By KONSTANTIN TOROPIN

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced that he has decided that the 20 soldiers who received the Medal of Honor for their actions in 1890 at Wounded Knee will keep their awards in a video posted to social media Thursday evening.

Hegseth’s predecessor, Lloyd Austin, ordered the review of the awards in 2024 after a Congressional recommendation in the 2022 defense bill — itself a reflection of efforts by some lawmakers to rescind the awards for those who participated in the bloody massacre on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation near Wounded Knee Creek.

While the events of that day are sometimes described as a battle, historical records show that the U.S. Army, which was in the midst of amid a campaign to repress the tribes in the area, killed an estimated 250 Native Americans, including women and children, of the Lakota Sioux tribe, while attempting to disarm Native American fighters who had already surrendered at their camp.

“We’re making it clear that (the soldiers) deserve those medals,” Hegseth said in the video, before adding that “their place in our nation’s history is no longer up for debate.”

After the fighting, Medals of Honor were given to 20 soldiers from the 7th Cavalry Regiment, and their awards cite a range of actions including bravery, efforts to rescue fellow troops and actions to “dislodge Sioux Indians” who were concealed in a ravine.

The event also became a celebrated part of the regiment’s history, with their coat of arms still featuring the head of a Native American chief to “commemorate Indian campaigns,” according to the military’s Institute of Heraldry.

In 1990, Congress apologized to the descendants of those killed at Wounded Knee but did not revoke the medals.

According to Hegseth, the review panel ordered by Austin “concluded that these brave soldiers should, in fact, rightfully keep their medals from actions,” but an official from the defense secretary’s office couldn’t say if the report he was referencing in the video would be made public.

President Donald Trump issued an executive order in March titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” that decried efforts to reinterpret American history and, since then, Hegseth has undertaken multiple actions that have subverted the recommendations of a Congressionally-mandated commission that examined the use of Confederate names and references in the military.

He reverted the names of several Army bases back to their original, Confederate-linked names, though by honoring different figures.

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Hegseth also restored a 1914 memorial to the Confederacy that was removed from Arlington National Cemetery. The monument features a classical female figure, crowned with olive leaves, representing the American South, alongside sanitized depictions of slavery.

In September, the US Military Academy at West Point, New York, also confirmed that a painting of Gen. Robert E. Lee dressed in his Confederate uniform was back on display in the school’s library after being removed in 2022. The portrait shows a Black man leading Lee’s horse in the background, which had been hanging in the library since the 1950s before it was placed in storage.

Police are investigating a fatal hit-and-run that occurred early Friday morning in Maplewood.

Officers were dispatched around 4:30 a.m. to the 2300 block of Maryland Avenue East after a report of a man down in the road. Officers found a 31-year-old male with injuries consistent with being struck by a vehicle. Officers and emergency medical personnel provided medical treatment, but the man was pronounced dead at 4:54 a.m.

A witness reported seeing a large conversion van with a ladder rack that had fled the scene, according to police. Investigators obtained vehicle information and surveillance video from a nearby residence. Maplewood Police, with Minnesota State Patrol assistance, are actively investigating this case.

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact Lt. Michael Hoemke at 651-249-2605 or Michael.hoemke@maplewoodmn.gov.

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By TOM MURPHY, Associated Press Health Writer

Shares of some big drugmakers jumped ahead of broader indexes Friday as Wall Street started sorting out President Donald Trump’s latest tariff announcement.

The president said late Thursday that he would place 100% import taxes on pharmaceuticals starting Oct. 1, but those tariffs would not apply to companies building U.S. manufacturing plants. He defined that as either “breaking ground” or being “under construction.”

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Several big drugmakers like Merck & Co. Inc., Eli Lilly and Co. and Johnson & Johnson have announced U.S. expansion plans.

Trump has talked about pharmaceutical tariffs for months, but he has said he would delay them for a year or a year and a half to give companies time to stockpile medicines here and shift manufacturing.

Analysts have said companies started stockpiling medicines in the U.S. earlier this year.

Jefferies analyst Akash Tewari said in a research note that Thursday’s announcement shouldn’t have a material impact on the big drugmakers, given their construction plans.

Brand-name drug companies also have fat profit margins that can provide some flexibility to make investments and absorb tariff costs. Manufacturers of cheaper generic drugs — which account for most U.S. prescriptions — do not. Researchers and patient advocates have worried about the impact of any tariffs on those companies.

David Risinger of Leerink Partners said smaller drugmakers also may be vulnerable to the new taxes, although he noted that it was hard to predict which ones.

He said several questions remain unanswered after Thursday’s announcement. Those include whether the action will survive legal challenges and how the phrases “breaking ground” and “under construction” are defined for tariff enforcement.

Risinger also questioned whether the new taxes might be a negotiating tactic tied to an investigation the administration launched in the spring over how importing drugs and their ingredients affects national security.

Shares of Merck and Lilly both climbed more than 1% Friday morning, while J&J’s stock rose slightly. The S&P 500 also edged slightly higher.

Minnesota United vs. Colorado Rapids

When: 8:30 p.m. (CT) Saturday
Where: Dick’s Sporting Goods Park
Stream: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV
Radio: KSTP-AM, 1500
Weather: 73 degrees, clear skies, 10 mph north wind
Betting line: MNUFC plus-125; draw plus-270; Colorado plus-125

Form: Third-place MNUFC (15-7-9, 54 points) have dropped two straight, including a 3-0 loss to Chicago last Saturday. Eighth-place Colorado (11-14-6, 39 points) has lost three of four, including a 3-1 defeat to FC Dallas last weekend.

Recent matchups: MNUFC suffered one of its biggest home letdowns of the season to the Rapids, a 2-1 loss on Aug. 10. After trading Djordje Mahailovic days earlier, Darren Yapi scored both goals for the road side.

Context: With only three regular-season matches left, Minnesota’s priority is to hold onto a top four spot in the Western Conference. With that comes home-field advantage in the best-of-three, first-round series.

Check-in: Former Loons forward Tani Oluwaseyi registered his first goal and first assist for Villarreal in Spain’s La Liga over the last week. His debut goal came on a decisive run into the box and tap-in finish against Sevilla on Tuesday.

Absences: CB Nico Romero (yellow-card suspension), FW Kelvin Yeboah (hamstring) and CB/MF Carlos Harvey (knee) are out.

Context: New forward Momo Dieng led MNUFC with 0.7 expected goals against Chicago, but none of his three shots were on frame. New attacking midfielder Dominik Fitz had a team-high 0.5 expected assists, per FBRef.com. That’s something to build on.

Projected starting lineup: FW Momo Dieng; AM Dominik Fitz, AM Robin Lod, CM Wil Trapp, CM Nector Triantis; LWB Anthony Markanich, CB Jefferson Diaz, CB Michael Boxall, CB Morris Duggan, RWB Bongi Hlongwane; GK Dayne St. Clair.

Scouting report: Colorado has conceded 11 goals across its last four (2.75 per match), but Minnesota has scored only five in its last four in all competitions (1.25 per match). The Rapids’ defense might be an elixir to what ails Minnesota in the post-Oluwaseyi era.

Stat: The Loons lead MLS with $4.9 million in General Allocation Money to spend on its roster. San Diego is second at $3.4 million and they were issued an additional $2.7 million as an expansion club. This money no longer expires.

Prediction: MNUFC is coming off its worst week of the season — primarily in the 2-1 loss to Austin in the U.S. Open Cup semifinal — and had a full week after the Chicago loss to forget about it. They will have a tough time — at altitude — proving they are still a top team in the West, but they get it done with a 2-1 win.