By MARK SHERMAN and LINDSAY WHITEHURST, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to allow it to cut hundreds of millions of dollars for teacher training.

A federal judge in Boston temporarily blocked the cuts, finding they were already affecting training programs aimed at addressing a nationwide teacher shortage. An appeals court turned away a plea from the administration to allow them to resume.

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The government asked the high court to step in, arguing that the order is one of several issued by federal judges around the country wrongly forcing it to keep paying out millions in grant money.

The Supreme Court called for a response to the appeal by Friday.

It comes after U.S. District Judge Myong Joun issued a temporary restraining order sought by eight Democratic-led states that argued the cuts were likely driven by efforts from President Donald Trump’s administration to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

The Republican president signed an executive order calling for the dismantling of the Education Department, and his administration has started overhauling much of its work, including cutting dozens of contracts it dismissed as “woke” and wasteful.

“So long as there is no prompt appellate review of these orders, there is no end in sight for district-court fiscal micromanagement,” acting Solicitor General Sarah M. Harris wrote.

The Justice Department has filed four other emergency appeals of court rulings that blocked administration actions amid a wave of lawsuits that have slowed, at least for now, aspects of Trump’s agenda.

The Supreme Court has yet to rule on an appeal asking to narrow court orders that have imposed a nationwide hold on Trump’s desire to restrict birthright citizenship. An appeal to halt an order requiring the rehiring of thousands of federal workers is also pending.

The justices previously rejected a bid to freeze nearly $2 billion in foreign aid and did not immediately allow Trump’s firing to proceed of the head of a federal watchdog agency. A later ruling from a lower court, though, did force Office of Special Counsel head Hampton Dellinger from his job.

The two education programs at issue — the Teacher Quality Partnership and Supporting Effective Educator Development — provide more than $600 million in grants for teacher preparation programs, often in subject areas such as math, science and special education, the states have argued. They said data has shown the programs had led to increased teacher retention rates and ensured that educators remain in the profession beyond five years.

The administration halted the programs without notice in February. The administration argues the states could at least temporarily draw on their own funds to continue funding the programs.

Joun, who was nominated by Democratic President Joe Biden, found that the cancellations probably violated a federal law that requires a clear explanation for such cost-cutting moves.

The appellate panel that rejected the administration’s request for a stay also was made up of judges nominated by Democratic presidents.

California is leading the lawsuit and is joined by Massachusetts, New Jersey, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, New York and Wisconsin.

The order the administration wants from the high court would allow the cuts to go forward while the legal fight over them plays out.

For eight months, the pro bono attorneys at Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services were told they could not get out of their sizable lease at the Alliance Bank Center in downtown St. Paul without paying a hefty fee to effectively buy themselves free from their contract.

That struck them as unfair, given that escalators in the building no longer work, security has been so lax they’ve hired their own, all the ground-level doors have been locked shut and most other office and food court tenants have already left.

“They didn’t want us to go because we were the only ones paying any substantial rent,” said Candace Miller Lopez, development director with SMRLS, recalling how attorneys for Madison Equities required that the nonprofit otherwise stick to its longstanding lease for two floors of office space.

Then came the March 10 notice from Madison Equities indicating that electricity and all other services in the building would be shut off “in the very near future” because management had not paid its utility bills. “You should immediately vacate the premises as there soon will be no heating/cooling/electricity/security/etc. at this building,” reads the written notice, which indicated “no firm date” for utility disconnection had been confirmed.

The St. Paul Fire Department quickly determined that the “very near future” meant utilities would be shut off within two days of that announcement.

Pedestrians pass mostly empty storefronts along the skyway through the Alliance Bank Center in downtown St. Paul on Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

Lights on until April 1

The next morning, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter’s office negotiated with Xcel Energy and District Energy to keep the lights on until April 1.

That’s now left SMRLS with less than two weeks to relocate 48 to 50 offices and 60 attorneys from the building, which has served as its administrative headquarters and major service center for the south metro for the past 20 years.

“We’ll all have to go remote,” said Lopez, noting garbage removal and other day-to-day security and maintenance has already stopped. “You can’t move 60 lawyers in a matter of two weeks. We will find another office, but we have to find one that, as a nonprofit, we can afford, and one where there’s no interruption of services to our clients. It has to be safe and accessible. We closed 11,000 cases last year. It’s no small number.”

SMRLS, which maintains 125 employees in eight offices across southern Minnesota, serves 33 counties, including the south metro counties of Dakota, Ramsey, Washington, Scott and Carver.

Emergency assistance

On Wednesday, the St. Paul City Council was poised to meet as the city’s Housing and Redevelopment Authority and consider approving up to $70,000 in emergency assistance from the city’s Business Assistance Fund, to be made available as $5,000 grants for any Alliance Bank Center tenants that were still on site as of March 1.

The death of Madison Equities company principal Jim Crockarell last year has left buildings owned by downtown’s largest property holder in precarious straits, with several slipping into foreclosure, and downtown businesses — like the city’s tax coffers — need a boost in the era of remote work.

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter made note of what he described as Madison Equities “implosion” on Tuesday during an otherwise unrelated presentation to a committee of Senate lawmakers considering his request for nearly $400 million to renovate the downtown Xcel Energy Center, as well as the adjoining Roy Wilkins Auditorium and RiverCentre convention halls.

“When we say the word vitality, the quickest definition of the word vitality is people, so having people downtown will go a long way for us,” said Carter, who has called city employees who went remote to return to work in person at least three days per week as of April 1.

Some tenants already left

Some tenants in the Alliance Bank Center left in recent months with what they could carry, leaving behind offices and cubicles. Retail tenants like Jackey’s Watch Bar, a tobacco shop, a barber, a longstanding pizza lunch counter and a CBD store are scrambling to make their own alternate arrangements, with varying degrees of success.

Some will land at the three-building Town Square complex on Minnesota Street or two Securian buildings on Robert Street. After Madison Equities abandoned the building, a leasing agent for Town Square’s UBS Plaza, which sits on Cedar Street, left her calling card and a brochure showcasing available spaces on the counter of the security desk, which is now unmanned.

Lopez said the 60 attorneys in her office will work remotely until SMRLS can find a new office location, which in the meantime will be a loss to downtown eateries, parking ramps and meters, and other downtown amenities that benefit from everyday foot traffic. Still, she said, they’ll eventually land on their feet.

“Our firm has been around for 115 years,” Lopez said. “We’ve existed through a couple of World Wars. Many changes of administration. The Great Depression. You don’t get to be around this long without learning how to navigate turbulence.”

Madison Equities properties

A look at the status of several Madison Equities properties:

• U.S. Bank Center, 101 E. Fifth St.: Mortgage holder First Interstate Bank filed to foreclosure upon the property in December after being unable to collect on $24 million in outstanding debt, and Ramsey County District Court Judge Stacy Deery Stennes appointed a limited receiver for the office building on Feb. 28. The building was described as 57% occupied early last year when it was put up for sale alongside other Madison Equities properties downtown.

• Park Square Court, 400 Sibley St.: Lender Merchants Bank filed to foreclosure upon the property in October after calling back two loans, totaling $5.7 million and $2.7 million in unpaid principal, interest and fees. Ramsey County District Court Judge Edward Sheu entered a foreclosure judgment on Feb. 10. The building is vacant and Lowertown neighbors have complained of trespassers and vandalism.

• First National Bank, 332 Minnesota St.: The building was listed as 45% occupied in a sales memorandum last year.

• Alliance Center, 55 E. Fifth Street: Madison Equities has effectively walked away from the office building, which contains a once-popular food court, and informed tenants on March 10 they would need to vacate immediately as security and maintenance was no longer in effect and utilities would soon be shut off. It was listed as 43% occupied early last year, but is expected to be vacant by April 1.

• 375 Jackson Square, 375 Jackson St.: The building — which is home to the St. Paul Department of Safety and Inspections — was listed as 53% occupied in a sales memorandum last year.

• Empire Building/Endicott Arcade, 360 N. Robert St./134 E. 5th St.: Judge Leonardo Castro appointed a receiver for the vacant buildings in November, and Merchants Bank acquired the properties for $1.37 million in a foreclosure auction last December, according to the Ramsey County Recorder’s office.

• Lowry Apartments, 345 Wabasha St. N.: The troubled apartment building was sold in a sheriff’s sale last September to lender Colliers International for $7 million. The city condemned the building in early December and cleared it of tenants.

• Degree Apartments, 325 Cedar St.: Minnwest Bank acquired the apartment building last December for $9.58 million in a deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure sale.

• Other properties put up for sale by Madison Equities last year include the Stadium Ramp at 245 E. Sixth St., the Capital City Ramp at 50 E. Fourth St., the Handsome Hog at 173 N. Western Ave. and a surface parking lot at 401 Selby Ave.

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Less than two weeks ago, the St. Louis Blues came to St. Paul for their final head-to-head meeting with the Minnesota Wild this season. The Wild, at the time, had a comfortable position in the playoff picture, while the Blues — who went through a coaching change in November following a slow start to the season — were on the outside looking in.

Minnesota had won the first three meetings with St. Louis in 2024-25, and a win on March 15 at Xcel Energy Center would effectively have put the Blues in the Wild’s proverbial rearview mirror for the rest of the regular season.

Instead, St. Louis posted a decisive 5-1 victory, and now those objects in the mirror may be closer than they once appeared.

Since returning from the two-week break for the 4 Nations Face-Off in February, Minnesota and St. Louis have each played 17 games. The Wild are 8-8-1 in those contests after losing their last two in a row. The Blues are 13-2-2 in that same stretch, and now are not only solidly in the playoff race, but are pushing to overtake Minnesota for the top Wild Card spot.

With both teams off on Wednesday, St. Louis is just two points behind Minnesota, and for the first time, at least one Wild player is sounding the alarm about the team’s March malaise and what it could mean to their prospects of playing beyond the April 15 regular-season finale.

“Everything can happen in the playoffs, but first we’ve gotta worry about getting (in),” Wild veteran forward Mats Zuccarello said after Tuesday’s 5-1 loss to Vegas.

While others are adopting an optimistic tone about looking forward and embracing the challenge in front of them, Zuccarello spoke of a team not doing enough with what it’s got right now.

“You play a solid game defensively but I think, as of late, not scoring enough, maybe,” he said after Monday night’s loss to the Golden Knights. “I said it before, we’ve gotta make plays. We’ve gotta support each other. We’ve gotta have guys come with speed.

“I don’t know. It’s hard. Today, you can mix and match, back-to-back, but we play against a team that it’s really hard to play against when they play like that, and we don’t play like us.”

The Tuesday loss means Vegas swept the season series with Minnesota, winning twice in St. Paul and once in Nevada. Earlier in the season, Western Conference-leading Winnipeg — which clinched a playoff spot with a home win on Tuesday — swept its season series with the Wild, as well. As the standings look right now, the two Wild Card entrants will have to face either the Golden Knights or the Jets in Round 1.

While goaltending is far and away the most important element in playoff success, the teams that go deep in the postseason generally have three vital pieces: a gritty player who will drop the gloves if needed to defend the skill, a sizable center who will go to the front of the opponent’s net to cause trouble, and a high-skilled star who is a threat to score on every shift.

On Tuesday, the Wild had all three of those players at Xcel Energy Center in the form of Marcus Foligno, Joel Eriksson Ek and Kirill Kaprizov. Notably, all three were wearing suits and ties, watching the game from the press box as the team’s season-long injury saga continued.

Before the Vegas game, when a reporter suggested that the Wild are “reeling” from the number of injuries, Wild coach John Hynes said the word “amassing” is more fitting, and once again offered an optimistic tone about eventually getting healthier at the most vital time of the year.

Kaprizov has played only three games since Christmas yet remains tied for the team lead with 23 goals. Eriksson Ek has played in 42 games, with nine goals and 15 assists, but not since returning from his stint with Team Sweden at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February. Before Monday’s loss, Hynes said he “would anticipate both players will be skating in the very, very near future.”

The Wild have exactly 10 regular-season games remaining, starting Thursday against Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals, the No. 1 team in the Eastern Conference.

“When those guys are ready to come in and help the team, then we’ll expect them to come back at a high level and be ready to compete,” Hynes said.

Exactly when those three key players will return, and what the Western Conference standings will look like if and when they do, is now a growing concern as those objects in the mirror continue to get larger.

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By JILL LAWLESS, EMMA BURROWS and NICHOLAS RICCARDI, Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — As wake-up calls go, the alarms don’t get much louder.

Allies of the United States see the group chat between top U.S. officials about a planned attack in Yemen that accidentally included a journalist as a jaw-dropping security breach which casts doubt on intelligence-sharing with Washington and the security of joint military operations.

A Yemeni inspects the damage of a destroyed building following U.S. airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, March 24, 2025. (AP Photo)

“Scary” and “reckless” was the verdict of one European diplomat about the discussion on the Signal messaging app about strikes on Houthi rebels. Neil Melvin, a security expert at defense think tank the Royal United Services Institute, called it “pretty shocking.”

“It’s some of the most high-ranking U.S. officials seeming to display a complete disregard for the normal security protocols,” he said.

Beyond the security concerns raised by the leaked chat, U.S. officials addressed the country’s trans-Atlantic allies with disdain as Vice President JD Vance complained about “bailing out” Europe and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth slammed “pathetic” European “freeloading.”

A Yemeni walks over the debris of a destroyed building following U.S. airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, March 24, 2025. (AP Photo)

The criticism is another blow to a long-standing relationship already strained by President Donald Trump’s blunt “America First” approach and disregard for friendly nations.

Melvin said that for America’s allies, “the alarm clock’s been ringing for a long time.”

In public, however, European officials insisted all was well in the trans-Atlantic relationship.

“We have a very close relationship with the U.S. on matters of security, defense and intelligence,” said British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s spokesman, Dave Pares. “They are our closest ally when it comes to these matters, have been for many years and will be for many years to come.”

France’s Foreign Ministry said “the United States is our ally, and France intends to continue its cooperation with Washington, as well as with all its allies and European partners, in order to address current challenges — particularly in the area of European security.”

A growing divide

Since taking office, the Trump administration has halted government funding for programs that support democratic principles around the world and presented a less welcoming face to visitors.

U.S. embassies in at least 17 countries have posted warnings for would-be travelers that engaging in behavior deemed harmful by the government could get them deported. Several European countries have issued warnings about visiting the United States after international tourists were caught up in Trump’s border crackdown.

Trump has appalled allies with his repeatedly stated aim of taking over Greenland — an autonomous Danish territory that Vance and second lady Usha Vance are due to visit this week — and his desire to make Canada the 51st state.

FILE – Vice President JD Vance leaves after speaking at the Congressional Cities Conference of the National League of Cities on Monday, March 10, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, file)

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said his country has to “take greater ownership” of its own defense in the face of threats: “We have to look out for ourselves.”

Nathalie Loiseau, a member of the European parliament, told the BBC that she was “flabbergasted” by the breach.

“If I was (Russian President) Vladimir Putin, I would feel jobless. Russia has nothing more to do. … You don’t even need to spy on the U.S. administration. They leak by themselves,” she said.

U.S. reliability questioned

The European diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, suggested the security breach could make allies question the reliability of the U.S. as a partner.

The diplomat expressed hope that the Signal lapse was due to a lack of experience in government rather than a deliberate disregard for security.

Asked if he had concerns about sharing intelligence with the U.S. after the Signal incident, Carney said “it’s a serious, serious issue and all lessons must be taken.” He said it would be important to see “how people react to those mistakes and how they tighten them up.”

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, left, joined at right by Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., questions Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe about texted war plans for upcoming military strikes in Yemen to a group chat that included the editor-in-chief for The Atlantic, at a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Britain could be particularly exposed by U.S. security breaches. Its intelligence network is entwined with the U.S. in the Five Eyes alliance, and the countries’ militaries work more closely than those of almost any other nations.

Britain’s Royal Air Force provided air-to-air refueling for U.S. planes during the strike on the Houthis, but U.K. Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard insisted British personnel had not been put at risk by the breach.

“We’ve got high confidence that the measures that we have got with our allies, including the United States, remain intact,” he told lawmakers.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, center, is flanked by FBI Director Kash Patel, left, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, as the Senate Intelligence Committee holds its worldwide threats hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Ed Davey, the leader of Britain’s opposition Liberal Democrats, said the lapse showed the Trump administration can’t be trusted to protect its own intelligence and “it could only be a matter of time until our own intelligence shared with them is also leaked.”

“This could put British lives at risk,” he said.

Alex Clarkson, a lecturer in European and international studies at King’s College London, said “the professionals and old hands” who “contained the damage” during Trump’s first term are largely gone.

“So what we’re having now is … a manifestation of tendencies that were held in check that we already saw in the first round,” he said.

American frustration

The U.S. has underpinned European security since World War II, and Trump is not the first president to bristle at the burden.

“From the Obama administration (onward), there’s been quite some frustrations in the U.S. security apparatus about the failure of the Europeans … to step up,” Melvin said.

Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer, right, is greeted by President Donald Trump as he arrives at the White House in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Trump has gone much further than his predecessors in upending the decades-old security arrangements. He has long contended the U.S. needs to completely rethink its relationship with the rest of the world, saying other countries have been “taking advantage” of the nation’s military might by not paying enough for their own defense.

Trump has praised autocrats including Putin and sent chills through NATO during last year’s election campaign with his comment that Russia should “do whatever the hell it wants” to members that don’t meet military spending targets.

People participate in a rally in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to Canadian sovereignty, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Sunday, March 9, 2025. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)

“There’s a real sense of divorce, that America is not just disinterested in the trans-Atlantic alliance but views Europe fundamentally as an adversary,” said Max Bergmann, a former State Department official who now works at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“It’s very clear at this point, abundantly clear, that it will be next to impossible to count on the United States for the cause of defending democracy in the world,” said Kevin Casas-Zamora, secretary-general of the pro-democracy group International IDEA.

NATO leaders point out that Trump’s criticism and the war in Ukraine have led to a majority of member states meeting the target of spending at least 2% of their gross domestic product on defense.

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Trump’s reelection and rapprochement with Putin has hastened European military plans, with nations scrambling to ramp up weapons production and create their own security structures – including a U.K.- and France-led “coalition of the willing” to help guarantee a future ceasefire in Ukraine.

Clarkson said Europe has more strength than many give it credit for, and severing the trans-Atlantic bond would hurt the U.S., too.

“One shouldn’t underestimate European military industrial capacity,” he said. “There are all kinds of things that can go wrong … but there is an element here also that the Americans are awakening a sleeping giant.”

Riccardi reported from Denver. Associated Press writers Ali Swenson in New York, Chris Megerian in Washington. John Leicester in Paris and Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed.