Forest Lake Area Schools Superintendent Steve Massey will retire at the end of the school year.

Massey, 62, of Forest Lake, announced his retirement during the school board meeting on Thursday night. His last day will be June 30.

Superintendent Steve Massey (Courtesy of Forest Lake Area Schools)

“It has been my greatest honor to serve the students, families and staff of this amazing community and school district for the past 27 years,” Massey said. “My greatest desire has always been to lead the district to a better place during my tenure as superintendent.”

Massey, who has been superintendent since 2017, was in the final year of a three-year contract.

School Board Chairman Curt Rebelein said Friday that he has already started the process of looking for Massey’s replacement.

“It was a shock to us all, but I think Steve is leaving behind a really good legacy, and I wish him well in his retirement,” Rebelein said. “It’s an exciting time for him. He’s been a great superintendent in a lot of ways for Forest Lake Area Schools. He has led us through some pretty major, pretty amazing changes the last couple of years.”

Several controversial issues have come before the Forest Lake Area School Board this year, including whether to remove specific bans on symbols like swastikas, the KKK and the Confederate flag on clothing.

But Rebelein said that much of that “friction” has “settled down.”

“The majority of our meetings haven’t been as contentious as they were at that time of the year, so I hope things are starting to normalize for us. But only time will tell,” he said.

Rebelein said the new superintendent will have their hands full dealing with elementary-school boundary changes that go into effect next fall.

“I want to get the search going as quickly as I can because I’m really interested in attracting the top talent,” he said. “I’m working on just a very basic job description, so I can work with our director of human resources to get the position posted and start seeing what kind of interest we have.”

Massey’s departure will leave a “gaping hole” in the district, said board member Gail Theisen at Thursday’s meeting.

“Your have shown us what teamwork is and how to be strong and respectful,” she said. “We will carry on the good work, having learned from you. We will continue in your absence to go forward with integrity, respect and to always focus on what’s best for our students.”

Massey has worked in the district since 1999. He served 14 years as principal of Forest Lake Area High School before being tapped to be superintendent.

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Massey teaches the superintendency course and the principalship course at the University of Minnesota.

In his statement to the board, he said that “educating and preparing our young to be tomorrow’s leaders” is one of the greatest callings.

Massey also said that the district is in good shape.

“Enrollment is increasing despite declining birthrates, a testament to Forest Lake Area Schools being a place kids and families want to be,” he said. “Our financial footing is solid, and the district’s reserve funds are strong.”

With the Twin Cities Marathon wrapped up, the John Ireland Boulevard bridge over Interstate 94 between Kellogg Boulevard and Rice Street in St. Paul will close Monday for reconstruction expected to last until August of 2026.

Detours

Hundreds of runners make their way down John Ireland Boulevard and over the bridge towards the finish line of the 10 Mile race in St. Paul on Sunday, October 7, 2018. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

Traffic will be directed from Kellogg to Marion Street to University Avenue to Rice Street.

Those on foot or bicycling will be detoured to Kellogg to the Marion Street bridge to Rondo Avenue.

Taking it apart, rebuilding it

The bridge, first constructed in 1967, has four lanes of traffic over I-94. The state Department of Transportation plans to take it apart and rebuild it.

While it is currently safe, repair is needed to keep it that way for motorists based on modern weight limits, according to MnDOT.

The bridge will be rebuilt within “the same footprint as the existing bridge,” according to a statement from MnDOT. There also will be sidewalk repairs, updates to bike and pedestrian facilities, accessibility, and railing.

When will the work start?

Construction noise is expected to begin between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. Monday, MnDOT said.

Those with questions can contact the project hotline at info@stpaulbridges.com or 612-424-2698. More information can be found at 511mn.org.

Other bridge projects

Besides John Ireland, MnDOT also is working to replace bridges over I-94 and I-35E at Jackson Street, Robert Street, Minnesota Street, Cedar Street, Wabasha Street North, 10th Street West, Western Avenue North, Marion Street and the ramp from Fifth Street to westbound I-94. The work is expected to be finished by fall of 2026.

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By Gregory Korte, Bloomberg News

WASHINGTON — The White House still employs 45 staffers for Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency despite the Tesla Inc. CEO’s departure in May — and they’re exempt from being furloughed during the government shutdown.

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The arrangement was revealed in a memo released Thursday from the White House Office of Administration detailing the staffing plan while funding from Congress remains in limbo.

The White House shutdown plan also highlights a pattern of shifting definitions of essential and non-essential workers under President Donald Trump, who has furloughed 514 fewer White House staffers than he did during the last government shutdown under his watch in 2018.

Under the earlier plan, which former President Joe Biden also adopted but never had to implement, about 61% of staff in the Executive Office of the President were temporarily laid off. The current plan furloughs only 32% of the staff.

Despite keeping more of the White House staff on-the-job during the shutdown, Trump has said he is looking to lay off federal workers, instead of just furloughing them. The White House has said the cuts could number in the “thousands.”

Among the offices fully open despite the shutdown is DOGE, the government cost-cutting operation once led by Musk before he and Trump had a falling out over the president’s support of a deficit-expanding tax cut bill.

After Musk’s departure in May, the White House said DOGE had been decentralized, and that its teams throughout the government would report to their presidentially appointed agency heads. But the shutdown plan reveals that 45 DOGE staffers still work in the US DOGE Service, a component within the Executive Office of the President.

The memo from Joshua Fisher, the director of the White House Office of Administration, did not explain why the DOGE staffers were exempt from furloughs. But DOGE’s predecessor office, the US Digital Service, was able to function through previous shutdowns because it had a separate source of funding from fees it charged other government agencies for its work.

Other parts of the White House are also seeing fewer furloughs this time. The Office of Management and Budget keeps 437 employees on duty, compared with 161 under the 2018 plan. The tax cut law — dubbed the One Big Beautiful Bill — provided $100 million in long-term funding for the budget office.

The White House Office itself — the president’s immediate staff — holds on to 175 aides, slightly more than the 156 in the last shutdown. And Trump has almost doubled the number of retained workers in the executive residence to 40.

At the same time, Trump officials have signaled they will use the lapse in funding to pare back or shutter programs they oppose — especially in states that voted for his opponent last year. And the White House has threatened to permanently fire thousands of federal employees in the coming days, citing the lack of congressional funding.

The White House press office did not respond to a request for comment on the shutdown plan, but instead sent an automated out-of-office reply echoing the administration’s political talking points.

“Due to staff shortages resulting from the Democrat Shutdown, the typical 24/7 monitoring of this press inbox may experience delays,” the message said. “Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

McALLEN, Texas — The Trump administration said Friday that it would pay migrant children $2,500 to voluntarily return to their home countries, dangling a new incentive in efforts to persuade people to self-deport.

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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement didn’t say how much migrants would get or when the offer would take effect, but The Associated Press obtained an email to migrant shelters saying children 14 years of age and older would get $2,500 each. Children were given 24 hours to respond.

The notice to shelters from the U.S. Health and Human Services Department’s Administration for Families and Children did not indicate any consequences for children who decline the offer. It asked shelter directors to acknowledge the offer within four hours.

ICE said in a statement that the offer would initially be for 17-year-olds.

“Any payment to support a return home would be provided after an immigration judge grants the request and the individual arrives in their country of origin,” ICE said. “Access to financial support when returning home would assist should they choose that option.”

ICE, the Department of Homeland Security and the Health and Human Services Department did not immediately respond to questions about the amount of the payment and age eligibility.

ICE dismissed widespread reports among immigration lawyers and advocates that it was launching a much broader crackdown Friday to deport migrant children who entered the country without their parents, called “Freaky Friday.”

The administration has also offered $1,000 to adults who voluntarily leave the country. Advocates said $2,500 may prevent children from making informed decisions.

“For a child, $2,500 might be the most money they’ve ever seen in their life, and that may make it very, very difficult for them to accurately weigh the long-term risks of taking voluntary departure versus trying to stay in the United States and going through the immigration court process to get relief that they may be legally entitled to,” said Melissa Adamson, senior attorney at the National Center for Youth Law.

Murad Awawdeh, president of the New York Immigration Coalition, echoed concerns about the offer, saying it “pressures children to abandon their legal claims and return to a life of fear and danger without ever receiving a fair hearing.”

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U.S. border authorities have arrested children crossing the border without parents more than 400,000 times since October 2021. A 2008 law requires them to appear before an immigration judge before being returned to their countries.

Children have been spending more time in government-run shelters since the Trump administration put them under closer scrutiny before releasing them to family in the United States to pursue their immigration cases.

The additional scrutiny includes fingerprinting, DNA testing and home visits by immigration officers. Over the summer, immigration officers started showing up and arresting parents.

The average length of stay at government-run shelters for those released in the U.S. was 171 days in July, down from a peak of 217 days in April but well above 37 days in January, when Trump took office.