Students across Minnesota staged walkouts Friday to demand legislative action on gun control following the Aug. 27 shooting at Annunciation Catholic School that killed two and wounded 21 others.

High schoolers from St. Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists took part in the walkout, leaving class Friday afternoon to gather with signs that read “Ban guns, not education” and “Am I next?”

“I feel like, enough has been enough. And I feel like I’m in a spot where I can use my voice and I’m allowed to and that I have the privilege of getting up and organizing an event like this,” said Mason Yang, 17, of Maplewood.

The group held a moment of silence before making its way to the Capitol.

Thirty-seven schools in the state were expected to participate in the walkout, in addition to walkouts in other parts of the country, according to Everytown for Gun Safety. The walkouts were part of a coordinated effort to demand bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. They are organized by Students Demand Action groups, a grassroots arm of Everytown for Gun Safety.

Other St. Paul schools with students participating in the walkouts included Central and Highland Park high schools.

“I think a lot of us are just fed up with the way that things are being handled, and we want change and we want it now,” said Lexi Anderson, 16, of St. Paul.

Search warrant documents show that the high-powered rifle used in the shooting at the Church of Annunciation was a semiautomatic, according to the Associated Press. Police Chief Brian O’Hara told reporters last week that the shooter used the 5.56 mm rifle to fire 116 rounds in under four minutes.

Also on Friday, a coalition of faith leaders and advocates held a press conference at the Capitol to call for an immediate legislative special session to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. The event was held in partnership with Moms Demand Action, and students gathered inside the Capitol building to listen to speakers.

“I think it particularly hit close to home, because it was so close to home. This is a long time coming,” said Pharaoh Jones, 17.

Gov. Tim Walz has said he plans to call a special session to address gun policy. Walz and Democratic-Farmer-Labor lawmakers want new restrictions on firearms, but passing bills banning certain semiautomatic rifles and limiting the capacity of magazines would require Republican support.

Mass shootings where an assault weapon was used have resulted in nearly six times as many people shot and more than twice as many killed compared to those that did not involve one, according to Everytown for Gun Safety.

Related Articles

Neurosurgeon says there are ‘rays of hope’ for girl critically hurt in Minneapolis church shooting

Gun store owner says shooter who killed 2 schoolchildren showed no warning signs before attack

Man charged with threatening MN Lt. Gov. Flanagan after Minneapolis church shooting

Vance moved by meeting with Annunciation families; one urges him to act on gun violence

MN Capitol rally calls on lawmakers to ban assault rifles

Amber Lee, 17, of St. Paul, said change is long overdue. Lee, who identifies as a trans female, also said the backlash against the trans community following the shooting is ignorant.

“One person’s action cannot define a whole community,” Lee said. “And I think that trans people are already under attack every day, and so they’re using this almost as fuel to continue their bigotry and continue the hate. I think this is trying to stop them.”

Victoria Mitchell, 14, said parents deserve to send their children to school without the fear that they could be shot. She said she knows one child who was at Annunciation who is now too afraid to leave the house and another family considering moving back out of the country.

“I guess I’m taking part in this walkout because I have seen the pain and the suffering of kids that have been impacted by gun violence,” Mitchell said.

By MARCIA DUNN

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Thousands of newborn stars sparkle and dazzle in the latest snapshot by NASA’s Webb Space Telescope.

This image provided by NASA on Friday, Sept. 5, 2025, shows a scene of star birth in Pismis 24, a young star cluster about 5,500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Scorpius taken by NASA’s Webb Space Telescope. (NASA via AP)

Released this week, the picture provides a breathtaking view of a nearby star-birthing center, 5,500 light-years away. A single light-year is 5.8 trillion miles.

Besides baby stars in a variety of sizes and colors, the photo reveals a dramatic cloud of star-forming dust and gas. This cloud — the so-called Lobster Nebula — is so massive that it spills beyond the camera lens. The cluster of infant stars, named Pismis 24, is located deep inside.

Related Articles

Want to work for National Weather Service? Be ready to explain how you agree with Trump

Scientists give harsh grades to Trump administration work aimed at undoing a key climate finding

Another US military mini shuttle launches on a secret mission

Scientists get a rare peek inside of an exploding star

NASA’s Webb telescope finds a new tiny moon around Uranus

Launched in 2021, Webb is the largest and most powerful telescope ever sent into space. It views the universe in the infrared, spending more than five hours to capture this one shot.

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.

By PHILIP MARCELO

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration said Friday that it is exploring whether the federal government can take control of the 9/11 memorial and museum in New York City.

Related Articles

Raid on upstate New York food manufacturer leads to dozens of detentions

States move to protect vaccines in the face of attempts to remove mandates

Trump says US will host next year’s G20 summit at his Florida golf club but he won’t make money

Trump administration says Kilmar Abrego Garcia is ineligible for asylum

President Donald Trump to attend US Open men’s singles final as a client guest

The site in lower Manhattan, where the World Trade Center’s twin towers were destroyed by hijacked jetliners on Sept. 11, 2001, features two memorial pools ringed by waterfalls and parapets with the names of the dead, and an underground museum. Since opening to the public in 2014, the memorial plaza and museum have been run by a public charity, now chaired by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a frequent Trump critic.

The White House confirmed the administration has had “preliminary exploratory discussions” about the idea, but declined to elaborate. The office noted the Republican pledged during his campaign last year to make the site a national monument, protected and maintained by the federal government.

But officials at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum say the federal government, under current laws, can’t unilaterally take over the site, which is located on land owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The U.S. government shouldering costs and management of the site also “makes no sense,” given Trump’s efforts to dramatically pare back the federal bureaucracy, said Beth Hillman, the organization’s president and CEO.

“We’re proud that our exhibitions tell stories of bravery and patriotism and are confident that our current operating model has served the public honorably and effectively,” she said, noting the organization has raised $750 million in private funds and welcomed some 90 million visitors since its opening.

Last year, the museum generated more than $93 million in revenue and spent roughly $84 million on operating costs, leaving a nearly $9 million surplus when depreciation is factored in, according to museum officials and its most recently available tax filings.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, meanwhile, voiced her own concerns about a federal takeover, citing the Trump administration’s recent efforts to influence how American history is told through its national monuments and museums, including the Smithsonian.

The takeover idea also comes just months after the Trump administration briefly cut, but then restored, staffing at a federal program that provides health benefits to people with illnesses that might be linked to toxic dust from the destroyed World Trade Center.

“The 9/11 Memorial belongs to New Yorkers — the families, survivors, and first responders who have carried this legacy for more than two decades and ensured we never forget,” Hochul said in a statement. “Before he meddles with this sacred site, the President should start by honoring survivors and supporting the families of victims.”

Anthoula Katsimatides, a museum board member who lost her brother, John, in the attack, said she didn’t see any reason to change ownership.

FILE – A woman holds up a photo of a New York City Police officer during the 9/11 Memorial ceremony on the 23rd anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Sept. 11, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith, File)

“They do an incredible job telling the story of that day without sugarcoating it,” she said. “It’s being run so well, I don’t see why there has to be a change. I don’t see what benefit there would be.”

The memorial and museum, however, have also been the target of criticism over the years from some members of the large community of 9/11 victims’ families, some of whom have criticized ticket prices or called for changes in the makeup of the museum’s exhibits.

Trump spokespersons declined to respond to the comments.

In all, nearly 3,000 people were killed when the hijackers crashed jetliners into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in southwest Pennsylvania during the Sept. 11 attacks. More than 2,700 of those victims perished in the fiery collapse of the trade center’s twin towers.

Follow Philip Marcelo at https://x.com/philmarcelo

By MICHAEL HILL

CATO, N.Y. (AP) — Federal law enforcement officers forced open the doors of a snack bar manufacturer and took away dozens of workers in a surprise enforcement action that the plant’s owner on Friday called “terrifying.”

Related Articles

Trump seeking ways to take over 9/11 memorial in NYC

States move to protect vaccines in the face of attempts to remove mandates

Trump says US will host next year’s G20 summit at his Florida golf club but he won’t make money

Trump administration says Kilmar Abrego Garcia is ineligible for asylum

President Donald Trump to attend US Open men’s singles final as a client guest

“There’s got to be a better way to do it,” Lenny Schmidt said at Nutrition Bar Confectioners, a day after officers from U.S. Customs and Border Protection and other agencies raided the family-owned business in Cato, New York, about 30 miles west of Syracuse.

The facility’s employees had all been vetted and had legal documentation, Schmidt said, adding that he would have cooperated with law enforcement if he’d been told beforehand.

“Coming in like they did, it’s frightening for everybody — the Latinos, Hispanics that work here, and everybody else that works here as well, even myself and my family. It’s terrifying,” he said.

Cayuga County Sheriff Brian Schenck said his deputies were among those on scene Thursday morning after being asked a month ago to assist federal agencies, including U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, in executing a search warrant “relative to an ongoing criminal investigation.”

He did not detail the nature of the investigation, referring questions to HSI, which he said was leading it.

HSI did not respond to requests for information.

The explanation left state Sen. Rachel May, a Democrat who represents the district, with questions.

“It’s not clear to me if it’s a longstanding criminal investigation why the workers would have been rounded up,” May said by phone Friday. “I feel like there are things that don’t quite add up.”

Briefly detained worker describes surprise raid

Video and photos from the scene showed numerous law enforcement vehicles outside the plant and workers being escorted from the building to a Border Patrol van.

A 24-year-old worker who was briefly detained said Friday that immigration agents ordered everyone to a lunchroom where they asked for proof they were in the country legally.

The worker, who declined to be named for fear of retribution, said that after showing the agents he is a legal resident, they wrote down his information and photographed him.

“Some of the women started to cry because their kids were at school or at day care. It was very sad to see,” the worker, who arrived from Guatemala six years ago, said.

His partner, who lacks legal status, was among those taken away.

The two of them started working at the factory about two years ago. He was assigned to the snack bar-wrapping department and she to the packing area. He said he couldn’t talk to her before she was led away by agents. He still doesn’t know where she is being detained.

“I could tell she was sad,” the worker said. “What they are doing to us is not right. We’re here to work. We are not criminals.”

In this photo provided by Rural & Migrant Ministry, law enforcement officers gather outside during a raid on a snack bar manufacturer Friday, Sept. 5, 2025, in Cato, N.Y. (Ana Mendez-Vasquez/Rural & Migrant Ministry via AP)

Schmidt said he doesn’t believe his plant was specifically targeted and that immigrations enforcement agents are singling out any company with “some sort of Hispanic workforce, whether small or large.”

The raid came the same day that immigration authorities detained 475 people, most of them South Korean nationals, at a manufacturing site in Georgia where Korean automaker Hyundai makes electric vehicles.

Without his missing employees, Schmidt estimated production at the food manufacturer would drop by about half, making it a challenge to meet customer demand. The plant employs close to 230 people.

“We’ll just do what we need to do to move forward to give our customers the product that they need,” he said, “and then slowly recoup, rehire where we need.”

Dozens still held a day later

Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she was outraged by the raid and said those detained included parents of “at least a dozen children at risk of returning from school to an empty house.”

“I’ve made it clear: New York will work with the federal government to secure our borders and deport violent criminals, but we will never stand for masked ICE agents separating families and abandoning children,” she said in a statement.

The advocacy group Rural and Migrant Ministry said between 50 and 60 people, most of them from Guatemala, were still being held Friday. Among those released late Thursday, after about 11 hours, was a mother of a newborn child who urgently needed to nurse her baby, the group’s chief program officer, Wilmer Jimenez, said. He said she was told to report in later.

Jimenez said employees were in a panic during the hours law enforcement officers were on site.

“The way they went into the factory was very aggressive,” Jimenez said. “They used crowbars to open the doors in many directions and it was just something that people were not expecting.”

The worker who was briefly detained said he has been helping to support his parents and siblings who grow corn and beans in Guatemala. He became a legal resident two years ago after working with an immigration attorney.

He said he took Friday off but plans to get back to work on Monday.

“I have to go back because I can’t be without work,” he said.

Olga Rodriguez in San Francisco and Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo, N.Y. contributed to this report.