Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison endorsed Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan for outgoing U.S. Sen. Tina Smith’s seat in a video announcement posted Monday.

The video, posted to Flanagan’s personal X account, shows Ellison and Flanagan seated opposite one another at a table and Ellison saying, “I’ve always thought you’d be a great United States senator.” Flanagan responds that it “just so happens” that she’s running for Senate, to which Ellison says, “I think you should do it and I support you and I hope other people do, too … You go get ’em!”

Ellison is the first major state Democrat to endorse Flanagan’s bid for Senate, as Smith and Gov. Tim Walz both said they’re opting out of endorsing a candidate before the primary. The endorsement also rules out a bid from Ellison, something he previously said he was considering.

“I’m honored to receive the endorsement of the people’s lawyer and my friend: MN Attorney General Keith Ellison,” Flanagan said on X Monday. “Keith has been fighting against Trump’s attacks on behalf of Minnesotans.”

Flanagan was the first to throw her hat in the race after Smith announced Feb. 13 that she would not be seeking reelection. Former DFL state Sen. Melisa López Franzen, who represented the southwest metro, has also announced a bid for the seat.

U.S. Reps. Angie Craig and Ilhan Omar are also considering entering the race.

Various Republicans, none of whom have held elective office, have also entered the race: 2024 U.S. Senate candidate Royce White;  veteran Adam Schwarze; veteran Raymond Peterson; and Mike Ruoho, a restaurant executive.

Independent Marissa Simonetti, a former candidate for the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners, is also seeking the seat.

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By AMANDA SEITZ and MATTHEW PERRONE

WASHINGTON (AP) — As they readied to leave work Monday, some workers at the Food and Drug Administration were told to pack their laptops and prepare for the possibility that they wouldn’t be back, according to an email obtained by The Associated Press.

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Nervous employees — roughly 82,000 across the nation’s public health agencies — waited to see whether pink slips would arrive in their inboxes. The mass dismissals have been expected since Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced last week a massive reorganization that will result in 20,000 fewer jobs at the Department of Health and Human Services. About 10,000 will be eliminated through layoffs.

The email sent to some at the FDA said staffers should check their email for a possible notice that their jobs would be eliminated, which would also halt their access to government buildings. An FDA employee shared the email with AP on condition of anonymity, because they weren’t authorized to disclose internal agency matters.

Kennedy has criticized the department he oversees as an inefficient “sprawling bureaucracy” and said the department’s $1.7 trillion yearly budget “has failed to improve the health of Americans.” He plans to streamline operations and fold entire agencies — such as the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration — into a new Administration for a Healthy America.

On Friday, dozens of federal health employees working to stop infectious diseases from spreading were put on leave.

Several current and former federal officials told The AP that the Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy was hollowed out that night. Some employees posted on LinkedIn about the office emptying. And an HIV and public health expert who works directly with the office was emailed a notice saying that all staff had been asked to leave. The expert spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity over fears of losing future work on the issue.

Several of the office’s advisory committees — including the National Vaccine Advisory Committee and others that advise on HIV/AIDs response — have had their meetings canceled.

“It puts a number of important efforts to improve the health of Americans at risk,” said Dr. Robert H. Hopkins Jr., the former chair of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee, an advisory committee of the office.

An HHS official said the office is not being closed but that the department is seeking to consolidate the work and reduce redundancies.

Also, as of Monday, a website for the Office of Minority Health was disabled, with an error message saying the page “does not exist.”

Beyond layoffs at federal health agencies, cuts have begun at state and local health departments as a result of an HHS move last week to pull back more than $11 billion in COVID-19-related funds.

Local and state health officials are still assessing the impact, but some health departments have already identified hundreds of jobs that stand to be eliminated because of lost funding, “some of them overnight, some of them are already gone,” said Lori Tremmel Freeman, chief executive of the National Association of County and City Health Officials.

Associated Press writer Carla K. Johnson in Seattle contributed reporting.

NEWARK, N.J. – Just a few months shy of a decade ago, on June 2, 2015, a 40-year-old John Hynes got his first call to “the show” as an NHL head coach with the New Jersey Devils. At the time, he joked with a friend that Mike Yeo, then coaching the Minnesota Wild at age 41, would no longer be the league’s youngest coach, nor have the least hair among the NHL coaches.

Now 50 and on his third stop in the league, having coached in Nashville prior to taking over the Wild last season, Hynes admitted that the Devils’ home ice will always bring back fond memories.

“So many good people that you met here within the organization, some of the players are still here and then obviously life away from the game,” he said following Minnesota’s morning skate at Prudential Center. “My family really enjoyed it here, so it’s kind of a combination. So, it’s always special where you got your first opportunity; a lot of great memories.”

In four-plus seasons with the Devils, Hynes’ teams were a cumulative 150-159-45 with one playoff appearance — they fell 4-1 to Tampa Bay in the 2018 opening round. He spent parts of four years in Nashville before the Wild hired him midseason in late 2023. Thinking back on his early days as an NHL head coach, Hynes admitted that he’s a different person 10 years later.

“It’s just more experience. There’s lots of similarities that help you get to the NHL, the structure of practices and all the hockey part of it. But I think the more opportunities you have to coach in the NHL, you learn different things. I think experience is a factor, so it’s good. I learned a ton (in New Jersey), I learned a ton in Nashville and I’m still learning here…I think in this business you have to adapt and change and keep some core values, but I think you’re always trying to find a way to be better.

For Wild, a bit more wait for Buium

University of Denver sophomore defenseman Zeev Buium may sign with the Wild at some point this season, after Minnesota made the San Diego native their first round pick in last summer’s NHL draft. But first, he has another college hockey game, or two, to play.

Buium and the Pioneers are headed back to the NCAA Frozen Four looking for a repeat national title after they beat top-ranked Boston College 3-1 on Sunday evening in the finale of the Manchester (N.H.) Regional. Buium had two goals and three assists in Denver’s wins over Providence in the first round and the Eagles in the regional title game. They will face NCHC foe Western Michigan in St. Louis on Thursday, April 10, with a trip to the NCAA title game at stake.

Buium, who was named the NCHC’s most valuable player during the conference tournament in St. Paul earlier in March, has emerged as one of the favorites for the Hobey Baker Award, given annually to college hockey’s top player.

The Pioneers defeated Boston College in St. Paul last April to win the program’s record 10th NCAA hockey title.

Another Gopher signs early

After three seasons in maroon and gold, and a World Juniors gold medal, defenseman Ryan Chesley is taking his game to the next level. The Washington Capitals, who picked the Mahtomedi native in the second round of the 2022 NHL draft, announced on Monday that they had signed Chesley to an entry-level contract and he would report to their AHL team in Hershey, Pa.

Chesley, one of the Minnesota Gophers’ co-captains, played in all 40 games last season, with eight goals and 12 assists. He also led the team with 48 penalty minutes. The most recent signing means that eight of the Gophers’ top 11 scorers will not return next season due to graduation or early signings.

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By JANIE HAR

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal judge on Monday paused plans by the Trump administration to end temporary legal protections for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans, a week before they were scheduled to expire.

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The order by U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco is a relief for 350,000 Venezuelans whose Temporary Protected Status was scheduled to expire April 7. The lawsuit was filed by lawyers for the National TPS Alliance and TPS holders across the country.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has also announced the end of TPS for an estimated 250,000 additional Venezuelans in September.

Chen said in his ruling that the action by Noem “threatens to: inflict irreparable harm on hundreds of thousands of persons whose lives, families, and livelihoods will be severely disrupted, cost the United States billions in economic activity, and injure public health and safety in communities throughout the United States.”

He said the government had failed to identify any “real countervailing harm in continuing TPS for Venezuelan beneficiaries” and said plaintiffs will likely succeed in showing that Noem’s actions “are unauthorized by law, arbitrary and capricious, and motivated by unconstitutional animus.”

Chen, who was appointed to the bench by President Barack Obama, a Democrat, said his order applies nationally.

He gave the government one week to file notice of an appeal and the plaintiffs one week to file to pause for 500,000 Haitians whose TPS protections are set to expire in August. Alejandro Mayorkas, the previous secretary, had extended protections for all three cohorts into 2026.

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, center, speaks to the press during the arrival of Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, Venezuela, Monday, March 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Congress created TPS, as the law is known, in 1990 to prevent deportations to countries suffering from natural disasters or civil strife, giving people authorization to live and work in the U.S. in increments of up to 18 months if the Homeland Security secretary deems conditions in their home countries are unsafe for return.

The reversals are a major about-face from immigration policies under former President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and come as Republican President Donald Trump and his top aides have ratcheted up attacks on judges who rule against them, with immigration being at the forefront of many disagreements.

At a hearing last Monday, lawyers for TPS holders said that Noem has no authority to cancel the protections and that her actions were motivated in part by racism. They asked the judge to pause Noem’s orders, citing the irreparable harm to TPS holders struggling with fear of deportation and potential separation from family members.

Government lawyers for Noem said that Congress gave the secretary clear and broad authority to make determinations related to the TPS program and that the decisions were not subject to judicial review. Plaintiffs have no right to thwart the secretary’s orders from being carried out, they said.

In public remarks, Noem has described Venezuelans in the U.S. as “dirt bags” and conflated TPS holders with members of a Venezuelan gang even though the vast majority have no criminal history, said Ahilan Arulanantham, an attorney with the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at The University of California, Los Angeles, law school.

“It seems to defame an entire group of 600,000 Venezuelans who are here with this image,” Judge Chen said to government lawyers. “Isn’t that almost the definition of racism?”

Sarah Vuong with the U.S. Department of Justice said Noem was motivated by government objectives on border and national security, not racism.

Biden sharply expanded use of TPS and other temporary forms of protection in a strategy to create and expand legal pathways to live in the United States while suspending asylum for those who enter illegally.

Trump has questioned the the impartiality of a federal judge who blocked his plans to deport Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador, levelling his criticism only hours before his administration asked an appeals court to lift the judge’s order.

The administration has also said it was revoking temporary protections for more than 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans who have come to the U.S. since October 2022 through another legal avenue called humanitarian parole, which Biden used more than any other president. Their two-year work permits will expire April 24.