Cretin-Derham Hall

2024 record: 6-5 (lost in Class 5A state quarterfinals)

Returning starters: Unknown

Impact returnees: Senior running back JaDale Thompson is one of the best in the state at his position. Ran for 1,287 yards and scored 18 touchdowns in 2024.

Shoutout to a lineman: Senior lineman Henry Malloy is a 6-foot-4, 270-pound center and defensive tackle with collegiate offers.

Schedule: vs. St. Thomas Academy, vs. St. Paul Central, at Bloomington Jefferson, vs. St. Louis Park, at Tartan, at Bloomington Kennedy, vs. Mahtomedi, at Elk River

The skinny: Former Gophers safety Kim Royston, a Raiders alum, is back to coach the program. He takes over a team on the rise that’s fresh off a state tournament appearance and has the talent to make another deep playoff run. This year’s regular season schedule starts and finishes with a pair of monster matchups that will show exactly where the Raiders are to start, and how far they’ve come by season’s end.

St. Louis Park

2024 record: 4-6 (lost in Class 5A, Section 5 semifinals)

Returning starters: 6 on offense, 5 on defense

Impact returnees: Senior linebacker Mason Helfmann is a St. Thomas commit and was a District defensive player of the year in 2024. Everrett Arnold is a 6-foot-5 quarterback with legitimate collegiate interest who threw for 1,127 yards and eight scores as a sophomore.

Shoutout to a lineman: Junior center Bennett Johnson stands at 6-foot-5, 275 pounds. “Great feet, moves well for his size,” St. Louis Park coach Jason Foster said.

Schedule: at Minneapolis Southwest, vs. Bloomington Kennedy, vs. Mahtomedi, at Cretin-Derham Hall, at Park Center, vs. Bloomington Jefferson, at Tartan, vs. St. Francis

The skinny: Helfmann will head a defense featuring playmakers in the secondary such as Dominic Barth and Josh Rickord, while Arnold has passing game weapons Cooper Schultz, Ryan Oliesky and Logan Odea all back.

The level of returning talent has St. Louis Park thinking of its first state tournament trip since 2017.

Two Rivers

2024 record: 8-1 (lost in Class 5A, Section 3 semifinals)

Returning starters: 20 in total

Impact returnees: Senior quarterback Drew Altavilla is a returning district MVP with 31 passing touchdowns on his ledger. He still has primary target Johnny Laugerman, who has 1,043 yards and 15 career receiving scores.

Shoutout to a lineman: Dayven Clairmont and Jacion Jones are both three-year starters paving the way for an explosive offense.

Schedule: vs. Spring Lake Park, at Simley, vs. Apple Valley, at Burnsville, at Hastings, vs. Mankato West, vs. St. Thomas Academy, at Northfield

The skinny: The Warriors have too many returning players to name, which will help them navigate more difficult waters in 2025.

A subdistrict shakeup has Two Rivers now playing more of their section opponents during the regular season on top of marquee matchups with Spring Lake Park and Mankato West. All of it should help Two Rivers sharpen its mettle ahead of postseason play, where it’ll hope to make a deeper run this fall.

Look out for Jayden Kinsel Arredondo’s emergence in the Warriors’ run game.

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are engaged, they announced Tuesday.

In a five-photo joint post on Instagram, the superstar singer and football player revealed their engagement, the fairytale culmination of a courtship that for two years has thrilled and fascinated millions around the world, but especially Swifties, the pop star’s enormous and ardent fan base.

“Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married,” the caption read, accompanied by an emoji of a dynamite stick.

FILE – Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (87) hugs his girlfriend Taylor Swift after the team’s victory over the San Francisco 49ers during the NFL Super Bowl 58 football game, Feb. 11, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)
FILE – Fans hold up a sign about Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift during an NFL football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals, Dec. 31, 2023, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Peter Aiken)
FILE – Taylor Swift gets a kiss from Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce as they arrive to watch play between Jannik Sinner, of Italy, and Taylor Fritz, of the United States, during the men’s singles final of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Sept. 8, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)
FILE – Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift walk together after an AFC Championship NFL football game between the Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens, Jan. 28, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
FILE – Travis Kelce, right, and Taylor Swift appear with actor-comedian Jerrod Carmichael, left, at Game 1 of the baseball AL Championship Series between the Cleveland Guardians and New York Yankees, Oct. 14, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
FILE – Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, center left, and singer Taylor Swift leave Arrowhead stadium after an NFL football game between the Chiefs and the Los Angeles Chargers in Kansas City, Mo., Oct. 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)
FILE – Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift kiss after the AFC Championship NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills, Jan. 26, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis, File)
FILE – Taylor Swift embraces Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce after the NFL Super Bowl 58 football game against the San Francisco 49ers, Feb. 11, 2024, in Las Vegas. The Chiefs won 25-22 against the 49ers. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

A former Tartan High School band director who sexually assaulted one of his music students at DeLaSalle High School in Minneapolis was sentenced Monday to four months in the workhouse and five years of probation.

Daniel James Felton, 32, pleaded guilty in May in Hennepin County District Court to the sole count of felony third-degree criminal sexual conduct after reaching an agreement with the prosecution.

Judge Sarah Hudleston imposed the longest jail term allowed under the plea deal. The sentence includes a stay of imposition, which means the felony conviction will be considered a misdemeanor if he successfully complies with the conditions of his probation.

Felton was the music director at DeLaSalle for nearly two years before leaving the school in August 2022 for Tartan in Oakdale, according to his now-deleted LinkedIn profile.

Felton was put on leave from Tartan on Feb. 13, four days after a personal injury lawsuit was filed against him and DeLaSalle in Hennepin County District Court. He resigned from Tartan on Feb. 26.

Felton was also a Twin Cities professional gospel musician and a band director at The Holy Christian Church International, which his parents founded on St. Paul’s West Side in 2000. His father serves as its senior pastor, his mother the director of women’s affairs, the church’s website says.

Felton was living in Brooklyn Park with his now ex-wife and three daughters when the civil suit surfaced. They moved to Celina, Texas, before the criminal case was filed in August 2024.

Judge Hudleston agreed to a request by Felton’s attorney that he serve the sentence at a Texas jail so that he can retain work as a “utilities concierge,” which involves helping apartment complexes set up utilities for tenants. He’ll be allowed work release after a week in custody, electronic home monitoring after a month.

Assaulted in his car

The criminal complaint says the victim went to Minneapolis police in January 2024 and reported Felton assaulted her several times beginning in April 2022, which was her senior year at DeLaSalle. She said he was her band and choir teacher during her junior and senior years.

Felton added her on Instagram in April 2022 and began sending direct messages, which became sexual, she reported.

She said the first assault happened that month after Felton offered her a ride home after a concert. Instead of driving straight home, she told police, he took her to an empty parking lot and touched her in a “sexual manner,” placing his hand on her inner thigh, the complaint says. She reported the interaction made her feel uncomfortable and she asked him to take her home.

Additional sexual assaults took place between April 2022 and August 2022, mostly in his car, she told police. She reported he would “emotionally coerce” her into sex acts.

Police were given Instagram messages that Felton and the girl purportedly exchanged between April 2022 and September 2022. The messages include Felton telling her multiple times he loves her and describing in detail what he wanted to do to her, the complaint says.

Civil case pending

The civil case was filed Feb. 9 by the Minneapolis law firm Storms Dworak on behalf of the victim, who is listed as “Jane Doe.” It includes screenshots of sexually-explicit Instagram messages purportedly sent to the girl by Felton and alleges several assaults, including one in his DeLaSalle office.

The lawsuit remains pending in court, with a judge halting further proceedings in September until the criminal case was concluded.

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Felton also worked as a music teacher at Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis from January 2016 to early November 2018. He taught in the Osseo school district in 2018 and 2019, then for the Spring Lake Park school district until leaving for DeLaSalle.

He had earned a bachelor’s degree in music from Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn., and then a master’s degree in music education from the University of Minnesota.

Felton was the second Tartan teacher to resign in February 2024 amid sexual misconduct allegations. Ann Margaret Bacon, 26, of Hastings, quit her special education job at the school on Feb. 8, the same day Oakdale police interviewed her after Tartan administration and a school resource officer received a report that she had sex with an 18-year-old male student at a Vadnais Heights hotel room and at her St. Paul apartment.

She’s pleaded guilty to felony third-degree criminal sexual conduct alleging a prohibited occupational relationship, and a jury trial is scheduled for October.

By SCOTT BAUER, Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday allowed the case to proceed against a Wisconsin judge accused of helping a man evade U.S. immigration agents seeking to arrest him in her courthouse.

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Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested at the county courthouse in April and indicted on federal charges in May. She quickly filed a motion to dismiss the charges.

U.S. District Judge Lynne Adelman on Tuesday rejected Dugan’s motion. A magistrate judge in July had recommended the case proceed. Adelman’s decision could be appealed to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Attorneys for Dugan had no immediate comment.

Dugan has pleaded not guilty to helping the man in the country illegally try to evade authorities. No trial date has been set. She faces up to six years in prison and a $350,000 fine if convicted on both counts.

The case highlighted a clash between President Donald Trump’s administration and local authorities over the Republican’s sweeping immigration crackdown.

Democrats have accused the Trump administration of trying to make a national example of Dugan to chill judicial opposition to its deportation efforts.

Dugan filed a motion in May to dismiss the charges against her, saying she was acting in her official capacity as a judge and therefore is immune to prosecution. She argued that the federal government violated Wisconsin’s sovereignty by disrupting a state courtroom and prosecuting a state judge.

Dugan also argued that the prosecution under federal law violated the U.S. Constitution’s separation of powers because it overrides the state of Wisconsin’s ability to administer its courts.

But the judge rejected her arguments.

Dugan is charged with concealing an individual to prevent arrest, a misdemeanor, and obstruction, which is a felony. Prosecutors say she escorted Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, 31, and his lawyer out of her courtroom through a back door on April 18 after learning that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were in the courthouse seeking to arrest him for being in the country without permanent legal status.

Agents arrested Flores-Ruiz outside the courthouse after a brief foot chase.

Dugan’s case is similar to one brought during the first Trump administration against a Massachusetts judge, who was accused of helping a man sneak out a courthouse back door to evade a waiting immigration enforcement agent. That case was eventually dismissed.