By REBECCA SANTANA

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a one-minute video, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, decked out in Western riding gear and a cowboy hat, rides a horse through a pine forest near Mount Rushmore. She trumpets her department’s hard-line message: “You cross the border illegally, we’ll find you.”

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The ad was one of the many times the outgoing secretary made herself the public face of her department. In the end, that approach led to her undoing.

President Donald Trump on Thursday announced he was firing Noem, a decision that came on the heels of back-to-back hearings in Congress this week where she faced rare but blistering criticism from Republican lawmakers, especially over the $220 million ad campaign that featured the secretary on horseback.

An administration official said the ad campaign, along with other “many unfortunate leadership failures” such as fallout from the immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota and mismanagement of her staff, led to her firing. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the private considerations for the firing.

Noem had faced criticism for months, primarily from Democrats, about the administration’s tough immigration crackdown, especially in the aftermath of the shooting deaths of two Minneapolis protesters at the hands of federal officers. Despite outrage over how she characterized the protesters as agitators, publicly Trump stood by her throughout her 13-month tenure.

Noem’s social media was awash in videos of her out on the streets seemingly joining arrest sweeps of illegal migrants, and photographs of her posing in front of inmates at a notorious El Salvadoran prison. Airports across the country also beamed videos of Noem blaming Democrats for a federal government shutdown.

In the end, keeping the spotlight on herself drew fierce scrutiny that may have pushed the president over the edge in deciding whether to keep her on board. Trump said he will nominate Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin in her place and will make Noem a “Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas,” a new security initiative that will focus on the Western Hemisphere.

FILE – As prisoners stand looking out from a cell, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a tour of the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Noem was grilled in Congress this week over the ads

In the Mount Rushmore ad, a montage of video clips shows classic images of American history and culture — a rocket launching into air, a woman standing in a golden wheat field — interspersed with images of Trump being sworn into office, pumping his fist in the air after being shot at, and walking along a row of saluting cadets.

“Anyone who searches for freedom can always find a home here, but that freedom’s a precious thing. And we defend it vigorously. You cross the border illegally, we’ll find you,” Noem says in the video.

“But if you come here the right way, your American dream can be as big as these open skies. From President Trump and me, Welcome home.”

Over two days of questioning this week, senators and representatives pushed her to explain the ad campaign.

Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana asked whether spending $220 million was appropriate when the administration was in a battle against waste. And he asked what the president knew.

“The president approved ahead of time you spending $220 million running TV ads across the country in which you are featured prominently?”

“Yes, sir,” Noem replied. “We went through the legal processes. Did it correctly.”

FILE – Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, center, watches as officers speak with a person passing through the San Ysidro Port of Entry, March 16, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

She was repeatedly pressed about contracts awarded surrounding the campaign.

The Associated Press reported last year that the Department of Homeland Security, citing “an unusual and compelling urgency” over the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border, skipped a fully competitive bidding process when it launched an ad campaign early in 2025 and gave two Republican-linked firms the first part of the funding.

Noem insisted to Kennedy that the campaigns were effective.

“Well, they were effective in your name recognition,” Kennedy replied.

Kennedy said Trump and Noem had different versions of the president’s role

Kennedy went on to suggest that the campaign “puts the president in a terribly awkward spot.”

“It’s just hard for me to believe knowing the president as I do, that you said, ‘Mr. President, here’s some ads I’ve cut and I’m going to spend $220 million running them’ that he would have agreed to that,” said Kennedy.

Trump later told NBC News that he didn’t know about the campaign and that he wasn’t “thrilled” with it.

“I spent less money than that to become president. I didn’t know about it,” he said.

Kennedy told CNN that he got a call from Trump Tuesday evening and the president was angry.

FILE – Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem pilots a U.S. Coast Guard Response Boat Small with the Maritime Security Response Team, March 16, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

“Her version and the president’s version of whether the president, A) was informed and B) consented are decidedly different,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy, speaking after Noem’s firing, said he spoke with the president after the secretary’s testimony and he was “mad as a murder hornet.”

When Trump nominated Noem for his Cabinet, he said he’d known her for years and she was “very strong” on border security. As recently as after the Minneapolis fallout in January, Trump said she was doing “great.”

Noem made herself the public face of DHS

Beyond the Mount Rushmore ad, Noem appeared in other ads and a stream of social media videos and photos put out by the DHS communications team or in news reports. The constant appearances and content showed an image of a secretary out in the field, carrying out Trump’s vision. She swooped into the heart of immigration enforcement operations, with visuals of the action following shortly after.

It was a tactic she employed right from the beginning of her tenure, when she went out with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents making arrests in New York City. Wearing a flak jacket and baseball cap, Noem said in a video that they were “getting the dirtbags off the streets.”

Later images showed her at the controls of a plane in Alaska or decked out in firefighting gear taking part in a training exercise. In Chicago she accompanied agents on a raid near a local Walmart store.

In one video, she stood in front of a cell packed with inmates in a Salvadoran prison and warned people not to come to the U.S. illegally or they could end up there.

She may have successfully raised her profile. But in the end, she became the latest senior administration official to rankle the president and be shuffled into obscurity.

Gov. Maura Healey is telling Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to “come and take” her Dunkin’ coffees from her in response to Kennedy questioning the safety of the sugary drinks offered by Dunkin’ and Starbucks.

“Come And Take It,” read an image with a star above it posted by Healey to her official X account Wednesday. The post had quoted a Boston Globe article reporting that Kennedy said he may potentially pull certain ingredients, including those found in Dunkin’ products, from the market if they can’t be proven safe.

“You know, I wish he would work to end measles in the country. That’s where I would focus my attention if I were Health and Human Services Secretary. I wouldn’t be taking on Dunkin’,” Healey said when asked by a reporter about her X post during a media scrum, while also holding a Dunkin’ coffee cup in her hand.

Kennedy responded to Healey’s X post with one of his own on Thursday, assuring Healey and Bay State residents that Dunkin’ is not going anywhere.

RFK Jr. posted, “No one is taking away your Dunkin’. But isn’t it reasonable to ask whether a drink loaded with 180 grams of sugar is safe?”

 

Gavin Lamphere stepped up to the state tournament postgame dais sporting a Popeye the Sailor hat on Thursday afternoon.

It’s a “gift” bestowed to the Hibbing/Chisholm boys hockey team’s player of the game. Thursday’s Class A state semifinal in St. Paul made that selection process rather simple.

Lamphere tallied 43 saves, including 19 in the opening stanza, to power the top-seeded Bluejackets to a 4-2 victory over fourth-seeded Mahtomedi. Hibbing/Chisholm will make its first state title game appearance since 1994 on Saturday, when it plays third-seeded Warroad for the championship at noon at Grand Casino Arena.

“We know we’ve got the best backbone in the state,” senior forward Ben Galli said of his netminder.

It needed it on a day when the Zephyrs generated persistent pressure. No one knows the Class A state tournament as well as Mahtomedi, who again looked as though it belonged on the big stage.

“We executed our game plan pretty much to a T,” Mahtomedi coach Jeff Poeschl said.

Outside of the start, that is. Hibbing/Chisholm scored on the game’s opening shift, with Jackson Strukel potting a goal just 17 seconds into the affair.

Mahtomedi responded brilliantly, controlling play for the remainder of the period. Yet it couldn’t find a payoff.

Then the Bluejackets struck again early in the second on a power-play goal from Ben Galli. Later in the frame, Cole Swanson lit the lamp to make it 3-0.

Finally, 13 seconds after the Swanson goal, Will Seevers got the Zephyrs on the board with a goal from the slot off an excellent feed from Tommy Boe to make it 3-1. That’s where the score stood heading into the final frame.

Mahtomedi defenseman Cody Loida noted the Zephyrs kept saying they needed to “break the goalie.” But Lamphere wouldn’t budge.

“It was really hard,” Loida said. “He did a heckuva job just stopping everybody. We didn’t crack him.”

Not for a lack of trying.

“I was really pleased with their effort today. I thought they left everything on the ice,” Poeschl said of his players. “We had a lot of chances, we just needed a few more to find the way in. A little puck luck would’ve been nice.”

Hibbing/Chisholm found opportunities early in the third to break the game open, but Mahtomedi goalie Jackson Chesak took his turn standing on his head, stopping numerous breakaways and Grade-A chances. He tallied 20 of his 37 saves in the third period to keep the Zephyrs in the fight.

And he wasn’t alone.

It looked as though Hibbing/Chisholm was going to cash in on a shot from the slot in the middle of the third, only for sprawling defenseman Henry Sampair to get a skate blade on the shot to re-direct it wide of the net.

Finally, Whitaker Rewertz put the game away with an empty-net tally in the final minute. Of course, shortly after that was when Mahtomedi finally beat Lamphere for the second time on the day as Loida found the back of the net.

Too little, too late.

“We needed that second goal about eight minutes earlier,” Poeschl said.

“It’s just unfortunate. You run into a hot goaltender and he played a hell of a game,” Sampair said. “Tried our hardest.”

Poeschl has been on both sides of the equation in these thrilling semifinals and finals over the years. He noted plays like the kick save Sampair made are what kids will usually remember years from now, when the dust has settled and the pain of coming short of reaching an ultimate goal subsides.

Though this group of Zephyrs, specifically, may have another major takeaway from the experience.

“Without trying to be too philosophical, this group is a team — it’s a true team,” Poeschl said. “What they’re going to remember is the togetherness, and doing it together.”

Sampair concurred, noting everyone on this Mahtomedi team pursued a championship with total disregard for individual accolades.

“I feel like it’s really a culture thing,” said Sampair, who was in his first season on the Zephyrs varsity team after previously playing AAA hockey. “It was really beautiful to see.”

Warroad 6, Delano 3

Gavin Anderson and Casey Hontvet each scored twice as Warroad erased an early 2-0 deficit to win its state semifinal.

The game was tied 3-3 in the third before Anderson broke the tie just three minutes into the final period.

Warroad outshot Delano 37-26.

Daniel Halonen scored twice for Delano.

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Scammers are sending emails to residents involved in planning, zoning or land-use applications pretending to be Forest Lake city planning and zoning staff members, the city said Friday.

The city said the emails that appear to come from the Forest Lake Planning Department or Planning Commission include applicant names, real property addresses, parcel numbers, and project details, all of which make the emails appear legitimate.

The emails are asking people to pay invoices by wire transfer, often saying they need “prompt settlement of the invoice,” city officials warned in a press release Friday.

City officials said the city will never request payment by wire transfer through email. All legitimate payments are handled directly through the city with official payment methods. In addition, all official city emails will come from email addresses that end in: @ci.forest-lake.mn.us.

If anyone receives a suspected scam email, the city asks that residents don’t click any links within the email and don’t send money. All messages about an application or payment needs can be verified by contacting the Forest Lake Community Development Department at 651-209-9731.

Any resident that has sent money in response to the scam emails should call the Forest Lake Police Department at 651-464-5877.

The press release said that some of the scam emails contain the following details:

Are signed by City Planner Michael Birchland, Planning & Zoning Commission Chair Paul Girard. or other member of the Community Development Department.
Claim payment is due for an application review or approval fee.
Ask recipients to reply for wire transfer payment instructions.
Come from an email address ending in @usa.com.

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