After more than 100 years in South St. Paul, the massive red brick gates at the former Armour & Co. meatpacking plant are gone.

The deconstruction of the gates, which was approved by the South St. Paul City Council last month, began Tuesday to the dismay of some local residents.

“I had two grandfathers that worked down there for many years. Right now they’re rolling in their graves,” one resident said on Facebook.

The two brick and limestone gatehouses served as the entrance to the sprawling Armour & Co. meatpacking campus. Constructed in 1919, the campus was once the world’s largest and most modern meatpacking plant. It also helped define the city’s way of life.

At its peak, the Armour complex had 4,000 employees who slaughtered nearly 2,000 animals an hour. But changes in the way meat was raised, packed and marketed turned the factory into a relic. It was closed in 1979 and a decade later, everything was demolished except the gates.

“In the 35 years since the Armour plant was demolished, the structures have stood witness,” the city said on its Facebook page. The gates that once welcomed workers to the Armour and Co. meatpacking plant survived long enough to see the site and the adjacent former Union Stockyards transform into a business park with more than 80 businesses.

Decision to demolish

Brick and limestone gates seen in 2009 at the old Armour & Co. meatpacking plant in South St. Paul. The gates were demolished on Dec. 2, 2025. (Ben Garvin / Pioneer Press)

The decision to deconstruct the gates was driven by several factors, including the high price tags to either relocate or maintain the structures.

By removing the gates, the city is making way for Bonfe Plumbing and Heating to acquire the site at Armour Avenue and Hardman Avenue South for an office and warehouse building that could generate up to $175,000 in annual property taxes, the South St. Paul Voice reported.

The demolition of the gates is expected to wrap up this week, but not all bricks will be accounted for.

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“The city is salvaging intact brick and limestone elements of the structures,” said City Administrator Ryan Garcia on Thursday.

While there is no plan to formally display the salvaged materials, “the high-level discussion to this point has been around providing an opportunity for community members to obtain bricks as ‘keepsakes’ and, to the extent feasible, integrating masonry elements into a public art installation of some sort,” Garcia said.

The details of that potential project would be decided through a public engagement process next year, he said.

“Ultimately, the difficult conclusion was reached that deconstructing the structures and preserving those elements of the structures that remain intact represented the most fiscally responsible and holistically forward-looking approach, all the while recognizing that this approach was not a universally popular one,” the city said on Facebook.

By JILL LAWLESS and JAMEY KEATEN, Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — The Eurovision Song Contest, which aims to be an upbeat celebration of music and unity, is facing the biggest crisis in its seven-decade history after four countries walked out of the competition over Israel’s participation and others weighed whether to join the boycott.

Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland and Slovenia announced they will not take part in the 2026 contest in Vienna in May after organizers declined to expel Israel over its conduct of the war against Hamas in Gaza. Iceland is considering whether to follow suit.

The walkouts cast a cloud over the future of what’s meant to be a feel-good cultural party, dealing a blow to fans, broadcasters and the contest’s finances.

Eurovision expert Paul Jordan said Friday “it’s unlikely we’ll see a mass exodus” but that 2026 will be a “tense year.”

A contest divided over Israel and Gaza

Founded in 1956, in part to help unite a shattered continent after World War II, Eurovision pits acts from dozens of countries against one another for the continent’s musical crown.

Overtly political symbols and lyrics are prohibited, but global tensions have often imposed themselves. Russia, for example, was expelled in 2022 after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Tensions rose again after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which killed some 1,200 people, and Israel’s subsequent campaign in Gaza that has left more than 70,000 people dead. The last two Eurovision contests have seen pro-Palestinian protests both outside the venues and inside, forcing organizers to clamp down on political flag-waving.

A number of performers and countries have called for the exclusion of Israel, which has taken part in Eurovision since 1973, one of a few non-European countries to compete.

Organizers sought a compromise

The Geneva-based European Broadcasting Union — a group of public broadcasters from 56 countries that runs Eurovision — tried to assuage concerns by tightening rules on contest voting and campaigning in response to allegations that Israel manipulated the public vote in favor of its competitor Yuval Raphael. She came second in this year’s contest behind Austrian singer JJ.

The EBU’s general assembly approved the new rules Thursday, but did not hold a vote on Israel’s participation. It said “a large majority of members” felt the contest “should proceed as planned, with the additional safeguards in place.”

Eurovision Director Martin Green told Swedish television that the meeting reaffirmed “the belief that the Eurovision Song Contest shouldn’t be used as a political theater. It must retain some sense of neutrality.”

Some countries walked out

Immediately after the EBU decision, broadcasters RTVE in Spain, AVROTROS in the Netherlands, RTÉ in Ireland and Slovenia’s RTVSLO announced they were pulling out.

RTVE said the situation in Gaza, despite the recent ceasefire, and “Israel’s use of the contest for political purposes, make it increasingly difficult to maintain Eurovision as a neutral cultural event.” RTÉ said participation was “unconscionable given the appalling loss of lives in Gaza.”

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Icelandic broadcaster RUV, which had recommended Israel be barred, said its chiefs will meet Wednesday to discuss whether to join the walkout.

Other countries’ broadcasters, including Norway’s NRK and Britain’s BBC, welcomed the decision to keep Israel in the competition.

“We support the collective decision made by members of the EBU,” the BBC said in a statement. “This is about enforcing the rules of the EBU and being inclusive.”

French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said his country opposes a cultural boycott of Israel.

“I am pleased that Eurovision did not give in to pressure, and that France helped prevent a boycott of Israel in this forum,” he wrote on X. “I deeply regret that several European television channels made a different choice.”

Israel welcomed organizers’ decision

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said on social platform X that he was “pleased” Israel will again take part and hoped “the competition will remain one that champions culture, music, friendship between nations and cross-border cultural understanding.”

Some Israelis said they were glad their country was participating but felt the debate around them was unfair.

“I’m happy but I’m not dancing in the streets,” Izhar Cohen, who won Eurovision in 1978, told The Associated Press in Tel Aviv. “Eurovision should be a meeting and gathering together with no politics of all the people from all nations,” he said.

Tel Aviv resident Bret Katz said “it’s a terrible, terrible thing to ostracize a country and not to understand who was attacked on October 7, 2023.”

A blow for fans and finances

The boycotting countries will not send a musical act to the 2026 contest and will not broadcast it. That will likely cut into viewership of a contest that typically draws more than 150 million viewers.

Fans in the boycotting countries should still be able to watch on digital platforms including YouTube, and another Dutch broadcaster, NPO, said it will air the show in the Netherlands.

The boycotts are a financial blow to Eurovision, which is funded largely by participating broadcasters — and to boycotting public broadcasters at a time when many are under financial pressure from government funding cuts and competition from social media.

The EBU does not disclose how much each country pays, but the pullouts include Spain, one of the “Big Five” large-market countries that contribute the most to the contest.

So far, more than two dozen countries have confirmed they will compete in Vienna, including heavyweights like seven-time champion Sweden. The EBU says a final list of participants will be released before Christmas.

The boycott is offset to an extent by the return of Bulgaria, Moldova and Romania to Eurovision after periods of absence because of financial and artistic reasons.

Jordan said viewing figures would be closely watched, “and if they are significantly down, then that’ll probably raise alarm bells.

“But I think overall the contest is a sturdy thing,” he said.

Keaten reported from Geneva. Associated Press writers Paz Bar in Tel Aviv and Samuel Petrequin contributed to this story.

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, a Tokyo-born actor known for his roles in the film “Mortal Kombat” and TV series “The Man in the High Castle” has died. He was 75.

Tagawa died surrounded by his family in Santa Barbara from complications due to a stroke, his manager, Margie Weiner, confirmed on Thursday.

“Cary was a rare soul: generous, thoughtful, and endlessly committed to his craft,” she said in an email. “His loss is immeasurable. My heart is with his family, friends, and all who loved him.”

Tagawa’s decades of film and TV roles truly got off the ground in 1987 when he appeared in Bernardo Bertolucci’s Oscar-winning film “The Last Emperor.” Since then, he appeared in such films as “Pearl Harbor,” “Planet of the Apes” and “License to Kill.”

Tagawa was raised mostly in the U.S. South while his Hawaii-born father was assigned to U.S. mainland Army bases. He lived in Honolulu and on the Hawaiian island of Kauai for a while.

Tagawa’s father met his mother while stationed in Japan, Tagawa told Honolulu Magazine in 2004. His parents named him after Cary Grant and his brother after Gregory Peck, he said.

His mother, Ayako, had been a stage actor in Japan, according to the Honolulu weekly newspaper Midweek. Tagawa said she asked him not to pursue acting because there weren’t many good roles for Asians.

He eventually began an acting career at age 36 after being a celery farmer, limo driver, pizza supply truck driver and photojournalist, he said.

“The good news for Asian actors and Hollywood is that it’s better than it’s ever been, but the bad news is that it hasn’t changed that much,” he told Midweek in 2005. “The opportunities haven’t increased that much, but commercially there’s more exposure.”

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Tagawa played the Baron in “Memoirs of a Geisha,” a 2005 movie based on the bestselling novel chronicling a young girl’s rise from poverty in a Japanese fishing village to life in high society.

Some critics said the movie lacked authenticity, but Tagawa said it was unrealistic to expect a fictional work written and directed by Americans to fully reflect Japanese style and sensitivities.

“What did they expect? It wasn’t a documentary,″ Tagawa told The Associated Press in 2006. “Unless the Japanese did the movie, it’s all interpretation.″

Tagawa told the AP that he studied various martial acts but left because he wasn’t into fighting or competition.

Instead, he developed a system he called Ninjah Sportz, which incorporated martial arts as a training and healing tool. He worked with professional athletes like World Boxing Council light flyweight champion Brian Viloria and advised members of the University of Hawaii football team.

In 2008, Tagawa pleaded guilty in a Honolulu court to a petty misdemeanor charge of harassing a girlfriend. She had bruises to her legs, police said at the time.

His attorney said he took full responsibility for the case from the beginning and made no excuses.

By ERIC TUCKER, ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The man accused of planting a pair of pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic national parties in Washington on the eve of the U.S. Capitol attack confessed to the act in interviews with investigators, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.

Brian Cole Jr. also indicated that he believed the 2020 election was stolen and expressed views supportive of President Donald Trump, said the people, who were not authorized to discuss by name an ongoing investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.

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The details add to a still-emerging portrait of the 30-year-old suspect from Woodbridge, Virginia, and it was not immediately clear what other information or perspectives he may have shared while cooperating with law enforcement following his arrest on Thursday.

Federal authorities have not publicly disclosed any information about a possible motive or whether there is any connection to the attack on the Capitol the following day by Trump supporters.

A spokesperson for the federal public defender’s office, which will be representing Cole at a Friday court appearance in Washington, declined to comment. Calls to relatives of Cole listed in public records were not immediately returned Thursday.

Cole faces explosives charges in connection with the Jan. 5, 2021 placement of the pipe bombs near the offices of the Democratic and Republican national committees. Nobody was hurt before the bombs were rendered safe, but the FBI has said both devices could have been lethal.

An FBI affidavit made public Thursday indicated that investigators zeroed in on Cole through analysis of credit card charges related to the purchase of pipe bomb components, cellphone towers and a license plate reader.

The arrest marks the first time investigators have publicly identified a suspect in an act that has been an enduring mystery for nearly five years in the shadow of the violent Capitol attack.