The Gophers football program picked up a commitment from Utah prep receiver Kai Meza on Saturday night.

“Extremely blessed,” Meza wrote in his pledge post on social media.

During his junior year at Corner Canyon High School in Draper, Utah, Meza posted 46 receptions for 944 yards and 13 touchdowns. Corner Canyon is a powerhouse, which won the 6A state championship last season and has produced quarterbacks Zach Wilson (BYU) and Jaxson Dart (Ole Miss).

Meza, who is listed at 6 feet and 175 pounds, had offers from Arkansas, Oklahoma State, Utah, Washington State and others. He is considered a three-star recruit and the 15th best player in the state of Utah, according to 247Sports.

Meza is the seventh pledge to Minnesotas 2026 class and its second receiver beside Rico Blassingame of Tolleson, Ariz.

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RESTAURANTS

Art D’Elia

International Dairy Queen, a Bloomington-based owner and operator of franchised ice cream and fast-food restaurants, announced that Art D’Elia joined the company as chief operating officer, U.S. and Canada. D’Elia previously spent seven years at Domino’s Pizza, where he led the international business and served as chief marketing officer.

ADVERTISING/PUBLIC RELATIONS

CLUTCH, a Minneapolis-based advertising and consultancy agency, announced the addition of Sean Rustad as VP, Building Materials and Construction. Rustad previously was with Lee Building Products in Bowling Green, Ky., where he was vice president of Sales and Marketing. Rustad is a native of northern Minnesota.

AIRPORTS

The Metropolitan Airports Commission announced Christopher Roy as director of project delivery for Airport Development, responsible for aviation-related construction programs across the MAC airport system. Roy previously was with the Minnesota Department of Transportation, most recently as assistant director of operations. MAC owns and operates Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and six general aviation airports in the Twin Cities.

ARCHITECTURE/ENGINEERING

Golden Valley-based engineering and consulting firm WSB announced the hiring of Josh Maus as vice president of traffic modeling and planning.

ENTERTAINMENT

Six Points Theater, a St. Paul theater company that produces works with a Jewish perspective, announced that Art Allen has been named managing director, a new position. Allen is an event producer and former escape room owner.

FINANCIAL SERVICES

Stearns Bank, St. Cloud, announced the promotion of Heather Plumski to president. Plumski previously served as the bank’s EVP, chief financial and strategy officer. She succeeds Kelly Skalicky in the president’s role; Skalicky will remain the bank’s CEO. … First Independence Bank, Minneapolis, announced its inaugural Advisory Council: Tiffani Daniels, General Mills; Channon Lemon, Intent Energy; Samuel Ndely II, Minneapolis Foundation; Marcus Owens, NAWE Inc., and Brooke Roper, Hopkins School Board.

FOOD

Hormel Foods Corp., an Austin, Minn.-based provider of grocery store prepared food brands, announced that Jeffrey M. Ettinger, chairman of The Hormel Foundation, has been re-appointed to the Hormel Foods board of directors. Ettinger retired in 2016 as president and chief executive officer of Hormel. The Hormel Foundation is an unaffiliated nonprofit.

HONORS

Minnesota Valley Transit Authority, a public transportation agency serving seven communities in the south metro, announced its “En Route” marketing campaign was recognized with a national award from the American Public Transportation Association. The “En Route” strategy revolved around collecting and sharing personal stories of riders, shifting the perception of transit from a logistical service to a community-building experience.

LAW

Maslon, Minneapolis, announced the addition of former federal prosecutor Samantha H. Bates to the firm’s Litigation Group. Bates joins Maslon after serving for six years as an assistant U.S. attorney with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota. … Moss & Barnett, Minneapolis, announced that attorney Shannon E. Cook has rejoined the firm, focusing on representing lenders in the multifamily secondary real estate market. … National law firm Cozen O’Connor announced the following leadership changes in its Minneapolis office: Chris Bellini promoted to co-vice chair office managing partner; Katie Gettman, co-vice chair of the corporate practice group, and Miguel Pozo appointed to the firm’s Culture and Belonging Committee.

NONPROFITS

Planting People Growing Justice Leadership Institute, a St. Paul-based organization dedicated to promoting literacy and youth leadership development, announced the following new board members: Laura Esanbock, Securian Financial, and Samuel MacCaulley, Sambatek.

OPENINGS

National clothing outlet Nordstrom Rack announced the opening of a location at Fischer Marketplace, 14949 Florence Trail, Apple Valley.

TECHNOLOGY

The Developers Alliance, a national trade group, announced the addition of Sean Higgins to its advisory board. Higgins is chief executive officer of BetterYou, a St. Paul-based AI habit-building app focused on wellness solutions.

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EMAIL ITEMS to businessnews@pioneerpress.com.

Associated Press

MILWAUKEE (AP) — A Wisconsin teenager charged in the deaths of his parents faces wider allegations that he killed them to “obtain the financial means” to assassinate President Donald Trump and overthrow the government, according to a recently unsealed federal warrant.

Nikita Casap, 17, was charged last month by Waukesha County authorities with first-degree murder, theft and other crimes in the deaths of his mother, Tatiana Casap, and his stepfather, Donald Mayer. Authorities allege the teenager fatally shot them at their home outside Milwaukee in February and lived with the decomposing bodies for weeks before fleeing with $14,000 cash, passports and the family dog. He was arrested last month in Kansas.

Casap, in custody at the Waukesha County jail on a $1 million bond, is due in court next month to enter a plea. County prosecutors have offered a glimpse of the federal allegations, which were outlined in an FBI warrant unsealed Friday.

Federal authorities accuse Casap of planning his parents’ murders, buying a drone and explosives, and sharing his plans with others, including a Russian speaker. His intentions are detailed in a three-page antisemitic manifesto praising Adolf Hitler. The warrant filed at the federal court in Milwaukee also contains excerpts of communications on TikTok and the Telegram messenger app.

“Casap appears to have written a manifest calling for the assassination of the President of the United States. He was in touch with other parties about his plan to kill the President and overthrow the government of the United States,” the search warrant says. “The killing of his parents appeared to be an effort to obtain the financial means and autonomy necessary to carrying out his plan.”

In court, prosecutors alleged Casap was in touch with a person who speaks Russian and shared a plan to flee to Ukraine. Authorities found him in Kansas with money, passports, a car and the family’s dog.

Federal prosecutors alleged Casap’s manifesto outlined his reasons for wanting to kill Trump and included ideas about how he would live in Ukraine.

Citing Casap’s writings, the federal warrant said the teenager wanted to spur governmental collapse by “by getting rid of the president and perhaps the vice president.”

Phone and online messages seeking comment were left Sunday for Casap’s public defender, Nicole Ostrowski. In court last month, she moved to dismiss some of the charges against her client, including theft, arguing that prosecutors had not laid out their case. She’s also noted her client’s age during court proceedings.

“He is young, he is still in high school,” she said on March 12.

County authorities also charged Casap with hiding a corpse, theft and misappropriating identification to obtain money.

Officers found the bodies of Tatiana Casap, 35; and Mayer, 51, on Feb. 28. Family members requested a well-being check after Mayer didn’t report for work and Nikita Casap skipped school for about two weeks.

Authorities believe the parents were killed weeks earlier. Prosecutors said in court that the couple’s bodies were so badly decomposed that they had to be identified through dental records.