally determined that one of those killed had a gunshot wound. Since the attacker did not have a gun, he said the injury may have been “a tragic and unforeseen consequence” of police actions.

He said one of the hospitalized victims also appears to have been shot.

“It is believed that both victims were close together behind the synagogue door, as worshippers acted bravely to prevent the attacker from gaining entry,” Watson said.

Police have called the attack an act of terrorism but say they are still working to identify a motive. It came amid high tensions over Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza.

Dozens of people gathered in pouring rain near the synagogue Friday for a vigil, where Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy was heckled by members of the crowd who accused the government of allowing antisemitism to spread.

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, the head of Orthodox Judaism in Britain, said the attack was the result of “an unrelenting wave of Jew hatred” on the streets and online.

“This is the day we hoped we would never see, but which deep down, we knew would come,” he wrote on social media.

Attacker was not known to police

Police identified the attacker as Jihad Al-Shamie, a 35-year-old British citizen of Syrian descent who entered the United Kingdom as a young child and became a citizen in 2006. Al-Shamie translates into English as “the Syrian,” and authorities are unsure whether that is his birth name.

Police said the crime is being investigated as a terrorist attack. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the attacker was not previously known to police or to Prevent, a counterterror program that tries to identify people at risk of radicalization.

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Mahmood said “it’s too early to say” whether the attacker acted alone or was part of a cell. Officers arrested two men in their 30s and a woman in her 60s on suspicion of the preparation or commission of acts of terrorism in connection with the attack.

Neighbors of the attacker in the Manchester suburb of Prestwich, a couple of miles (about 3 kilometers) from the synagogue, said Al-Shamie’s family had lived in the house for years. Several described seeing Al-Shamie lifting weights and working out in the backyard.

Geoff Halliwell, who lives nearby, said he appeared to be “a straightforward, ordinary lad.”

A statement on Facebook from the attacker’s family condemned the “heinous act, which targeted peaceful, innocent civilians.

“Our hearts and thoughts are with the victims and their families, and we pray for their strength and comfort,” the statement said.

Religious leaders condemn the attack

Religious and political leaders condemned the attack and pledged to reassure Britain’s Jewish community, which numbers about 300,000.

Police said extra officers would be on the streets of Manchester on Friday and through the weekend.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who visited the scene of the attack on Friday morning with his wife Victoria, said “this was a dreadful attack, a terrorist attack to inflict fear. Attacking Jews because they are Jews.

“It’s really important today that the whole country comes together, people of all faiths and no faith, stand in support and solidarity with our Jewish community,” he said.

Anglican bishop Sarah Mullally, who was named Friday as the next leader of the Church of England, said that “hatred and racism of any kind cannot be allowed to tear us apart.”

Recorded antisemitic incidents in the U.K. have risen sharply since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and Israel’s ensuing war against Hamas according to Community Security Trust, a charity that provides advice and protection for British Jews. More than 1,500 incidents were reported in the first half of the year, the second-highest six-month total reported since the record set over the same period a year earlier.

Calls for pro-Palestinian protests to be canceled

Some politicians and religious leaders claimed pro-Palestinian demonstrations, which have been held regularly since the war in Gaza began, had played a role in spreading hatred of Jews. Some say chants such as “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” incite violence. Others, including Jews who support the protests, say they want a ceasefire, an end to the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

Mirvis, the chief rabbi, urged authorities to “get a grip on these demonstrations. They are dangerous.”

Some British Jews also say the U.K.’s recognition of a Palestinian state this month has emboldened antisemitism — a claim the government rejects. Lammy was interrupted by boos and shouts of “Shame on you” as he addressed the vigil in Manchester.

Lammy told the crowd that “we stand with you against terrorism,” and urged organizers of planned pro-Palestinian demonstrations over the weekend “to stop and to stand back.”

Police in London urged organizers to call off a protest planned for Saturday to oppose the banning of the group Palestine Action, which has been labeled a terrorist organization by the government.

Organizers said they would not cancel the demonstration, where hundreds of people are expected to hold signs supporting the banned group.

“Canceling peaceful protests lets terror win,” the group said in a statement.

Lawless reported from London. Brian Melley and Pan Pylas contributed to this story.

By JULIE WATSON and AMY TAXIN, Associated Press

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Trump administration is tapping National Guard and Army Reserve lawyers to be temporary immigration judges after firing dozens of existing judges, the latest step in a broader plan that experts warn could harm immigration courts and the military justice system.

Training for the first group of Army lawyers begins Monday and training for the second group is expected to start in the spring, several former and current military reserve lawyers said they were told. Roughly 100 Army Reserve lawyers are expected to participate, with 50 beginning a nearly six-month assignment immediately after their training, according to a Sept. 3 email sent to an Army Reserve attorney and reviewed by The Associated Press.

The administration wants to bring in as many as 600 military-trained attorneys to help make decisions about which immigrants can stay in the country. Advocates are alarmed by the move to use military lawyers to bolster staffing in the backlogged immigration courts as President Donald Trump’s administration ramps up immigration arrests.

Those courts have yearslong waits for hearings, and the number of pending cases has more than doubled in the past four years to 3.4 million.

Both the Army and National Guard said they hope to fill the assignments with volunteers.

“This assignment provides the opportunity to gain judicial experience in a high tempo, nationally significant setting,” an email sent to members of the Army’s Reserve Legal Command stated, adding that locations and other details will be released later.

A notification seeking volunteers sent Sept. 6 to active-duty and reserve National Guard members said “ideal candidates will possess experience in administrative law, immigration law, service as a military judge” or a related field. Applicants should have sound judgment, impartiality and a “suitable temperament for the role,” it said.

The Trump administration increasingly has turned to the military to support its crackdown on illegal immigration. That has included troops patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border, National Guard members being sent into U.S. cities to support immigration enforcement efforts, housing people awaiting deportation on military bases, and using military aircraft to carry out deportations.

Concerns over lack of training

Immigration judges each manage hundreds or thousands of cases, deciding who gets asylum and green cards to stay in the U.S. Their rulings shape both the lives of immigrant families and the success of Trump’s crackdown.

Some immigration and military law experts are concerned the reservists will be put in the job without enough training or experience after more than 100 immigration judges were fired or left.

With only about 600 immigration judges remaining, the Pentagon move would double their ranks. Trump’s sweeping new tax and spending law provided $170 billion for immigration enforcement, including the hiring of 10,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees, but it caps the number of permanent immigration judges at 800.

“They’re letting a lot of experienced judges go, terminating them with no notice, and yet they claim that there’s a shortage so they need to have these military JAG officers step in and take over,” said Margaret Stock, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and immigration lawyer.

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Of particular concern, the administration is not requiring experience as an administrative law judge or in immigration law as in the past, she said. Stock has taught seminars on immigration law at West Point but said military lawyers learn only a minimal amount to be able to help fellow service members with things like visas for spouses or children.

“Immigration law is super technical and complicated,” she said. “It’s worse than tax law, and it’s constantly changing. And it has its own terminology, its own rules that don’t make any sense.”

Immigration judges come from a range of legal backgrounds, including the military, the Justice Department, immigration enforcement agencies, and private practice. The government previously required applicants to have seven years’ experience before undergoing a lengthy hiring process, then six weeks of training followed by a two-year probation period.

Until now, temporary judges needed 10 years of legal experience in immigration, and were often retired immigration judges, according to the government’s rule laying out the new plan.

The Defense Department did not return an email seeking comment. The Executive Office for Immigration Review, which runs the immigration courts, declined to comment. In the rule, the agency wrote that many successful immigration judges had little experience in immigration law before taking the job.

“Immigration law experience is not always a strong predictor of success,” the rule said.

In the military, an attorney is known as a judge advocate general, or JAG. They study at accredited law schools and pass the bar exam before going into a military law program for just over two months. They sometimes work as special assistants to U.S. attorneys and gather evidence to prosecute criminal cases, much like civilian prosecutors do, said Mark Nevitt, a former Navy JAG and associate professor at Emory University School of Law.

“They are some of the greatest lawyers you’ll meet in the national security world,” but this will require they “get up to speed pretty quickly on a complex body of law and then adjudicate matters and claims as a judge,” Nevitt said.

Matt Biggs, president of a federal employee union that represents immigration judges, said tapping lawyers with little or no immigration experience to hear these complex, high-stakes cases will likely do more harm than good.

“It will lead to more appeals of decisions. It will further increase the backlog. It’s going to be an inefficient and costly endeavor,” Biggs said. “It sets a dangerous precedent in this country when it comes to due process protections.”

Gregory Chen of the American Immigration Lawyers Association said the Justice Department is “watering down the qualifications of those it will empower to make life-or-death decisions.”

He also worries the administration will hold too much sway over the temporary hires. The permanent judges are government employees with civil service protections.

Democrats have questioned the plan’s legality

Some Democratic senators have warned the Pentagon plan may violate the Posse Comitatus Act, which bans service members from carrying out law enforcement duties, and fear taking away the JAGs could harm the military justice system. They sent a letter to the offices of the top military lawyers for the four services, asking where the roughly 600 lawyers will be coming from and what legal analysis the military has conducted.

A Pentagon memo describing the plan said the appointments should be for no longer than six months. The memo also said the Justice Department would be responsible for ensuring the military lawyers don’t violate the Posse Comitatus Act.

If the military lawyers serve entirely under civilian personnel then it could be legal, Nevitt said, but it’s unclear.

Some immigrant advocates believe the administration is presuming military lawyers are more likely to deny cases to meet Trump’s deportation goals.

But Greg Rinckey, a former Army lawyer who is now in private practice, said that assumption is wrong.

“They will not rubber stamp because most of us have served as defense counsel,” he said. “We’re not all government hacks.”

A number of his friends who are Army Reserve JAGs have signed up because they are interested in immigration law and want to serve a national need, he said.

“And also it’s a way to put something else on your resume — that you served as a judge.”

Taxin reported from Santa Ana, California. Konstantin Toropin in Washington also contributed.