By COLLIN BINKLEY

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is bringing back dozens of Education Department staffers who were slated to be laid off, saying their help is needed to tackle a mounting backlog of discrimination complaints from students and families.

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The staffers had been on administrative leave while the department faced lawsuits challenging layoffs in the agency’s Office for Civil Rights, which investigates possible discrimination in the nation’s schools and colleges. But in a Friday letter, department officials ordered the workers back to duty starting Dec. 15 to help clear civil rights cases.

A department spokesperson confirmed the move, saying the government still hoped to lay off the staffers to shrink the size of the department.

“The Department will continue to appeal the persistent and unceasing litigation disputes concerning the Reductions in Force, but in the meantime, it will utilize all employees currently being compensated by American taxpayers,” Julie Hartman said in a statement.

In the letter to employees, obtained by The Associated Press, officials said the department needs “all OCR staff to prioritize OCR’s existing complaint caseload.” The office handles everything from complaints about possible violations of disability rights to racial discrimination.

More than 200 workers from the Office for Civil Rights were targeted in mass layoffs at the department, but the firings have been tied up in legal battles since March. An appeals court cleared the way for the cuts in September, but they’re again on hold because of a separate lawsuit. In all, the Education Department workforce has shrunk from 4,100 when President Donald Trump took office to roughly half that size now, as the president vows to wind down the agency.

The department did not say how many workers are returning to duty. Some who have been on administrative leave for months have since left.

The Office for Civil Rights had a backlog of about 20,000 discrimination cases when Trump took office in January. Since then, with a significantly reduced workforce, the backlog has grown to more than 25,000, AP reporting has shown using department data.

Trump officials have defended the layoffs even as complaints pile up, saying the office wasn’t operating efficiently, even at full staff.

The Office for Civil Rights enforces many of the nation’s laws about civil rights in education, including those barring discrimination based on disability, sex, race and religion. It investigates complaints from students across the country and has the power to cut funding to schools and colleges that violate the law, though most cases are resolved in voluntary agreements.

Some former staffers have said there’s no way the office can address the current backlog under the staffing levels left after the layoffs. Families who have filed discrimination complaints against their schools say they have noticed the department’s staffing shortages, with some waiting months and hearing nothing.

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.

It’s beginning to feel a lot like the days of the perfunctory take on holiday arts programming are behind us. Something in the air at Twin Cities performances this year suggests a renewed commitment among local artists to giving it all they’ve got. Perhaps the current troubled state of things and the attendant feelings of helplessness have theater artists and musicians recognizing their work to be all the more important, be it to offer solace or inspiration.

I submit as Exhibit A Penumbra Theatre’s production of “Black Nativity.” It’s the 33rd version of this show that’s been presented by the Twin Cities’ foremost purveyors of plays and musicals about the lives of African-American people, and I’ve caught several of them. But I don’t recall it ever being as electrifying as what I experienced at Thursday’s opening night.

In recent years, Penumbra has been making music more the focus of its “Black Nativity” productions, which combine Langston Hughes’ adaptation of the Christmas story with carols traditionally sung in African-American churches and modern dance centered on Jesus’ birth.

Albert “Coco” Conteh and MerSadies McCoy portray Joseph and Mary in the ballet sequences of Penumbra Theatre’s “Black Nativity,” which is being presented at the theater through Dec. 24. (Caroline Yang)

It’s always been a worthwhile holiday tradition, but this year’s production is suffused with so much energy, enthusiasm and masterful musicianship that the most docile visitors to Penumbra’s intimate theater in the Rondo neighborhood might find themselves bouncing in their seats.

The theatrical structure is very much that of a concert, with a chorus of six women and a five-piece band supporting the often breathtaking efforts of principal soloists Greta Oglesby and Dennis Spears. The singers’ résumés boast years of experience with such stars of spiritual-centered music as Sounds of Blackness and the Steeles.

But, as I let the waves of wonderful music flow over me, I found myself thinking about another Twin Cities group of similar vintage: Moore by Four. Back in the ‘80s and ‘90s, Sanford Moore led that vocal quartet through several successful years at local clubs, offering its own contemporary spin on jazz standards. Spears was a staple of that group, and it’s fascinating to find that music director Moore’s skills have transferred so successfully to the gospel realm.

There’s a lot of music in this “Black Nativity” that sounds like jazz, giving the sense that much of the good-natured one-upmanship between the singers could just as easily be used in wordless scatting and love ballads as singing the praises of Jesus.

Four vocal soloists — from left, Greta Oglesby, Deborah M. Finney, Angela Stewart and Dennis Spears — sing Christmas songs from the gospel tradition in Penumbra Theatre’s “Black Nativity,” which is being presented at the theater through Dec. 24. (Caroline Yang)

Yet make no mistake that these performances are clearly fired by religious fervor. Oglesby has been in these productions for years, but I’ve never heard her sing with such power and conviction as on opening night. Whether engaging Spears in an adrenaline-raising duet on “How Excellent is Your Name” or putting her own stamp on the most moving “O Come, All Ye Faithful” I’ve ever experienced, Oglesby seemed a performer who’s found another level in expressing herself onstage.

If she comes off as tapping into a fresh taste of liberation, so do dancers MerSadies McCoy and Albert “Coco” Conteh in their exhilarating execution of Marciano Silva dos Santos’ choreography. Add Jennifer Whitlock’s compelling straight-from-the-pulpit narration and Moore’s takes on the traditional that range from Louisiana swamp pop to slow-burning funk and you have a marvelous opportunity to experience some spiritual renewal, no matter your religious tradition.

‘Black Nativity’

When: Through Dec. 24

Where: Penumbra Theatre, 270 N. Kent St., St. Paul

Tickets: $45-$20, available at 651-224-3180 or penumbratheatre.org

Capsule: A particularly impassioned take on a holiday theatrical tradition.

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By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN

A federal law enforcement operation at an Arizona taco shop resulted in a fracas on Friday, with agents deploying pepper spray as a group of protesters tried to stop authorities.

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Two agents were injured, and U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva was in the vicinity as protesters were sprayed. The Democratic congresswoman from Arizona took to social media, claiming she was sprayed in the face and accused immigration enforcement officers of operating without transparency or accountability.

“While I am fine, if that is the way they treat me, how are they treating other community members who do not have the same privileges and protections that I do?” she said in a statement.

It was less than a month ago that Grijalva was sworn in as the newest member of Congress. She won special election in September to fill the House seat last held by her late father.

In a video posted to social media, Grijalva said she, two members of her staff and members of the media were harassed and sprayed by agents during a federal immigration raid that local residents had interrupted “because they were afraid that they were taking people without due process, without any kind of notice.”

The video shows a man stepping in front of Grijalva, raising his arm and turning the congresswoman away as a federal agent sprays nearby protesters. Later in the video, as Grijalva continues walking in the street, a projectile is seen landing near her foot.

She said she did not know what substance she was sprayed with, but it was “still affecting” her with a cough.

Federal officials confirmed that Grijalva was not pepper sprayed and that agents with Homeland Security Investigations were targeting multiple Tucson restaurants as part of a years-long investigation into immigration and tax violations. Several search warrants were served across southern Arizona on Friday as part of the operation.

In a statement, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin described the group gathered in Tucson as a mob. She said two agents were seriously injured during the clash and took issue with Grijalva’s account of what happened.

“If her claims were true, this would be a medical marvel. But they’re not true. She wasn’t pepper sprayed. She was in the vicinity of someone who (asterisk)was(asterisk) pepper sprayed as they were obstructing and assaulting law enforcement,” McLaughlin wrote. “Presenting one’s self as a ‘Member of Congress’ doesn’t give you the right to obstruct law enforcement.”

Authorities used yellow tape to cordon off the restaurant and its parking lot as agents removed boxes from the building early Friday. By mid-morning, protesters had gathered outside with signs and whistles. Some in the group were hit with pepper spray as they tried to keep federal vehicles from leaving the area.

Tucson police said federal tactical agents responded to extract investigative special agents from the area where the protesters were gathered. After deploying chemical munitions, police said federal agents then requested emergency support from local authorities to help with exiting the area.

Grijalva thanked officers from the Tucson Police Department for “making sure everyone is safe” and stressed that the local officers had not interrupted traffic or harassed local residents. They did not make any arrests. “They were not the aggressors here,” she said.

The Arizona Democrat’s experience is the latest incident this year of members of Congress being stonewalled by or put in physical altercations with federal law enforcement officers while attempting to conduct congressional oversight. The incidents have typically involved congressional Democrats appearing at federal immigration facilities or at immigration raids.

U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver, a New Jersey Democrat, is in an ongoing legal dispute with the Trump administration after a May altercation at a Newark immigration facility in her district. And Sen. Alex Padilla, a California Democrat, was thrown to the ground and detained by federal agents in June after appearing at a press conference for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

Associated Press writer Matt Brown contributed to this report from Washington, D.C.

By RIO YAMAT

U.S. airlines were notified this week that an investigation is underway into whether they complied with an emergency order requiring flight cuts at 40 major airports during the record government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration said Friday.

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The FAA warned in letters sent Monday that the airlines could face fines of up to $75,000 for each flight over the mandated reductions, which fluctuated between 3%, 4%, and 6%. The airlines have 30 days to provide documentation showing they complied with the order, the agency said Friday in a statement.

The 43-day shutdown that began Oct. 1 led to long delays as unpaid air traffic controllers missed work, citing stress and the need to take on side jobs. The FAA said requiring all commercial airlines to cut domestic flights was unprecedented but necessary to ensure safe air travel until staffing at its control towers and facilities improved.

After the shutdown ended Nov. 12, airlines seemed to anticipate that the FAA would lift or relax the restrictions. With the order still in place on Nov. 14 requiring 6% cuts, just 2% of scheduled U.S. departures that day were canceled, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.

More than 10,000 flights were canceled between Nov. 7, when the order took effect, and Nov. 16, when the FAA announced it was lifting all flight restrictions. Delta Air Lines said Wednesday it lost $200 million, the first disclosure by a major airline regarding the shutdown’s financial impact.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy hasn’t shared the specific safety data that he and the head of the FAA said prompted the cuts, but Duffy cited reports during the shutdown of planes getting too close in the air, more runway incursions and pilot concerns about controllers’ responses.

Large hubs in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Atlanta were impacted by the cancellations. The FAA originally had a 10% reduction target.