The Gophers football program picked up a commitment from former Ohio State pledge Aaron Thomas on Wednesday.

The 6-foot-7, 300-pound offensive tackle from Phoenix left the Buckeyes class on Monday, but is staying in the Big Ten.

“Riding my own wave,” Thomas wrote on X. “@GopherFootball is home.”

The three-star recruit via 247Sports composite rankings had nearly 30 scholarship offer from schools across the country.

Thomas is the 28th overall commitment for the U’s 2026 class and its sixth-highest-rated recruit.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered officials on Wednesday to submit proposals for a possible resumption of nuclear tests in response to President Donald Trump’s statements last week that appeared to suggest the U.S. will restart its own atomic tests.

Speaking at a meeting with his Security Council, Putin reaffirmed his earlier statement that Moscow will only restart nuclear tests if the U.S. does so first. But he directed the defense and foreign ministries and other government agencies to analyze Washington’s intentions and work out proposals for resuming nuclear weapons tests.

On Oct. 30, Trump appeared to signal that the U.S. will resume testing nuclear weapons for the first time in three decades, saying it would be on an “equal basis” with Russia and China.

But U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Sunday that new tests of the U.S. nuclear weapons system ordered by Trump will not include nuclear explosions.

Trump made the announcement on social media while in South Korea, days after Putin announced successful tests of the prospective nuclear-powered and nuclear capable cruise missile and underwater drone. Putin’s praise for the new weapons that he claimed can’t be intercepted appears to be another message to Trump that Russia is standing firm in its maximalist demands on settling the conflict in Ukraine.

The U.S. military also has regularly tested nuclear-capable weapons, but it has not detonated atomic weapons since 1992. The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which the U.S. signed but did not ratify, has been observed since its adoption by all countries possessing nuclear weapons, North Korea being the only exception.

Putin in 2023 signed a bill revoking Russia’s ratification of a global nuclear test ban, which Moscow said was needed to put it on par with the U.S. The global test ban was signed by President Bill Clinton but never ratified by the U.S. Senate.

During Wednesday’s Security Council meeting, Defense Minister Andrei Belousov reported to Putin about U.S. efforts to modernize its atomic arsenals, arguing that along with a possible resumption of nuclear tests by Washington they “significantly increase the level of military threats to Russia.”

Belousov suggested that Moscow immediately start preparations for nuclear tests on the Arctic Novaya Zemlya archipelago. He added that the site, where the Soviet Union last tested a nuclear weapon in 1990, was ready for quickly resuming the explosions.

Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the military’s General Staff, also vouched for quickly starting preparations for tests.

“If we don’t take appropriate measures now, we will miss the time and opportunity to respond promptly to the U.S. actions, as it takes from several months to several years to prepare for nuclear tests, depending on their type,” Gerasimov said.

After hearing from military leaders and other top officials, who noted the conflicting signals from Washington on whether the U.S. will restart nuclear explosions, Putin ordered government agencies to “gather additional information on the issue, analyze it within the framework of the Security Council and submit coordinated proposals on the possible start of work on preparations for nuclear weapons tests.”

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Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov emphasized that Putin didn’t order a start to preparations for nuclear tests and for now only told officials to analyze whether it’s necessary to begin such work. He said in remarks carried by the state Tass news agency that Moscow needs to fully understand U.S. intentions before making further decisions.

Later, Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of the Security Council chaired by Putin, said the Russians have no choice but to treat Trump’s comments seriously.

“No one knows what Trump meant about ‘nuclear testing’ (he probably doesn’t himself),” Medvedev posted on X. “But he’s the president of the United States. And the consequences of such words are inescapable: Russia will be forced to assess the expediency of conducting full-fledged nuclear tests itself.”

By LINLEY SANDERS and JOSH BOAK

WASHINGTON (AP) — Most California voters didn’t like redrawing their congressional districts to favor Democrats. But many may have felt Republicans left them with no alternative.

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The AP Voter Poll, an expansive survey of more than 4,000 voters in California, captured the mixed emotions of an electorate that chose to adopt President Donald Trump’s own strategy of rewriting the rules by redistricting outside of Census years. Most voters in favor of the proposition hoped to counter his efforts to preserve Republican control of the House in next year’s midterm elections – even if they thought redistricting should ideally happen another way.

The ballot measure’s success, as well as voters’ apparent hesitations, demonstrates how many people appear to see the current redistricting fight as a political necessity, even if they don’t agree with it in principle. The findings suggest that voters see this as a tense and high stakes moment for the country, where compromises may be required.

California voters said party control of Congress was highly important

About 9 in 10 California voters said that, generally speaking, each state’s congressional district lines should be drawn by a non-partisan commission. But a majority nevertheless backed Proposition 50 to replace the existing districts with new maps crafted to send more California Democrats to the House of Representatives.

Roughly 7 in 10 California voters said party control of Congress was “very important” to them, and those voters overwhelmingly supported the amendment to the state’s constitution backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who has emerged as one of Trump’s leading antagonists.

Newsom said ahead of the vote that democracy itself was at risk.

“Prop 50 is not about drawing lines on a map,” Newsom told a crowd. “It is about holding the line to what makes us who we are.”

The ballot measure was a response to Trump’s efforts earlier this year to tilt more congressional districts toward the GOP. Voter discontent with the status quo was apparent. About half of California voters said they are angry about the country’s direction, and a similar share pointed to the economy as the most important issue facing the state. Many voters have been left frustrated as Trump’s pledge to vanquish inflation has gone unfulfilled, while his import taxes have created a sense of confusion and chaos among businesses and the public.

The president has successfully pushed Texas, North Carolina, Ohio and Missouri to craft new congressional districts, with Trump placing pressure on additional states in an attempt to swing midterm races that have traditionally favored the party out of the White House.

“The Unconstitutional Redistricting Vote in California is a GIANT SCAM in that the entire process, in particular the Voting itself, is RIGGED,” Trump wrote.

Proposition 50’s “Yes” voters hoped to counter Republicans in other states

Two-thirds of California voters said they were opposed to states redrawing their congressional district lines in response to how other states have drawn their lines. But the vast majority of the voters who supported the ballot measure said it was necessary to counter the changes made by Republicans in other states.

California now has the chance to do that by recrafting its 52 House seats in ways that could add five Democrats to Congress in next year’s elections. Democrats and voters who lean toward the Democrats — who make up a majority of voters in the state — overwhelmingly voted in support of the ballot measure.

Many acknowledged the process so far has been unjust. About half of California voters said neither the Republicans nor the Democrats are handling the redrawing of congressional district lines fairly.

But knowing the choices made by other state legislatures, enough California voters decided they had the right reason – even if it felt like the wrong thing.

The 2025 AP Voter Poll, conducted by SSRS from Oct. 22 – Nov. 4, includes representative samples of registered voters in California (4,490), New Jersey (4,244), New York City (4,304) and Virginia (4,215). The AP Voter Poll combines data collected from validated registered voters online and by telephone, with data collected in-person from election day voters at approximately 30 precincts per state or city, excluding California. Respondents can complete the poll in English or Spanish. The overall margin of sampling error for voters, accounting for design effect, is plus or minus 2.0 percentage points in California, 2.1 percentage points in New Jersey, 2.2 percentage points in New York City, and 2.1 percentage points in Virginia.

In a previous generation of hockey, intentionally knocking the net off its moorings could preserve a win. In the modern NHL, dislodging the net can cost you a goal. Or a game.

That was a hard lesson the Nashville Predators learned in St. Paul on Wednesday.

Marcus Johansson’s overtime winner for the Minnesota Wild was declared a goal after Predators goalie Justus Annunen appeared to use his left arm and leg to knock the net off kilter just as Johansson and Kirill Kaprizov were bearing down on the crease.

Instead of whistling the play dead, the referee on the scene signaled for a goal, giving the Wild a 3-2 win. He did so again a few minutes later after a video review by the league’s war room in Toronto.

How?

Per the official rule book of the NHL, rule 63.7 states that a goal can be awarded if the goal post is displaced by a defending player if the attacking player has an imminent scoring opportunity before the net is moved. If this happens, the referee can award a goal even if the puck never crossed the goal line, if they determine that dislodging the net prevented a goal.

Even Johansson was confused by all of it afterward.

“I think I saw something the other night, or not too long ago, where a goal was scored where the net was off,” he said. “I don’t know, honestly. I was standing there, the puck was there, so yeah, it felt good.”

As could reasonably be expected, there was a differing opinion in the Predators locker room.

“Obviously, one of the refs who made the call on the ice thought our goaltender pushed the net off on purpose and therefore denied an opportunity for them to score,” said Steven Stamkos in a postgame TV interview. He had forced overtime with a one-timer that went in the Wild net with just .3 seconds left in regulation.

“There’s two sides to everything. Our side thought obviously the net came off, but he missed the shot,” Stamkos said. “And if the net wasn’t off, at the angle it was at, the puck would’ve (gone) behind the net.”

Previously, dislodging the net in most cases meant a whistle and a faceoff. In some cases, a penalty for delay of game or even a penalty shot could be called if the dislodging was deemed intentional. But until a decade ago or so, there was no rule allowing a goal to be awarded without the net in place.

This sometimes led to what can best be described as “shenanigans” in close games.

Long before he was a U.S. Congressman from Duluth, Pete Stauber was a sophomore forward at Lake Superior State. With the Lakers battling St. Lawrence in the 1988 NCAA title game in Lake Placid, N.Y., and the game tied in the final minutes of regulation, Stauber potentially thwarted a goal by the Saints. He forcefully, and clearly intentionally, dislodged the net during a scramble where the puck was loose around the Lakers crease.

No penalty was called on the play. The game went to overtime, and Stauber helped set up the Lakers’ game-winner for the Michigan school’s first national title.

More recently, University of Michigan goalie Erik Portillo had a habit of dislodging the net during Gophers scoring opportunities when the Wolverines would play at 3M Arena at Mariucci. In the 2023 Big Ten title game, when it happened for the second or third time in the opening period, Portillo was penalized for delay of game in a contest the Wolverines won anyway.

At the time, Michigan officials claimed that the design of the net anchors at Minnesota’s arena made them susceptible to come off the moorings more easily. But it is worth noting that since Portillo moved on to pro hockey — he got one game for the Los Angeles Kings last season — the nets in Dinkytown seem to stay put.

As for the Wild, they will gladly take the two points, and the lesson about what intentionally dislodging the net can cost you in the modern NHL.

“I’m happy until it happens to me,” Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson said with a smile.

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