By COLLEEN SLEVIN

DENVER (AP) — When the government shut down in 2018, a Mississippi nonprofit interceded to fund a bare-bones crew to keep one of the state’s most-visited cultural attractions operating. Now, the group is committed to doing that for Vicksburg National Military Park once again.

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The hilly Civil War battlefield where soldiers fought for control of the Mississippi River in 1863, run by the National Park Service, reopened Thursday thanks to a commitment from the Friends of Vicksburg National Military Park and Campaign to pay $2,000 a day to keep it open during the current shutdown.

“For us it is primarily and first and foremost an issue of protection of the park,” executive director Bess Averett said of the site, home to more than 18,000 graves of veterans from six wars and a few former park employees. “During shutdowns or times when the park is not staffed, it’s really vulnerable to vandalism and relic hunters.”

The Park Service’s contingency plan allows parks to enter into agreements with states, Native American tribes, local governments or other groups willing to donate to keep the sites open.

Organizations that support individual national parks across the country have also stepped forward to welcome visitors. West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey also signed a donation agreement to reopen the visitors’ centers at the state’s two national parks.

Many national parks have remained largely open but with visitors’ centers closed. The U.S. Interior Department, which includes the park service, has released only limited information and directed people to the general contingency plan for how its more than 400 sites should operate with reduced staffing during the shutdown — as opposed to a detailed, user-friendly list.

The plan allows parks with certain recreation fees to use that revenue that’s already been collected to provide basic services like restrooms, trash collection and law enforcement.

Hayley Smith and her two children, who were traveling from Louisiana to Arkansas, were among those who trickled into Vicksburg National Military Park on Wednesday but could only could see a lineup of canons and a few monuments. A gate blocking the park’s tour road kept them from exploring most of it. They plan to stop by again on their return trip.

“It’s a huge thing for these kids to be able to see the history and learn about our national parks,” she said.

Another park reopens with help of nonprofit

On the island of Oahu in Hawaii, the gates to the Pearl Harbor National Memorial were closed for several hours Wednesday morning because of the federal shutdown. The popular tourist site opened at 11 a.m. local time, thanks to the nonprofit that partners with the park service to support the memorial.

With fundraising help, the Pacific Historic Parks will keep the site, home to the USS Arizona Memorial, open during the shutdown as long as it can, the group said.

“The way the process works is the Park Service will provide us with an estimated daily cost and then for the number of days that we can afford, we will fund it,” said Pacific Historic Parks President and CEO Aileen Utterdyke.

It will cost an estimated $9,000 a day, which she hopes to cover by reaching out to Hawaii’s governor, the tourism authority, tour operators and other businesses who benefit from the more than 1.7 million yearly visitors to the site.

She said the fundraising plea can be applied to any park nationwide.

Other groups aid visitors in park employees’ absence

At Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado this week, drivers were waived through without paying an entrance fee. The roads were busy there, and long line formed at a freestanding restroom near a shuttered visitors’ center.

Staffers for the Rocky Mountain Conservancy, which raises money for the park, are helping to welcome people at a visitors’ center just outside the boundaries of the park that remains open under an existing joint agreement with the parks service, spokesperson Kaci Yoh said. The staffers, who operate a gift shop in the center, usually help park rangers who are not currently working there recommend hikes, pass out maps and guide people in how to respect the park’s landscape, Yoh said.

The group plans to add more employees during the shutdown, but they are not authorized to swear children into the junior ranger program, she said. The program allows children who take a pledge to be good stewards of national parks to get a badge.

“We are not rangers. We’re doing the best that we can,” Yoh said.

Staffers for a similar group that supports Grand Canyon National Park are also serving as ambassadors through the park’s gift stores. Proceeds will be used to support the park, just as they do normally, said Mindy Riesenberg, spokesperson for the Grand Canyon Conservancy.

National parks were damaged during past shutdowns

A national group that works to protect national parks urged the Trump administration to close all sites during the shutdown, citing damage in previous shutdowns, including to prehistoric petroglyphs at Big Bend National Park in Texas and slow-growing Joshua trees being cut down in Joshua Tree National Park in California.

“Guidance shouldn’t direct park staff to swing the gates open and walk away,” Theresa Pierno, the president of the National Parks Conservation Association, said in a statement.

States where national parks draw major tourism lobbied to keep them open during past shutdowns.

Utah agreed to donate $1.7 million in 2013 to keep its national parks open. Arizona, Colorado, New York, South Dakota and Tennessee have also donated money to keep parks staffed during previous shutdowns.

Associated Press journalists Sophie Bates in Vicksburg, Mississippi; Jennifer Sinco Kelleher in Honolulu; Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico; and John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia, contributed to this report.

A crew of roofers working in St. Paul were taken into custody Thursday in an apparent immigration enforcement raid, according to a state representative and a St. Paul City Council member.

Rep. Athena Hollins, who represents the area, said in a Facebook post that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were in unmarked vehicles in St. Paul’s North End where they “snatched up a whole crew of roofers who were minding their own business, doing their job.”

“Neighbors demanded the agents to identify themselves and they did not, leaving neighbors feeling confused who was present or if it was SPPD,” Councilmember HwaJeong Kim, who represents Ward 5, said on Facebook.

The St. Paul Police Department was not involved in any way, according to a department spokesperson.

“I want to be very clear, St. Paul police officers will always identify themselves when asked. This is our policy,” Kim said.

Hollins posted that the roofers “weren’t breaking the law, they weren’t dangerous gang members or drug dealers. They were working – contributing to our society and our neighborhoods and our economy. … These raids are not about safety – they are about cruelty and control.”

ICE officials did not immediately return a Pioneer Press request for comment.

Operation Twin Shield

Thursday’s news comes days after immigration officials said they discovered significant immigration fraud in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area during “Operation Twin Shield,” which kicked off Sept. 19.

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The operation’s efforts focused on site visits to verify information people had submitted in immigration cases, such as marriage and family-based petitions, employment authorizations and certain parole-related requests. The operation looked at 1,000 possible fraud cases and involved more than 900 site visits and in-person interviews. Out of those, there was evidence of 275 suspected fraud cases.

Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow said officers encountered “blatant marriage fraud,” overstays and other visa abuses, and people claiming to work at businesses that may not exist. The agency did not say how many more cases than normal it analyzed. A news release said four people had been apprehended but that the number might increase as investigations are completed.

By MARGERY A. BECK

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska officials missed a deadline this week granting licenses to marijuana growers as part of a voter-approved measure that legalized medical marijuana, offering the latest example of pushback in Republican-led states against efforts to legalize the drug.

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“How many times do we have to go down this road of fighting for our lives?” Lia Post asked through sobs Tuesday to the newly formed Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission as it became clear the body would not meet the Wednesday deadline.

Post lives in eastern Nebraska and suffers from a condition that causes chronic pain in her extremities. Marijuana provides relief from the condition and allows her to avoid addictive opiates.

“There’s no begging left in me,” Post cried during the commission meeting, where three members hand-picked by Republican Gov. Jim Pillen said they had to postpone licensing.

Nebraska Republican leaders from the governor to the state’s attorney general and conservative lawmakers are working to weaken or even kill the new law, despite its overwhelming support at the ballot box.

Most states have legalized some marijuana use

Twenty-four states and Washington, D.C., have legalized recreational marijuana for adults, although some efforts in Florida, North Dakota and South Dakota recently failed at the ballot box. The medical use of marijuana is more accepted and allowed in 40 states and the District of Columbia, including 17 states where voters approved it.

But some Republicans in those states have continued to fight against medical marijuana approved by voters. In South Dakota, a Republican state lawmaker unsuccessfully pushed a bill this year to repeal voter-approved medical marijuana. In Idaho, lawmakers proposed a constitutional amendment that would forbid citizen initiatives to legalize marijuana and instead leave such decisions to the Legislature.

And in Mississippi, the effort to undo a 2020 voter-backed medical marijuana law seems to have gutted that state’s citizen initiative process after the Mississippi Supreme Court voided it, ruling the state’s initiative process is outdated.

Reasons for the pushback appear rooted in the belief that marijuana is a dangerous drug.

Law enforcement has long opposed it as a gateway to other drug use and as a driving-while-intoxicated hazard that can’t be measured in the field by a Breathalyzer. Many cite the federal government’s continued classification of marijuana as a dangerous drug on par with heroin and LSD.

Karen O’Keefe, director of state policies at the Marijuana Policy Project, said polling has shown a majority of Republicans support legalized medical marijuana.

“It’s like a small part of the Republican Party, but some of them are vehemently opposed,” O’Keefe said. “It’s people that bought into reefer madness.”

Unlike marijuana, O’Keefe noted thousands of Americans die annually from prescription opiates and adverse incidents from other drugs.

Nebraska pushback on medical marijuana ‘unique’

The medical marijuana law passed by Nebraska voters in November required that licenses be issued by Wednesday. The reason for the delay? Days earlier, Pillen forced the resignation of the two commission members he hadn’t appointed. They had been tasked with checking the qualifications of cultivator applications.

Pillen has insisted he is not opposed to medical marijuana, but has made several moves that critics say are designed to keep people from accessing it. That includes appointing members to the commission who have publicly opposed legalizing marijuana, even for medical use. Pillen also asked the commission to limit the number of marijuana plants to be licensed for medical use to 1,250 — a number the industry argued is too low to accommodate the number of state residents seeking prescription marijuana.

“The purpose in doing so was to ensure that an overabundance of plants would not saturate the market and lead to the creation of unregulated and potentially illegal sales,” Pillen spokesperson Laura Strimple said.

The new Nebraska commission has so far flouted provisions of the voter initiative — including passing emergency rules that ban smoking, vaping or marijuana edibles for medical use, which are specifically allowed under the law voters passed. The commission has also forbidden flavorings to improve the taste of bitter tinctures and pills that are allowed, has drastically limited the number of growers and dispensaries to be licensed, placed burdensome and expensive continuing education requirements on doctors and restricted the amount and strength of medical marijuana that can be prescribed.

FILE – This photo combination shows Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen taking part in a panel discussion, Nov. 16, 2022, in Orlando, Fla., left, and State Sen. Mike Hilgers, of Lincoln, speaking during a debate in Lincoln, Neb., April 3, 2018. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, Nati Harnik, file)

State Attorney General Mike Hilgers has turned to the courts to try to invalidate the ballot initiative, approved by more than 70% of voters.

“I would say Nebraska is unique in the level of hostility of trying to overturn the will of the people,” said O’Keefe with the Marijuana Policy Project.

Attorney general says he’s following the rule of law

Hilgers lost a court battle last year in which he called into question the validity of thousands of signatures gathered to place the question on the November ballot. A former Republican state lawmaker also sued to void the new law, arguing that it violates federal prohibitions against marijuana. He lost that challenge in district court but has appealed to the state Supreme Court.

Hilgers said his legal fights are solely about protecting the rule of law, accusing the petition process of “unprecedented levels of fraud.” So far, the only success Hilgers has had in court is the misdemeanor conviction of a petition circulator accused of forging signatures on petitions.

“Someone cannot justify this wrongdoing by simply pointing to the favorable results on the ballot; if you could, it would create a dangerous precedent for future petition initiatives,” Hilgers said.

But Hilgers has made no secret of his opposition to even limited legalization of marijuana. In a March editorial, he said “marijuana is easily abused and is not safe to consume even under medical supervision.”

Advocates defend will of the people

Crista Eggers, who led the medical marijuana ballot initiative, argued a “black market” thrives when marijuana for medical use is too severely restricted.

Crista Eggers speaks to reporters, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, following the latest meeting of the Nebraska Medical Cannabis Commission, which missed a Wednesday deadline to issue marijuana grower licenses as part of a new medical marijuana law overwhelmingly passed by voters in November, in Lincoln, Neb. Eggers led the effort to get the initiative measure on the ballot. (AP Photo/Margery Beck)

“If you are one of the 71% that voted in support of medical cannabis, you should be angry, because the system and the regulatory framework that is coming down from this commission is not at all what voters intended,” she said.

Paul Armentano, of the marijuana advocacy organization NORML, said elected officials in states dominated by one political party count on voter partisanship.

“I can only presume that lawmakers are emboldened to take these steps because, generally, they don’t fear there will be repercussions from the voters at the ballot box,” he said.

A 22-year-old Forest Lake man who attended classes at White Bear Area High School last month skirted around the enrollment process by claiming he was a homeless youth and by using a birth certificate from another country that indicated he was 18, the school district said Thursday.

White Bear Lake Area Schools Superintendent Wayne Kazmierczak said in an email to families that the man certified on district forms that he was a homeless unaccompanied youth, a  designation that requires school districts to follow the McKinney Vento Act. The federal law mandates the immediate enrollment of eligible students even if they cannot provide standard documentation such as academic records, immunization or proof of residency.

The birth certificate, which listed a fake name of Kelvin C. Perry Jr., included an authentic watermarking and official stamps/seals, Kazmierczak said, adding there “was no indication that the document was anything less than authentic.”

The man was enrolled in the district from Sept. 3 to 29, when he was arrested on warrants in connection with unrelated cases, including violating probation in a 2023 case in which he was convicted of gross-misdemeanor indecent exposure for sending a 15-year-old girl a nude picture of himself through Snapchat.

On Thursday, he admitted in court to the probation violation, according to court records, which do not disclose what the violation entailed.

The man also registered for football on Sept. 8 and participated in three practices, according to Kazmierczak. “He did not play in games or travel with the team to any away games,” he said.

He remains jailed but not charged in the school enrollment case. White Bear Lake Police Chief Dale Hager said Thursday investigators are pursuing possible crimes related to fraud, forgery and unlawful conduct involving interaction with minors.

Dennis Gerhardstein, a spokesman for the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office, said Thursday a case has been presented against the man and is under review for possible charges.

The Pioneer Press generally does not identify suspects before they are charged.

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Kazmierczak’s email to families comes two days after State Rep. Elliott Engen pinned the blame on the superintendent, calling into question the district’s enrollment verification protocols, student safety measures and administrative oversight.

Engen, R-Lino Lakes, whose district includes communities served by the White Bear Lake school district, also called for Kazmierczak’s immediate resignation.

Kazmierczak said the district will review its enrollment “procedures to determine whether additional safeguards can be implemented without violating the McKinney-Vento Act or guidance from the U.S. and Minnesota Departments of Education.”

Kazmierczak acknowledged the “staff, families and students who came forward with information that led to our investigation and swift action to revoke this individual’s enrollment.”