When last seen on a basketball court in the Twin Cities, Isaiah Johnson-Arigu scored 25 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead Totino-Grace to its third straight Class 3A state championship in March of 2024.

It was the 6-foot-7 Johnson-Arigu’s farewell party, as the four-star recruit decided to take his talents to Miami to play for the Hurricanes and heralded coach Jim Larranaga.

Isaiah Johnson-Arigu goes up for a dunk during practice this month on campus. A former star at Totino-Grace, Johnson-Arigu is excited to play for a Tommies program with a new arena and their first chance to make the NCAA tournament. (Collin Boyles / St. Thomas Athletics)

Twenty months later, a circuitous route has led him back home.

Johnson-Arigu will make his debut with St. Thomas on Monday at St. Mary’s (Calif.) as one of the marquee players for a program boasting a new arena, its most talented roster to date and a legitimate chance of reaching the NCAA tournament in its first year of eligibility by claiming the Summit League championship.

And Johnson-Arigu is thrilled to be a part of it.

“There’s just a tremendous upside here,” he said. “The new arena, being eligible for March Madness. It feels amazing to be home. Its’s been a wild journey so far.”

‘Higher’

Johnson-Arigu, who saw limited playing time in eight games with the Hurricanes last season, entered the transfer portal shortly after Larranaga announced his retirement in late December. He signed to play for Iowa in the new year but did not see any action.

When Iowa fired longtime coach Fran McCaffery after the season, it was back to the portal for Johnson-Arigu.

“I had been through it already; it was going to be a whole new roster,” he said of the Hawkeyes’ coaching change. “I didn’t want all the uncertainties, especially with a team back home who really wanted me.”

The Tommies and coach Johnny Tauer were the first to offer Johnson-Arigu a scholarship when he was in high school. But as his national offers continued to mount, their chances of landing him all but disappeared.

“We were in a different spot then,” Tauer said. “We didn’t have this arena, we weren’t eligible for the NCAA tournament. Now, there are going to be more kids like Isaiah, both locally and regionally, who have offers from high major schools, who look at St. Thomas and are going to be able to check off every box in terms of their experience.”

While he felt a connection to Tauer and his staff, Johnson-Arigu, in the end, was swayed by the allure of Miami, as well as the chance to move out of his comfort zone.

“I knew I wanted to go ‘higher,’ ” he said. “Now, with the upside we have, I honestly think we are ‘higher’ right now.”

Johnson-Arigu is one of four Division I transfers joining the Tommies this season, a list that includes Tommy Humphires Jr., Johnson-Arigu’s high school teammate and good friend who spent the past two seasons at Furman.

“We were in close contact throughout when this whole transfer portal thing was happening,” Johnson-Arigu said. “We were like, ‘Might as well; big things are going to be happening here, so we might as well be a part of it.’ ”

Son of a coach

Johnson-Arigu is the son of a basketball coach. Peter Arigu, who has been teaching basketball for nearly 30 years, operates a basketball skills business — The Peter Arigu Training Corner — out of the Lifetime Fitness Center in St. Louis Park. The native Nigerian also is an instructor for NBA Africa, teaching the game and spreading its reach.

Father and son have spent countless hours in the gym together, something Arigu says has resumed now that Isaiah is home. The focus has always been on proper footwork, with added attention on improving Johnson-Arigu’s three-point shot.

“He’s old school,” Arigu said of his son’s game. “Simple basketball. Not too much dribbling; one or two dribbles and get to the basket, shoot or pass. The young generation, most of the kids dribble the ball too much.

“I emphasize that with my son, and he understands. I sat with him and showed him Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan, David Robinson. The efficiency is important, and that’s how he plays. He’s not fancy, he just gets the work done.”

Likewise, Tauer sees a very coachable player who plays the game the right way. And one with the talents and attributes the Tommies are looking for as they continue their ascension in Division I basketball.

“I always felt he was really skilled in terms of his passing and his shooting, combined with his dynamic athleticism,” Tauer said. “More people see athleticism; they don’t necessarily see his vision.

“One of the things that I think makes us special — not just our guys’ unselfishness — (is) their ability to pass. That’s something we really target in recruiting. That was one of the traits we liked about Isaiah’s game, his ability to pass, and to play virtually any position on offense.”

Four-star additions

Tauer said that Johnson-Arigu has the potential to be a big-time scorer, but his approach to the game is perfect fit for a team that is built on passing up a good shot for an even better one.

“A lot of our offense is predicated on having a lot of skilled players,” Tauer said. “So, in that sense he fits us very well. We play position-less basketball, so he’s open to playing any role. He’s a good three-point shooter, he can put the ball on the floor, he’s an unbelievable passer and a good finisher around the basket.

“He’s one of those guys who’s really into making the right basketball play over and over and over. We recruit that type of player, and if you have enough of those guys, sooner or later you’re going to find an open shot.”

Johnson-Arigu and Wisconsin native Nick Janowski, a transfer from Nebraska, are the first four-star recruits to play for the Tommies. A natural transition for the still-growing program is to reach the point that it can sign those types of players out of high school.

Tauer believes it will happen sooner than later.

“We’re going to continue to be very selective,” he said. “We don’t recruit a lot of guys because the fit is so important. It doesn’t mean we don’t make mistakes, but we spend an inordinate amount of time trying to find guys who are going to love being here.”

Totino-Grace’s IsaiahÊ Johnson-Arigu (4) goes up for a shot as Mankato East’s Amari Nobles (1) and Ganden Gosch (12) look on during the second half of the Class 3A championship game in the State Boys Basketball Tournament at Williams Arena in Minneapolis on Saturday, March 23, 2024. Totino-Grace won 73-64. (Craig Lassig / Special to the Pioneer Press)

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By MARGERY BECK and GEOFF MULVIHILL

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, is a major piece of the U.S. social safety net used by nearly 42 million, or about 1 in 8 Americans, to help buy groceries.

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Originally known as the food stamp program, it has existed since 1964, serving low-income people, many of whom have jobs but don’t make enough money to cover all the basic costs of living.

Public attention has focused on the program since President Donald Trump’s administration announced last week that it would freeze SNAP payments starting Nov. 1 in the midst of a monthlong federal government shutdown. The administration argued it wasn’t allowed to use a contingency fund with about $5 billion in it to help keep the program going. But on Friday, two federal judges ruled in separate challenges that the federal government must continue to fund SNAP, at least partially, using contingency funds. However, the federal government is expected to appeal, and the process to restart SNAP payments would likely take one to two weeks.

Here’s a look at how SNAP works.

Who’s eligible?

There are income limits based on family size, expenses and whether households include someone who is elderly or has a disability.

Most SNAP participants are families with children, and more than 1 in 3 include older adults or someone with a disability.

Nearly 2 in 5 recipients are households where someone is employed.

Most participants have incomes below the poverty line, which is about $32,000 for a family of four, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the program, says nearly 16 million children received SNAP benefits in 2023.

Who’s not eligible?

People who are not in the country legally, and many immigrants who do have legal status, are not eligible. Many college students aren’t either, and some states have barred people with certain drug convictions.

Under a provision of Trump’s big tax and policy law that also takes effect Nov. 1, people who do not have disabilities, are between ages 18 and 64 and who do not have children under age 14 can receive benefits for only three months every three years if they’re not working. Otherwise, they must work, volunteer or participate in a work training program at least 80 hours a month.

How much do beneficiaries receive?

On average, the monthly benefit per household participating in SNAP over the past few years has been about $350, and the average benefit per person is about $190.

The benefit amount varies based on a family’s income and expenses. The designated amount is based on the concept that households should allocate 30% of their remaining income after essential expenses to food.

Families can receive higher amounts if they pay child support, have monthly medical expenses exceeding $35 or pay a higher portion of their income on housing.

How do benefits work?

The cost of benefits and half the cost of running the program is paid by the federal government using tax dollars.

States pay the rest of the administrative costs and run the program.

People apply for SNAP through a state or county social service agency or through a nonprofit that helps people with applications. In some states, SNAP is known by another, state-specific name. For instance, it’s FoodShare in Wisconsin and CalFresh in California.

The benefits are delivered through electronic benefits transfer, or EBT, cards that work essentially like a bank debit card. Besides SNAP, it’s where money is loaded for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, program, which provides cash assistance for low-income families with children, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.

The card is swiped or inserted in a store’s card reader at checkout, and the cardholder enters their PIN to pay for food. The cost of the food is deducted from the person’s SNAP account balance.

What can it buy?

SNAP benefits can only be used for food at participating stores — mostly groceries, supermarkets, discount retail stores, convenience stores and farmers markets. It also covers plants and seeds bought to grow your own food. However, hot foods — like restaurant meals — are not covered.

Produce, which is covered by the USDA Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), is displayed for sale at a grocery store in Baltimore, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Most, but not all, food stores participate. The USDA provides a link on its website to a SNAP retail locator, allowing people to enter an address to get the closest retailers to them.

Items commonly found in a grocery and other participating stores that can’t be bought with SNAP benefits include pet food, household supplies like toilet paper, paper towels and cleaning products, and toiletries like toothpaste, shampoo and cosmetics. Vitamins, medicines, alcohol and tobacco products are also excluded.

Sales tax is not charged on items bought with SNAP benefits.

Are there any restrictions?

There aren’t additional restrictions today on which foods can be purchased with SNAP money.

But the federal government is allowing states to apply to limit which foods can be purchased with SNAP starting in 2026.

So far, a dozen states — 11 of them Republican-controlled plus Colorado — have received permission to do so.

All of them will bar buying soft drinks, most say no to candy, and some block energy drinks.

Stillwater coach Mike Huber admitted anything less than a state championship this season would have been “disappointing.” Powered by a talented, 17-member senior class that had largely been together for the past several seasons, this was going to be the Ponies’ year.

But Friday’s Class 3A state final wasn’t following the script. A pair of goals for top-seeded Wayzata had the Ponies trailing 2-0 with 10 minutes to play in the first half at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Disappointment was staring Stillwater in the face. But so, too, was Déjà vu.

For weeks now, before every postseason bout, the coaching staff had played footage from the defining moment of the Ponies’ most recent championship run — the 2021 state semifinal win over Edina — to the current players, .

The message, per Huber: “This is what it takes to win a championship.”

On that day, Stillwater scored the game’s final three goals to rally from a 2-0 deficit against the much-heralded Hornets.

“We had no business winning that game,” Huber joked.

They had no intention of losing this one, but the Ponies needed something — anything — to change the championship’s course. They found it on the left foot of Alayna Muths.

With 9 minutes remaining in the half, the senior forward corralled a throw-in on the wide edge of the box amid traffic. Muths turned left, found a sliver of space between three Wayzata defenders and ripped a bender that dipped inside the upper-left part of the frame to suddenly cut Stillwater’s deficit in half.

Game on.

“That gave us a little bit more momentum (and belief) that we can stay in this game,” Stillwater senior forward Rylee Lawrence said.

The score stood at 2-1 more than 10 minutes into the second stanza when opportunity knocked for Muths again. She answered a second time.

A throw-in was headed twice by two different Stillwater players into the box. The ball then found its way past Lawrence and a pair of Trojan defenders and leaked to the backside, where Muths stood alone. She beat the goalie near post to tie the game 2-2.

Which set the stage for Lawrence, Stillwater’s leading scorer this season who netted the lone goal in the semis against Eagan.

Ponies goalie Reese Elzen launched a goal kick 60 yards down the field. Lawrence won the ball, spun, then darted to her right. She out-raced a couple defenders to the edge of the box, where the senior launched a missile to the upper far corner to put the Ponies (19-1-1) on top for good with 15 minutes to play to win the state title, 3-2.

“It was unreal. I can’t even describe it,” Lawrence said. “Our team was working so hard. So, to be able to put it in for everyone else, too, besides myself, was just amazing.”

That was the drive for Stillwater all season. This was always the end goal, and the Ponies were going to push for it as one.

“It was like, ‘Hey, let’s work together, be a team, no drama,’ ” Huber said. “And let’s go out and get it done.”

They did — not just on Friday but every day throughout the fall. Players noted to Huber after the team’s final practice Thursday that he rarely put them through conditioning this season.

“I’m like, ‘Yeah, I guess I didn’t. You must not have (ticked) me off a lot,’ ” he joked. “The girls were awesome all year.. … They came out every day, worked hard. They deserved to be here.”

What perhaps felt like destiny had to be earned. Especially given the opponent. Friday marked defending-champion Wayzata’s first loss to a program not named Edina since 2022.

“If the loss comes against a team like Stillwater,” Wayzata coach Tony Peszneker said, “then it’s probably well-earned on their part, and something we can probably live with.”

The Trojans (16-1-2) pushed Stillwater to the brink in a classic clash of elite teams. Huber described Friday’s bout as “one of the best finals I’ve seen in a while.”

“Every championship game should be a game that you want to remember,” Peszneker said.

This one was. Of course, for the players, that was probably always going to be true. Prior to the contest, Ponies assistant coach Dusty Dennis told them that in 20 years, when they’re back in Stillwater, they’ll drive past the high school and think about this game.

“And now,” senior defender Savannah Backberg said, “we can think about how we won.”

Briefly

Edina beat Maple Grove 1-0 to win the Class 3A boys state title game Friday. Haden Smith scored the game’s lone goal in the 50th minute.

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Halloween night, around 9 o’clock. Perhaps even later. The wind whips, the branches wave. The candy bowl is empty. The doorbell has not rung for 90 minutes.

And then… DING DONG!

What infernal hell hath befallen us? Your spine stiffens and your blood runs cold. But you know the truth. The real Witching Hour has arrived. There’s a persistent second doorbell, followed by irritated mumbling through the walls — Dude, I saw a guy in the window, they’re home. … You open the door.

Teenagers. No costumes. No “Trick or treat!” They can barely deign to raise their leaden pillowcases. Something here — the bored stares, the nascent mustaches, their inability to read the room — feels off. You mutter that it’s late and have no more candy and they say nothing and spin on their heels and you close the door and sigh. Ten minutes later, another doorbell.

Oh, Great Pumpkin, please, an answer: How old is too old to trick or treat?

At least in Illinois, the answer — or rather, an answer — has more complexity, contemporary resonance and fascinating history than you might have considered. It is partly rooted in a chaotic Halloween party in Ogden Park exactly 100 years ago, a night when Chicago police found themselves shooting at teenagers, a night once defined by packs of older kids and vandalism. Before we embark, know this: There will be echoes of class resentment, and screams of gentrification. Here lies a holiday predicated on the idea that, for one night, we open our doors to our neighbors, even if we don’t recognize their masked faces. And yet, in the past century, that’s led to serious campaigns in Illinois to outlaw trick or treating.

For the record, there is no statewide age restriction on trick or treating in Illinois.

No state has such a law.

But many small communities around the country set formal and informal age limits. Some have for decades, including in Illinois. Virginia seems to have the most. As recently as 2017, Pennsauken, New Jersey, near Philadelphia, made an official statement: “Trick or treating is for kids, not adults. Anyone over the age of 14 cannot go out trick or treating, unless you’re acting as a chaperone. … And unfortunately, chaperones can’t ask for any candy.” Last fall, New Jersey’s Fairleigh Dickinson University asked 800 people nationally: How old is too old to trick or treat? The average reply was 13 and a half.

“People have always pointed out when a kid looks too old to be trick or treating, or when they didn’t put enough effort into their costumes,” said Dan Cassino, professor of government and politics at Fairleigh, and executive director of its polls, “but the problem (for a village or town looking to formalize age limits) is you get into race and class issues. People overestimate the ages of Black children. There are kids who want to trick or treat yet have less resources for costumes. That’s all true. I live in one of those neighborhoods where people arrive from outside to trick or treat, and so some people have a tendency to police who supposedly belongs or doesn’t. And doesn’t that go against the spirit of the holiday? Most teens will eventually opt out of trick or treating on their own.”

Still, since 2008, Belleville, Illinois, south of Springfield has had a controversial “Halloween solicitation” ordinance making it illegal for anyone older than 12 to wear a costume on a Belleville street any day other than Halloween “without permission of the Mayor or Chief of Police.”

“That’s in place to keep everybody safe,” said Mayor Jenny Gain Meyer. “We have a large senior citizen population not comfortable answering the door after a certain time of night.” But she acknowledges “We do get complaints (about the law),” and when she was a child, “You got home from school, got into your plastic costume, got a pillowcase and took off for hours on your own and got more candy than you knew what to do with. But I think the holiday just has a different feel now.”

In Marion, on the southern border of Illinois, the age limit is also 12, but according to city officials, it’s there primarily to allow room for smaller children to roam. In Forsyth, outside Decatur, village administrator Jill Applebee said there’s never been a call for age restrictions: “There are worse things kids could be doing that night.” But the village will also fine trick-or-treaters (up to $750) if they approach a home without its porch light on.

That’s one of the ways that towns, intentionally or not, discourage trick-or-treating into old age. In fact, the sporadic irritating surprise of a teenager on your porch is among the reasons why so many suburbs mandate specific times for trick-or-treating.

“Times are in place for that reason,” said Jan Tomaszewski, deputy city clerk of Palos Heights, “and it seems to work, we’ve never had trouble. If a doorbell rings after 7 p.m. now, you know it’s not a child.”

William, 4, left, and Zachary Schulte, 7, trick-or-treat in a neighborhood in Gurnee on Oct. 26, 2025. Gurnee does trick-or-treating on the Sunday before Halloween. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)

Many Lake County communities including Waukegan, Gurnee and Zion relocate trick-or-treating to several days before Oct. 31: “It’s become our tradition, for a long time now,” said Maurice Cashin, office manager of Wadsworth.

It’s also quite a way from the breathless dash of freedom Halloween night once offered, that classic autumn image popularized in part by Ray Bradbury, whose Halloween memories of Waukegan filled his beloved works: “Galloping, rushing, they seized a final sheet, adjusted a last mask, tugged at strange mushroom caps or wigs, shouting at the way the wind took them … just letting the sheer exhilaration of being alive and out on this night pull their lungs and shape their throats into a yell.”

Today, Bradbury would have to trick or treat five days before Halloween, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

“I bet 90% of the kids who trick or treat now have no real idea what the ‘trick’ part of what they’re saying really means anymore,” said Lisa Morton, a Halloween historian.

On the unlikely chance your child stumbles onto a time machine this Halloween and finds themselves in Chicago, Oct. 31, 1925, they might not even recognize the holiday.

That night, according to Chicago police, 25 drunk teens attacked a Halloween party in the field house at Ogden Park. Police arrived, found themselves outmatched and called for reinforcements. Some teenagers beat a few police, who responded by shooting at least two people. Nobody died, and one civic leader (unfortunately named R.O. Witcraft) told the Tribune the evening had otherwise been relatively sedate for the holiday. And in a way, it was.

Sure, besides the “Halloween riot,” the Tribune reported in the same article that several cars had been set on fire across the city; and several buildings were set on fire; and Chicagoans reported smashed windows and destroyed fences; and a 13- and 14-year old were arrested for hurling rocks at “L” trains; and 62 boys were caught in Evanston disrupting traffic and jumping on cars; and someone had attempted to burn down the stands at one of Northwestern University’s sports fields.

But “Otherwise,” the article decided, “Night Is Quiet With Usual Pranks.”

Because, by 1925, not just in Chicago but nationally, Halloween was nuts.

“We have a vision of the holiday as child-centered, innocent and by sixth grade, you’re too old,” said Joel Best, a sociology and criminal justice professor emeritus at the University of Delaware who studied crime and rumors of crime on Halloween. “Most of the traditions in the early 20th century were adolescent — a young woman who went into a dark room with a candle on Halloween could look into a mirror and see the face of the man she’d marry. That sort of thing. But on the other end, for years, there had been lots of violence and vandalism — and a lot of frustration over it.”

During much of the 19th century, Halloween gathered steam in the United States partly because of an influx of immigration from Ireland and England, where the holiday had ancient Celtic roots and early precursors to trick or treating included asking for candles to ward off demons and begging for money to pay for feasts on All Saints’ Day. A degree of class resentment, and pranking, carried into the New World. Doors were found barricaded in wealthy neighborhoods and soot was blown into the faces of well-to-do passersby. Newspaper accounts were of two minds about the hedonism: The Chicago Daily News ran a front-page editorial suggesting homeowners drive off Halloween pranksters by loading shotguns with rock salt and shooting. Conversely, many of those same papers welcomed a single night of letting off steam, jokingly reminding readers to tie down everything on their porches on Oct. 31. A Rock Island, Illinois, newspaper said Halloween was “license to do just the thing (youngsters) wouldn’t do any other night.”

A kind of non-lethal Purge.

Except people were getting hurt, and worse.

Children shot beans into the eyes of drivers and strung fishing line across public sidewalks. In 1924, two Chicago police officers were killed in a car crash when trash was stacked on a dark street. People were fed up with the holiday. In 1926, following the Ogden violence, Chicago school superintendent William McAndrew pushed for giving away movie tickets, good only at Halloween — as long as a child pledged to behave and sit through speeches by “prominent citizens.” He told the Tribune that he wanted kids to promise “garbage cans will preserve an upright position, swings will not barricade sidewalks, tires will remain inflated and cows will not be perched in trees.” The city said it handed out 80,000 free movie tickets that year.

Vandalism declined.

But by the end of World War II, and into the 1950s, communities found that trick or treating — which had been more of a sideline until midcentury — was an even better distraction, especially as suburbs grew and residents were feeling eager to meet new neighbors. Candy and costume companies, which finally went all-in on the holiday in the 1950s, agreed. “(Widespread vandalism on Halloween) was a problem that would solve itself,” said Best, “but then again, certain people are just wound a little tighter than others.”

On Long Island, in 1964, a woman was arrested for handing out dog biscuits, ant poison and steel wool to older trick-or-treaters; she swore she adored Halloween — her own sons, 14 and 16, had been trick-or-treating that night. By the 1960s, older kids without costumes, trick-or-treating late into the night, were a common gripe in Illinois town meetings.

In 1961, the city of Sparta, Illinois, proposed limiting trick-or-treat hours to combat the scourge. Others followed. Within a decade, as white flight was transforming suburbs, stories of trick-or-treat candy laced with razor blades and poison became conventional wisdom (despite being almost entirely apocryphal). Children from working-class communities trick-or-treating in wealthier communities were more common. As towns and villages increasingly fretted over safety on Halloween, a holiday once defined by lawlessness was gentrified. In 1972, for a brief time, Park Forest banned trick or treating altogether, on the rumor of razor blades in apples. That same year, after Burbank also banned trick or treating (on the grounds that it violated a solicitation ordinance), children picketed and the mayor set restricted hours for trick or treating — within two blocks of your home.

Fifty years later — and one Halloween season fueled by the 1982 Tylenol murders in Chicago — chances are, in your community, there are standardized civic guidelines for Halloween. Vandalism on Halloween does happen, though not nearly like in 1925.

You will still get a knock on your door late at night. In a way, that older kid on your porch is the last link to forgotten traditions. “When I was a kid, trick-or-treat lasted for days before, and sometimes after,” said David Motley, director of communications for the city of Waukegan. “You’d be gone for six or seven hours and come back with a pillowcase of candy and it was like magic. And now, conventional wisdom says tighten up, strive for less lawlessness and give it a timeline.”

Something mediocre this way comes.

cborrelli@chicagotribune.com