Three Gophers football players fulfilled lifelong dreams of being NFL draft picks last week. They will be paid handsomely for their accomplishments.

The Houston Texans drafted left tackle Aireontae Ersery with the 48th overall pick in the second round Friday night. He will have a four-year contract worth approximately $8.6 million, including $1.5 million in 2025, according to Spotrac.com.

As a second-round pick, Ersery misses out on the rarified air afforded to first-round picks, who get a fifth-year option on their deals.

Cornerback Justin Walley, drafted 80th in the third round by the Indianapolis Colts, has a four-year deal estimated at $6.3 million, while linebacker Cody Lindenberg, selected No. 222 in the seventh round by the Indianapolis Colts, will have a four-year deal projected to pay $4.32 million.

Top overall pick, Miami (Fla.) quarterback Cam Ward, received a four-year contract from the Titans worth $43 million and a rookie salary of $7.8 million. Mr. Irrelevant, the 257th and final pick, is estimated to receive a $4.29 million contract over the life of that deal.

‘The best’

Ersery was the sixth offensive tackle drafted after five went in the first round Thursday. But that didn’t stop the 6-foot-6, 330-pounder from Kansas City, Mo., from putting together his own draft order.

“You got the best tackle in the draft,” Ersery said on the phone with Houston coach DeMeco Ryans on Friday night.

Colts general manager Chris Ballard paid a compliment to Walley when they chatted Friday night.

“You stand for everything we want to stand for,” Ballard said. “You know what fires me up the most? You worked out and did everything with a cast.”

Walley did as much as he could during the pre-draft process while recovering from a broken right wrist.

Raiders director of college scouting Brandon Yeargan called Lindenberg “a great fit.”

“He’s a high-character, high-intangible guy,” Yeargan said. “He’s tough, he’s competitive. I think he’s got really good value in the kicking game, too.”

Double shot

On Sunday, two more Gophers received shots in the NFL as free agents: Tight end Nick Kallerup, a Wayzata native, signed with the Seahawks, and running back Marcus Major, a one-year transfer from Oklahoma, signed with the Ravens.

Minnesota now up to nine undrafted players latching onto NFL teams.

Drought continues

While quarterback Max Brosmer received a free-agent chance with the Vikings, his undrafted status adds another year to the Gophers’ drought without a QB picked in the NFL Draft. This year, 13 QBs were selected.

Craig Curry was the last Gophers QB drafted, in 1972, going in the eighth round to the Dolphins.

Former U quarterback Tanner Morgan was the last long-shot in 2023. He signed as an undrafted free agent with the Steelers but was waived that August. He then had a brief stint on the Vikings practice squad later that fall.

Rankings

The Gophers’ total of three draft picks was tied for eighth-most in the Big Ten behind Ohio State (14), Oregon (10), Michigan (seven), Maryland (six), Iowa, Penn State and UCLA (five apiece).

Like Minnesota, Rutgers and Southern Cal had three picks each. Rival Wisconsin had two, while Northwestern was the only Big Ten school without a selection this year.

By JACK BROOK, Associated Press/Report for America

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The textile mills that once served as the backbone of Mount Pleasant, North Carolina, have long been shuttered, and officials believed federal money would be key to the town’s overdue revitalization. They hoped an improved stormwater drainage system and secured electrical wires — funded through a program to help communities protect against natural disasters and climate change — would safeguard investments in new businesses like a renovated historic theater to spur the largely rural economy.

Mount Pleasant was about to receive $4 million when the Federal Emergency Management Agency eliminated the program. Officials say their plans — years in the making — and those of hundreds of communities nationwide supported by the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program have been upended.

“This is a generational set of infrastructure projects that would set us up for the next hundred years and it just — poof — went away,” said Erin Burris, assistant town manager for Mount Pleasant, 25 miles east of Charlotte.

FEMA’s elimination this month of the BRIC program revoked upwards of $3.6 billion in funding earmarked for communities like Mount Pleasant. Though President Donald Trump has openly questioned whether to shutter FEMA completely, local officials said they were blindsided by the move to end BRIC, established during the Republican president’s first term.

FILE – A sign for the Federal Emergency Management Agency is pictured at FEMA headquarters, April 20, 2020, in Washington. (Al Drago/The New York Times via AP, Pool)

Many affected communities are in Republican-dominated, disaster-prone regions. FEMA called the BRIC grants “wasteful” and “politicized” tools, but officials and residents say they were a vital use of government resources to proactively protect lives, infrastructure and economies. Money would have gone toward strengthening electrical poles to withstand hurricane-force winds in Louisiana, relocating residents in Pennsylvania’s floodplains and safeguarding water supply lines in Oklahoma’s Tornado Alley.

Disasters affect the vast majority of Americans — 95% live in a county that has had a federally declared weather disaster since 2011, said Amy Chester, director of Rebuild by Design, a nonprofit focused on disaster prevention.

The BRIC program told communities, “We’re going to help your community be stronger ahead of time,” she said. “Cutting one of the sole sources of funding for that need is essentially telling Americans that it’s OK that they’re suffering.”

Officials call FEMA’s program imperfect but important

Across multiple states, officials said the BRIC program was far from perfect — they were often frustrated with the wait for funding.

But in southeastern Louisiana, Lafourche Parish President Archie Chaisson said despite his issues with FEMA’s bureaucracy, he’s seen firsthand that money invested to fortify homes and infrastructure works.

Related Articles

Promises made, promises kept? Trump’s agenda remains a work in progress after 100 days

Other voices: Muck up the tax code to control tariff damage? Bad idea

James Stavridis: My old warship is caught up in the battle over DEI

Trump expresses doubts Putin is willing to end the Ukraine war, a day after saying a deal was close

F.D. Flam: Geoengineering’s risks need to be studied more

The hurricane-ravaged state receives the highest rate of federal disaster assistance per capita, with more than $8 billion pouring in since 2011, according to Rebuild by Design. Lafourche Parish has seen more than a dozen federally declared extreme weather disasters since 2011.

Lafourche had been set to receive more than $20 million from several grants to replace wooden electrical poles with steel and take other steps to lower the soaring costs of home insurance.

Chaisson, a Republican whose parish saw 80% of voters support Trump in November, said he backs efforts to streamline federal agencies — as long as funding continues to flow for disaster prevention.

“I’m hopeful that that’s what the president’s trying to do with this,” he said. “Is there some other way to get the money so we can continue to do these projects? … No matter where you sit on the political spectrum, the programs themselves and the dollars allocated make our communities more resilient.”

Research backs him up: A 2024 study funded by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found every $1 invested in disaster preparation saved $13 in economic impact, damage and cleanup costs.

Democratic officials in states that lost money have publicly expressed outrage. Few Republicans have joined in at a national level, even though about two-thirds of the top 15 states in total FEMA funds received, spending per person and number of federally declared disasters lean heavily Republican.

An exception has been Louisiana’s senior U.S. senator, Bill Cassidy. He took to the Senate floor this month calling for BRIC’s reinstatement, saying it’s “a lifesaver and a cost-saver.”

About $185 million intended for Louisiana evaporated, and officials had to shelve dozens of applications for hundreds of millions of dollars in new funding, according to data compiled by state and federal agencies.

“This isn’t waste,” Cassidy said. “To do anything other than use that money to fund flood mitigation projects is to thwart the will of Congress.”

FEMA says more than $3.6 billion of BRIC funds will be returned to the federal Disaster Relief Fund, for disaster response and recovery, and an additional $882 million is being returned to the U.S. Treasury or reapportioned by Congress in the following fiscal year. Agency officials did not comment further for this story.

Some states fight to restore funds

Twenty-two mostly blue states and the District of Columbia have filed a lawsuit demanding the federal government release obligated funding, including FEMA grants.

The lawsuit highlights Grants Pass in conservative southern Oregon, where FEMA has refused to release BRIC funding awarded for a $50 million water treatment facility.

Flooding could knock out the water supply for 60,000 people for months, said Jason Canady, city public works director. Funding would have been used in part to build a modernized plant on higher ground.

“If you can’t provide drinking water, hospitals, groceries, restaurants are going to have trouble. Economically, it would be devastating,” he said. “It really is the cornerstone on which the community is built.”

In Stillwater, Oklahoma, Mayor Will Joyce spent two years working with FEMA on a BRIC application to overhaul and provide backup supply for a regional water system used by 100,000 people. Its 36-mile pipeline is at risk of damage from tornadoes and flooding. If it breaks, Stillwater has less than a day’s worth of reserve drinking water.

“We can’t just hope nothing bad happens,” Joyce said. “This project is a necessity.”

Without FEMA’s support, he said, Stillwater will have to double the cost of water for residents to fund the project.

In an open letter, U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan Jr., a northeast Pennsylvania Republican, urged FEMA to revive BRIC, saying communities in his district would struggle to fund disaster adaptation work, including relocating families in flooded homes.

Bresnahan wrote that “programs like BRIC are not wasteful, but well within the purview of federal coordination of disaster relief efforts” and noted that Trump “promised not to leave the forgotten men and women of America behind.”

Some towns fear their needs will be forgotten

In Mount Pleasant, Whit Moose, the fourth-generation owner of a downtown pharmacy, said few of his neighbors seem aware that funding disappeared, though his own business would have benefited.

“It was going to be a wonderful thing,” he said. “Now we just got to start over.”

Republican voters in the town embrace efforts to downsize government, but the perception is that cuts are focused on federal bureaucracy, related waste and redundancy, or diversity, equity and inclusion spending, said Jim Quick, vice chairman of the Cabarrus County Republican Party.

“It would be a surprise for us to learn that those budget cuts would be impacting a local municipality,” Quick said. “The reality is all of us have to trim back.”

Town voters are unlikely to retract their support for Trump, he said, noting that 80% supported him in November.

Burris, the assistant town manager, worries about flooding downtown. And she points to one vulnerable utility pole she’s nicknamed Atlas — after the Greek god carrying the world on his shoulders — holding up the electricity, internet and telecommunications for the town’s 1,700 people.

“It’s a special community, and it deserves good things,” Burris said, choking up. “I don’t know what was political about Mount Pleasant — little, teeny, tiny Mount Pleasant — getting a little bit of help with some stormwater flooding.”

Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

By RENATA BRITO and BARRY HATTON, Associated Press

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — A blackout brought much of Spain and Portugal to a standstill Monday, halting subway and railway trains, cutting phone service and shutting down traffic lights and ATM machines for the 50 million people who live across the Iberian Peninsula.

Spanish power distributor Red Eléctrica said that restoring power fully to the country and neighboring Portugal could take 6-10 hours. By mid-afternoon, voltage was progressively being restored in the north, south and west of the peninsula, the company said.

The company declined to speculate on the causes of the huge blackout. The Portuguese National Cybersecurity Center issued a statement saying there was no sign the outage was due to a cyberattack.

Eduardo Prieto, head of operations at Red Eléctrica, told journalists it was unprecedented, calling the event “exceptional and extraordinary.”

Spanish and Portuguese capitals among affected areas

The outage hit across Spain and Portugal, including their capitals, Madrid and Lisbon. Offices closed and traffic was snarled as traffic lights stopped working. It was not possible to make calls on some mobile phone networks, though some apps were working. In Barcelona, residents walked into stores searching for battery-powered radios and civilians directed traffic at junctions along the Gran Via avenue that cuts through the city.

The countries have a combined population of over 50 million people. It was not immediately clear how many were affected. It is rare to have such a widespread outage across the Iberian Peninsula.

Authorities said the cause was not immediately known, though one Portuguese official said the problem appeared to be with the electricity distribution network in Spain.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez convened an extraordinary meeting of Spain’s National Security Council and visited Red Eléctrica to follow efforts at restoring grid operations. Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said he has spoken several times to Sanchez and expected power to be restored by the end of the day

The Portuguese Cabinet convened an emergency meeting at the prime minister’s residence.

Portugal’s government said the outage appeared to stem from problems outside the country, an official told national news agency Lusa.

“It looks like it was a problem with the distribution network, apparently in Spain. It’s still being ascertained,” Cabinet Minister Leitão Amaro was quoted as saying.

Portuguese distributor E-Redes said the outage was due to “a problem with the European electricity system,” according to Portuguese newspaper Expresso. The company said it was compelled to cut power in specific areas to stabilize the network, according to Expresso.

The outage hit just after midday

Spain’s public broadcaster RTVE said a major power outage hit several regions of the country just after midday local time, leaving its newsroom, Spain’s parliament in Madrid and subway stations across the country in the dark.

A graph on Spain’s electricity network website showing demand across the country indicated a steep drop around 12:15 p.m. from 27,500MW to near 15,000MW.

Spanish airports were operating on backup electrical systems and some flights were delayed, according to Aena, the company that runs 56 airports in Spain including Madrid and Barcelona.

In Lisbon, terminals closed and throngs of tourists sat outside in the sun and the shade waiting for news about their flights.

“We haven’t seen any plane arriving or departing in the 50 minutes we’ve been waiting here,” Dutch tourist Marc Brandsma told The Associated Press.

Train services in both countries ground to a halt. Video aired on Spanish television showed people evacuating metro stations in Madrid and empty stations with trains stopped in Barcelona.

The Spanish Parliament in Madrid closed and play at the Madrid Open tennis tournament was suspended. Three matches were underway when power went down.

Spain’s traffic department asked citizens to avoid using their cars as much as possible due to the power outage, which has affected traffic lights and electrical road signage.

Barcelona’s streets filled with throngs of people on sidewalks, milling about in front of darkened stores and offices and exchanging information on what had happened.

The hunt for connectivity

Immediate concerns were which phone companies still had some, at least, spotty coverage, or where internet access might be found. Another concern was how to get home with the subway shut and public buses packed. Some took advantage of the lack of connectivity and transport to enjoy the sunshine on restaurant terraces.

In Terrassa, an industrial town 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Barcelona, stores selling generators were out of stock after people lined up to buy them.

In Portugal, a country of some 10.6 million people, the outage hit Lisbon and surrounding areas, as well as northern and southern parts. Portuguese police placed more officers on duty to direct traffic and cope with increased requests for help, including from people trapped in elevators.

Hospitals and other emergency services in both Spain and Portugal switched to generators. Gas stations stopped working.

Portugal’s National Authority for Emergencies and Civil Protection said backup power systems were operating.

Several Lisbon subway cars were evacuated, reports said. Also in Portugal, courts stopped work and ATMs and electronic payment systems were affected.

Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal. Joe Wilson in Barcelona contributed.

By CHRIS MEGERIAN and CALVIN WOODWARD, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Since President Donald Trump returned to office, every week has been a whirlwind of activity to show Americans that his administration is relentlessly pursuing his promises.

With a compliant Republican-controlled Congress, Trump has had a free hand to begin overhauling the federal government and upending foreign policy.

As Trump hits his 100th day in office Tuesday, his imprint is everywhere. But will it last?

Very much unsettled is whether the Republican president has run up his scorecard lawfully. Trump has faced lawsuits over his attempts to surge deportations, punish law firms and slash the federal workforce. All of that and more is being adjudicated in courtrooms, meaning much of what he’s done could come undone.

Here’s a look at where progress on his promises stands:

President Donald Trump waves from the stairs of Air Force One, upon his arrival at Joint Base Andrews, Md. Friday, April 25, 2025. The President and first lady are traveling to Rome and the Vatican to attend the funeral for Pope Francis. (AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)

He promised to beat inflation

“We’re going to get those prices down,” he told voters.

Prices have come down — before Trump took office and since. Inflation has been falling since a peak of 9.1% in 2022. It was at 3% in January, the month Trump was inaugurated, and 2.4% in March.

But the Federal Reserve has warned that the president’s tariff plans will most likely lead to higher prices by taxing foreign imports.

He’s cracked down on illegal immigration

Trump has clearly made progress on a signature promise to control the border.

Related Articles

Other voices: Muck up the tax code to control tariff damage? Bad idea

James Stavridis: My old warship is caught up in the battle over DEI

Trump expresses doubts Putin is willing to end the Ukraine war, a day after saying a deal was close

Trump pays his respects to a pope who publicly and pointedly disagreed with him, meets Zelenskyy

International students in U.S., MN see legal records restored with fed reversal

The number of people trying to cross illegally into the United States from Mexico dropped steeply in President Joe Biden’s last year, from a high of 249,740 in December 2023 to 47,324 in December 2024. Under Trump, the numbers sank to only 8,346 in February and 7,181 in March.

For all the legal wrangling about Trump’s unorthodox and possibly illegal tactics to get immigrants out of the country, it’s unclear whether he’s matching Biden’s aggressive deportation record last year — the numbers are not yet in.

Meanwhile, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is arresting large numbers of people across the country. Many who assert their innocence have been deported without due process.

He promised to slash energy bills

Trump told voters he’ll reduce their energy costs by half to three-quarters in 12 to 18 months. That promise comes due next year.

He brought on the tariffs

Trump vowed in the campaign: “I will impose across-the-board tariffs on most foreign-made goods.”

He’s followed through, big time, though with frequently changing caveats.

Trump began by escalating tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, ostensibly as punishment for allowing fentanyl into the U.S. Then he announced even more widespread taxes on foreign imports on April 2, part of what he described as “Liberation Day.” Trump retreated from parts of that plan, choosing to pursue negotiations instead, but he left in place tariffs on China as high as 145%.

The stock market has whipsawed from the hefty import taxes and the erraticism in their application.

He failed to end a war as promised

At rally after rally last summer, Trump promised peace between Russia and Ukraine merely by winning the election. “Before I even arrive at the Oval Office, shortly after I win the presidency, I will have the horrible war between Russia and Ukraine settled,” he told a Detroit conference in August. By then, he’d been making the same vow at least since May. It did not happen.

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, and President Donald Trump, talk as they attend the funeral of Pope Francis in Vatican, Saturday, April 26, 2025.(Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

At times, he framed the promise differently, saying he would end the war in one day. That day has not come.

He promised big tax cuts

Trump has tested the limits of what he can do by decree, but he’ll need Congress to achieve his promised tax cuts.

He pledged to eliminate taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security payments, and he said he will make permanent the expiring tax cuts he enacted during his first term.

None of this has happened. And with big tariffs kicking in, the tax burden is on track to get worse before it possibly gets better. Trump is working with Republicans in Congress to push through legislation achieving the tax cuts, but his party has thin majorities.

He went after pillars of education

Trump’s threats to choke off billions in tax dollars to many universities flow from multiple promises in the campaign — to combat antisemitism on campuses, to take on diversity, equity and inclusion programs and to rid campuses of foreign students he considers hostile to American values.

After several other prominent schools signaled their willingness to comply with Trump’s demands, Harvard stood firm against the pressure.

In response, Trump has called for withdrawing Harvard’s tax-exempt status, has threatened to block it from enrolling foreign students — more than a quarter of its enrollments — and has frozen more than $2 billion in grants and contracts.

… and pillars of culture

Trump’s promised agenda against “woke” policy swept quickly through the government, as DEI programs from the Biden years were halted and references to diversity in federal communications were purged.

At the Pentagon, in particular, a messy revisionism ensued, as thousands of images on webpages and other online content were flagged for removal. An image of the Enola Gay bomber from World War II was flagged for deletion — because of the “gay” — as were materials paying tribute to Black and Navajo war heroes and pioneering women. Most of the targeted material ultimately survived.

An executive order from Trump on “restoring truth and sanity to American history” forbids federal money to Smithsonian programs that promote “improper ideology.”

He promised to roll back transgender rights

Trump campaigned against the participation of transgender athletes in sports and against broader moves in society, especially in Democratic-led jurisdictions, to accommodate views that gender is not inherently binary.

As president, he has signed executive orders to ban transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s teams, and he’s asked the Supreme Court to rule against lower courts that have blocked his attempt to remove transgender troops from the military.

He promised to pardon Jan. 6 rioters, and he did

In the campaign, Trump celebrated the Jan. 6 rioters as “patriots” and “hostages” of the justice system and promised, “I will sign their pardons on Day 1.” He did exactly that. Roughly 1,500 people, including those who attacked police officers, received pardons.

Associated Press writers Rebecca Santana and Matthew Daly contributed to this report.