Former Guns N’ Roses drummer Steven Adler will headline a fundraiser this weekend for the Yellow Ribbon Alliance of the Lower St. Croix Valley.

Drummer Steven Adler waves during an April 15, 2012, performance after Guns N’ Roses’ induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak, File)

“Field of Bands” will be held noon to 8 p.m. Saturday at the Washington County Fairgrounds in Baytown Township. Also playing: Arch Allies, Wayward Boyz Klub and GNO (Girls Night Out). Adler and his band, who perform Guns N’ Roses classics, are scheduled to play from 6:30 to 8:15 p.m.

The fundraiser helps the Yellow Ribbon Alliance Lower St. Croix Valley provide scholarships for local graduating seniors; donate to organizations like Operation 23 to Zero, Patriot Assistance Dogs, and Homes For Our Troops; and host a Veterans’ Dinner each November, said Cindie Reiter, a member of the alliance.

The alliance also helps cover medical needs for a local family with a young child battling cancer; provides transportation for local Veterans needing medical care; carpentry and construction for families’ homes including plumbing/roofing, and has assisted a family clearing debris after a house fire, Reiter said.

Tickets are $31.80 in advance and $42.40 on the day of show; children 12 and under are free. Food trucks, wine and beer will be available at the event; no coolers will be allowed.

Attendees are asked to use the south entrance of the Washington County Fairgrounds on 40th Street and to bring their own chairs; limited picnic table seating is available. Parking is free.

New this year: No guns or weapons. A metal-detector wand will be used on all who enter.

For more information, go to 5cityyellowribbon.com.

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By ISABELLA VOLMERT and OBED LAMY, Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg rallied Democrats against redistricting in his home state of Indiana Thursday as pressure grows on Republican state lawmakers to redraw the state’s congressional districts.

Buttigieg — a contender to represent Democrats aiming to win back the presidency in 2028 — was the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, before he launched into the national political scene by running for president in 2020 and emerged victorious from the Iowa caucus that year.

Indiana Republicans have been hesitant to redistrict so far compared to other states where the GOP holds control. But Democrats have little power to stop the move if Republican leaders choose to create a new map.

“Indiana Republicans are being pressured by Washington Republicans to do something that they know in their hearts is wrong,” Buttigieg said.

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg speaks at a rally at the Statehouse in Indianapolis, Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025 for Indiana Democrats amid pressure from President Donald Trump on Republicans who control the state’s legislature to redistrict congressional seats. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Typically, states redraw their congressional districts every 10 years with the census. But President Donald Trump wants to give his party an advantage in the 2026 election in order to keep majority control in the House of Representatives, as midterms tend to favor the party out of power. Republicans in Texas and Missouri have moved to create advantageous new seats while California Democrats have countered with their own new proposal.

Indiana lawmakers however have not yet answered the redistricting call and have kept their cards close, emblematic of the state’s independent streak and its more measured approach to politics.

But pressure from Trump to redraw House districts has been mounting on Republicans in the state he won by 19 percentage points in 2024. First-term Gov. Mike Braun, a Republican, said Tuesday that a legislative session on redistricting probably will happen, and it could come as soon as November. But he doesn’t want to call a special session unless there will be a successful outcome.

“I’ve been very clear. I want it to be organic,” he said in a video reported by WRTV in Indianapolis.

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg speaks at a rally at the Statehouse in Indianapolis, Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025 for Indiana Democrats amid pressure from President Donald Trump on Republicans who control the state’s legislature to redistrict congressional seats. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

A large crowd gathered inside the statehouse in Indianapolis Thursday afternoon to see Buttigieg speak.

“It’s an issue of fairness,” said Judy Jessup, an Indianapolis resident. “The voters should get to choose politicians, not the other way around.”

Buttigieg is the biggest Democratic voice to come out of Indiana in recent memory. Following the 2020 election, Buttigieg and his family moved to Traverse City, Michigan, and he served as Secretary of Transportation under the Biden administration.

In an excerpt from her upcoming memoir, Kamala Harris said that Buttigieg was her first pick for 2024 running mate, but she said running with Buttigieg, who is openly gay, was too risky. He didn’t address the comments on Thursday.

Annette Groos holds a sign before the start of a rally featuring former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg at the Statehouse in Indianapolis, Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025 for Indiana Democrats amid pressure from President Donald Trump on Republicans who control the state’s legislature to redistrict congressional seats. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Braun could call a special session, but it would be up to lawmakers to create a new map. Republicans hold a supermajority in both chambers in Indiana, meaning Democrats could not stop or delay a special session by refusing to attend, like their peers in Texas briefly did. Republicans also outnumber Democrats in Indiana’s congressional delegation 7-2. Some Republicans see an opportunity to gain all nine seats in the state.

The GOP would likely target Indiana’s 1st Congressional District, a Democratic stronghold encompassing Gary and other cities near Chicago. Three-term Democratic Rep. Frank Mrvan won reelection in 2022 and easily retained the seat in 2024 even after Republicans redrew the district to be slightly more favorable to the GOP.

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Republicans could also zero in on the 7th Congressional District, composed entirely of Marion County and the Democratic stronghold of Indianapolis, but they would invite more controversy by slicing up Indiana’s largest city and diluting Black voters’ influence.

“Both of those districts are filled with Black voters,” state Sen. Andrea Hunley, who represents Indianapolis, said at the rally. “This is a racist power grab to silence voters who look like me.”

Texas passed a new map that would help Republicans win up to five new seats, and Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe, a Republican, is expected to sign legislation soon that would help Republicans win seven of the state’s eight districts. Meanwhile, California Democrats are launching a campaign to build support ahead of a Nov. 4 referendum on new U.S. House districts that were made to offset wins made by Texas Republicans.

Utah and Ohio may soon have new congressional district maps, and elected leaders in other states also are considering mid-decade redistricting, including Republicans in Florida and Kansas and Democrats in Maryland and New York.

Volmert reported from Lansing, Michigan.

British singer/songwriter Ed Sheeran will return to Minneapolis Aug. 15 to headline U.S. Bank Stadium for the third time.

Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Sept. 26 through Ticketmaster. Fans can register at edsheeran.com for early access to tickets. American Express cardholders have access to presale tickets starting at noon Sept. 23.

Sheeran, 34, is a true global phenomenon. More than two dozen of his singles have gone multi-platinum in the U.S., Canada, Australia and across Europe. His 2014 smash “Thinking Out Loud,” which went platinum 18 times over in the States, spent an entire year in the British Top 40 and won Sheeran his first two of a total of four Grammys.

For most of his career, Sheeran has performed his concerts alone, using a series of effects pedals and other technology to create a bed of sound that he sings, and raps, over. On his 2023 tour, he used a band for the first time for about a third of the set. His upcoming outing is dubbed the Loop Tour, which suggests he’ll return to performing solo.

On Friday, Sheeran released his eighth album, “Play.” He wrote and recorded it with a series of musicians and producers from around the world, including Ilya, Blake Slatkin, Cirkut, Omer Fedi, Savan Kotecha, Elvira Anderfjärd and Johnny McDaid.

Sheeran sold out Target Center in 2014 and did the same at Xcel Energy Center in 2015 and 2017. The following year, he drew a capacity crowd of nearly 50,000 to U.S. Bank Stadium.

He returned to USBS in 2023 and set a new attendance record of 72,102 thanks to his in-the-round stage, which allowed the venue to sell seats around the entire bowl. (Previous record-holder Garth Brooks also played on a considerably smaller in-the-round stage but had seats on the floor. It was general admission for Sheeran.)

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By LAURAN NEERGAARD, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration moved Thursday to shut down a Miami organ donation group, calling it “failing” because of underperformance, unsafe practices and paperwork errors.

The Life Alliance Organ Recovery Agency is one of 55 organ procurement organizations, or OPOs, nonprofit agencies around the country that coordinate the recovery of organs from deceased donors and help match them to patients on the nation’s transplant waiting list.

The administration cited an investigation that found a 2024 case where an unspecified mistake led a surgeon to decline a donated heart for a patient awaiting surgery.

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In a news briefing, Dr. Mehmet Oz, who heads the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said problems included would-be donations that went unrecovered, sending some donated organs to the wrong place and a lack of staff.

Life Alliance, a division of the University of Miami Health System, can appeal the decision. If it is shut down, it would mark the first time the federal government has decertified an OPO.

Life Alliance didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

More than 100,000 Americans are on the transplant list and thousands die waiting because there aren’t enough donations to go around. Last year there were more than 48,000 transplants, a record, the vast majority from deceased donors.

Changes to the transplant system have been underway for years to increase donations, reduce waste of potentially usable organs and address other concerns. They include some new safeguards after complaints last year that a different OPO didn’t stop donation preparations quickly enough when some patients showed signs of life, prompting some people to opt out of donor registries. Organ donation can proceed only after a hospital has declared someone dead — and by law, OPOs cannot be involved in that decision.

On Thursday, Oz sought to reassure would-be donors.

“Congress has thoughtfully and aggressively pursued some horrifying stories that have chilled some Americans’ enthusiasm for donating organs. We are here today to tell you this system is safe. It’s rigorously being addressed,” he said, adding later, “I want to applaud the OPOs that are doing a great job because most are.”

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.