Carl Pedro, Sr. arrived at Ellis Island in New York from Italy in 1906, a few years before opening his first shoe shop in St. Paul. His granddaughter, Gina Pitera, 72, has waited years for the former site of her father’s and grandfather’s luggage store — which was demolished in 2011 — to welcome a new generation of visitors.

For decades, residents of the Fitzgerald neighborhood have longed for some green space of their own in the area south of the Minnesota State Capitol campus and tucked between Interstate 35E and Seventh Street, a few blocks from the core of downtown St. Paul.

On Thursday, they finally got their wish. A who’s who of elected officials and downtown advocates, including Mayor Melvin Carter, City Council President Rebecca Noecker and longstanding community residents, gathered to inaugurate the city’s newest parkland — Pedro Park, at 10th and Robert streets.

Measuring about a half block, the new park spans a covered event pavilion and picnic shelter, cafe tables, seating, a dog run, play area, gardens, plaza space, tree plantings and open lawn area directly across from the former Lunds & Byerlys grocery and down the street from the former St. Joseph’s Hospital.

“We’re so excited,” said Lowertown resident Jamie Daniels, who visited the park Thursday with their 8-year-old daughter. “It went from a place you might accidentally find yourself at to a place you want to go to.”

The 0.87-acre park fills in the area previously occupied by a public safety annex building and Pedro’s Luggage and Brief Case Center, on a block ringed by apartments and condominiums, restaurants and the former grocery store. When they weren’t at loggerheads over financing and design, St. Paul Parks and Recreation worked closely with the Friends of Pedro Park and the St. Paul Parks Conservancy on the project, which was laid out on paper, in various concept iterations, as far back as the late 1990s.

The $7 million park project drew funding from state bonding dollars, city general funds, private fundraising and the city’s new 1% “Common Cent” sales tax, which was approved by voters in November 2023, the same year the annex building was demolished.

It also drew support from no shortage of gardeners, fundraising volunteers and community advocates, who kept hope alive over the decades that Pedro Park would become reality.

“There were 30 people out here on a Monday night planting annuals,” said conservancy director Michael-jon Pease to a sizable crowd huddled in the rain Thursday under the covered shelter. “People were emailing me, ‘When can I start weeding?’”

Senior residents of the Pointe and City Walk condominiums had advocated for a park in the center of the Fitzgerald neighborhood since the mid-1990s. The Fitzgerald Park “Park at the Heart” concept was included in the St. Paul Riverfront Corp.’s master plans for the area in 1997, and then the city’s comprehensive plan in 2006.

Pedro’s business was demolished in 2011, with the Pedro family gifting the underlying 0.45 acres of land to the city on the condition that it become greenspace within five years. Instead, facing a hefty maintenance backlog for Parks and Rec projects, the city planted flowers — a half-acre “urban flower field” — in sloping, recessed earth, creating a placeholder of sorts in 2014.

Then-Mayor Chris Coleman tried to convert the neighboring public safety annex building into modern office space in 2017, over the objection of neighbors who had expected to see the building eventually torn down to make room for Pedro Park. That year, during his first campaign for mayor, Carter seemed to embrace the idea of a full-sized park, but later promoted the development plans for modern office space proposed by the Ackerberg Group.

Legal action against the city filed by Pedro family member Marilyn Pitera and a group of downtown residents led into the pandemic and a national shift to remote work. Ackerberg eventually withdrew its plans, and the city and neighborhood residents went back to literal drawing boards, leaning on community surveys and a bevy of both public and private funds to finally move the new Pedro Park toward reality.

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By RIO YAMAT

The Trump administration said Thursday it is abandoning a Biden-era plan that sought to require airlines to compensate stranded passengers with cash, lodging and meals for flight cancellations or changes caused by a carrier.

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The proposed rule would have aligned U.S. policy more closely with European airline consumer protections. It was proposed last December in the final weeks of then-President Joe Biden’s administration, leaving its fate in the hands of his Republican successor.

In a document posted Thursday, President Donald Trump’s Transportation Department said its plan to scrap the proposed rule was “consistent with Department and administration priorities.”

Industry trade group Airlines for America, a vocal critic of the proposal, said it would have driven up ticket prices for consumers.

“We are encouraged by this Department of Transportation reviewing unnecessary and burdensome regulations that exceed its authority and don’t solve issues important to our customers,” the group said Thursday in a statement.

The proposed rule sought compensation starting at $200 when a flight is canceled or significantly delayed because of a mechanical problem with the plane or an airline computer outage. Compensation as high as $775 was proposed for delays of nine hours or more.

Airlines already promise some level of customer service when they cause flight cancellations or severe delays, but passengers usually have to ask for help at the airport, and airline promises don’t carry the weight of federal rules.

Biden’s Transportation Department was also considering free rebooking on the next available flight, including flights on rival airlines, as well as meals and lodging when passengers are stranded overnight. Many of the largest U.S. airlines already promise that kind of help when a delay or cancellation is their fault.

By MICHAEL CASEY

HAMPTON, N.H. (AP) — A New Hampshire teenager on a deep-sea fishing trip this week hauled in a 177-pound Atlantic halibut, a fish so big that it weighed more than him and could be a world record.

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Jackson Denio, a 13-year-old from Hampton, New Hampshire, was fishing about 100 miles off the New England Coast on Cashes Ledge Monday morning when he caught the fish.

“I think I screamed, honestly,” said Denio, who weighs around 120 pounds and is 5-foot-9-inches. “I don’t know exactly what happened, but I was very excited.”

Denio had set out on Sunday with about 30 others on an overnight charter trip with Al Gauron’s Deep Sea Fishing and Whale Watching. After everyone had caught plenty of pollock and other fish, Denio told the crew he wanted to catch a shark. They told him to fish at the bottom.

Minutes after he dropped his hook with pollock on it, Denio got a hit and knew he had something big.

Denio fought the fish for about 30 minutes, bringing it near the boat only to have it dive back down. He was eventually able to get the fish to the surface, guided by the crew and cheered on by fellow passengers who uttered plenty of oohs and ahhs spiced with profanity as the size of the fish became clear. One person even yelled out “Jackson, you are an angel of a man.”

“I’m standing there watching him. Then all of a sudden the fish took off it, bit it and started pounding away,” said Jim Walsh, the captain of the vessel that Denio was on. “I looked at him and I said, were you on the bottom? And he goes, yes. And I said, you don’t have a shark.”

Walsh said he was most impressed with Denio’s composure.

“He did not let go once. He never let anybody else touch the rod. And he worked him, worked him. Then eventually, the fish starts to tire out,” Walsh said. “Even though he’s that big, they go to tire. Then he got it up to the surface. That’s when we looked and went Oh my God. We were all ecstatic.”

Before the fish was carved up, Denio officially got it weighed and took photos and video of the fish, and he has provided other information about his fishing gear that will go into an application for a world record with the International Game Fish Association. The family plans to file an application under the junior record for Atlantic halibut and one under line class that includes all fish.

The association didn’t respond to a request for more information. Its website lists as vacant the record for Atlantic halibut under the junior male class.

And while he is relishing all the attention, Denio is itching get back out on the water again — and catch something even bigger.

“It makes me want to keep fishing even more and try and beat the record if I can,” he said.

Building a team through the draft is a consistent mantra from almost every NFL team because getting cost-controlled young players in a salary-capped league is crucial to success.

Pulling that off isn’t as easy with the draft often looking like a crapshoot, with some widely heralded prospects taken in the first round flaming out each year and the league filled with later-round gems who were overlooked coming out of college.

That can be because of bad evaluation, poor development, injuries or bad fortune but the teams that do the best to avoid it are often the ones playing deep into January.

Evaluating drafts in the immediate aftermath each spring is often foolhardy as it often takes a year or even more to see if picks worked out.

Leaguewide, 55% of all players drafted from 2021-24 were still on the active roster or an injured list of the team that picked them, according to data compiled by Sportradar after rosters were reduced to 53 players last week. That ranged from 85% of players picked in the first round, 68.8% picked in the second and third rounds on day two of the draft, and 42.6% in the final four rounds on day three.

In all, eight teams have less than half of their 2021-24 draft picks still on the active roster or injured lists but that’s doesn’t necessarily translate to a lack of on-field success. Minnesota has the lowest retention rate at 32.4% and made the playoffs with 14 wins last season, while Washington is fourth lowest at 41.2% and made it to last season’s NFC title game.

Eight other teams have retained more than 63% of their 2021-24 draft picks, with five of those teams making the playoffs last season, two others finishing with winning records and only the New York Giants lacking success with just nine wins the past two seasons under general manager Joe Schoen and coach Brian Daboll.

Seven of those eight teams had the same coach and general manager since at least 2022 as the stability in leadership and scheme typically leads to fewer roster overhauls.

The only two teams near the bottom who had not changed their coach since the start of the 2022 season are the Vikings and San Francisco 49ers, who made up for several notable draft whiffs made by general manager John Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan by finding a franchise quarterback in Brock Purdy with the final pick of the 2022 draft.

Here’s a look at the three best and worst teams when it comes to retaining picks:

Cincinnati Bengals, 73.5%

The Bengals faced a tough decision in the 2021 draft when they had to choose whether to pick Penei Sewell to protect Joe Burrow or Ja’Marr Chase to give him a playmaker. While both choices would have been good, picking Chase has worked out as good as they could have hoped with four Pro Bowl seasons and a receiving Triple Crown in 2024.

The next three first-rounders — Dax Hill, Myles Murphy and Amarius Mims — haven’t been nearly as impactful but are still in place. That’s been a bit of a theme for the Bengals as the stability in the front office and coaching has kept draft picks in place but few have been difference-makers in recent years.

Cincinnati has retained the highest percentage of day three picks during this period at 66.7%, with the biggest hit being 2025 fifth-round pick Chase Brown.

Kansas City Chiefs, 73.3%

Kansas City has kept 11 of its 12 picks in the first three rounds on the roster with several being key contributors to the team’s back-to-back Super Bowl titles in the 2022-23 seasons.

The Chiefs got two players who have earned All-Pro honors in center Creed Humphrey in the second round in 2021 and cornerback Trent McDuffie in the first round in 2022. Among the other early-round hits have been linebacker Nick Bolton, receiver Skyy Moore and edge rusher George Karlaftis, and additional starters in linebacker Leo Chenal and safety Bryan Cook.

There have also been some big day three wins like guard Trey Smith in the sixth round in 2021, tight end Noah Gray in the fifth round in 2021, and running back Isiah Pacheco and cornerback Jaylen Watson in the seventh round in 2022.

Detroit Lions, 72.4%

GM Brad Holmes and coach Dan Campbell have engineered one of the best turnarounds in recent memory in the NFL, turning one of the worst franchises into a perennial contender thanks to some sharp draft picks.

Helped by two extra first-rounders gained when Detroit traded Matthew Stafford to the Rams for Jared Goff, the Lions added several difference-makers in the first round led by Sewell, Aidan Hutchinson and Jahymr Gibbs.

The Lions also got their No. 1 receiver on day three of the 2021 draft in Amon-Ra St. Brown and several key contributors with day two picks, like All-Pro safety Kerby Joseph in the third round in 2022, and versatile defensive back Brian Branch and productive tight end Sam LaPorta in the second round in 2023.

Minnesota Vikings, 32.4%

Perhaps no team has overcome poor drafts as well as the Vikings in recent years under GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and coach Kevin O’Connell.

Outside of star left tackle Christian Darrisaw and depth receiver Jalen Nailor, Minnesota has almost nothing left from the 2021 and ’22 draft classes after whiffing on high picks in 2022 on first-round safety Lewis Cine, second-round cornerback Andrew Booth and third-round guard Ed Ingram.

The verdict on the 2024 draft remains unknown after first-rounder J.J. McCarthy missed his rookie season with a knee injury and fellow first-rounder Dallas Turner made little impact as a rookie.

The team has hit on several undrafted free agents, led by linebacker Ivan Pace Jr.

New England Patriots, 36.8%

Poor picks at the end of the Bill Belichick regime followed by a one-year run with Jerod Mayo as coach have contributed to the Patriots moving on from most of their picks from 2021-24 as they enter their first year under coach Mike Vrabel.

The 2022 draft class might have been the worst as only third-round slot cornerback Marcus Jones remains after the team cut first-round guard Cole Strange last week. Second-round receiver Tyquan Thornton had 39 catches in three seasons before being cut last season.

New England had two hits from 2021 in second-round defensive tackle Christian Barmore and fourth-round running back Rhamondre Stevenson after first-round QB Mac Jones lasted only three seasons with the team.

Drake Maye is the only projected starter this season from last year’s draft class.

New England did well at the top of the 2023 draft with cornerback Christian Gonzalez and defensive Keion White.

The Pats have only 6 of 26 (23.1%) of day-three picks over those four years still on the roster.

Tennessee Titans, 40%

The Titans have gone through three GMs since the start of the 2022 season as a roster that was good enough to earn the top seed in the AFC in 2021 fell so much that the Titans ended up with the No. 1 pick in this year’s draft.

Cornerback Caleb Farley started just two games in two seasons after being picked in the first round in 2021 and receiver Treylon Burks — picked to replace A.J. Brown in 2022 — will finish his rookie contract with 53 catches and one TD after going on season-ending IR.

Tennessee has just four day two picks and five day three picks from 2021-24 left on the roster after missing on picks like Dillon Radunz, Elijah Molden, Nicholas Petit-Frere and Malik Willis.

The Titans used a second-round pick in 2023 on quarterback Will Levis, who went 5-16 in his first two seasons and is on IR this year.

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