Farmington

2024 record: 5-4 (lost in first round of Class 6A playoffs)

Returning starters: 5 on offense, 6 on defense

Impact returnees: After leading the team in tackles in 2024 at inside linebacker, Chris Rehak is expected to get a heavy load at running back this fall. Linebacker Max Blandin is a versatile field patrol who defends the run and pass well.

Shoutout to a lineman: Tigers coach Jon Pieper calls returning junior offensive tackle Rocco Fulk “nasty and aggressive.”

Schedule: vs. Eastview, at Lakeville North, at White Bear Lake, vs. Lakeville South, vs. Rosemount, at Eagan, vs. Shakopee, at Prior Lake

The skinny: The Tigers defense figures to be stout, with Division-2 prospects littered across the field in defensive backs Daniel Sather and Logan Petsinger, defensive end Hank VonBank and Blandin at linebacker.

Since graduated dual-threat quarterback Jonah Ask carried the offense last year, but Cade Boyles will take the snaps this fall and guide an offense that could feature a strong rushing attack.

Prior Lake

2024 record: 5-5 (lost in second round of Class 6A playoffs)

Returning starters: Not known

Impact returnees: Receiver Aiden Mbinda was the team’s leading receiver in 2024. Linebacker Dylan Hawley led the team in tackles last year, with 86.

Shoutout to a lineman: Iowa State commit Ethan Beckman is one of the top offensive linemen in the state.

Schedule: at Forest Lake, vs. Eagan, at Rosemount, vs. Minnetonka, at Lakeville North, vs. Shakopee, at Lakeville South, vs. Farmington

The skinny: Prior Lake has to replace its offensive backfield, but there’s enough returning talent up front and defensively to surmise the Lakers will again be a tough out.

Shakopee

2024 record: 10-2 (lost in Class 6A state semifinals)

Returning starters: 2 on offense, 4 on defense

Impact returnees: Junior safety Blake Betton is one of the top recruits in the state, with offers from the likes of Minnesota, Iowa and Michigan. Judah Forsberg ran for north of 500 yards last season while also handling quarterback duties.

Shoutout to a lineman: Defensive lineman Nehemiah Ombati has offers from South Dakota State and North Dakota.

Schedule: at Eagan, vs. Lakeville South, at Stillwater, vs. Rosemount, vs. Osseo, at Prior Lake, at Farmington, vs. Lakeville North

The skinny: Shakopee has a number of fresh faces after graduating a large chunk from last year’s title contender, but the Sabers are restocked with athletes and gamebreakers. Running backs Joseph Taye, Carson Turner and Chris Peris and receiver Quinn Schriever all have explosive possibilities, while Ombati and linebacker Blake Loughlin are poised for potential breakouts. Loughlin will be aided by returning linebackers such as Andrew McGee and Mike Doering.

Eagan

2024 record: 6-4 (lost in second round of Class 6A playoffs)

Returning starters: 6 on offense, 2 on defense

Impact returnees: Defensive back Grady Recer is a Minnesota-Duluth commit who had four interceptions last season, and will play some in the offensive backfield, as well. Gage Halvorson averaged nearly 10 yards per carry as a sophomore, and reportedly keeps getting faster.

Shoutout to a lineman: Peyton Grandbois and Marshall Bierly form a tandem of two-year starters up front. Coach Nick Johnson said  “they are both bulldogs and love the grind of run blocking. They are machines!”

Schedule: vs. Shakopee, at Prior Lake, vs. Eastview, at Lakeville North, at Lakeville South, vs. Farmington, vs. Rosemount, at Rogers

The skinny: Eagan did graduate a bevy of athletes from last year’s breakthrough team and will trot out a heavy dose of juniors this fall. But the Wildcats return four offensive linemen from 2024 – Grandvois, Bierly, Roman Stok and Joe Noreen – and Johnson is excited for the progress to come as the fall progresses.

“The kids we have love to work,” he said.

Lakeville North

2024 record: 9-2 (lost in Class 6A state quarterfinals)

Returning starters: 6 on offense, 6 on defense

Impact returnees: Defensive lineman Roman Johnson and offensive lineman Carter Crawford, a four-year starter, are both Minnesota-Duluth commits.

Shoutout to a lineman: Riley Forar is a defensive lineman who Panters coach Brian Vossen noted is “built like a strong safety.” Added Vossen: “He is fast, tough and relentless to the ball.  He is really difficult to block and he pursues like a madman.”

Schedule: at Blaine, vs. Farmington, at Lakeville South, vs. Eagan, vs. Prior Lake, at Rosemount, vs. Champlin Park, at Shakopee

The skinny: Vossen said this year’s group has frequently been overshadowed by the classes above it, but said this crew of players is “humble and they are tight as a unit.  They are hungry and they want to be great.”

Lakeville North was riddled with injuries last fall, but receiver Pierce Buckley and tight end Blake Hendrickson are back in action. The Panthers return three offensive linemen from a year ago, and look for Pete Krolak to be a playmaker in the secondary.

Lakeville South

2024 record: 6-4 (lost in second round of Class 6A playoffs)

Returning starters: 6 on offense, 4 on defense

Impact returnees: Tight end Henry Hauge is an Air Force commit who’s critical to the Cougars rushing attack, and also a pass catching option. Josh Bergan and Kaleb Williams are impact defensive linemen who will be back up front.

Shoutout to a lineman: Cougars coach Ben Burk called offensive lineman Asher Collins “fast, physical and fearless.”

Schedule: vs. Mounds View, at Shakopee, vs. Lakeville North, at Farmington, vs. Eagan, at Edina, vs. Prior Lake, at Rosemount

The skinny: Lakeville South will again deploy a number of running backs behind their strong blocking scheme. Nick Swanson will see an increased carry load, but also look out for Griffen Dean.

Hauge and Collins key much of the run blocking, but junior Joseph Hamer is a 6-foot-7, 345-pound tackle already armed with high-major Division-I offers.

Lakeville South’s defensive front is equally scary with Bergan, Williams, Jaymel Kalimu and Oscar Anaya.

Rosemount

2024 record: 1-8 (lost in first round of Class 6A playoffs)

Returning starters: 5 on offense, 5 on defense.

Impact returnees: Linebacker Max Jones is a captain who led the Irish in tackles in 2024. Running back Jakai Hollie was Rosemount’s leading rusher last fall.

Shoutout to a lineman: Brady Struble is a three-year starter who’s played a different position each season – at center as a sophomore, at tackle as a junior and now at guard as a senior.

Schedule: vs. Centennial, at Eastview, vs. Prior Lake, at Shakopee, at Farmington, vs. Lakeville North, at Eagan, vs. Lakeville South

The skinny: Rosemount may have been the best one-win team in recent history last fall, with nearly all of their losses coming in competitive fashion.

They return experienced players at all levels of the offense and defense, with receiver Mayon Dixon and running back Savion Severson expected to deliver big production this fall.

The Irish are also boosted by Bennett Simmering, a talented kicker and punter.

Irish coach Jeff Erdmann said this year’s team has exuded a “great vibe and consistent work ethic.”

By MICHELLE L. PRICE, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — France has summoned the American ambassador to Paris after the diplomat, Charles Kushner, wrote a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron alleging the country did not do enough to combat antisemitism.

France’s foreign ministry issued a statement Sunday announcing it had summoned Kushner to appear Monday at the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs and that his allegations “are unacceptable.”

France’s President Emmanuel Macron speaks as President Donald Trump, right, listens during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, foreground left, and European leaders in the East Room of the White House, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The White House did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott on Sunday evening said it stood by Kushner’s comments, adding: “Ambassador Kushner is our U.S. government representative in France and is doing a great job advancing our national interests in that role.”

The summoning of the ambassador is a formal and public notice of displeasure.

Kushner, a real-estate developer, is the father of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

The French foreign ministry, in its statement, said “France firmly rejects these allegations” from Kushner and that French authorities have “fully mobilized” to combat a rise in antisemitic acts since the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel, deeming the acts “intolerable.”

In the letter, released late on Sunday, Kushner writes that “public statements haranguing Israel and gestures toward recognition of a Palestinian state embolden extremists, fuel violence and endanger Jewish life in France.”

Kushner urges Macron “to act decisively: enforce hate-crime laws without exception, ensure the safety of Jewish schools, synagogues and businesses … and abandon steps that give legitimacy to Hamas and its allies.”

Kushner’s allegations violate international law and the obligation not to interfere with the internal affairs of another country, the French ministry said, and, “They also fall short of the quality of the transatlantic partnership between France and the United States and of the trust that must prevail between allies.”

The dustup follows Macron’s rejection this past week of accusations from Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that France’s intention to recognize a Palestinian state is fueling antisemitism.

Related Articles

Deportations reach new high after summer surge in immigration arrests

With more self-driving cars on the road, states put more rules in place

Trump visits a DC gift shop and the Kennedy Center during military crackdown

FACT FOCUS: Posts overestimate number of noncitizens living in US by tens of millions

HHS moves to strip thousands of federal health workers of union rights

France is home to the largest Jewish population in Europe, with an estimated 500,000 Jews, the third-largest Jewish population in the world after Israel and the United States. That’s approximately 1% of the national population.

The diplomatic discord comes as French-U.S. relations have faced tensions this year amid Trump’s trade war and a split over the future of U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon. France in particular has objected to the U.S. push to wind down the peacekeeping operation known as UNIFIL, with a vote on the issue set for the end of the month by the U.N. Security Council.

France and the U.S. have also been divided on support for Ukraine in its war with Russia, but the split has eased with Trump expressing support for security guarantees and a warm meeting with Macron and other European leaders at the White House last week.

Trump at the end of his first term as president pardoned Charles Kushner, who pleaded guilty years earlier to tax evasion and making illegal campaign donations.

His son Jared is a former White House senior adviser to Trump who is married to Trump’s eldest daughter, Ivanka.

AP Writer Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to the story

At least a dozen Democratic members of Congress have been denied entry to federal immigration facilities this year when they showed up to conduct oversight as President Donald Trump has ramped up his mass deportation efforts—and now they are suing the Trump administration.

The lawsuit was filed in the federal district court for the District of Columbia on July 30 by 12 Democrats from the House of Representatives, including El Paso Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, who has provided oversight of such facilities for several years.

“As part of its campaign of mass deportation, the Trump-Vance administration has stretched the U.S. immigration detention system far beyond its capacity. More people are being held by the United States in immigration detention than ever before, with many facilities housing more individuals than they were built to contain,” the lawsuit states. “Reports of mistreatment have been widespread and have included disturbing details of overcrowding, food shortages, lack of adequate medical care, and unsanitary conditions.” 

Since 2019, Congress has adopted statutory provisions stating that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) may not use federal funds may to prevent members  “from entering, for the purpose of conducting oversight, any facility operated by or for the Department of Homeland Security used to detain or otherwise house” noncitizens, per the lawsuit. Those mandates for unfettered oversight were a direct response to Trump’s attempts to block members of Congress under his first administration.

However, since June, several members of Congress have been turned away when attempting to enter and examine federal immigration facilities, including privately run detention centers and ICE field offices where immigrants have been detained.

Escobar currently serves on the House Appropriations Committee and its Subcommittee on Homeland Security, which oversees DHS. In her six years serving Congress, she and her staff members have conducted numerous visits to DHS facilities, and identified issues that saved taxpayers money or improved facility conditions for detainees. Prior to this year, she had only been turned away once, in 2019, from a facility when attempting to conduct oversight. 

“It is not acceptable for the Trump administration to ignore the law and limit Congressional oversight and authority; this cannot go unchallenged,” Escobar said in a statement announcing the lawsuit.

U.S. Representative Greg Casar, an Austin Democrat, is among the latest members of Congress to be turned away when requesting to conduct oversight duties. On August 15, Casar attempted to access the Don T. Hutto Detention Center in Taylor, which is operated by DHS contractor CoreCivic, to conduct oversight after receiving complaints that the air conditioning was not functioning properly and that detainees were “boiling.” The congressman, along with Austin-based attorney Andrea Jarero, who was trying to visit a client, were both denied access by CoreCivic. 

When journalists, activists, Casar and his staff arrived at the detention facility, CoreCivic employees had blocked off access to the building’s parking lot with traffic cones and two white vans. A CoreCivic employee exited his vehicle, and told Casar he’d need to schedule any visits at least seven days in advance.

“This advance notice is necessary to ensure proper scheduling and to avoid any intrusion on the President’s Article II authority to oversee executive department functions,” the employee said, reading from a piece of paper.

The statutory provisions of recent DHS appropriations bills explicitly say that they may not “be construed to require a Member of Congress to provide prior notice of the intent to enter a [DHS] facility.” 

However, per the lawsuit, the Trump administration has unilaterally enacted a new policy that requires seven calendar days’ notice ahead of any visit to a DHS facility.

“What are they hiding, if they will break the law and not let a member of Congress in?” Casar said. “What are they hiding if they’ll violate constitutional rights and not let a lawyer in?”

Casar said that he intends to join his fellow Democratic members of Congress as a plaintiff in the lawsuit—though he has not done so yet. 

A CoreCivic employee at the Hutto detention facility reads a prepared statement denying access to Congressman Greg Casar on August 15, 2025. (Photo: Francesca D’Annunzio)

Texas has the largest immigration detention capacity in the country, putting the state on the front lines of Trump’s mass deportation agenda. As of early August, more than 13,000 immigrants were detained in Texas facilities, according to data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC)—far more than any other state. That number will likely continue to grow: a new, $1.24 billion immigration detention camp opened last week on Fort Bliss, a military base in El Paso, and is poised to be the nation’s largest once it reaches its full capacity to hold 5,000 people. (Escobar was allowed to access that facility on August 18, and said it held 1,000 detainees at that time, though she was not able to speak to any.)

Recent events bring new urgency to immigration detention inspections: as of late June, 13 people had died in ICE detention this fiscal year—which is the same amount of deaths for the entirety of fiscal year 2024. (A report from several advocacy groups found that dozens of deaths between 2017 and 2021 in ICE detention facilities could have been prevented with adequate medical care.) 

Additionally, more people are detained in ICE custody than ever before, and that number will likely continue to grow. The agency is also set to receive historic levels of funding; HR1, Congress’ recent tax cuts-and-spending bill, contains $75 billion for ICE detention and removal operations.

As spending ramps up, oversight mechanisms have been stifled. Earlier this year, the Trump administration gutted some of the entities tasked with facility oversight, including the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman. 

Escobar, the El Paso Democratic House member, said oversight is supposed to be multi-layered, but now “Trump has effectively done away with government watchdogs,” she told the Texas Observer.

Since the other agencies tasked with holding DHS accountable in detention centers have had major staff cuts, the role of members of Congress in conducting oversight of immigration detention is more important than ever, she said.

“There’s absolutely no reason for [DHS Secretary] Kristi Noem to block members of Congress from our legal ability to enter a facility unannounced,” Escobar said. “Unless she believes she has something to hide.”

The post Dems in Congress Are Being Denied Access to ICE Facilities. Now They’re Suing. appeared first on The Texas Observer.