By MATTHEW BROWN, Associated Press

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit from young climate activists seeking to block President Donald Trump’s executive orders promoting fossil fuels and discouraging renewable energy.

The activists said the orders would worsen global warming, threatening their lives and violating their constitutional rights.

Attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice and more than a dozen states had urged Judge Dana Christensen to dismiss the case.

The plaintiffs included youths who were victorious in a landmark climate trial against the state of Montana. Christensen said in a 31-page order that the plaintiffs had shown “overwhelming evidence” that climate change was affecting them and will worsen as a result of Trump’s orders.

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But the judge said their request to block Trump’s orders was an “unworkable request” that would have required scrutiny of every climate related action taken since the Republican came into office. Christensen said that instead of the courts, the plaintiffs must make their case “to the political branches or the electorate.”

Legal experts had said the young activists and their lawyers from the environmental group Our Children’s Trust faced long odds. The Montana state constitution declares that people have a “right to a clean and healthful environment.” That language is absent from the U.S. Constitution.

A previous federal climate lawsuit in Oregon from Our Children’s Trust went on for a decade before the U.S. Supreme Court declined to consider their final appeal this year.

Christensen cited that case in concluding that the plaintiffs in Montana lacked standing to sue the government. That is because they failed to demonstrate their request for judicial intervention was likely to fix their injuries through actions that are within the court’s power, the judge wrote.

Only a few other states, including Illinois, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New York, have environmental protections enshrined in their constitutions.

Carbon dioxide, which is released when fossil fuels are burned, traps heat in the atmosphere and is largely responsible for the warming of the climate.

Montana’s Supreme Court upheld the 2023 trial outcome last year, requiring officials to more closely analyze climate-warming emissions. To date, that has yielded few meaningful changes in a state dominated by Republicans.

Tom Crean analyzed Anthony Edwards’ performances for a season as the guard’s head coach at Georgia during the 2019-20 NCAA campaign.

Now he’ll do from a different perspective.

Head coach Tom Crean of the Georgia Bulldogs talks with Anthony Edwards #5 during the first half of the NCAAB game against the Arizona State Sun Devils at Desert Financial Arena on Dec. 14, 2019 in Tempe, Arizona. The Sun Devils defeated the Bulldogs 79-59. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Crean will join FanDuel Sports Network as a Timberwolves’ analyst for the team’s pre- and postgame shows for the 2025-26 campaign, the network announced Wednesday.

Crean is now for his time as a collegiate head coach at Marquette — where he guided a Dwyane Wade-led team to the Final Four — Indiana and Georgia. Since then Crean has done plenty of college basketball television analysis, largely for ESPN.

Locally, Crean has frequently been featured on Dan Barreiero’s Bumper to Bumper afternoon radio program on KFXN-100.3 in recent years.

He will split analyst duties for the upcoming Wolves season with Rebekkah Brunson. FanDuel Sports Network will broadcast 65 of Minnesota’s 82 regular season contests.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Tom Crean to the Timberwolves broadcast team,” FDSN vice president of production Larry Holm said in a release. “His coaching pedigree, passion for the game, and experience behind the mic will add a fresh perspective to our coverage and offer engaging analysis for Timberwolves fans.”

By JANIE HAR, Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration for now must stop firing workers during the government shutdown, a federal judge ordered on Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco said the cuts appeared politically motivated and were being carried out without much thought.

“It’s very much ready, fire, aim on most of these programs, and it has a human cost,” she said. “It’s a human cost that cannot be tolerated.”

She granted a temporary restraining order blocking the cuts sought by labor unions, saying she believed the evidence would ultimately show the job cuts were illegal and in excess of authority.

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The decision came after federal agencies on Friday started issuing layoff notices aimed at reducing the size of the federal government. The layoff notices are part of an effort by Trump’s Republican administration to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers as the government shutdown continues.

The American Federation of Government Employees and other federal labor unions had asked Illston for a temporary restraining order blocking the administration from issuing new layoff notices and implementing those that were already sent out. The unions said the firings were an abuse of power designed to punish workers and pressure Congress.

Illston’s order came as the shutdown, which started Oct. 1, entered its third week. Democratic lawmakers are demanding that any deal to reopen the federal government address their health care demands. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson predicted the shutdown may become the longest in history, saying he “won’t negotiate” with Democrats until they hit pause on those demands and reopen.

Democrats have demanded that health care subsidies, first put in place in 2021 and extended a year later, be extended again. They also want any government funding bill to reverse the Medicaid cuts in Trump’s big tax breaks and spending cuts bill passed this summer.

The Trump administration has been paying the military and pursuing its crackdown on immigration while slashing jobs in health and education, including in special education and after-school programs. Trump said programs favored by Democrats are being targeted and “they’re never going to come back, in many cases.”

In a court filing, the administration said it planned to fire more than 4,100 employees across eight agencies.

The unions say the layoff notices are an illegal attempt at political pressure and retribution and are based on the false premise that a temporary funding lapse eliminates Congress’ authorization of agency programs.

The government says the district court lacks jurisdiction to hear employment decisions made by federal agencies.

By DEE-ANN DURBIN, Associated Press

The J.M. Smucker Co. is suing Trader Joe’s, alleging the grocery chain’s new frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are too similar to Smucker’s Uncrustables in their design and packaging.

In the lawsuit, which was filed Monday in federal court in Ohio, Smucker said the round, crustless sandwiches Trader Joe’s sells have the same pie-like crimp markings on their edges that Uncrustables do. Smucker said the design violates its trademarks.

Smucker also asserted that the boxes Trader Joe’s sandwiches come in violate the Orrville, Ohio-based company’s trademarks because they are the same blue color it uses for the lettering on “Uncrustables” packages.

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Trader Joe’s boxes also show a sandwich with a bite mark taken out of it, which is similar to the Uncrustables design, Smucker said.

“Smucker does not take issue with others in the marketplace selling prepackaged, frozen, thaw-and-eat crustless sandwiches. But it cannot allow others to use Smucker’s valuable intellectual property to make such sales,” the company said in its lawsuit.

A message seeking comment was left with Trader Joe’s, which is based in Monrovia, California.

Uncrustables were invented by two friends who began producing them in 1996 in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. Smucker bought their company in 1998 and secured patents for a “sealed, crustless sandwich” in 1999.

But it wasn’t easy to mass produce them. In the lawsuit, Smucker said it has spent more than $1 billion developing the Uncrustables brand over the last 20 years. Smucker spent years trying to perfect Uncrustables’ stretchy bread and developing new flavors like chocolate and hazelnut.

Smucker said Trader Joe’s sandwiches are so similar to Uncrustables that they were already confusing customers. In the lawsuit, Smucker showed a social media photo of a person claiming that Trader Joe’s is contracting with Smucker to make the sandwiches under its own private label.

This isn’t the first time Smucker has taken legal action to protect its Uncrustables brand. In 2022, it sent a cease and desist letter to a Minnesota company called Gallant Tiger, which was making upscale versions of crustless peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with crimped edges.

Smucker’s lawsuit comes a few months after a similar lawsuit filed against the Aldi by Mondelez International, which claimed that Aldi’s store-brand cookies and crackers have packaging that is too similar to Mondelez brands like Chips Ahoy, Wheat Thins and Oreos.