By MEAD GRUVER

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Investigators in Wyoming sought to identify two men they believe left a homemade bomb in front of the state Capitol, causing the building’s evacuation after a passerby found the object and brought it inside.

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The bomb, at a time of heightened political angst in the U.S., put the sleepy capital of the least-populated state on edge for awhile, with drones overhead and officers with bomb-sniffing dogs combing the Capitol grounds. But a day later, things appeared back to normal.

No security was visible at the 135-year-old, sandstone building where visitors have always been able to more or less wander among the state’s most powerful elected officials at will.

“It’s a fantastic reflection of almost a happiness to trust people. Which is positive and should be retained,” observed English tourist Jaume Vilar, who was visiting the building with his teenage son.

The device was left sometime early Tuesday. Described by Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation Commander Ryan Cox on Wednesday as a “deconstructed live firework munition with a fuse” measuring less than a foot long, it was not rigged to explode remotely.

“It would’ve had to been lit with a lighter, or similar-type fashion,” Cox said.

It was not in a bag or other container when put on the state seal, a round, 10-foot-wide decoration of inlaid stone midway between the Capitol front steps and the street, sometime between 4 a.m. and 8 a.m.. The seal is cordoned off behind a chain.

The unidentified passerby, whom authorities soon ruled out as a suspect, brought the object into the building. An evacuation ensued at 9:45 a.m. and lasted all day.

Those evacuated included Gov. Mark Gordon, who along with the state treasurer and state auditor was in a committee meeting in a nearby basement-level conference room. Workers in two nearby state office buildings sheltered in place until being allowed to leave in the afternoon.

Police reviewed security video and, working with the FBI and other agencies, focused Wednesday on identifying and finding two men who appeared in the security-camera footage to be working together to leave the device.

A description of the two will be released after agents take time to study the video images, Cox said.

The device was taken off-site and rendered safe. Wyoming has had no significant episodes of political violence in recent memory. Cox said he was unaware of any recent threats made against Wyoming officials or the Capitol, nor of any similar incidents in surrounding states.

A state trooper sweeps the grounds of the Wyoming Capitol after a suspected improvised explosive device (IED) was found at the state Capitol on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, in Cheyenne, Wyo. (Milo Gladstein/The Wyoming Tribune Eagle via AP)

Yet the incident happened at a sensitive time.

Millions took part in “No Kings” rallies against President Donald Trump in cities and towns across the U.S. on Saturday. Six weeks ago, a shooter killed conservative activist Charlie Kirk while he spoke to a crowd at a university in neighboring Utah.

Nationwide, protesters have challenged the Trump administration’s increased efforts to deport migrants.

Wyoming Highway Patrol troopers have been stationed in the Capitol in the past and checked visitor bags in the days after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. No security was visible in the building on Wednesday, however.

The Great Seal of the State of Wyoming, where a homemade bomb was left on Tuesday that caused the Wyoming Capitol to be evacuated, is seen Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025, in Cheyenne, Wyo. (AP Photo/Mead Gruver)

The footsteps of a small number of state employees, one and two at a time, echoed in otherwise vacant corridors that date to 1890 and reopened in 2019 after a three-year renovation. Custodians ran vacuum cleaners, and tourists picked up informational pamphlets from a display.

Vilar, a Londoner stopping in at the Capitol during a road trip from New York to visit family in Denver, was unaware of the bomb left at the building the day before. He wondered whether the daylong evacuation was an overreaction but was surprised that somebody had picked up the device.

“Don’t ever fiddle with things that are potentially, you know, might be a bomb. Just leave it alone. Let the right people deal with it. Don’t try to be smart,” Vilar said. “But then the other thing, of course, is there are always threats and worries and things like that.”

The Great Seal of the State of Wyoming, where the bomb was left, depicts a rancher with a rope and pistol and a miner with a pick standing on either side of a robed woman and banner reading “Equal Rights.” Wyoming was first to grant women the right to vote when it became a state in 1890.

By KATHLEEN FOODY and TODD RICHMOND

CHICAGO (AP) — One of Chicago’s most infamous gang leaders asked Gov. JB Pritzker for clemency Wednesday after winning a pardon from President Donald Trump earlier this spring, arguing that he had been “lost in an enduring pattern of criminality” but he’s grown into a different person in the decades since he’s been in prison.

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Larry Hoover, once a key leader of the Gangster Disciples, was sentenced to up to 200 years in Illinois state prison in 1973 in connection with a murder. He was sentenced decades later to life in federal prison for running a criminal enterprise behind bars. Hoover has still left his mark even from prison, launching a jail-inspired fashion line, starting a political action committee and inspiring rap lyrics.

Trump commuted Hoover’s federal sentence in May and he was moved from a federal “supermax” prison in Colorado to a nearby Colorado state facility to continue serving his state sentence.

His attorneys sent a request to the Illinois Prisoner Review Board to hold a hearing on whether Hoover deserves clemency in the state case. The board makes recommendations to Pritzker, who makes the final decision on clemency. They argued in the filing that Hoover is now 74 years old, has had three heart attacks doing hard labor at the Colorado state prison and has no desire to commit any more crimes.

Hoover promises ‘zero chance’ he would re-offend

Hoover wrote in a letter included with the request that he takes responsibility for his crimes, saying he wasted his talents on “destructive and self-defeating endeavors” that hurt almost everyone around him.

“I was lost in an enduring pattern of criminality those many years ago,” he wrote.

He said he’s no longer the person he was when he entered prison after spending 25 years in “a front row seat to the passing by of the World” and he has renounced all ties to any criminal organization, including the Gangster Disciples. He said he suffers from a range of age-related ailments and just wants to be home with his family and grandchildren.

“There is zero chance I would re-offend,” he wrote. “I know there are some that will probably remain unconvinced and choose to believe I’m beyond redemption. I hope to prove them wrong, or at a minimum, to allay their concerns eventually.”

Request comes as Pritzker, Trump spar over immigration

A spokesperson for Pritzker referred questions Wednesday to the prisoner review board. The Associated Press left a message with the board’s clemency unit seeking comment.

The second-term Democratic governor has not publicly indicated what he will do. In May, Pritzker met with members of Hoover’s family in Springfield where they discussed the clemency process.

“A recommendation is made by the prisoner review board to me that includes that entire record, and I review the entire record when that happens,” Pritzker told reporters the day after the meeting.

Hoover’s request comes as Pritzker’s frustrations with Trump mount. The governor has long been one of Trump’s loudest critics and tensions between them have been growing sharper as the president escalates a crackdown on Chicago immigrants. Trump’s administration last week asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the deployment of National Guard troops in the Chicago area.

Hoover founded one of the Windy City’s most notorious gangs

Hoover was a founder of the Gangster Disciples more than 50 years ago. To this day, the Gangster Disciples remain one of Chicago’s most notorious street gangs. Federal prosecutors maintain the gang generated around $100 million in drug sales annually during the height of Hoover’s leadership.

FILE – This image obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times shows Larry Hoover. (Chicago Sun-Times via AP, File)

Hoover was convicted of murder in 1973 after prosecutors accused him of ordering a gang member killed. He was sentenced to 150 to 200 years in state prison. According to prosecutors, he continued to run the gang from behind bars for more than 20 years, expanding it to more than two dozen states. A federal jury in 1997 found him guilty of dozens of crimes, including engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise. He got six life sentences.

Fashion, politics and rap

In the 1990s, Hoover launched his “Ghetto Prisoner” fashion line, telling The Associated Press in 1995 that he hoped the clothing would help people come together. He also formed a political action committee that his supporters contend inspired thousands to protest outside Chicago City Hall.

He still became a central figure in the rap world. Rick Ross’ 2010 single “B.M.F.” paid tribute to Hoover’s power and influence. Rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, and Drake, have pushed for Hoover’s release, with West pleading Hoover’s case to Trump during an Oval Office meeting in 2018. Drake and Ye headlined a “Free Larry Hoover” benefit concert in Los Angeles in 2021.

Associated Press reporter Sophia Tareen in Chicago contributed to this report.

Two leaders of a now-shuttered St. Paul addiction treatment center have admitted their roles in a multiyear Medicaid fraud scheme that netted millions of taxpayer dollars.

Heather Lynn Heim, former chief executive officer at Evergreen Recovery Inc., and Shantel Rene Magadanz, the one-time chief financial officer, pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

A grand jury in December indicted Heim, 47, of St. Paul, Magadanz, 35, of Stacy, and Evergreen owner and operator Shawn Grygo, 37, of Forest Lake.

Prosecutors say the trio used the outpatient drug and alcohol treatment center along Energy Park Drive to overbill DHS and UCare for services that were not provided. The overbilling scheme included adding client names to counselor logs after the fact, and other falsification of back-dated records.

Evergreen also allegedly billed for treatment services clients were required to attend as a condition of remaining in free housing.

Evergreen employees who raised concerns were either silenced, shut down or lied to regarding the lawfulness of Evergreen’s practices, prosecutors say.

Heim and Magadanz were each associated with at least $5.6 million in fraud loss, according to plea agreement documents. They face between 21 and 27 months in prison at their sentencings, which have not been scheduled.

Grygo has pleaded not guilty to wire fraud and money laundering. A trial date has not been set.

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By MIKE SCHNEIDER

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A federal lawsuit that temporarily had interrupted operations at an immigration detention in the Florida Everglades dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” was paused Wednesday by an appellate court because of the government shutdown.

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Earlier this month, U.S. government attorneys had asked the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals to stay proceedings in the case because funding for the Justice Department, as well as the Department of Homeland Security which is a defendant, had expired because of the government shutdown.

They requested the pause until appropriations were restored by Congress.

The appellate court on Wednesday granted the request. While the facility was built and operated by the state of Florida and its private contractors, federal officials have approved reimbursing the state for $608 million.

Attorneys for the environmental groups that had sued the federal and state governments over environmental concerns about the facility said that the administration of President Donald Trump had been litigating hundreds of cases around the country during the shutdown.

“Apparently, the government has sufficient money and manpower to operate a detention center in the heart of the Everglades to detain foreign born workers, but not enough to file a brief in court to justify its conduct, which the trial court held unlawful,” said Paul Schwiep, one of the attorneys.

Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity, along with the Miccosukee Tribe, sued federal and state agencies this summer, alleging they didn’t follow federal law requiring an environmental review for the detention center in the middle of sensitive wetlands.

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams agreed and ordered in August that the facility needed to wind down operations within two months. However, that injunction was put on hold in early September when the appellate court panel in Atlanta issued a stay, pending the outcome of an appeal, allowing the facility to stay open for the time being.

An opening appellate brief from the federal government had been due on Friday.

Two other lawsuits challenging operations at the Everglades detention center are proceeding in federal court in Florida.

Follow Mike Schneider on the social platform Bluesky: @mikeysid.bsky.social