By REBECCA BOONE

Privacy and hunger relief groups and a handful of people receiving food assistance benefits are suing the federal government over the Trump administration’s attempts to collect the personal information of millions of U.S. residents who use the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Related Articles

Trump approves FEMA disaster relief for 8 states

Belgian princess left in doubt about her Harvard future following Trump’s foreign student ban

Trump signs executive orders to boost nuclear power, speed up approvals

What issues to watch as ‘big, beautiful bill’ moves to the Senate

Trump’s team is divided on how to tackle the president’s vow to ease sanctions on Syria

The lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C., on Thursday says the U.S. Department of Agriculture violated federal privacy laws when it ordered states and vendors to turn over five years of data about food assistance program applicants and enrollees, including their names, birth dates, personal addresses and social security numbers.

The lawsuit “seeks to ensure that the government is not exploiting our most vulnerable citizens by disregarding longstanding privacy protections,” National Student Legal Defense Network attorney Daniel Zibel wrote in the complaint. The Electronic Privacy Information Center and Mazon Inc.: A Jewish Response to Hunger joined the four food assistance recipients in bringing the lawsuit.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, is a social safety net that serves more than 42 million people nationwide. Under the program formerly known as food stamps, the federal government pays for 100% of the food benefits but the states help cover the administrative costs. States also are responsible for determining whether people are eligible for the benefits, and for issuing the benefits to enrollees.

As a result, states have lots of highly personal financial, medical, housing, tax and other information about SNAP applicants and their dependents, according to the lawsuit.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order March 20 directing agencies to ensure “unfettered access to comprehensive data from all state programs” as part of the administration’s effort to stop “waste, fraud and abuse by eliminating information silos.”

That order prompted Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and the USDA to ask states and electronic benefit vendors to turn over the info earlier this month. Failing to do so may “trigger noncompliance procedures,” the USDA warned in a letter to states.

Some states have already turned over the data, including Alaska, which shared the personal info of more than 70,000 residents, according to the lawsuit. Other states like Iowa plan to turn over the information, the plaintiffs say.

They want a judge to declare the data collection unlawful, to order the USDA to destroy any personal information it already has, and to bar the agency from punishing states that fail to turn over the data.

WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Friday permanently blocked another of President Donald Trump’s executive orders targeting a major law firm, calling it unconstitutional retaliation designed to punish lawyers for their legal work that the White House does not like.

Related Articles

Trump approves FEMA disaster relief for 8 states

Belgian princess left in doubt about her Harvard future following Trump’s foreign student ban

Trump signs executive orders to boost nuclear power, speed up approvals

What issues to watch as ‘big, beautiful bill’ moves to the Senate

Trump’s team is divided on how to tackle the president’s vow to ease sanctions on Syria

The ruling from U.S. District Judge John Bates marks the second time this month that a judge has struck down a Trump executive order against a prominent firm. The decision in favor of Jenner & Block follows a similar opinion that blocked the enforcement of a decree against a different firm, Perkins Coie.

“Like the others in the series, this order — which takes aim at the global law firm Jenner & Block — makes no bones about why it chose its target: it picked Jenner because of the causes Jenner champions, the clients Jenner represents, and a lawyer Jenner once employed,” Bates wrote.

The spate of executive orders announced by Trump sought to impose the same consequences against the targeted firms, including suspending security clearances of attorneys and barring employees from federal buildings. The orders have been part of a broader effort by the president to reshape American civil society by targeting perceived adversaries in hopes of extracting concessions from them and bending them to his will.

Several of the firms singled out for sanctions have either done legal work that Trump has opposed, or currently have or previously had associations with prosecutors who at one point investigated the president.

In the case of Jenner & Block, the firm previously employed Andrew Weissmann, who served as a prosecutor on special counsel Robert Mueller’s team that investigated ties between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia.

Bates had previously halted enforcement of multiple provisions of the executive order against Jenner & Block and appeared deeply skeptical of its legality during a hearing last month.

In his ruling Friday, he said he was troubled that the orders retaliated against the firms for the “views embodied in their legal work” and seek “to chill legal representation the administration doesn’t like, thereby insulating the Executive Branch from the judicial check fundamental to the separation of powers.”

Two other firms, WilmerHale and Susman Godfrey, have also asked judges to permanently halt orders against them.

Other major firms have sought to avert orders by preemptively reaching settlements that require them, among other things, to collectively dedicate hundreds of millions of dollars in free legal services in support of causes the Trump administration says it supports.

For two to three “solid days” after he collided with center fielder Byron Buxton in Baltimore, Carlos Correa experienced dizziness, headaches and brain fog.

“My thoughts were slow,” the shortstop said. “It was definitely very different from where I usually am.”

The two smacked into each other last Thursday trying to catch a Cedric Mullins fly ball, leaving both with concussions. On Friday, Correa returned to the Twins’ lineup, cleared to return to the field after undergoing neurological testing. Buxton still remains out, though he is ramping up baseball activities and completed ground-based running on Friday at Target Field.

The play, Correa said, was a “weird,” one, noting that after the first two innings of the game, the sun had just come out in Baltimore.

“The ball was right in the sun for me so I was like angling on the side and then when I went to make my move to get into the sun and catch it, that’s when he called me off.”

When he heard Buxton calling for the ball, he tried to get out of the way. But after the ball landed in Buxton’s glove, they both moved in the same direction. The result was the two Twins stars down on the grass, both being tended to for minutes before they were able to get up. Correa left the game immediately. Buxton stayed in for that half inning before departing.

“It’s unfortunate,” Correa said. “You don’t want it to happen but at the same time, a play like that happens very rarely where we both are going after that ball. It was just one of those where it was a perfect storm and everything lined up for us to collide.”

Correa said he physically feels like he is full-go and expressed happiness that the way the schedule worked out meant he missed five games, rather than seven.

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said they would treat him as day to day initially, letting him play and then assessing how he’s doing just to make sure everything is going smoothly. He might wind up with a day off within the next few days.

“You just never know when you’re in these types of situations, when you deal with any sort of head injury and recovery and such, you really do have to play it slow and play it day-by-day,” Baldelli said. “We got to a really good point and he feels great, so it was clear the time was now that we could activate him. Knowing that we put that past and we can focus now on just playing, that’s a good feeling.”

Wallner on rehab

Baldelli isn’t scouring the minor league box scores to check in on his players when they go on rehab assignments — “as long as they’re healthy and doing fine, that’s really the only thing I care about,” — but he was aware that right fielder Matt Wallner had hit two home runs on Thursday night in the first game of his rehab assignment.

Wallner, who has been out since mid-April with a hamstring strain, was scheduled to begin his rehab assignment on Wednesday but the Saints were rained out. He started in right field on Thursday and was the Saints’ designated hitter on Saturday.

Briefly

Zebby Matthews is scheduled to start on Saturday in the second game of the Twins’ series against the Royals. Matthews gave up four runs in three innings his last start out, his first at the major league level this season. He will be opposed by right-hander Michael Wacha. … The first 10,000 fans through the gates on Saturday will receive a Royce Lewis City Connect bobblehead. … Most Twins players were sporting Timberwolves gear pregame after receiving shirts and hoodies from their next-door neighbors.

Related Articles

Who’s on first? Three of the newest additions to the Twins’ roster

Trio of Twins position players making progress towards their return

Twins, Guardians finally play ball, splitting two games

Twins, Guardians washed out again; will attempt to play (almost) two Wednesday

Twins, Guardians game suspended; to be resumed on Tuesday, weather permitting

Timberwolves coach Chris Finch can’t afford to waste a moment in these Western Conference Finals, particularly not with his team down 2-0 and needing to win four of the next five games to upset the Thunder.

“Every minute in this series,” Finch said after Minnesota’s Game 2 loss to Oklahoma City, “is a chance to find something.”

Perhaps Minnesota found that “something” in the fourth quarter Thursday, when it outscored the Thunder by seven.

Down 22 to start the frame, the Wolves had Oklahoma City’s advantage whittled down to 10 with three minutes to play.

Jaden McDaniels noted Minnesota had success getting the ball out of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s hands with the use of multiple defenders and then, when that resulted in stops, pushing immediately the other way on offense.

“Be aggressive,” McDaniels said. “I feel like if we start the game that way, we will give ourselves a chance to win the game.”

If that formula sounds familiar, it’s because it’s exactly what Minnesota did to erase a 24-point fourth quarter deficit to beat the Thunder in overtime back in February. On the floor during that chaotic comeback? McDaniels, Naz Reid, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Terrence Shannon Jr. and Rob Dillingham.

So … not Minnesota’s traditional starting five, or anything close to it. It was a small-ball lineup willing and able to both play a scrambling defensive scheme and run out in transition at every given opportunity.

That worked, and Minnesota’s base defense – an elite weapon for much of the year – has been rendered ineffective through two games of this series. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams are getting wherever they want with relative ease against Minnesota’s drop pick and roll coverage. Those two hit one midrange shot after another in Game 2.

Finch said Minnesota has to do a better job of “squaring up” their drives to prevent them from getting to that 10-to-12 foot range. But that’s not feasible in a pick and roll coverage in which Gobert is drifting back toward the paint.

“Shai is one of the best in the world to get to his spot and rise up. Our bigs have got to be up. Our guards have to be ready to switch stuff to where you take away the middie,” Wolves guard Mike Conley said. “It’s no longer one of those we’ll settle for a mid-range shot type series. You can’t give that up to these guys. These guys make that shot.”

McDaniels also suggested Minnesota mix up its coverages against the pick and roll action, perhaps going under the screen on some actions to force 3-point attempts or playing a high-wall look in which the defender guarding the screener is up at the level of the screen, taking away the driving lane and forcing Williams and Gilgeous-Alexander to play more east and west.

These all sound like potential solutions. The question is whether Minnesota can execute them with their traditional personnel, Julius Randle – who’s been Minnesota’s most consistent player this postseason – didn’t play in the fourth quarter Thursday. Gobert played less than half the final frame.

Conley and Nickeil Alexander-Walker were both asked how Minnesota can play the way it needs to against this Oklahoma City team with its bigger lineups. Both had lengthy pauses before mustering up answers.

Conley mentioned “mindset” and “urgency.” Alexander-Walker said “all five guys have to be on a string.” Again, those sound easier to achieve with smaller lineups.

That may just be the answer in this specific matchup. Minnesota’s roster has been praised for its depth and versatility. Finch has been tentative to dig beyond his top eight veterans for answers in key spots throughout the season. But maybe Shannon Jr. and Jaylen Clark need legitimate playing time if the Wolves are to beat the Thunder at their own game.

Because Minnesota’s game isn’t working. Change is likely needed. If Minnesota is in trouble at any point in Game 3 – a must-win contest for the Wolves’ series hopes – Finch may have to get comfortable making some uncomfortable decisions. Or perhaps he’ll be even more proactive than that.

This is the first series in which the Wolves may not have the most talented roster. Style may need to determine rotations.

“I think the main theme just leans back to matching that intensity. They’re a very aggressive team on both ends of the floor. They play very hard, and so we can’t rely on just our talent to get us to where we need to in this series,” Alexander-Walker said. “We got to put pace into the game and in the fourth quarter, I think that’s when we felt more life. You can kind of even hear it in the building. There’s parts in that second quarter as well when we made that run. Putting pace into the game for us and being aggressive with the time that we have, it helps us.”

At the very least, at this point, it can’t hurt.

Related Articles

Frederick: The Timberwolves know how to respond. They’ve seen it firsthand.

Timberwolves blitzed again in third quarter to fall down 2-0 in West Finals

Jace Frederick: Will Anthony Edwards pull back if NBA fines continue?

Now the Timberwolves understand the challenge that is the Thunder

The Timberwolves attempted 51 3-pointers in Game 1. Can they win that way?