Minnesota’s teachers union and two school districts are suing to block immigration enforcement at public schools.

In a civil complaint filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court, plaintiffs Education Minnesota and Duluth and Fridley public schools argue the enforcement has “caused direct and irreparable harm to the abilities of school districts and educators to fulfill their functions — to educate children and to provide access to educational services and a safe learning environment.”

The lawsuit seeks to stop immigration enforcement at or within 1,000 feet of school property or school bus stops “absent a judicial warrant or genuinely exigent circumstances.”

The complaint names the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and several of the agencies’ national and local leaders.

DHS, when asked for comment on the lawsuit, sent a statement from Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.

“ICE is not going to schools to arrest children — we are protecting children,” the statement read. “The Trump administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement and instead trusts them to use common sense. If a dangerous illegal alien felon were to flee into a school, or a child sex offender is working as an employee, there may be a situation where an arrest is made to protect public safety. But this has not happened.”

Policy change

The lawsuit says DHS violated the Administrative Procedures Act when the agency rescinded its longstanding policy that designated schools and bus stops as a safe zone to be avoided when carrying out immigration enforcement. DHS did not engage in notice-and-comment rulemaking before repealing the policy in January 2025, as required by the federal law, and “should be enjoined from implementing it,” the complaint says.

The policy shift has led to school closures or a switch to remote learning — causing districts a loss of time and money — and a sharp drop in student attendance, according to the complaint.

“DHS’s presence in and near school property has created an atmosphere of fear, for native-born citizens, naturalized citizens and legally present immigrants alike,” the complaint states. “Parents across the state are afraid to send their children to school, and schools have had to adjust their programs.”

Fridley schools’ attendance rate has dropped nearly one-third during the enforcement surge and over 400 families have opted into remote learning, causing teachers to “divert hours of time from other tasks to create new curricula for remote learning,” according to the complaint.

Duluth schools’ administrators have spent nearly a third of their time on planning related to immigration activities, costing the district about $573,000 a month, the complaint says.

“Students can’t learn, and educators can’t teach, when there are armed, masked federal agents stationed within view of classroom windows, sometimes for days on end,” Monica Byron, the president of Education Minnesota, said in a statement. Education Minnesota is made up of 477 local unions, representing more than 84,000 members.

Incidents cited

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The complaint cites 14 enforcement incidents at or near schools or involving students and teachers.

They include the high-profile case of Christina Rank, an Inver Grove Heights paraprofessional at Concord Education Center who was arrested in the school’s parking lot after a car crash involving ICE agents on Jan. 12. Rank has since been charged in federal court, with the complaint alleging she followed ICE agents from the school parking lot, drove into an oncoming lane and across the parking lot entrance at the same time the officers were turning into the lot, causing the collision.

Wednesday’s lawsuit says immigration agents pulled over two vans contracted by St. Paul schools to carry students and staff on Jan. 15, and that agents were in the parking lots at Little Canada Elementary School and Roseville Education Center on Jan. 21.

Art museum curator and director David A. Ross has left his post at the School of Visual Arts in New York after the latest release of documents about Jeffrey Epstein revealed his friendship with the convicted sex offender.

Ross, who was chair of the MFA art practice program, resigned Tuesday, the school said in a statement, adding that it was “aware of correspondence” between him and Epstein. Ross’ online page at the school was offline Wednesday.

The resignation was first reported by ARTnews.

In emails dating from 2009, Ross banters with, reaches out to meet and consoles Epstein, calling him “incredible” and “I’m still proud to call you a friend.”

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In one exchange in 2009, Epstein suggests an exhibition called “Statutory” that would feature “girls and boys ages 14-25 ”where they look nothing like their true ages.” Replied Ross: “You are incredible” and noted that Brooke Shields posed nude at age 10.

Also that year, Ross wrote to console Epstein after the financier had been deposed. “Damn, this was not what you needed or deserved,” Ross wrote. “I know how tough you are, and in fact, it probably bothers me as your friend more than it does you.”

In an email to ARTnews after his resignation, Ross said that he met Epstein in the mid-1990s when he was director of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. “It was part of my job to befriend people who had the capacity and interest in supporting the museum,” he said.

The Whitney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to Florida charges of soliciting prostitution and soliciting prostitution from someone under the age of 18. Ross said he believed Epstein when the financier told him it was “a political frame-up.”

Ross told ARTnews that when Epstein was being investigated again in 2019, he reached out to show his support. “That was a terrible mistake of judgement. When the reality of his crimes became clear, I was mortified and remain ashamed that I fell for his lies.”

Attempts by The Associated Press to reach Ross have been unsuccessful.

In addition to the Whitney, Ross previously held posts at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, the Berkeley Art Museum and the Long Beach Museum of Art.

The emails are part of more than 3 million pages of documents the U.S. Department of Justice released on Friday that reveal some of Epstein’s famous associates.

For the second year in a row, the Minnesota Orchestra posted an operating loss in the millions in its fiscal year 2025, the organization announced Tuesday.

The orchestra has total net assets of $187 million and no debt. Revenues totaled $38.1 million and operating expenses were $42.3 million resulting in a $4.2 million operating loss. Last year, the orchestra posted a $3.8 million loss due largely to the end of pandemic-era grants.

In a news release, board chair William Miller touted the orchestra’s highest-ever levels of annual fund donations and earned revenue as well as a return to pre-pandemic attendance levels.

“We will channel that momentum over the next several seasons to diversify our revenue streams in order to build greater resilience and agility in how we operate,” said president and CEO Isaac Thompson. “This is an opportunity to think bigger about the role the orchestra can play in serving our city and wider community.”

Total contributions — from annual fund donations, major gifts and Symphony Ball contributions — reached $20.4 million, holding steady from the previous year. Total earned revenue — from ticket sales, rentals and concessions — reached a record high of $12.1 million. Orchestra Hall was filled to 82 percent paid capacity, a nearly 9% increase over the prior year.

More than 230,000 guests attended in-person Minnesota Orchestra concerts in 2024-25, hailing from 83 of 87 Minnesota counties, all 50 states and 24 countries. With audio streaming, digital concerts, TV and radio broadcasts included, that number reached more than 2.5 million.

Artistic highlights from the year include:

• The launch of Nordic Soundscapes, a January festival that traversed the landscape of Nordic music, alongside a sampling of Scandinavian culture, cocktails and design in the Orchestra Hall lobby.

• The orchestra’s first performances of Puccini’s Turandot in 40 years. Led by music director Thomas Søndergård and headlined by soprano Christine Goerke and tenor Limmie Pulliam, the event kickstarted a multi-year initiative to offer annual opera-in-concert with topflight singers.

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• The return of the Composer Institute and Future Classics concert, which cast a spotlight on four national rising composers. Elise Arancio, Andrew Faulkenberry, Soomin Kim and Benjamin Webster each participated in mentoring sessions, rehearsals and seminars before having their music performed and recorded by the orchestra.

• A celebration of the 50th anniversary of Orchestra Hall through historical displays in the lobby, audience and artist anecdotes and programming nods to the 1974-75 season.

• In July, the performance auditorium inside Orchestra Hall was renamed the Lindahl Auditorium, in honor of life director and former board chair (2023-25) Nancy Lindahl and her husband John.

Gordie Bailey had a burning-hot hatred of buckthorn.

Bailey, the former president and chairman of the board of Bailey Nurseries in Newport, was “a one-man buckthorn eradication machine,” said Pat Bailey, one of his sons. He estimates his father removed “hundreds of thousands” of the invasive plants during his lifetime.

Bailey, who worked for Bailey Nurseries for more than 70 years, died Jan. 29 at his home in Newport from complications related to multiple myeloma. He was 90.

Bailey once auctioned off his “buckthorn-removal services” at a fundraiser for the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, and a man from Edina won the bid, Pat Bailey said. “My dad shows up and starts working in his back yard removing buckthorn. He was never very flashy about how he dressed or with his equipment. He shows up, and he’s dressed in his old khakis and his old beat-up jacket with duct tape, and his old beat-up boots and a ratty old hat. He’s back there doing his buckthorn removal, and the guy’s neighbor calls him up and says, ‘Jim, there’s a homeless guy rummaging around in your yard.’ He got a kick out of that. Here’s Gordie from Newport coming over to Edina.”

Gordon Bailey, who grew up working at the family nursery in Newport, had a deep knowledge of plants, and worked to steward the land and communities he loved, said Ryan McEnaney, a great-nephew and the company’s director of marketing and communications.

Bailey played a pivotal role in shaping the company’s growth, culture and long-term vision, McEnaney said. “He was a great mentor and leader for us. He taught us not just about the business, but more importantly, how to treat people. One of the most resounding things we’ve heard from employees and partners in the industry is how generous and thoughtful he was and how much he cared about people and giving back to the community. That’s the legacy that we’re excited to carry on.”

Said Pat Bailey: “He really loved people. At the nursery, the land and the buildings and the greenhouses, none of that mattered if you didn’t have really good people to make it all click. He just really had a passion for the people who worked with us.”

Hall of Famer

He also had a passion for plants. Among his claims to fame: selecting notable varieties such as Frontyard Linden, Wildfire Winterberry and Shamrock Littleleaf Linden.

“With plants, there’s a lot of variability,” Pat Bailey said. “Once in a while, you’ll get something that is just more vibrant than most of the other seedlings, or it might have more berries, or bigger berries. He just had a really good eye for new plants and plants that would do well in a landscape.”

Longtime gardening expert Bonnie Blodgett, of St. Paul, said many of the plants she grows in her Crocus Hill garden “wouldn’t be hardy here in Zone 4 if it weren’t for Gordie.” “There must be dozens,” she said. “Endless Summer hydrangea gets most of the press, but … oh, the roses!”

Bailey, who served as president of the Minnesota Nursery & Landscape Association and was inducted into the Hall of Fame for both MNLA and the American Nursery & Landscape Association, was a mentor to many in the nursery industry in Minnesota, said longtime friend Dale Bachman, the former CEO and chairman of the board of Bachman’s Inc.

“He always put people first, you know,” Bachman said. “Well, maybe plants came first, but people were first, too. He had two firsts. Gordie would just treat all people in a wonderful way, and we all benefited from having known him. He was always learning, always sharing.”

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Bailey Nurseries has long been a wholesale supplier for Bachman’s, he said. “All I can say is: Thank goodness, since their inception, they decided not to go into the retail business, because they would have been successful in the retail business, too,” he said. “But they stayed in their lane as a tremendous supplier to the industry and have expanded greatly. They are one of the largest nursery wholesale suppliers to the country.”

In 1978, Gordie Bailey was named president of the company, and his brother, Rodney, was named secretary/treasurer. Gordie Bailey was in charge of managing administrative functions; Rodney Bailey managed production.

“They were just the best combination you could ever have imagined for a family business,” Bachman said.

Started young

Bailey started working for the family business, which was founded in 1905 by his grandparents, John Vincent “J.V.” and Elizabeth Bailey, when he was a young boy. Among his early jobs: weeding, propagating, picking up rocks and picking apples, Pat Bailey said.

“We had a retail store in an old shed for a while back then, so he would have worked selling apples and plants at certain times of the year,” he said. “Whatever they needed you to do on the farm, you did.”

Bailey graduated from Park High School in St. Paul Park, attended Saint John’s University in Collegeville, and graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in business, he said.

In the late 1950s, he met Josephine “Jo” Brunner, a nurse from Gibbon, Minn., on a double date. “They weren’t paired up, but whoever they were each with failed,” Pat Bailey said. “They started dating after that.”

The couple married in 1960 at St. Willibrord Catholic Church in Gibbon. They had seven children.

Gordie Bailey served as a trustee for the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Foundation, Saint John’s University and Carpenter Nature Center, among other organizations.

Philanthropist, outdoorsman

In addition to his leadership roles, Bailey was known for his philanthropic efforts and advocacy for horticultural research and education. He spearheaded the “Tour de Hort,” cycling 2,100 miles across the United States in three segments to raise $1.25 million for the Horticultural Research Institute.

When he was 79, he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro to help fund the construction of a girls’ school in Nairobi, Kenya.

“He was a real outdoorsman,” Pat Bailey said. “He was much more at home being outside and in nature amongst plants, going for a hike or camping up in the Boundary Waters. He once organized a bike trip from Newport up to Ely. It took five days. He rode a century (100 miles) on his 80th birthday. He was much more of a doer than a talker. ”

Bailey, an avid hunter, fisherman and cyclist, loved spending time with his family at their cabin on Snowbank Lake near Ely and at their hobby farm in Wasioja, Minn., near Dodge Center. He was ice fishing into his late 80s, and only stopped biking a year and a half ago, Pat Bailey said.

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“He was big on prairie restoration, so he did a lot of prairie restoration on the farm,” he said. “He loved planting trees. He was very happy just being outside, being able to plant trees and enhance the habitat for animals on his farm.”

Bailey is survived by his wife, Jo; five sons, John, Pat, Mark, Mike and Joe; two daughters, Mary Hope and Melissa Cullen; 16 grandchildren, and 12 great-grandchildren.

A Mass of Christian burial will be at 10:30 a.m. Feb. 14, with visitation one hour prior, at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in St. Paul Park, where Bailey was a lifelong member.

Kok Funeral Home is handling arrangements.