By LAURAN NEERGAARD

WASHINGTON (AP) — Organ donations from the recently deceased dropped last year for the first time in over a decade, resulting in fewer kidney transplants, according to an analysis issued Wednesday that pointed to signs of public mistrust in the lifesaving system.

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More than 100,000 people in the U.S. are on the list for an organ transplant. The vast majority of them need a kidney, and thousands die waiting every year.

The nonprofit Kidney Transplant Collaborative analyzed federal data and found 116 fewer kidney transplants were performed last year than in 2024. That small difference is a red flag because the analysis traced the decline to some rare but scary reports of patients prepared for organ retrieval despite showing signs of life.

Those planned retrievals were stopped and the U.S. is developing additional safeguards for the transplant system, which saves tens of thousands of lives each year. But it shook public confidence, prompting some people to remove their names from donor lists.

Dr. Andrew Howard, who leads the Kidney Transplant Collaborative, said last year’s dip in kidney transplants would have been larger except for a small increase — about 100 — in transplants from living donors, when a healthy person donates one of their kidneys to someone in need. The collaborative advocates for increased living donations, which make up a fraction of the roughly 28,000 yearly kidney transplants.

With the exception of 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was raging, organ transplants have been rising year-to-year. Last year’s decline in deceased donors didn’t translate into fewer transplants overall: There were just over 49,000 compared with 48,150 in 2024. Transplants of hearts, livers and lungs continued to see gains, according to federal data. Howard said that was likely due to differences in how various organs are evaluated and allocated for transplant.

The Association of Organ Procurement Organizations wasn’t involved in Wednesday’s analysis but expressed alarm, calling on its members, hospitals and federal regulators “to unite in restoring public trust and strengthening this critical system.”

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

BIG SUR, Calif. (AP) — A 90-mile section of California’s Highway 1 along the famous Big Sur coast fully reopened Wednesday after three years of closures and repairs following a series of landslides and a roadway collapse that hampered tourism on the scenic route.

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The reopening around midday came three months ahead of schedule, and business owners say that should give travelers plenty of time to plan their spring and summer road trips. The highway is famously a must for California visitors traveling between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

“Today is a monumental milestone for us,” said a relieved Colin Twohig, general manager of the Big Sur River Inn. “We’re hitting the light at the end of the tunnel after three long years.”

The first shutdown came in January 2023 when a series of powerful atmospheric rivers triggered a major landslide. The highway was buried by mud and rocks again the following year during another wet winter, and a lane also collapsed down a cliff near the Rocky Creek Bridge.

The traffic stoppage between Carmel and Cambria cut off access to Big Sur, an isolated stretch of the state’s central coast where misty, forested mountains rise up from the ocean. What used to be a short drive between the southern and northern sections — with tiny Big Sur Village roughly in the middle — became an eight-hour trek inland and then back toward the seashore.

The isolated area, home to fewer than 2,000 residents, is known for its panoramic hiking trails along high cliffs and craggy beaches where seals and sea lions sometimes sprawl out. The late “Tropic of Cancer” author Henry Miller lived there for nearly two decades starting in the 1940s, and there’s now a library devoted to his work.

There were multiple closures at various locations throughout the past three years, and the last stretch that remained shut was a 7-mile (11-kilometer) span near Lucia, according to the California Department of Transportation, or Caltrans.

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the opening on social media, thanking Caltrans for the speedy work in “reviving a vital economic lifeline for local business owners and residents affected by the closure.”

Caltrans, which has called Highway 1 the jewel of the state highway system, deployed remotely operated bulldozers and excavators to safely remove tons of debris in steep terrain. Then crews drilled 4,600 steel bars into the slopes in a grid to patch layers of the hillside together and reduce the risk of future slides, the department said.

California Assemblymember Dawn Addis, a Democrat whose district includes Big Sur, said the restoration will provide a much-needed fiscal boost to the region.

“This turning point will help restore revenue, access to our state parks, support jobs, public safety, and economic stability for many of our residents,” Addis said in a statement.

Twohig said he looks forward to seeing tourists in cars and motorhomes back on the road.

He estimated that his inn, with 22 guest rooms, a large restaurant and a general store, saw a 20% drop in business. He said the road closure directly following COVID-19 restrictions was a one-two punch. The inn spent the down time making improvements and marketing heavily to entice California residents to visit during the off-seasons.

“When you have a hospitality business, you really rely on the busy season, and when there is no busy season, it can be a hard pill to swallow,” he said. “Having that lifeline back is huge.”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is set to deliver an address on the ongoing federal immigration crackdown in Minnesota at 7 p.m., his office announced Wednesday evening.

The governor’s office is streaming the address on YouTube and it can be viewed here on TwinCities.com.

The administration of President Donald Trump has significantly boosted immigration enforcement in Minnesota in recent weeks.

Last week, Secretary of Homeland Security Krist Noem announced her agency would be sending 2,000 federal agents to the Twin Cities to carry out immigration enforcement.

Within days, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Good, who had confronted agents during an enforcement action in Minneapolis. The killing led to ongoing protests in the Twin Cities and across the country.

Walz and other Minnesota officials have asked for ICE and U.S. Border Patrol to cease their immigration crackdown in the state following the shooting, but Noem on Sunday said she planned to send hundreds more agents.

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Students in St. Paul Public Schools will be allowed to register for temporary online learning without transferring out of their school, an option that takes effect Jan. 22.

All 69 schools will be closed next Tuesday and Wednesday to give teachers time to prepare an online curriculum. Students will still have the choice of attending classes in person.

“This option is different from the SPPS Online School,” reads an announcement from the school district. “To the greatest extent possible, students will learn remotely with teachers and students from their current school for a temporary period of time.”

Last week the school board announced that students could request enrollment in the district’s online school if they felt unsafe attending class. The board also called on ICE agents to leave the state.

‘We are trying to create as much stability as possible’

However, alarmed by the growing number of students staying home due to heightened federal immigration enforcement, the St. Paul school board held an emergency board meeting Wednesday in advance of finalizing a memorandum of agreement about the online option involving each school in the district with the St. Paul Federation of Educators.

The board voted 5-1 to authorize School Board Superintendent Stacie Stanley to execute the agreement once details were cemented, which took place less than an hour later.

“Our goal is for students to have the least disruptive experience,” said Stanley, during the meeting. “We are trying to create as much stability as possible.”

Officials who attended a lengthy negotiation session with the teacher’s union on Tuesday said they were not at legal liberty to discuss all the particulars of a negotiation that was still underway at the time, including costs. Three board members attended the session.

“We were here yesterday for seven hours,” Stanley said. “Things going back and forth in no way changed the service model. If anything, it may have enhanced it.”

Board members said it was unusual for a technical memorandum of agreement to be voted upon by the full board, but they were advised by legal counsel to take a formal position, given the scope of a district-wide switch from in-person to optional distance learning.

Board member Jim Vue cast the sole dissenting vote, noting he could not in good conscience vote on an agreement that was not before him.

“I don’t know what this is going to cost the district,” Vue said.

New agreement goes beyond earlier online option

The new agreement goes several steps further than the earlier online option announced last Friday. It creates e-learning options at schools district wide without requiring a school transfer. Particulars were not discussed at Wednesday’s board meeting, and Stanley and school board chair Uriah Ward told the board they were unable to elaborate until the agreement was ready.

Stanley later issued a brief video statement on YouTube. In addition to school closures next Tuesday and Wednesday, schools are closed Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday.

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It was unclear Wednesday how long the online option will be made available. More information is available at SPPS.org.

Minneapolis Public Schools will offer the option of online learning through at least Feb. 12. Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan District 196 issued a statement Wednesday indicating it has made school work available online by request “for about four weeks,” but the district is not offering formal online school or distance learning.