The biggest nugget from Kevin O’Connell on Monday afternoon at TCO Performance Center came roughly 20 minutes into his press conference.

After answering multiple questions about J.J. McCarthy, the first-round draft pick who didn’t play as a rookie because of a torn meniscus, O’Connell provided an important update about the future franchise quarterback as the Vikings arrived back in the building for the start of their offseason program.

“I’d consider him full,” O’Connell said. “No limitations.”

That’s good news for the Vikings, as McCarthy should be able to hit the ground running.

Though he hasn’t yet been named the starter, and an official announcement won’t come anytime soon, McCarthy is expected to take reps with the first team when the Vikings return to the field next month — not surprising considering the Vikings selected McCarthy with the No. 10 pick in the 2024 NFL draft.

It will still be a slow build for McCarthy in the interim, however, as the next couple of weeks will be mostly limited to meetings and strength-and-conditioning at the forefront. That will give McCarthy a chance to get reacclimated with his teammates before the Vikings are allowed to get into a more competitive environment during organized team activities and mandatory minicamp.

“The spring is set up perfect for J.J. with where he’s at,” O’Connell said. “All of it is kind of going to be systematically planned out for him, and he’s ready to attack it.”

There should be plenty of exposure for McCarthy over the next month. The only other quarterback on the roster right now is Brett Rypien, and while the Vikings are expected to add a veteran presence to the room at some point, they still haven’t got around to it.

“We’ve been patient and evaluated a lot of different ways that we can potentially do that,” O’Connell said while noting that the Vikings could either sign a free agent or make a trade. “We’ve got a pretty detailed plan for how we want to go about it.”

As he finishes up his rehab, McCarthy has been throwing a lot, trying his best to simulate some of the things he’s going to be asked to do in the offense. Technically, O’Connell is prohibited from giving any instruction right now, per league rules, so he has been getting updates about McCarthy’s progress from afar.

“Now, it’s a matter of applying it with his teammates,” O’Connell said. “We can start projecting how we can craft this offense to make sure that we’re doing the things that he does well naturally, while also challenging him to grow that pot of inventory that we can ultimately pull from.”

The fact the Vikings can start thinking that far down the road despite the fact McCarthy has missed so much time is a testament to the countless hours he has dedicated to making sure he’s ready for this moment.

“It has not been lost on me the way he has worked and progressed through his rehab,” O’Connell said. “He always leaves here better than he was when he got here that morning. That’s a pretty good trait to have for a quarterback, especially a young guy who’s going to keep getting better.”

Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy (9) pass to wide receiver Jalen Nailor (83) against the Las Vegas Raiders in the second quarter of a NFL football preseason game at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Saturday, Aug., 10 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

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Mayor Melvin Carter during his annual “State of the City” address Monday urged the city council to adopt a legislative package intended to spur new housing in the city while still protecting tenants from spikes in rent.

Carter thanked Council Members Rebecca Noecker, Saura Jost and Anika Bowie for proposing to eliminate “rent stabilization” for residential buildings that received their certificate of occupancy after 2004, which he called a key step toward boosting housing production. He also thanked Council Member Cheniqua Johnson for leading the way on a series of proposed tenant protections. The council likely will vote on both efforts next month.

The mayor has been calling for the rent control changes since his budget address in August. There’s no easy solution to stable, affordable housing in a high-poverty city, Carter said Monday, framing housing as not only a citywide crisis but an opportunity for downtown St. Paul, where over 90 percent of residences are occupied, even as a third of the area’s office space sits vacant.

“We’re facing a real challenge,” Carter told a supportive crowd of onlookers at the city’s new North End Community Center. “The shift to hybrid work has emptied out offices. Commercial values are down. Key buildings sit dark. And downtowns across the country are still figuring out what comes next. But we’re not waiting to see what happens. We’re acting — with urgency, vision and a plan.”

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter makes a point during the 2025 State of Our City address at the North End Community Center in St. Paul on Monday, April 21, 2025. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

The mayor doubled down on a goal he set mid-2023 to draw 20,000 more residents downtown, calling attention to office-to-housing conversions such as the Stella, a 174-apartment project at the former Ecolab University building on Wabasha Street. Landmark Tower will begin leasing soon, and the city is studying converting the annex building across from City Hall on 4th Street into a combination of housing and public space. Another plan would add homes and street-level retail at the Green Line’s Central Station stop.

The city has offered $1 million in incentivizes for office-to-housing conversions while cutting permitting fees and red tape. There’s $1.4 million to support business growth downtown and across neighborhoods. And another $1 million or so this year will pay for extra downtown patrols, cameras, public art and additional signage, trash cans, lights and tree trimming.

Air of uncertainty

Carter promoted few new initiatives Monday, focusing instead on ongoing efforts to stabilize downtown St. Paul, including a proposal to renovate the Xcel Energy Center.

The mayor gave his address in the gleaming gym of the long-awaited, $31 million community hub and recreation center that debuted this month at Rice Street and Lawson Avenue — an example, he said, of the city’s commitment to its under-resourced neighborhood spaces.

The backdrop for the mayor’s progressive policies has changed dramatically from just a year ago, when Minnesota enjoyed a sizable state surplus and a Democrat held the White House. Without calling out President Trump by name, Carter acknowledged new levels of political and financial uncertainty for the city under the new administration.

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, joined by his wife, Sakeena Futrell-Carter, and daughter Amila, 5, listen as St. Paul Council President Rebecca Noecker introduces him before his 2025 State of Our City address at the North End Community Center in St. Paul on Monday, April 21, 2025. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

“Especially today when violent and hateful rhetoric seeks to permeate our public sphere … let’s resist the urge to yell back,” Carter said. “Our police officers will not become federal immigration agents, no matter how loud the clamor rises. We will fight threats to our city’s federal funding in court and in Congress and everywhere in between.”

The mayor opened and closed his speech with references to the importance of “showing up” for one another — perhaps a jab at a city council beset by inconsistent meeting attendance and in-fighting that recently led to a former legislative aide’s defamation suit against a council member and the city.

Crime, public safety

Carter on Monday highlighted the city’s progress on violent crime, emphasizing that as a result of targeted interventions, St. Paul has yet to record a gun-related homicide this year, after a recent high of 40 such killings in 2022. And non-fatal shootings are down 73% from the same time last year.

Likewise, auto thefts have dropped from 859 in early 2022 to 236 as of March, and carjackings from 23 to five.

The mayor attributed those gains to a new non-fatal-shooting unit within the police department that seeks to prevent retaliative shootings. The department this year has cleared 71% of its shooting cases, up from 38% last year, he said. The city’s Office of Neighborhood Safety promotes programs like “Familiar Faces” and “Project PEACE,” which have targeted services and interventions to frequent fliers in the criminal justice system.

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter presents the St. Paul Medal of Honor to Matt Reilly, in honor of his late wife, St. Paul Police Officer Felicia Reilly, during the 2025 State of Our City address at the North End Community Center in St. Paul on Monday, April 21, 2025. Officer Reilly passed away in March 2025 from injuries received while on duty in 2010. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

Meanwhile, Carter noted the city’s first responders have expanded the use of suboxone and Narcan for fentanyl users “to help people begin recovery the moment they’re ready.” The mayor said 840 Minnesotans died from opioid overdoses last year, including an 18-month-old St. Paul child on Christmas Day.

Garbage, roads and permitting

Boosted by a new 1% citywide sales tax, St. Paul has completed more than 70 long-deferred Parks and Recreation improvements, including new courts, fields and playgrounds. “That’s $11.5 million already delivered and another $11.8 million on the way,” the mayor said. Another $24 million will be spent improving 50 miles of roads, including resurfacing streets and repairing sidewalks and signage.

The city will launch a pilot program called The Loop, a free after-school transportation route that helps young people get to libraries, rec centers and other safe spaces.

At no cost to property owners, the city last year replaced 1,000 lead-based water lines, and the mayor said he hopes to double the pace.

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter exits the stage following his 2025 State of Our City address at the North End Community Center in St. Paul on Monday, April 21, 2025. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

Despite a last-minute zoning dispute with the council, the city launched citywide garbage collection with a new trash hauling partner — FCC Environmental — to empty carts for some 60,000 residential accounts. About 10% of the city — the hardest-to-service routes — is now handled by Public Works workers, who will also focus on clearing out hotspots for illegal dumping. Later this summer, a new furniture recycling program will aim to “responsibly dispose of some of the most commonly dumped items in our city,” Carter said.

The city also is launching an online, one-stop portal where residents and business owners can schedule and pay for inspections — PAULIE, the city’s new Permitting and Licensing Utility Inspection Engine. The goal is to work alongside “virtual inspections,” where the city’s Department of Safety and Inspections conducts select building inspections remotely using video and mobile platforms.

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BOSTON (AP) — Harvard University announced Monday that it was suing the Trump administration to halt a freeze on more than $2.2 billion in grants after the institution said it would defy the Trump administration’s demands to limit activism on campus.

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In a letter to Harvard earlier this month, the Trump administration had called for broad government and leadership reforms at the university as well as changes to its admissions policies. It also demanded that the university audit views of diversity on campus, and stop recognizing some student clubs.

Harvard President Alan Garber said the university would not bend to the government’s demands. Hours later, the government froze billions of dollars in federal funding.

“The Government has not — and cannot — identify any rational connection between antisemitism concerns and the medical, scientific, technological, and other research it has frozen that aims to save American lives, foster American success, preserve American security, and maintain America’s position as a global leader in innovation,” the university wrote in its lawsuit.

“Nor has the Government acknowledged the significant consequences that the indefinite freeze of billions of dollars in federal research funding will have on Harvard’s research programs, the beneficiaries of that research, and the national interest in furthering American innovation and progress,” it added.

The Trump administration, in the April 11 letter, told Harvard to impose tougher discipline on protesters and to screen international students for those who are “hostile to the American values.”

It also called for broad leadership reforms at the university, changes to admissions policies and the removal of college recognition for some student clubs. The government also demanded Harvard audit its faculty and student body to ensure wide viewpoints in every department and, if necessary, diversify by admitting additional students and hiring new faculty.

Last Monday, Harvard said it would not comply, citing the First Amendment. The following day, Trump took to his Truth Social platform, questioning whether the university should lose its tax-exempt status “if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting ‘Sickness?’”

The Trump administration also threatened to block the university from enrolling international students.

The university frames the government’s demands as a threat not only to the Ivy League school but to the autonomy that the Supreme Court has long granted American universities.

For the Trump administration, Harvard presents the first major hurdle in its attempt to force change at universities that Republicans say have become hotbeds of liberalism and antisemitism.

The conflict is straining the longstanding relationship between the federal government and universities that use federal money to fuel scientific breakthroughs. Long seen as a benefit to the greater good, that money has become an easy source of leverage for the Trump administration.

“Today, we stand for the values that have made American higher education a beacon for the world,” Garber wrote Monday to the Harvard community.

“We stand for the truth that colleges and universities across the country can embrace and honor their legal obligations and best fulfill their essential role in society without improper government intrusion,” he wrote. “That is how we achieve academic excellence, safeguard open inquiry and freedom of speech, and conduct pioneering research—and how we advance the boundless exploration that propels our nation and its people into a better future.”

By DEE-ANN DURBIN

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against Uber on Monday, alleging that it enrolled consumers in its Uber One subscription program without their consent and made it too difficult for them to cancel the service.

Uber One members pay $9.99 per month or $96 per year for a range of services, including fee-free Uber Eats food deliveries and cash back when they take Uber rides.

In its lawsuit, the FTC said multiple customers complained that Uber signed them up for Uber One without their permission or charged them for the service before a free trial period was over. In at least one case, a person was charged $9.99 per month even though they didn’t have an Uber account, the lawsuit said.

The FTC said Uber also made it extremely difficult for subscribers to cancel Uber One. The agency said Uber requires customers to take at least 12 different actions on at least seven screens to cancel the service. Cancellation gets even harder for consumers within 48 hours of their billing date, the FTC said, requiring them to navigate as many as 23 screens and still contact customer service.

“Americans are tired of getting signed up for unwanted subscriptions that seem impossible to cancel,” said FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson, who has led the FTC since January after he was tapped as chairman by President Donald Trump.

In a statement, Uber said it was disappointed that the FTC chose to move forward with the lawsuit. Uber said its sign-up and cancellation process is clear, simple and lawful.

“Uber does not sign up or charge consumers without their consent and cancellations can now be done anytime in-app and take most people 20 seconds or less,” Uber said.

Uber said at one point it did require customers to contact a service representative if they wanted to cancel within 48 hours of a billing period, but that is no longer the case.