By MATTHEW BROWN and MATTHEW DALY

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A $100-per-person charge for foreigners entering Yellowstone, Grand Canyon and other popular national parks is stoking apprehension among some tourist-oriented businesses that it could discourage travelers, but supporters say the change will generate money for cash-strapped parks.

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The new fee was announced Tuesday by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and takes effects Jan. 1. Foreign tourists also will see a sharp price increase for an annual parks pass, to $250 per vehicle. U.S. residents will continue to be charged $80 for an annual pass.

The change in policy puts the U.S. in line with other countries that charge foreigners more to see popular attractions.

At the Whistling Swan Motel just outside Glacier National Park in northwestern Montana, owner Mark Howser estimates that about 15% of his customers are foreigners. They come from Canada, China, India, Spain, France, Germany and elsewhere, said Howser, who also runs a bakery and general store.

Those visitors already pay up to $35 per vehicle to enter the park. Adding the $100-per-person charge for foreigners, Howser said, “is a sure-fire way of discouraging people from visiting Glacier.”

File – People hike at Glacier National Park in Montana. (AP Photo/Beth J. Harpaz, File)

“It’s going to hurt local businesses that cater to foreign travelers, like myself,” he said. “You’re discouraging them from seeing something in the country by attaching a fee to that experience.”

A Yellowstone tour operator, Bryan Batchelder with Let’s Go Adventure Tours and Transportation, said the charge represents “a pretty big hike” for the roughly 30% of his clientele that are foreigners. That percentage has been going up in recent years after Batchelder switched to a new booking service.

Next summer, he said, will reveal how the new charge plays out among foreign visitors. “They’ll probably still come to the country, but will they visit national parks?” Batchelder asked.

The charge also will apply at Acadia, Bryce Canyon, Everglades, Grand Teton, Rocky Mountain, Sequoia & Kings Canyon, Yosemite and Zion national parks.

Interior officials described the new fee structure as “America-first pricing” that will ensure international visitors contribute to maintaining parks.

FILE – Tourists flock to Mather Point at Grand Canyon National Park, Oct. 1, 2025, in Grand Canyon, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)

For Yellowstone park alone, the $100 charge could generate $55 million annually to help fix deteriorating trails and aging bridges, said Brian Yablonski with the Property and Environment Research Center, a free market research group based in Bozeman, Montana. A recent analysis by the group said visitor numbers would drop only about 1% in response to the higher price.

If the charges for foreigners were extended to park sites nationwide, Yablonski said it could generate more than $1 billion from an estimated 14 million international visitors annually.

“Americans are already paying more than international visitors because they are paying taxes,” Yablonski said. “For international visitors, this is kind of a no-brainer, common sense approach.”

Many other countries charge international visitors an extra fee to visit public sites, said Melissa Weddell, director of the University of Montana’s Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research. Foreign visitors to Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands, for example, pay $200 per adult, while Ecuadorian nationals pay only $30, according to tourist websites for the islands.

FILE – Visitors watch a sunset on rock ledge near Taft Point in Yosemite National Park, Calif., Oct. 30, 2025. (Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via AP, File)

A coalition of current and former employees park service denounced the new charge.

“In a year where national park staff have already been cut by nearly 25%, we worry this will be yet another burden for already overworked employees,″ said Emily Thompson, executive director of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks.

“National parks should be available and accessible to all, or America’s best idea will become America’s greatest shakedown,″ she said.

Gerry Seavo James, deputy campaign director for Sierra Club’s Outdoors for All campaign, said Trump and his administration have worked for nearly a year to undermine the park service, slashing its budget and firing thousands of staff.

“Gouging foreign tourists at the entrance gate won’t provide the financial support these crown jewels of our public lands need,” he said. “Without that support, we run the risk of our true common grounds becoming nothing more than playgrounds for the super-rich.”

Interior Department spokesperson Elizabeth Peace said the agency previously did not collect data on international visitors but will start doing so in January.

Republican lawmakers in July introduced a bill in Congress that would codify the surcharge for foreign visitors to national parks. It’s sponsored by West Virginia Rep. Riley Moore and Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke, who served as interior secretary during Trump’s firs term.

“President Trump and Secretary Burgum are putting Americans first by asking foreign visitors to pay their fair share while holding entrance fees steady for the American people,” Zinke and Moore said in a statement Wednesday.

Daly reported from Washington, D.C.

Minnesota erased a 10-point halftime deficit to take a fourth-quarter lead but went cold at crunch time in a 63-58 loss to Alabama on Wednesday in the championship of Baha Mar Hoops Classic in Nassau, Bahamas.

Grace Grocholski led the Gophers with 18 points that included a 3-pointer to give Minnesota a 53-52 lead with 6 minutes, 1 second left. But the Gophers whiffed on two chances to increase that lead.

After inside misses by Sophie Hart and Mara Braun, Alabama’s Jessica Timmons hit a 3-pointer to give the Crimson Tide a 54-53 lead. Alabama never trailed again. The Gophers were 2 for 9 from the field the rest of the way, with many misses on uncontested layups.

“We missed too many shots when we were close to the rim and never got caught back up,” Gophers coach Dawn Plitzuweit told KFAN radio after the game. “I counted at least five point-blank opportunities at the rim, (and) we just didn’t make them.”

Timmons and Essence Cody each scored 18 points for Alabama (5-0). Timmons scored 10 fourth-quarter points, and her two free throws with 5.8 seconds sealed the victory.

Grocholski scored 13 of her 16 points in the second half to help the Gophers rebound from a woeful first half. Minnesota scored a combined 17 points in the first two quarters, and 26 in the third alone to make it a game.

Hart tied the game, 55-55, on a layup with 3:54 remaining. But Hart, Grocholski, Braun and Amaya Battle all missed layups late.

“I don’t think any of the four even got above the rim,” Plitzuweit told KFAN. “It’s hard to win basketball games when you’re not efficient from there.”

Glenn finished with 13 points and four assists for the Gophers (5-2), who beat South Florida fairly handily on Monday to advance to the championship game.

Alabama was the best team Minnesota has played this season.

“We’ve got to figure it out,” Plitzuweit said, “but I’d rather play good competition now to figure it out and get ready for the Big Ten.”

Minnesota is host to Samford on Monday at Williams Arena. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.

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By SCOTT BAUER and TODD RICHMOND

WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin authorities have asked a state court to revoke the conditional release of Morgan Geyser, the woman who in 2014 almost killed her sixth grade classmate in the name of horror villain Slender Man and escaped from a group home earlier this week.

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A Waukesha County Circuit Court judge agreed on Wednesday to seal the petition filed by the Department of Corrections late Tuesday seeking to revoke Geyser’s conditional release. A Waukesha County judge earlier this year approved releasing Geyser from a state mental institution to live in a group home.

Geyser cut off her GPS monitoring bracelet on Saturday night and fled the group home in Madison, Wisconsin, with a 43-year-old companion, authorities said. Geyser was found by police outside of Chicago on Sunday night, about 170 miles from Madison.

Geyser did not fight her extradition to Wisconsin in a Chicago court appearance Tuesday. Wisconsin authorities have 30 days to pick her up.

Geyser’s attorney, Tony Cotton, did not respond to an email Wednesday seeking comment on the state’s request to revoke her release.

The judge set a motion hearing for Dec. 22.

If Geyser’s conditional release is revoked, she could be sent back to the mental institution where she spent most of the past eight years. She also could face new charges in connection with her escape.

Geyser’s companion has been charged with trespassing and obstruction, but The Associated Press isn’t naming the companion because the person hasn’t been charged with aiding Geyser’s escape. The AP’s attempts to contact that person have been unsuccessful.

The companion did call WKOW-TV on Monday, however, saying the two became friends at church and had seen each other daily for the past month. Geyser decided to flee because she was afraid her group home would no longer allow them to see each other, the person said.

“She ran because of me,” the friend told the television station.

Geyser and her companion took a bus overnight into Illinois, the friend said.

Geyser and her friend, Anissa Weier, lured one of their classmates, Payton Leutner, to a Waukesha park in 2014. Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times, narrowly missing her heart, while Weier cheered her on. All three girls were 12 years old at the time. Leutner barely survived.

Geyser and Weier later told investigators they attacked Leutner in hopes of impressing Slender Man and becoming his servants. They said they were afraid Slender Man would hurt their families if they didn’t carry out the attack.

Slender Man was created online by Eric Knudson in 2009 as a mysterious figure photo-edited into everyday images of children at play. He grew into a popular boogeyman, appearing in video games, online stories and a 2018 movie.

Both Geyser and Weier were ultimately committed to a state mental institution — Geyser for 40 years and Weier for 25. Wisconsin law allows people committed to state institutions to petition for release. Weier earned conditional release in 2021. Geyser, now 23, won conditional release in September after four requests and was placed in the group home.

State health officials tried to block her release in March, telling the judge that Geyser didn’t volunteer to her therapy team that she had read “Rent Boy,” a novel about murder and selling organs on the black market. They also alleged that she has been communicating with a man who collects murder memorabilia, and has sent him her own sketch of a decapitated body and a postcard saying she wants to be intimate with him.

The judge concluded that Geyser wasn’t trying to hide anything and proceeded with her release, which was finalized in September.

Bauer reported from Madison, Wisconsin.

By CHRISTINE FERNANDO

CHICAGO (AP) — Newly released transcripts of private interviews with a senior U.S. Border Patrol official and other authorities leading the immigration crackdown in the Chicago area reveal tense exchanges as leaders dodged questions about high-profile uses of force.

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Greg Bovino, the Border Patrol leader behind the operation that has netted more than 3,000 arrests since September, sat for the sworn deposition over three days in late October and early November. He left Chicago this month to lead a similar operation in North Carolina and is expected to oversee another in New Orleans starting as soon as next week.

Hundreds of pages of transcripts from the deposition released Tuesday shed light on key moments noted by U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis in a blistering 223-page opinion this month in a lawsuit alleging federal agents used excessive force against protesters, journalists and clergy members.

Ellis issued a preliminary injunction earlier this month restricting agents from using physical force and chemical agents like tear gas and pepper balls, unless necessary or to prevent “an immediate threat.” A federal appeals court later temporarily halted the order. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, called the appeals court ruling “a win for the rule of law and for the safety of every law enforcement officer.”

Deposition transcripts reveal tense clashes between attorneys

The deposition was heated from its first moments as U.S. Department of Justice attorney Sarmad Khojasteh complained about an attorney representing the coalition of protesters, journalists and faith leaders not shaking Bovino’s hand as they arrived.

“That was noted,” Khojasteh said on Oct. 30. “I get your position. This is like the hill you’re going to die on here. That’s fine. Treat him with respect. Treat me with respect.”

“Treat the process with respect, sir,” the plaintiffs’ attorney Locke Bowman responded.

The tense standoffs between the attorneys also included Khojasteh calling Bowman a “petulant old man” as Bowman accused Khojasteh of hindering the proceedings through constant objections.

“Stop it. Just stop it,” Bowman finally said after Khojasteh consistently objected to questions throughout the deposition.

Bovino evades questions about immigration agents’ use of force

The transcripts also include hours of Bovino giving evasive responses as he defended agents’ use of force and characterized protesters as “violent rioters.”

He was repeatedly questioned over an Oct. 23 protest in the historically Mexican-American neighborhood of Little Village, where Bovino initially claimed he threw tear gas canisters after being hit with a rock, which he said hurt but did not break skin. As he was questioned, Bovino admitted he was “mistaken” and the rock was thrown after he threw the tear gas. Ellis has accused Bovino of lying about the incident in court.

When he was asked if he threw “a canister of CS gas,” Bovino said he did not.

“Okay. Why not?” he was asked.

“You said canister. I threw two. That’s — that’s plural,” Bovino responded.

Bovino also said he believed agents were justified in using tear gas in a residential neighborhood prior to a Halloween parade before admitting he had not reviewed any footage of the incident.

He continued to dodge questions, even after being shown a clip of himself tackling a man to the ground during a protest outside a federal immigration facility in the west Chicago suburb of Broadview. After attorneys played footage of the man’s arrest, Bovino repeatedly denied that he tackled “an older gentleman” in the video and dodged questions on whether he used force. Bovino acknowledged that he made physical contact with the man, but denied that he applied force.

Other officials dodge questions about ‘Operation Midway Blitz’

Private interviews with other federal officials — Russell Hott, a US. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement official, and Daniel Parra, deputy chief patrol agent at Customs and Border Protection — also showed bickering between attorneys and lawyers representing the federal government consistently objecting to questioning.

During his deposition, Hott acknowledged that ICE agents do not receive regular training on crowd control and that he too had no crowd control experience before arriving in Broadview, the site of tense demonstrations over the last few months. He also admitted that the consistent use of tear gas and pepper balls stopped after Illinois State Police took over responding to these protests.

Hott also dodged questions about use of force, including by saying he doesn’t know the context when asked if use of force was justified against a pastor shot in the head with pepper balls while praying. Parra, meanwhile, repeated “I do not recall” when asked about specific incidents in use of force reports presented by attorneys during his deposition.

Parra also admitted that Border Patrol agents do not typically work in dense urban areas or in situations where they encounter protesters — an issue brought up by Ellis in court as she slammed agents for engaging in high-speed car chases and using crowd control techniques she said were inappropriate for urban areas.

“This isn’t the border,” she said.

Parra also said he could not “think of at the moment” any evidence that Ellis’ restrictions on use of force are adversely affecting Border Patrol enforcement operations. This comes after attorneys argued in court that complying with the requirements would halt immigration enforcement operations.