Washington Post publisher Will Lewis said Saturday that he’s stepping down, ending a troubled tenure three days after the newspaper said that it was laying off one-third of its staff.

Lewis announced his departure in a two-paragraph email to the newspaper’s staff, saying that after two years of transformation, “now is the right time for me to step aside.” The Post’s chief financial officer, Jeff D’Onofrio, was appointed temporary publisher.

Neither Lewis nor the newspaper’s billionaire owner Jeff Bezos participated in the meeting with staff members announcing the layoffs on Wednesday. While anticipated, the cutbacks were deeper than expected, resulting in the shutdown of the Post’s renowned sports section, the elimination of its photography staff and sharp reductions in personnel responsible for coverage of metropolitan Washington and overseas.

They came on top of widespread talent defections in recent years at the newspaper, which lost tens of thousands of subscribers following Bezos’ order late in the 2024 presidential campaign pulling back from a planned endorsement of Kamala Harris, and a subsequent reorienting of its opinion section in a more conservative direction.

Martin Baron, the Post’s first editor under Bezos, condemned his former boss this week for attempting to curry favor with President Donald Trump and called what has happened at the newspaper “a case study in near-instant, self-inflicted brand destruction.”

Will Lewis, publisher and CEO of The Washington Post, poses for a portrait in Washington, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post via AP, File)

The British-born Lewis was a former top executive at The Wall Street Journal before taking over at The Post in January 2024. His tenure has been rocky from the start, marked by layoffs and a failed reorganization plan that led to the departure of former top editor Sally Buzbee.

His initial choice to take over for Buzbee, Robert Winnett, withdrew from the job after ethical questions were raised about both he and Lewis’ actions while working in England. They including paying for information that produced major stories, actions that would be considered unethical in American journalism. The current executive editor, Matt Murray, took over shortly thereafter.

Lewis didn’t endear himself to Washington Post journalists with blunt talk about their work, at one point saying in a staff meeting that they needed to make changes because not enough people were reading their work.

This week’s layoffs have led to some calls for Bezos to either increase his investment in The Post or sell it to someone who will take a more active role. Lewis, in his note, praised Bezos: “The institution could not have had a better owner,” he said.

“During my tenure, difficult decisions have been taken in order to ensure the sustainable future of The Post so it can for many years ahead publish high-quality nonpartisan news to millions of customers each day,” Lewis said.

The Washington Post Guild, the union representing staff members, called Lewis’ exit long overdue.

“His legacy will be the attempted destruction of a great American journalism institution,” the Guild said in a statement. “But it’s not too late to save The Post. Jeff Bezos must immediately rescind these layoffs or sell the paper to someone willing to invest in its future.”

Bezos did not mention Lewis in a statement saying D’Onofrio and his team are positioned to lead The Post into “an exciting and thriving next chapter.”

“The Post has an essential journalistic mission and an extraordinary opportunity,” Bezos said. “Each and every day our readers give us a roadmap to success. The data tells us what is valuable and where to focus.”

D’Onofrio, who joined the paper last June after jobs at the digital ad management company Raptive, Google, Zagat and Major League Baseball, said in a note to staff that “we are ending a hard week of change with more change.

“This is a challenging time across all media organizations, and The Post is unfortunately no exception,” he wrote. “I’ve had the privilege of helping chart the course of disrupters and cultural stalwarts alike. All faced economic headwinds in changing industry landscapes, and we rose to meet those moments. I have no doubt we will do just that, together.”

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David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.

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Goals were tough to come by as the Minnesota and St. Thomas women’s hockey teams took to the ice for the finale of their weekend series on Saturday afternoon at Ridder Arena

The squads played to an official 1-1 draw in the finale of their weekend series at Ridder Arena Saturday afternoon. The Gophers won a shootout to claim two points, with the Tommies earning a point.

In a defensive struggle, it took nearly the entirety of the first period for the first goal to go on the board. The opening tally went to the hosts, as Jamie Nelson’s power-play score put the Gophers up 1-0 just 18 seconds before the first intermission.

It took a long while for the lamp to be lit again, but Jenessa Gazdik’s even-strength goal at 12:10 of the third period forged a 1-1 tie that carried on through the final dozen minutes of regulation and five more minutes of overtime play.

Both goaltenders stood tall in their respective nets, with the Tommies’ Julia Minotti making 22 saves and Gophers netminder Hannah Clark stopping 26 of the 27 shots she faced.

After each team secured its lone point, the strong goalie play continued into the three-round shootout with both sides seeking the added bonus point for a shootout win. Neither team managed to put one in the goal through their first two attempts, but Sydney Morrow finally cracked the code in the third round with the lone tally of the penalty shot duel to give the third-ranked Gophers added consolation to close out the contest.

It was the first official tie of the season for both teams. Minnesota (24-5-1 overall, 18-5-1 WCHA) remained in third place in the WCHA with 55 points, while St. Thomas (12-17-1, 7-16-1) held onto sixth with 23 points.

The Gophers head out on the road next weekend for a crucial WCHA series at second-ranked Ohio State. By the time the puck drops in Columbus, Ohio next Friday night, the Buckeyes may be the top-ranked team in the country based on their 4-1 win at current No. 1 Wisconsin Saturday evening. The Badgers host Ohio State for their series finale on Sunday afternoon.

St. Thomas’ schedule doesn’t ease up much next weekend as the Tommies head north to take on No. 6 Minnesota-Duluth on Friday and Saturday.

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President Donald Trump’s administration can continue to detain immigrants without bond, marking a major legal victory for the federal immigration agenda and countering a slew of recent lower court decisions across the country that argued the practice is illegal.

A panel of judges on the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Friday evening that the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to deny bond hearings to immigrants arrested across the country is consistent with the constitution and federal immigration law.

Specifically, circuit judge Edith H. Jones wrote in the 2-1 majority opinion that the government correctly interpreted the Immigration and Nationality Act by asserting that “unadmitted aliens apprehended anywhere in the United States are ineligible for release on bond, regardless of how long they have resided inside the United States.”

Under past administrations, most noncitizens with no criminal record who were arrested away from the border had an opportunity to request a bond hearing while their cases wound through immigration court. Historically, bond was often granted to those without criminal convictions who were not flight risks, and mandatory detention was limited to recent border crossers.

“That prior Administrations decided to use less than their full enforcement authority under” the law “does not mean they lacked the authority to do more,” Jones wrote.

The plaintiffs in the two separate cases filed last year against the Trump administration were both Mexican nationals who had both lived in the United States for over 10 years and weren’t flight risks, their attorneys argued. Neither man had a criminal record, and both were jailed for months last year before a lower Texas court granted them bond in October.

The Trump White House reversed that policy in favor of mandatory detention in July, reversing almost 30 years of precedent under both Democrat and Republican administrations.

Friday’s ruling also bucks a November district court decision in California, which granted detained immigrants with no criminal history the opportunity to request a bond hearing and had implications for noncitizens held in detention nationwide.

Circuit Judge Dana M. Douglas wrote the lone dissent in Friday’s decision.

The elected congress members who passed the Immigration and Nationality Act “would be surprised to learn it had also required the detention without bond of two million people,” Douglas wrote, adding that many of the people detained are “the spouses, mothers, fathers, and grandparents of American citizens.”

She went on to argue that the federal government was overriding the lawmaking process with DHS’ new immigration detention policy that denies detained immigrants bond.

“Because I would reject the government’s invitation to rubber stamp its proposed legislation by executive fiat, I dissent,” Douglas wrote.

Douglas’ opinion echoed widespread tensions between the Trump administration and federal judges around the country, who have increasingly accused the administration of flouting court orders.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi celebrated the decision as “a significant blow against activist judges who have been undermining our efforts to make America safe again at every turn.”

“We will continue vindicating President Trump’s law and order agenda in courtrooms across the country,” Bondi wrote on the social media platform X.

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Gophers men’s basketball fans should not be surprised on Sunday when point guard Isaac Asuma’s No. 1 jersey has a unfamiliar name across his back for the Big Ten game against Maryland at Williams Arena.

Instead, Asuma’s white home jersey will read “Walker” to shout out his pairing with AJ Walker, a patient at M Health Fairview Masonic Children’s Hospital. That temporary change is an added way to intertwine head coach Niko Medved’s “Ski-U-Mah Strong” initiative between Minnesota players and patient “warriors.”

Minnesota (11-12, 4-8 Big Ten) tips off against the Terrapins (8-14, 1-10) at 1 p.m. at The Barn.

During his tenure at Colorado State, Medved wanted to localize the Coaches vs. Cancer effort from the National Association of Basketball Coaches and started the program six years ago with UCHealth. This carries over a similar effort to his alma mater.

“It’s something I really wanted to take here to our community,” Medved said earlier this week.

Each patient and family members receive exclusive treatment in the days leading up to the Gophers game, including a hangout on Friday, pregame festivities for the national anthem and a tribute at halftime at The Barn.

Each player and patient has developed a connection through letters, video conferences, in-person visits and meet-and-greet at practice.

“We really made it a personal thing,” Medved said of previous years. “The cancer warriors would write letters to our players, describing their journey and what they are going through. I think the players find that really inspiring.”

In the first half dozen years of the program, Medved has seen the deep connection forged for his players.

“The relationships our players have made with families and these people, some of them have been lifelong relationships,” Medved said. “I think it’s a really cool way to use our platform to help impact our community. I’m excited to bring it here to Minnesota.”

On Sunday, the Gophers are looking to build on their first upset of a top 10-ranked team since 2021. After Minnesota knocked off No. 10 Michigan State on Wednesday, the U will look to make it two wins in a row against Maryland.

The Terrapins, under first-year head coach Buzz Williams, are having a tougher debut season than Medved’s squad. Williams is also dealing with injuries, including to former Minnesota and Texas A&M center Pharrell Payne, who has not played due to injury since Dec. 13. The 6-foot-9 post from Park of Cottage Grove averaged 17.5 points and 7.2 rebounds in 10 games this season.

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