With a whoop of joy, state Rep. Maria Isa Pérez-Vega, DFL-St. Paul, slid down the giant slide of an inflatable obstacle course erected for an evening earlier this week at Cass Gilbert Memorial Park, which overlooks the Minnesota State Capitol building.

Most lawmakers agree that the 60 blocks surrounding the Capitol campus aren’t routinely associated with family fun, recreation and vitality, but a new $4 million, three-year initiative led in large part by the Ramsey County Sheriff’s office aims to increase public safety while offering more opportunity for community in public areas.

Rep. Maria Isa Perez-Vega, DFL-St. Paul, slides down an inflatable slide erected for the evening at Cass Gilbert Memorial Park, which overlooks the State Capitol building in St. Paul, on Monday, July 14, 2025. (Frederick Melo / Pioneer Press)

“We want to see kids having a good time, and we want to see most importantly them having a safe time,” said Pérez-Vega later Monday, noting state lawmakers are tied to the area, as even lawmakers from Greater Minnesota live in and around downtown when the Legislature is in session. “They work in our capital city. … (But) when the session’s over, the community isn’t over.”

Just outside downtown St. Paul, the Ramsey County Sheriff’s office will use $3 million in state funds to dedicate two deputies to patrol the 60-block area that stretches from East Frogtown and Capitol Heights down to the Minnesota History Center, or from Marion to Jackson streets and from Pennsylvania Avenue down to Kellogg Boulevard.

Additional staff in the next three years will work with the city’s rec centers to host family nights, movies in the park and other community outreach. At least four civilian ambassadors from St. Paul nonprofits will serve as neighborhood greeters, mostly near transit stops.

$1M for economic development

In addition, the St. Paul Port Authority will soon offer new and existing businesses in the area $1 million in economic development grants, each ranging in size from $50,000 to $150,000. Special focus is likely to land along Rice Street as it undergoes a $25 million reconstruction from Pennsylvania Avenue to 12th Street, most likely in 2028.

The $4 million in total funding for the new “Capitol Area Public Safety and Vitality Initiative” — which includes $1 million from the latest state bonding bill for business grants — represents one of the few high-dollar wins for St. Paul out of the most recent legislative session.

“Urban areas didn’t get a lot out of the bonding bill,” said state Sen. Sandy Pappas, DFL-St. Paul, who was instrumental in securing the business funding. “It mostly went to rural Minnesota.”

The Capitol Area Architectural and Planning Board, which oversees zoning, planning and design in the 60-block area around the State Capitol building, is still working with the sheriff’s office and the Port Authority on the details, but a joint kick-off celebration Monday evening at Cass Gilbert Memorial Park drew optimistic remarks from Pappas and three state lawmakers — Pérez-Vega, state Rep. Samakab Hussein and David Pinto.

The DFL lawmakers, among others, participated in a year-long task force dedicated to wading through community concerns and priorities for the area surrounding the Capitol campus. “We heard really loud and clear people wanted more safety, wanted more programming, wanted to feel free to walk around,” said Erik Cedarleaf Dahl, executive secretary of the CAAPB board. “This money is focused on the neighborhoods around the Capitol, not the Capitol complex itself.”

Ramsey County Sheriff’s deputies Marco Barton, left, and John Gleason at Cass Gilbert Memorial Park, which overlooks the State Capitol building in St. Paul, on Monday, July 14, 2025. (Frederick Melo / Pioneer Press)

Big changes ahead

Officials noted that big changes are coming to those neighborhoods, including the ongoing reconstruction of Rice Street in stages and the upcoming reconstruction of Jackson Street from Pennsylvania Avenue to University Avenue, which is scheduled to begin this month. Work on a new John Ireland Bridge will get underway in early October, the day after the Twin Cities marathon.

Also on the horizon is a new Capitol Park Mental Health Hospital that opens this fall where Bethesda Hospital once stood, the possible redevelopment of the old Sears department store on Rice Street and the future Tribal Flag Plaza, which will place emblems of 11 tribal nations on the Capitol Mall.

In the years ahead, two new bus rapid transit lines will roll along both Rice and Jackson streets. A tree planting effort has already installed 200 of 400 new trees in and around the State Capitol campus.

Daryl Gullette, a Ramsey County Sheriff’s inspector in charge of youth services, said the sheriff’s office will spend months crafting specific youth and family outreach based on community input, hand in hand with the city’s Frogtown Community Center. Organized kickball nights are a possible outcome, he said, as are other activities ranging from outdoor movies to youth mentorship.

Part of the goal, said Gullette, is to create both a consistent and approachable law enforcement presence in the community. In addition to Gullette, the “Vitality Team” includes sheriff’s office inspectors Darin McDonald and Mike Whisler, as well as patrol deputies Marco Barton and John Gleason. “Our assignment is partnership with the community, to build trust and engage with the youth,” Barton said.

The St. Paul Fire Department made a showing at Monday evening’s event, as did St. Paul City Council Member Anika Bowie, who represents Frogtown, though neither party delivered remarks. In a brief phone interview Tuesday, Council President Rebecca Noecker said while she was not in attendance, she supported the concept.

“We obviously welcome the investment,” said Noecker, noting the effort was primarily driven by statement lawmakers and the sheriff’s office. “We need all hands on deck to improve the sense of vibrancy downtown, and that includes around the Capitol.”

‘They have a plan’

Asked why the $3 million was directed to the sheriff’s office and not to the St. Paul Police Department, which has jurisdiction over city streets, Pérez-Vega — who chairs the St. Paul legislative delegation — said the county sheriff’s office had been in touch with her for months, and the city’s police department had not.

A climber scales a climbing wall at Cass Gilbert Memorial Park, which overlooks the State Capitol building in St. Paul, on Monday, July 14, 2025. (Frederick Melo / Pioneer Press)

“They pick up the phone,” she said. “They come to the rec center and flip burgers and throw the football around. And they have a plan.”

On Tuesday, a spokesperson for the St. Paul Police Department confirmed that the department is not involved in the sheriff’s outreach effort, though she said they were generally supportive of the concept.

More information about the initiative is online at tinyurl.com/StateCapOutreach25.

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By COLLEEN SLEVIN, Associated Press

DENVER (AP) — A judge ruled Tuesday that Colorado prosecutors can move ahead with their case against a man accused of killing one person and injuring a dozen more in a firebomb attack on demonstrators showing support for Israeli hostages in Gaza.

A police detective had been set to testify at a hearing explaining the evidence gathered against Mohamed Sabry Soliman in the June 1 attack on the weekly event in Boulder. But Soliman’s lawyer, Kathryn Herold, told Judge Nancy W. Salomone that he gave up his right to hear the evidence.

Soliman, wearing an orange and white striped jail uniform, told Salomone that he understood he was waiving his right to a hearing following a discussion with his lawyers Monday.

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Despite that, prosecutors and victims who sat across the courtroom from Soliman or watched the hearing online were caught off guard by the decision.

Salomone said the case would now move ahead to an arraignment and scheduled a Sept. 9 hearing for Soliman to enter a plea to murder, attempted murder and other charges over the defense’s objection.

Herold said Soliman would not be ready to enter a plea then because of the large amount of evidence in the case and the murder charges recently added against him following the death of Karen Diamond, an 82-year-old woman injured in the attack. Herold said she expected to ask for the arraignment hearing to be delayed and suggested that a plea deal was possible.

20th Judicial District Attorney Michael Dougherty objected to a delay, saying any discussions could happen before and after an arraignment. He declined to comment on the possibility of a deal after the hearing.

Investigators say Soliman told them he intended to kill the roughly 20 participants at the weekly event on Boulder’s Pearl Street pedestrian mall. But he threw just two of more than two dozen Molotov cocktails he had with him while yelling, “Free Palestine!” Police said he told them he got scared because he had never hurt anyone before.

FILE – A man affixes a bouquet of flowers to a makeshift memorial for victims of an attack outside of the Boulder County, Colo., courthouse, June 3, 2025, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

Federal authorities say Soliman, an Egyptian national, had been living in the U.S. illegally with his family at the time.

Soliman has pleaded not guilty to federal hate crime charges and is scheduled to go on trial in federal court in Denver in September. However, his lawyers told U.S. District Judge John L. Kane last week that they expect to ask for a delay.

Additional charges related to Diamond’s death could also slow down the federal proceedings. Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Cramer-Babycz told Kane that prosecutors have not decided yet whether to file additional charges against Soliman.

Federal prosecutors allege the victims were targeted because of their perceived or actual connection to Israel. But Soliman’s federal defense lawyers say he should not have been charged with hate crimes because the evidence shows he was motivated by opposition to Zionism, the political movement to establish and sustain a Jewish state in Israel.

An attack motivated by someone’s political views is not considered a hate crime under federal law.

State prosecutors have identified 29 victims in the attack. Thirteen of them were physically injured, and the others were nearby and are considered victims because they could have been hurt. A dog was also injured in the attack, so Soliman has also been charged with animal cruelty.

By ELAINE KURTENBACH and WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS, Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) — Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang says the technology giant has won approval from the Trump administration to sell its advanced H20 computer chips used to develop artificial intelligence to China.

The news came in a company blog post late Monday, which stated that the U.S. government had “assured” Nvidia that licenses would be granted — and that the company “hopes to start deliveries soon.” Shares of the California-based chipmaker were up over 4% by midday Tuesday.

Huang also spoke about the coup on China’s state-run CGTN television network, in remarks shown on X.

“Today, I’m announcing that the U.S. government has approved for us filing licenses to start shipping H20s,” Huang told reporters in Beijing.

He added that half of the world’s AI researchers are in China. “It’s so innovative and dynamic here in China that it’s really important that American companies are able to compete and serve the market here,” he said.

Huang recently met with President Donald Trump and other U.S. policymakers — and is in Beijing this week to attend a supply chain conference and speak with Chinese officials. The broadcast showed Huang meeting with Ren Hongbin, the head of the China Council for Promotion of International Trade, host of the China International Supply Chain Expo, which Huang was attending. Nvidia is an exhibitor.

Nvidia has profited enormously from the rapid adoption of AI, becoming the first company to have its market value surpass $4 trillion last week. However, the trade rivalry between the U.S. and China has been weighing heavily on the industry.

Here’s what we know.

What is Nvidia’s H20 chip?

The H20 graphics processing unit, or GPU, is an advanced AI chip — a type of device used to build and update a range of AI systems. But it’s less powerful than Nvidia’s top semiconductors today.

That’s because the H20 chip was developed to specifically comply with U.S. restrictions for exports of AI chips to China. Nvidia’s most advanced chips, which carry more computing power, are off-limits to the Chinese market.

Washington has been tightening controls on exports of advanced technology to China for years, citing concerns that know-how meant for civilian use could be deployed for military purposes. And in January, before Trump began his second term in office, President Joe Biden’s administration launched a new framework for exporting advanced computer chips used to develop AI — in an attempt to balance national security concerns about the technology with the economic interests of producers and other countries.

Restrictions on sales of advanced chips to China have been central to the AI race between the world’s two largest economic powers, but such controls are also controversial. Proponents argue that these restrictions are necessary to slow China down enough to allow U.S. companies to keep their lead. Meanwhile, opponents say the export controls have loopholes — and could still spur innovation. The emergence of China’s DeepSeek AI chatbot in January particularly renewed concerns over how China might use advanced chips to help develop its own AI capabilities.

What’s happened since Trump took office?

In April, the White House announced that it would restrict sales of Nvidia’s H20 chips to China — as well as MI308 chips from rival chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices — with the Trump administration again citing national security.

At the time, Nvidia said these tighter export controls would cost the company an extra $5.5 billion — and Huang and other technology leaders have been lobbying Trump to reverse the restrictions since. They’ve argued that such limits hinder U.S. competition in a sector in one of the world’s largest markets for technology, and have also warned that U.S. export controls could end up pushing other countries toward China’s AI technology.

Monday’s announcement from Nvidia signals that its lobbying efforts paid off. White House AI and crypto adviser David Sacks told Bloomberg on Tuesday that allowing Nvidia to restart Chinese sales of its H20 chip would help the U.S. better compete abroad — particularly with Chinese chipmaker Huawei Technologies.

Meanwhile, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC on Tuesday that the renewed sale of H20 chips in China was linked to a trade agreement made between the two countries on rare earth magnets — and maintained that the administration was also reversing course from April’s restrictions because the U.S. still doesn’t sell China “our best stuff.”

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Still, calls for restrictions on advanced chip exports to China have persisted among U.S. lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

Just last week, Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Jim Banks wrote a letter to Huang noting that the hardware powering advanced AI “is of immense strategic importance” — and again warned that this kind of technology could be used to accelerate Beijing’s effort to modernize its military if exported freely. U.S. lawmakers have also proposed that chips subject to export controls should be tracked, to ensure they don’t end up in the wrong places.

Beyond export controls, California-based Nvidia — like other tech giants today — has been caught in the crosshairs of Trump’s tariff wars abroad, particularly amid America’s tit-for-tat levies with China. But Beijing and Washington recently agreed to pull back some non-tariff restrictions. China says it’s approving permits for rare earth magnets to be exported to the U.S., while Washington has lifted curbs on chip design software and jet engines.

Nvidia and its CEO have also garnered Trump’s favor in recent months. In April, the company announced that it would be producing its AI chips in the U.S. for the first time, starting with more than one million square feet of manufacturing space to build and test its specialized Blackwell chips in Arizona and AI supercomputers in Texas.

Trump was quick to applaud Nvidia’s move. He introduced Huang as a “smart cookie” who was helping bring jobs to the U.S. at an “Investing in America” event held at the White House later that month.

Similar to Nvidia, AMD is now also poised to restart Chinese sales of its MI308 chips. The California-based company said in a statement that the Commerce Department was moving forward with license applications for these exports to China, and that it plans to resume shipments as those licenses are approved.

Grantham-Philips reported from New York. AP Writers Didi Tang in Washington, D.C., Matt O’Brien in Providence, Rhode Island and AP researcher Yu Bing in Beijing contributed.

DETROIT LAKES, Minn. — Opening arguments in the burglary case for a Minnesota state senator Tuesday painted her in two different lights — prosecutors said she was a person intent on stealing while the defense portrayed her as a concerned stepdaughter.

Sen. Nicole Mitchell, DFL-Woodbury.

Sen. Nicole Mitchell, a Democratic-Farmer-Laborer lawmaker from Woodbury, was charged with two felony burglary counts after she was arrested in her stepmother’s house early in the morning of April 22, 2024. If found guilty, Mitchell could face prison time.

The prosecutor, Becker County Attorney Brian McDonald, opened his argument with a statement attributed to Mitchell as she was arrested in her stepmother’s house: “I know I did something bad.”

“I ask that you specifically remember those words throughout the trial,” McDonald said.

During her arrest, Mitchell made clear confessions, McDonald said. He said evidence in the trial will show the residence Mitchell entered was not her home, that she was not invited and that she pried a window open with a crowbar.

“The defendant entered her stepmother’s home with a purpose — to steal,” McDonald said.

The defense would show evidence of family conflict and terse exchanges between Nicole Mitchell and her stepmother, Carol Mitchell, following the death of Nicole Mitchell’s father.

“But grief and frustration do not justify burglary,” McDonald said.

The defense

Her attorney, Bruce Ringstrom Jr., described her as a concerned stepdaughter who entered the home to check on her stepmother, who has Alzheimer’s disease.

He started by telling the jury about Nicole Mitchell — how she is a hard worker, how she often felt more comfortable opening up to her stepmother than her biological mother, and how she has balanced jobs with family and serving in the military.

“Our defense is, there is no clear roadmap for helping an aging parent — there can be good days and bad days,” Ringstrom said.

As police were called to the house the morning of her arrest, Nicole Mitchell did not run away, he said. “Nicole Mitchell’s intent is to check on Carol Mitchell. A burglar runs, a concerned child stays,” he said.

Nicole Mitchell’s intent when she entered her stepmother’s house is the real issue in the case, he said, noting the defense does not dispute that she entered the house without consent.

There are two possible reasons for Nicole Mitchell to enter the house, Ringstrom said: to steal or to check on Carol Mitchell. Unless the state’s evidence can rule out that she was there to check on her stepmother, the verdict must be not guilty, Ringstrom argued.

Multiple witnesses

After opening arguments, the jury heard from multiple witnesses in the case: a dispatcher with the Becker County Sheriff’s Department who took Carol Mitchell’s 911 call, a then-Detroit Lakes Police Department patrol officer who called to Carol Mitchell’s house, and Carol Mitchell.

Nicole Mitchell was charged during the 2024 Minnesota legislative session.

Charges against her proved a point of contention in a divided Senate during the last two sessions. DFL leaders barred her from participating in committee assignments or party caucus meetings. Senate Republicans called for her resignation and unsuccessfully tried to oust her from the Senate.

The felony burglary charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of six months in jail or a county workhouse, and a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $35,000 fine. Felony possession of burglary tools carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

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