Apple Valley-based Wings Credit Union on Wednesday announced a merger with Ent Credit Union, of Colorado Springs, Colo., with the combined company taking on the Wings name and be led by Chad Graves, CEO of Ent.

The combined company will 91 locations in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, Graves said in a news release. The boards of directors from each credit union unanimously approved the merger.

Wings, with $9.7 billion in assets and 371,000 members, according to a news release, and Ent ($9.9 billion, 560,000 members) are calling it a merger of equals and expect to be legally combined in 2026. They will serve nearly 1 million members, predominantly in Minnesota and Colorado.

Members will not experience any immediate change, the news release said, and both credit unions will continue to operate independently while the merger process goes through regulatory approval and a member vote.

“With shared roots in aviation, the name Wings Credit Union celebrates our unique legacies and the positive impact ahead. While our geographic footprint may be different, our values and culture are strongly aligned,” said Frank Weidner, president and CEO of Wings Credit Union.

Wings has its roots serving workers at the former Northwest Airlines, which was based in Eagan. Ent served workers at the former Ent Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, which was a precursor to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD); the former base is now the site of the U.S. Olympic Training Center.

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Pope Francis died on Monday at age 88, capping a 12-year pontificate characterized by his concern for the poor and message of inclusion, but also some criticism from conservatives who sometimes felt alienated by his progressive bent.

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Thousands of people began filing through St. Peter’s Basilica to pay their final respects to Pope Francis on Wednesday at the start of three days of public viewing ahead of his funeral.

What time is Pope Francis’ funeral?

The funeral has been set for Saturday at 10 a.m. local time (4 a.m. ET) in St. Peter’s Square and will be attended by leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Cardinals walk past the body of Pope Francis, who will lie in state for three days, after it arrived in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Wednesday, April 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

When is public viewing?

Francis’ casket is available for public viewing in St. Peter’s Basilica. The basilica will be kept open until midnight on Wednesday and Thursday to allow the faithful to mourn. The public mourning period will end on Friday at 7 p.m. local time.

People queue in St. Peter’s Square to pay their respect to the late Pope Francis, who will lie in state at St. Peter’s Basilica for three days, at the Vatican, Wednesday, April 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

What happens after the funeral?

Francis’ death and funeral will usher in a carefully orchestrated period of transition in the 1.4 billion-strong Catholic Church, with cardinals gathering over the coming days before entering a conclave, the secretive ritual voting in the Sistine Chapel to elect a new pope.

There are 133 cardinals who are under 80 years old and eligible to vote, after two bowed out for health reasons, and the new pontiff will likely come from within their ranks. The conclave is not expected to begin before May 5.

Contributing: Associated Press

The 19th annual Twin Cities Improv Festival will run from June 5 through 8 at the Phoenix Theater in Minneapolis.

Minneapolis trio Five Man Job — Butch Roy, Nels Lennes and Lauren Anderson — founded the festival in 2006 and also run the weekly Improv A Go Go showcase at Minneapolis’ Strike Theater.

The festival features four sets the first three nights and a finale with four troupes on June 8.

In addition to locals, the festival will feature performers from Chicago, Los Angeles, Des Moines and Tokyo.

“The region’s premier celebration of unscripted comedy” will also include a series of workshops, including How to Improvise Like a Married Couple, Be Your Own Action Hero and Character Workout.

For the full schedule and tickets, see twincitiesimprovfestival.com.

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By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A dozen states sued the Trump administration in the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York on Wednesday to stop its tariff policy, saying it is unlawful and has brought chaos to the American economy.

The lawsuit said the policy put in place by President Donald Trump has left the national trade policy subject to Trump’s “whims rather than the sound exercise of lawful authority.”

It challenged Trump’s claim that he could arbitrarily impose tariffs based on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The suit asks the court to declare the tariffs to be illegal, and to block government agencies and its officers from enforcing them.

A message sent to the Justice Department for comment was not immediately returned.

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The states listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit were Oregon, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York and Vermont.

In a release, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes called Trump’s tariff scheme “insane.”

She said it was “not only economically reckless — it is illegal.”

The lawsuit maintained that only Congress has the power to impose tariffs and that the president can only invoke the International Emergency Economic Powers Act when an emergency presents an “unusual and extraordinary threat” from abroad.

“By claiming the authority to impose immense and ever-changing tariffs on whatever goods entering the United States he chooses, for whatever reason he finds convenient to declare an emergency, the President has upended the constitutional order and brought chaos to the American economy,” the lawsuit said.

Last week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, sued the Trump administration in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California over the tariff policy, saying his state could lose billions of dollars in revenue as the largest importer in the country.

White House spokesperson Kush Desai responded to Newsom’s lawsuit, saying the Trump administration “remains committed to addressing this national emergency that’s decimating America’s industries and leaving our workers behind with every tool at our disposal, from tariffs to negotiations.”