By CHRIS MEGERIAN

WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden recently underwent surgery to remove skin cancer lesions, a spokesperson said Thursday, the latest health challenge for the former president.

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His spokesperson Kelly Scully confirmed the surgery after Inside Edition published video of Biden leaving church in Delaware with a fresh scar on his forehead.

She said Biden received Mohs surgery, a procedure used to cut away skin until no evidence of cancer remains.

Two years ago, while Biden was in office, he had a lesion removed from his chest. The lesion was basal cell carcinoma, a common form of skin cancer.

In March, Biden’s office announced that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that had spread to his bones.

“Cancer touches us all,” Biden wrote on social media at the time. “Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places.”

The Biden family has faced cancer repeatedly over the years. Biden’s son Beau died of a brain tumor, and his wife, Jill, had two cancerous lesions removed.

By MIKE SCHNEIDER

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A federal appeals court panel on Thursday put on hold a lower court judge’s order to end operations indefinitely at the immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.”

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The three-judge panel in Atlanta decided by a 2-1 vote to stay the federal judge’s order pending the outcome of an appeal, saying it was in the public interest.

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami issued a preliminary injunction last month ordering operations at the facility to be wound down by the end of October, with detainees transferred to other facilities and equipment and fencing removed.

Williams’ decision was issued in response to a lawsuit brought by Friends of the Everglades, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Miccosukee Tribe, who accused the state and federal defendants of not following federal law requiring an environmental review for the detention center in the middle of sensitive wetlands.

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration in late June raced to build the facility on an isolated airstrip surrounded by wetlands to aid President Donald Trump’s efforts to deport people in the U.S. illegally. The governor said the location in the rugged and remote Everglades was meant as a deterrent against escape, much like the island prison in California that Republicans named it after.

Trump toured the facility in July and suggested it could be a model for future lockups nationwide as his administration pushes to expand the infrastructure needed to increase deportations.

DeSantis said on social media Thursday, after the appellate panel issued its ruling, that claims that the facility’s shutdown were imminent were false.

“We said we would fight that. We said the mission would continue,” DeSantis said. “So Alligator Alcatraz is in fact, like we’ve always said, open for business.”

The Department of Homeland Security called Thursday’s ruling “a win for the American people, the rule of law and common sense.”

“This lawsuit was never about the environmental impacts of turning a developed airport into a detention facility,” DHS said in a statement. “It has and will always be about open-borders activists and judges trying to keep law enforcement from removing dangerous criminal aliens from our communities, full stop.”

The state and federal government defendants appealed Williams’ ruling, asking that it be put on hold. The state of Florida said in court papers this week that it planned to resume accepting detainees at the facility if the stay was granted.

The federal government claims that it isn’t responsible for the detention center since it hasn’t spent a cent to build or operate the facility, even though Florida is seeking some federal grant money to fund a portion of it. Florida claims that the environmental impact statement required by federal law doesn’t apply to states.

Follow Mike Schneider on the social platform Bluesky: @mikeysid.bsky.social

Traveling this weekend? Closures along several metro highways could slow your progress.

Sections of Interstate 94 and Interstate 35E in St. Paul will be closed over the weekend as part of an effort to repair nine bridges across the highways, according to the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

Eastbound I-94 will be closed between Minnesota 280 and I-35E from 10 p.m. Friday until 5 a.m. Monday, according to MnDOT.

Northbound I-35E will also be closed between Minnesota 5 and University Avenue during the same time period.

The estimated $16.2 million project will also see the full replacement of the John Ireland Boulevard bridge over I-94 to improve safety, biking and accessibility.

Constructed in 1967, the John Ireland Boulevard bridge is currently in safe condition, but in need of a focused structural repair “to ensure it remains safe for travelers based on modern weight limits,” according to the project page. Construction is planned to begin in early October after the Twin Cities Marathon.

During the weekend closures, eastbound I-94 traffic will detour north on Minnesota 280, east on Minnesota 36 and south on I-35E.

Northbound motorists on I-35E will detour east on I-494 and west on I-94, according to MnDOT.

The other bridges scheduled for repair include: Jackson Street, Robert Street, Minnesota Street, Cedar Street, North Wabasha Street, West 10th Street, North Western Avenue, Marion Street and the ramp from Fifth Street to westbound I-94.

Drivers can look up the status of ongoing and future state highway projects at dot.state.mn.us/roadwork.

I-494 closures

From 10 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday, crews will close I-494 in both directions between Minnesota 100 in Edina and Minnesota 77 in Richfield as part of the first phase of the I-494: Airport to Highway 169 vision. Ramps will be closed starting at 8 p.m. Friday.

The signed detour will direct travelers through the area to use Minnesota 100, Minnesota 62, Minnesota 77 and I-494 to get around the closures.

A major construction project, it cannot be built all at once due to funding limitations and impacts during construction, according to MnDOT. As a result, four separate construction projects have been planned to complete the entire I-494 vision.

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The first phase of the project, estimated to cost $377 million, began in spring 2023 and will wrap in fall of next year, according to the project page.

West metro

Eastbound Minnesota 55 will be closed this weekend between Minnesota 100 in Golden Valley and Thomas Avenue in Minneapolis as part of the ongoing effort to repave the highway.

The closure, which starts 10 p.m. Friday and ends 5 a.m. Monday, is necessary to allow crews to continue the road resurfacing project on Minnesota 55, according to MnDOT.

The estimated $7.2 million project will also include repairs to the bridge over the BNSF railroad that runs near Theodore Wirth Regional Park. Construction began in July and is expected to wrap in October, according to the project page.

 

By MARK THIESSEN

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Ten Alaska residents faced arraignment Thursday on voter misconduct or other charges in cases that have renewed attention on the complex citizenship status of people born in the U.S. territory of American Samoa.

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Those facing charges — most of them related to one another — were born in American Samoa but live in the isolated Alaska community of Whittier, about 60 miles south of Anchorage. The state contends they falsely claimed U.S. citizenship when registering or attempting to vote.

American Samoa is the only U.S. territory where residents are not automatically granted citizenship by being born on American soil, as the 14th Amendment to the Constitution dictates. Instead, they are considered U.S. nationals. American Samoans can serve in the military, obtain U.S. passports and vote in elections in American Samoa. But they cannot hold public office in the U.S. or participate in most U.S. elections.

A grand jury on Tuesday returned indictments with felony and misdemeanor counts, almost a year after Alaska State Troopers descended on Whittier to deliver court summonses. Some of the defendants were expected in court Thursday afternoon while others planned to attend virtually.

The case is related to that of Tupe Smith, who was arrested shortly after winning election to a regional school board in 2023 and who has been charged separately. Smith, born in American Samoa, has asserted she marked a box claiming to be a U.S. citizen at the instruction of election workers because there was no way to identify herself as a U.S. national, according to court records.

The state has said she falsely and deliberately claimed citizenship. Prosecutors pointed to the language on the voter application forms she filled out in 2020 and 2022, which explicitly said that if the applicant was not at least 18 years old and a U.S. citizen, “do not complete this form, as you are not eligible to vote.”

Smith’s case is before the state Court of Appeals. Attorneys for the state have argued that the question of citizenship for American Samoans “is not before this court and the voter misconduct statute at issue here is not and cannot be the solution to this difficult problem.”

FILE – Michael Pese and his wife Tupe Smith pose for a photo with their son Maximus and daughter Cataleya in Whittier, Alaska, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)

The 10 defendants in the separate case include Smith’s husband, Michael Pese; his mother, who has cancer; seven other relatives; and one man who grew up in the same village in American Samoa as Michael Pese.

Matt DiTullio, an assistant public defender, said more than half the defendants are in fact U.S. citizens.

Neil Weare, an attorney for Smith, noted her appeal is pending as the other cases proceed. Weare is the co-founder of the Right to Democracy Project, an advocacy group for people from U.S. territories.

The Pacific Community of Alaska has urged Alaska’s attorney general not to pursue the matter, saying even officials in Whittier and at the state level have been confused about whether American Samoans are eligible to vote and have provided people with at times incorrect information.

The group also said the state did not perform its due diligence in determining citizenship status before pursuing charges.

Associated Press writer Becky Bohrer contributed from Juneau.