By MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. kindergarten vaccination rates inched down again last year and the share of children with exemptions rose to an all-time high, according to federal data posted Thursday.

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The fraction of kids exempted from vaccine requirements rose to 4.1%, up from 3.7% the year before. It’s the third record-breaking year in a row for the exemption rate, and the vast majority are parents withholding shots for nonmedical reasons.

Meanwhile, 92.5% of 2024-25 kindergartners got their required measles-mumps-rubella shots, down slightly from the previous year. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the vaccination rate was 95% — the level that makes it unlikely that a single infection will spark a disease cluster or outbreak.

The vaccination numbers were posted as the U.S. experiences its worst year for measles spread in more than three decades, with more than 1,300 cases so far.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention traditionally releases the vaccination coverage data in its flagship publication, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. CDC officials usually speak to the trends and possible explanations, and stress the importance of vaccinations. This year, the agency quietly posted the data online and — when asked about it — emailed a statement.

“The decision to vaccinate is a personal one. Parents should consult their health care providers on options for their families,” the statement said, adding; “Vaccination remains the most effective way to protect children from serious diseases like measles and whooping cough, which can lead to hospitalization and long-term health complications.”

Public health officials focus on vaccination rates for kindergartners because schools can be cauldrons for germs and launching pads for community outbreaks.

For years, those rates were high, thanks largely to school attendance mandates that required key vaccinations. All U.S. states and territories require that children attending child care centers and schools be vaccinated against a number of diseases, including, measles, mumps, polio, tetanus, whooping cough and chickenpox.

All states allow exemptions for children with medical conditions that prevent them from receiving certain vaccines. And most also permit exemptions for religious or other nonmedical reasons.

In the last decade, the percentage of kindergartners with medical exemptions has held steady, at about 0.2%. But the percentage with nonmedical exemptions has risen.

The rates can be influenced by policies that make it harder or easier to obtain exemptions, and by local attitudes among families and doctors about the need to get children vaccinated. Online misinformation and the political divide that emerged around COVID-19 vaccines have led more parents to question routine childhood vaccinations, experts say.

According to the CDC data, 15.4% of kindergartners had an exemption to one or more vaccines in Idaho in the last school year. But fewer than 0.5% did in Connecticut.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

The Gophers men’s basketball program picked up a commitment from Wayzata forward Nolen Anderson on Thursday.

The 6-foot-6, three-star wing is considered the third-best recruit in the state of Minnesota in the 2026 class, according to 247Sports. The two top recruits are headed elsewhere: Wayzata guard Christian Wiggins (Iowa State) and Fairbault center Ryan Kreager (Loyola-Chicago).

New U head coach Niko Medved started recruiting Anderson soon after his hiring last spring and offered a scholarship on July 14. Since the U’s initial interest, Anderson has grown in height and his game has developed, including a shooting stroke considered to be at a high-major level.

Anderson and Wiggins led Wayzata to the Class 4A stat championship in March, the Trojans were runner-up last year and win it all in 2023.

In the title game against Cretin-Derham Hall, Anderson had 24 points and 10 rebounds at Williams Arena.

Anderson’s major offers are from Virginia Tech, Northern Iowa, Drake, Montana and others, but since his improvement with D1 Minnesota, other Big Ten schools have started recruiting him intently.  Those teams include Iowa, Nebraska and Michigan.

The Gophers have a previous commitment in the 2026 class: East Ridge point guard Cedric Tomes, who is considered the sixth best player in the state. The fourth- and fifth-best — Totino-Grace forward  Dothan Ijadimbola and Hopkins guard Jayden Moore — are uncommitted.

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The Associated Press

Several elite U.S. colleges have made deals with President Donald Trump’s administration, offering concessions to his political agenda and financial payments to restore federal money that had been withheld.

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Ivy League schools Columbia, Brown and the University of Pennsylvania reached agreements to resolve federal investigations. The Republican administration is pressing for more, citing the deal it negotiated with Columbia as a “road map” for other colleges.

There is a freeze on billions of dollars of research money for other colleges including Harvard, which has been negotiating with the White House even as it fights in court over the lost grants.

Like no other president, Trump has used the government’s control over federal research funding to push for changes in higher education, decrying elite colleges as places of extreme liberal ideology and antisemitism.

Here’s a look at universities pressured by the administration’s funding cuts.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

Columbia said July 23 it had agreed to a $200 million fine to restore federal funding.

The school was threatened with the potential loss of billions of dollars in government support, including more than $400 million in grants canceled earlier this year. The administration pulled the money because of what it described as Columbia’s failure to address antisemitism on campus during the Israel-Hamas war.

Columbia agreed to administration demands such as overhauling its student disciplinary process and applying a federally backed definition of antisemitism to teaching and a disciplinary committee investigating students critical of Israel.

Federal officials said the fine will go to the Treasury Department and cannot be spent until Congress appropriates it. Columbia also agreed to pay $21 million into a compensation fund for employees who may have faced antisemitism.

The deal includes a clause that Columbia says preserves its independence, putting in writing that the government does not have the authority to dictate “hiring, admission decisions, or the content of academic speech.”

BROWN UNIVERSITY

FILE – People traverse Brown University campus in Providence, R.I., Oct. 12, 2020. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

An agreement Wednesday calls for Brown to pay $50 million to Rhode Island workforce development organizations. That would restore dozens of lost federal research grants and end investigations into allegations of antisemitism and racial bias in Brown admissions.

Among other concessions, Brown agreed to adopt the government’s definition of “male” and “female” and remove any consideration of race from the admissions process.

Like the settlement with Columbia, Brown’s does not include a finding of wrongdoing. It includes a provision saying the government does not have authority to dictate Brown’s curriculum or “the content of academic speech.”

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

Under a July agreement resolving a federal civil rights case, Penn modified a trio of school records set by transgender swimmer Lia Thomas and said it would apologize to female athletes “disadvantaged” by Thomas’ participation on the women’s swimming team.

The Education Department investigated Penn as part of the administration’s broader attempt to remove transgender athletes from girls and women’s sports. As part of the case, the administration had suspended $175 million in funding to Penn.

HARVARD UNIVERSITY

FILE – People walk between buildings on Harvard University campus, Dec. 17, 2024, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

The administration has frozen more than $2.6 billion in research grants to Harvard, accusing the nation’s oldest and wealthiest university of allowing antisemitism to flourish. Harvard has pushed back with several lawsuits.

In negotiations for a possible settlement, the administration is seeking for Harvard to pay an amount far higher than Columbia.

CORNELL UNIVERSITY

The White House announced in April that it froze more than $1 billion of Cornell’s federal funding as it investigated allegations of civil rights violations.

The Ivy League school was among a group of more than 60 universities that received a letter from the Education Department on March 10 urging them to take steps to protect Jewish students or else face “potential enforcement actions.”

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

Like Cornell, Northwestern saw a halt in some of its federal funding in April. The amount was about $790 million, according to the administration.

DUKE UNIVERSITY

The administration this week froze $108 million in federal money for Duke. The hold on funding from the National Institutes of Health came days after the departments of Health and Human Services and Education sent a joint letter alleging racial preferences in Duke’s hiring and admissions.

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

Dozens of research grants were suspended at Princeton without a clear rationale, according to an April 1 campus message from the university’s president, Christopher Eisgruber. The grants came from federal agencies such as the Department of Energy, NASA and the Pentagon.

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

A Cottage Grove man is facing three felony charges after allegedly firing a gun at two people who tried to rob him on Saturday behind a strip mall near Hy-Vee while he was selling them THC cartridges, police said.

The 18-year-old has been charged with two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon and a count of possessing a firearm without a serial number, according to the criminal complaint filed against him in Washington County District Court.

He also faces a misdemeanor charge for falsely reporting a crime: He reported the incident himself but said it was the other people who shot at him.

No injuries were reported, police said, and the people allegedly involved in the incident were known to one another.

According to the criminal complaint, the 18-year-old called 911 around 5:15 p.m. and told police that someone had fired a gun at him. He told officers he had arranged to meet two people behind Planet Fitness in Cottage Grove to sell them his dirt bike. He said one of the men gave him “fake money,” and he got into a fight with him, the complaint states.

He told police a third unidentified male then appeared with a gun, tried to take his phone and other items, and ended up taking “one THC cart” before fleeing in one of the other men’s car. He claimed that as the car drove off, the third person fired two shots at him, the complaint states.

The two other men told police a different story. They said they met the 18-year-old to buy THC cartridges, which are used to inhale cannabis oil through a vaporizer. They confirmed that a third person came along and attempted to rob the 18-year-old, which sparked a physical fight. They said they broke up the fight and started to leave, one on foot and two in the car.

They said they then saw the 18-year-old “putting a magazine” into a gun and taking a shooting stance, according to the complaint. “One heard a ‘boom boom’ as he was driving away.”

A woman who witnessed the incident told police she saw “some sort of fight” that involved some kids “hanging off the back of the car,” the complaint states. “She said that ‘the kid with the bike’ was chasing the people in the car and she observed (him) shoot at the car.”

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The 18-year-old was arrested early Sunday at his house in Cottage Grove and taken to the Washington County Jail. He told police he dumped the gun and where to find it. The gun was recovered from Hearthside Park, police said.

“It is concerning anytime a gun is involved, and I’m proud of our officers for their swift and professional response,” Public Safety Director and Police Chief Pete Koerner said in a statement. “We want to assure the public that there is no ongoing threat to community safety related to this case. These types of incidents are rare in our community, but no matter the rarity, we take them very seriously.”

The investigation remains active and ongoing; anyone with information regarding the case is asked to call 651-439-9381 or 911.