Washington County officials will pay River Valley Christian Church $7.35 million to purchase its nearly 12-acre property in Lake Elmo and relocate the church.

The church property is needed to replace the last remaining stoplight on Minnesota 36 between Stillwater and Century Avenue with a $50 million grade-separated interchange with buttonhook-style ramps, county officials say.

Church officials signed the purchase agreement on Tuesday night; the county board is expected to approve it during its Dec. 16 meeting.

County and church officials have been negotiating for months over the purchase of the property at the southwest intersection of Minnesota 36 and Lake Elmo Avenue, an 11.88-acre parcel that is within the footprint of the new interchange.

The county’s initial offer of $2.3 million was rejected, but county officials were able to increase that number after considering a number of factors, including the value of the property, the expenses the church would incur to relocate, the public cost to redesign the interchange and the inflationary impact of the delay on project costs, said County Engineer Wayne Sandberg.

Redesigning the intersection around the church property, at 5900 Lake Elmo Ave. N., would have set the project back by at least two years, and alternative designs were estimated to increase the project costs as much as $5.2 million due to added right-of-way, engineering, inflation and new property impacts, Sandberg said.

“This agreement avoids millions of dollars in redesign and years of delay, and it’s very possible we would have had another tragic crash here,” Sandberg said. “This allows us to move forward.”

More than 200 crashes have occurred at the intersection of Minnesota 36 and Lake Elmo Avenue over the past 10 years, including three crashes – in 2018, 2024 and in May – that resulted in fatalities. An average of 57,000 vehicles pass through the intersection each day – 52,000 on Minnesota 36 and another 5,000 on Lake Elmo Avenue.

The new grade-separated interchange will improve safety, reduce congestion and improve bicycling and walkability in the area, Sandberg said.

Drivers no longer will be able to turn directly from one road to the other. Instead, the buttonhook-style ramps will provide access to Minnesota 36 through frontage roads and dedicated acceleration and deceleration lanes along the state highway, he said.

A rendering showing the design of a planned $40 million grade-separated interchange with buttonhook-style ramps that will be built at Minnesota Highway 36 and Lake Elmo Avenue. (Courtesy of Washington County)

“This is a positive outcome for everyone involved,” said County Commissioner Bethany Cox, who represents the area. “By working together, we’ve created a solution that allows our church partners to continue their mission in a new location while addressing a longstanding safety concern along Highway 36.”

Construction will start in the summer of 2026, and the project is expected to be completed by the end of 2027, Sandberg said.

Officials from River Valley, a nondenominational church, did not immediately respond to a query seeking comment.

Since its founding in 1995, River Valley has “grown into a thriving church with nearly 10,000 in attendance across 11 U.S. campuses and two international campuses with plans for further expansion in the future,” according to the church’s website.

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By RONALD BLUM, AP Sports Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — A record 64 nations will be in Friday’s World Cup draw, more than 30% of FIFA’s members, as soccer’s leaders insist a bigger tournament is better.

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FIFA expanded the field from 32 teams to 48, and just 42 spots have been determined going into the convoluted ceremony in which balls representing nations are plucked from bowls and assigned to groups per rules that restrict who goes where. Twenty-two teams in Friday’s draw are headed to playoffs that determine the final six berths on March 31.

There will be 104 games instead of 64 in the World Cup running from June 11 through July 19 at 16 venues throughout North America. Seventy-eight games will be at 11 NFL stadiums, including all from the quarterfinals on, and 13 each in Mexico and Canada. The final is at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, where there will be a halftime show for the first time.

In addition to 12 group winners and second-place nations, eight third-place teams advance to a new round of 32. The World Cup winner will play eight games.

“I’ve always thought that what FIFA should do is do it like the Final Four and do 64 teams with no groups, just a knockout,” said Alan Rothenberg, the head organizer of the 1994 World Cup in the U.S., comparing soccer with the NCAA basketball tournament.

Led by captain Lionel Messi, who turns 39 during the tournament, Argentina seeks to become the first nation to win consecutive World Cups since Brazil in 1958 and 1962. Messi and Portugal’s 40-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo are expected to play in a record sixth World Cup.

At least four countries have qualified for the first time

Cape Verde (ranked No. 68), Curaçao (82), Jordan (66) and Uzbekistan (50) have qualified for the first time and four playoff teams could become debutantes: Albania (63), Kosovo (80), New Caledonia (149) and Suriname (123).

Curaçao, an autonomous territory of about 156,000 people within the Netherlands kingdom, is the smallest nation by population to qualify,

Haiti is in for the first time since 1974 and Austria, Norway and Scotland for the first time since 1998.

“I’m a little bit worried,” said former U.S. goalkeeper Kasey Keller, now an ESPN analyst. “We talked about it when they expanded from 24 that it was going to leave some teams that got into the World Cup that weren’t quite at the level, and now expanding it to 48 I think you’re looking at some teams that are going to really struggle.”

World Cup ticket prices are setting records

FIFA has set record initial prices of up to $6,730 for a ticket along with as much as $175 for a parking place and $73,200 for a hospitality package — up from $25 to $475 for the 1994 tournament in the U.S.

Almost 2 million tickets among what is expected to be more than 6 million have been sold, the governing body said.

“I’m not sure that FIFA’s number one goal is to grow the sport in America,” former U.S. goalkeeper Tony Meola said. “I always hate that people miss out on this because they get priced out of it.”

Ticket holders who require visas to enter the U.S. have been promised priority appointment scheduling by the U.S. government.

High temperatures could be an issue at some US venues

A key could be whether teams are drawn to play in open-air stadiums where summer heat could be a factor. Only four of the 11 U.S. World Cup venues have roofs, including one that isn’t temperature controlled.

At this year’s Club World Cup in the U.S., six games were delayed by weather for a total of 8 hours, 29 minutes.

“I will be interested when we find out the teams, as to who is playing in indoor climate-controlled venues more as opposed to outdoor, because I do think that there is a significant difference and obviously a potential competitive advantage,” said former American defender Alexi Lalas, Fox’s lead analyst.

Kickoff times will be announced Saturday. The average noon temperature over the past 30 years in East Rutherford on July 19 is 84 degrees with a RealFeel index of 91, according to AccuWeather.

Political element

The 1994 World Cup draw in Las Vegas featured performances by Stevie Wonder, Barry Manilow, James Brown and Vanessa Williams plus comedian Robin Williams, who called the draw screen “the world’s largest keno board” and yelled “Bingo!” when Greece was pulled out of a bowl.

This draw figures to be more akin to the December 2017 ceremony in Moscow, opened by Russia President Vladimir Putin.

After negotiating to hold this month’s event in Las Vegas, FIFA placed it to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, taken over this year by President Donald Trump and his supporters. Trump, who mingled among Chelsea players on the awards stand after the Club World Cup final last summer, is expected to be at the draw along with Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canada Prime Minister Mark Carney.

Retired stars Tom Brady of the NFL, Shaquille O’Neal of the NBA and Wayne Gretzky of the NHL along with three-time AL MVP Aaron Judge will be on stage for the draw, to be run by former England captain Rio Ferdinand with broadcaster Samantha Johnson. Brady, O’Neal and Judge are American and Gretzky is Canadian, but there is no Mexican sports representative.

Model Heidi Klum co-hosts Friday along with actors Kevin Hart and Danny Ramirez, and entertainment includes Tony Award and Olivier Award winner Nicole Scherzinger, Andrea Bocelli and Robbie Williams. The Village People will perform Trump favorite “Y.M.C.A.” and FIFA will award its own peace prize, likely to Trump. Former NFL star Eli Manning will be the red carpet host.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

“If universal childcare is free for all, the families who would benefit most over the long-term would likely be those already thriving economically. Meanwhile the financial benefits for those barely getting by, while vital, could become offset by the resulting increases in other costs.”

(Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

We have reached a defining moment in the movement for universal childcare in New York. Our Mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani, rode the issue and just a small handful of others to City Hall. Gov. Kathy Hochul seems intent upon handing him at least a partial win on the issue, seeing it as a potential asset to her re-election effort next year.

The contours of her proposal, and for legislation, are being shaped now. It is crucial that we get this right. 

Universal child care can be transformative, but only if it is built with an honest understanding of how wealth and economic insecurity shape the realities families face. Without that, even a well-intentioned program could help higher-income households pull further ahead while leaving struggling families treading water. The cost of living crisis demands a well-designed program that closes gaps rather than one that inadvertently widens them.

Like Universal Pre-Kindergarten for all four-year-olds in New York City, which was a campaign promise made good by Mayor Bill de Blasio with state funds allocated by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, universal childcare could provide free, high quality, accessible and inclusive care for all infants and toddlers. With increasing numbers of low- and middle-income New Yorkers struggling to stay in the state because they can’t afford the cost of living, solutions to the problem are coming from all sides. 

Families with young children face the highest rates of economic insecurity, with 63 percent living below the threshold in New York State, according to the national True Cost of Economic Security measure created by the Urban Institute, Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies and the Community Service Society. In other words, they do not make or have enough income, assets or other resources to meet their daily needs, save for a rainy day, and invest in their futures. Many have to prioritize basic daily needs and make difficult choices about what expenses are a must.  

For these families, universal childcare would eliminate a major financial burden and help ensure that all children can receive quality early childhood learning, which is essential for their development and foundation for their success in school and in life.  

Indeed, universal childcare would solve the dilemma of childcare affordability. However, it would not address its underlying root cause—which is economic insecurity—and could potentially exacerbate it.  

To illustrate, in New York City, 72 percent of families with children are economically insecure, and the Urban Institute’s measure helps us understand their economic reality. Based on 2022 data, families with children in New York City need on average $165,300 yearly to be economically secure.

For families with children that fall below the economic security threshold, they have an annual average resource gap of $52,600, or a gap of about $260,000 over a child’s first five years. Free universal childcare could provide families with a financial benefit worth about $93,600 total for those five years, according to some estimates.

While that financial benefit sounds significant, it has the potential to deepen the existing economic security gap. Universal childcare alone would not close the resource gap for all families below the economic security line; meanwhile, families already above could be put way further ahead. 

Taking full advantage of free universal childcare, economically secure families would likely be able to use significant amounts of freed up resources to grow their wealth even more. For example, they could purchase more housing or more highly priced homes or simply pay more in rent when competing for homes, thereby driving housing costs up. Lower-wealth households wouldn’t be able to do this; they would need their newfound savings just to make it day to day. 

If universal childcare is free for all, the families who would benefit most over the long-term would likely be those already thriving economically. Meanwhile the financial benefits for those barely getting by, while vital, could become offset by the resulting increases in other costs.     

I highlight this concern not to suggest our government shouldn’t ensure childcare is affordable for all, but with the hopes of helping mitigate any unintended outcomes that could worsen wealth disparity and economic insecurity. What families of different means are able to do with the financial benefits of universal programs matters and is part of what deepens underlying inequalities.

When we seek to fully understand and address the dynamics underlying growing economic insecurity—structural economic deprivation upheld through policies and laws that favor the wealthy and penalize those with few resources—we can and should control for the outcomes we desire. Well-intentioned programs must also tackle root causes, not deepen inequality.

For example, to avoid worsening wealth inequality, policymakers could make childcare universal for all but have higher wealth families contribute directly to the cost. Dare we dream, we could also pair free universal childcare with a shift in the tax burden from lower-wealth families to higher-wealth ones, balancing out the lopsided wealth effects. And, we could and should pay childcare workers fairly and improve their job quality and labor rights. 

I believe in quality childcare being available and accessible for all families, and in a strongly supported childcare workforce. But to succeed in addressing the affordability and economic insecurity crisis facing more and more New Yorkers, our policy solutions must address both the problem and root causes, all while controlling for new harms. 

Jennifer Jones Austin is the CEO and executive director of Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies.

The post Opinion: Universal Childcare—A Caution appeared first on City Limits.

By Jonathan Shorman, Stateline.org

Four Republican states have agreed to help the Trump administration gain access to state driver’s license data through a nationwide law enforcement computer network as part of the administration’s hunt for alleged noncitizen voters.

The Trump administration said as recently as October that federal officials wanted to obtain driver’s license records through the network.

The commitment from officials in Florida, Indiana, Iowa and Ohio comes as part of a settlement agreement filed on Friday in a federal lawsuit. The lawsuit was originally brought by the states last year alleging the Biden administration wasn’t doing enough to help states verify voter eligibility.

The settlement, between the states and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, requires the federal department to continue its development of a powerful citizenship verification program known as SAVE. Earlier this year, federal officials repurposed SAVE into a program capable of scanning millions of state voter records for instances of noncitizen registered voters.

In return, the states have agreed to support Homeland Security’s efforts to access the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System, an obscure computer network that typically allows law enforcement agencies to search driver’s license records across state lines. Nlets — as the system is known — lets police officers easily look up the driving records of out-of-state motorists.

The Trump administration and some Republican election officials have promoted the changes to SAVE as a useful tool to identify potential noncitizen voters, and Indiana had already agreed to provide voter records. Critics, including some Democrats, say the Trump administration is building a massive database of U.S. residents that President Donald Trump or a future president could use for spying or targeting political enemies.

Stateline reported last week, before the settlement agreement was filed in court, that Homeland Security publicly confirmed it wants to connect Nlets to SAVE.

A notice published Oct. 31 in the Federal Register said driver’s licenses are the most widely used form of identification, and that by working with states and national agencies, including Nlets, “SAVE will use driver’s license and state identification card numbers to check and confirm identity information.”

A federal official also previously told a virtual meeting of state election officials in May that Homeland Security was seeking “to avoid having to connect to 50 state databases” and wanted a “simpler solution,” such as Nlets, according to government records published by the transparency group American Oversight.

The new settlement lays out the timeline for how the Trump administration could acquire the four states’ records.

Within 90 days of the execution of the agreement, the four states may provide Homeland Security with 1,000 randomly selected driver’s license records from their state for verification as part of a quality improvement process for SAVE.

According to the agreement, the states that provide the records will “make best efforts to support and encourage DHS’s efforts to receive and have full use of state driver’s license records from the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System” and state driver’s license agencies.

The language in the agreement is open-ended and doesn’t make clear whether the pledge to help Homeland Security obtain access to Nlets is limited to drivers from those four states or is intended to require the states to help the agency acquire the records of drivers nationwide.

An agreement to help

The agreement could pave the way for Republican officials in other states to provide access to license data.

Nlets is a nonprofit organization that facilitates data sharing among law enforcement agencies across state lines. States decide what information to make available through Nlets, and which agencies can access it. That means the four states could try to influence peers to share Nlets data with the Trump administration.

“They’re not just talking about driver’s license numbers, they’re talking about the driver’s records. What possible reason would DHS have in an election or voting context — or any context whatsoever — for obtaining the ‘full use of state driver’s license records,’” said David Becker, executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation & Research.

Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, a Republican, said in a statement to Stateline that the settlement agreement provides another layer of election integrity and protection as officials seek to ensure only eligible voters are registered. He didn’t directly address questions about Nlets access.

“The SAVE program provides us with critical information, but we must also continue to utilize information from other state and federal partners to maintain clean and accurate lists,” Pate said in the statement.

Two weeks before the Nov. 5, 2024, election, Pate issued guidance to Iowa county auditors to challenge the ballots of 2,176 registered voters who were identified by the secretary of state’s office as potential noncitizens. The voters had reported to the state Department of Transportation or another government entity that they were not U.S. citizens in the past 12 years and went on to register to vote, according to the guidance.

In March, Pate said his office gained access to the SAVE database and found 277 of those people were confirmed to not have U.S. citizenship — just under 12% of the individuals identified as potential noncitizens.

Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Justice didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.

Matthew Tragesser, a spokesperson for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services — the agency under Homeland Security that oversees SAVE — told Stateline last week that USCIS was committed to “eliminating barriers to securing the nation’s electoral process.”

“By allowing states to efficiently verify voter eligibility, we are reinforcing the principle that America’s elections are reserved exclusively for American citizens,” Tragesser said in a statement.

The SAVE program — Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements — was originally intended to help state and local officials verify the immigration status of individual noncitizens seeking government benefits. In the past, SAVE could search only one name at a time. Now it can conduct bulk searches; federal officials in May also connected the program to Social Security data.

“It’s a potentially dangerous mix to put driver’s license and Social Security number and date of birth information out there … where we really don’t know yet how and when and where it’s going to be used,” Minnesota Democratic Secretary of State Steve Simon said in an interview on Monday.

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Democratic states object

As the Trump administration has encouraged states to use SAVE, the Justice Department has also demanded states provide the department with unredacted copies of their voter rolls. The Trump administration has previously confirmed the Justice Department is sharing voter information with Homeland Security.

The Justice Department has sued six, mostly Democratic, states for refusing to turn over the data. Those lawsuits remain pending.

On Monday, 12 state secretaries of state submitted a 29-page public comment, in response to SAVE’s Federal Register notice, criticizing the overhaul. The secretaries wrote that while Homeland Security claims the changes make the program an effective tool for verifying voters, the modifications are “likely to degrade, not enhance” states’ efforts to ensure free, fair and secure elections.

“What the modified system will do … is allow the federal government to capture sensitive data on hundreds of millions of voters nationwide and distribute that information as it sees fit,” the secretaries wrote.

The secretaries of state of California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington signed on to the comment.

The settlement agreement purports to make this year’s changes to SAVE legally binding.

The agreement asks that a federal court retain jurisdiction over the case for 20 years for the purposes of enforcing it — a move that in theory could make it harder for a future Democratic president to reverse the changes to SAVE.

But Becker, of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, said he doesn’t expect the settlement agreement would make it more difficult for a future administration to undo the overhaul.

“Should a different administration come in that disagrees with this approach,” Becker said, “I would expect that they would almost certainly completely change how the system operates and how the states can access it and what data the federal government procures.”

Iowa Capital Dispatch reporter Robin Opsahl contributed to this report. Stateline reporter Jonathan Shorman can be reached at jshorman@stateline.org.

Stateline is part of States Newsroom, a national nonprofit news organization focused on state policy.

©2025 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.