By JENNIFER McDERMOTT and MICHAEL CASEY, Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) — A federal judge said Tuesday that a nearly completed Massachusetts offshore wind project can continue, as the industry successfully challenges the Trump administration in court.

At U.S. District Court in Boston, Judge Brian Murphy halted the administration’s stop work order for Vineyard Wind, citing the potential economic losses from the delays and the developers’ likelihood of success on their claims. Vineyard Wind is one of five big offshore wind projects on the East Coast that the Trump administration froze days before Christmas, citing national security concerns— and the fourth that has since been allowed to go forward.

Developers and states sued seeking to block the administration’s order. Prior to Vineyard Wind’s hearing, federal judges had allowed three of the five to restart construction: the Revolution Wind project for Rhode Island and Connecticut by Danish company Orsted, the Empire Wind project for New York by Norwegian company Equinor, and Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind for Virginia by Dominion Energy Virginia. Those three judges essentially concluded that the government did not show that the national security risk is so imminent that construction must halt, said Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond Law School professor who has been following the lawsuits.

Orsted is also suing over the administration halting its Sunrise Wind project for New York— the fifth paused project — but has not had a hearing yet.

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Vineyard Wind is a joint venture between Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, located 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, Massachusetts. It is 95% complete and partially operational, able to produce nearly 600 megawatts of power for the New England electric grid, according to the complaint. Before the pause, it was on track to be complete by the end of March, with 62 turbines generating a total of 800 megawatts. That is enough clean electricity to power about 400,000 homes.

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said the completion of this project is essential to ensuring the state can lower costs, meet rising energy demand, advance its climate goals and sustain thousands of good-paying jobs.

The administration’s announcement that paused construction did not reveal specifics about its national security concerns. But in a court filing, Matthew Giacona, acting director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, said he reviewed classified documents in November that discussed direct impacts to national security that arise from operating offshore wind projects near early warning monitoring and radar systems. Giacona said he determined the ongoing activities for the Vineyard Wind project did not “adequately provide for the protection of national security interests,” absent potential mitigation measures.

Given its nearly complete status, BOEM decided to allow Vineyard Wind to continue partially operating during the suspension period while it consulted with defense officials and the owners, Giacona said. But, he said he is not aware of any measures that would mitigate the national security risks.

President Donald Trump has targeted offshore wind from his first days back in the White House, recently calling wind farms “losers” that lose money, destroy the landscape and kill birds. Research from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory shows that states with the most utility-scale wind and solar often have low electricity prices, supported by federal tax incentives. However, states with aggressive, binding programs to mandate more renewable energy have seen prices increase as a result of those policies, according to the study.

Turbines, like all infrastructure, can pose a risk to birds. The National Audubon Society, which is dedicated to the conservation of birds, thinks developers can manage these risks and climate change is a greater threat.

White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers has said the construction pause is meant to protect the national security of the American people and Trump has been clear that “wind energy is the scam of the century.”

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has criticized the Vineyard Wind project, specifically, because of a blade failure. Fiberglass fragments of a blade broke apart and began washing onto Nantucket beaches in July 2024 during the peak of tourist season. Manufacturer GE Vernova agreed to pay $10.5 million in a settlement to compensate island businesses that suffered losses.

Kennedy’s family famously opposed an earlier failed wind project not far from the family’s Cape Cod estate.

McDermott contributed to this report from Providence, Rhode Island.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

One does not need much in the way of advanced statistics to confirm that playing defense at the top levels of hockey can be hazardous to your health.

For definitive proof, just take a look at the Minnesota Wild’s season statistics, which show that Tuesday’s home game versus Chicago was the sixth in a row played without the services of veteran blueliners Zach Bogosian and Jonas Brodin.

Wild coach John Hynes is hopeful that Bogosian could return relatively soon from his third stint on the injured list this season. Brodin, on the other hand, will miss the chance to skate for Team Sweden in the coming Winter Olympics and is not expected back on the ice for Minnesota until early March.

“It’s difficult,” Hynes acknowledged following the team’s morning skate on Tuesday. “It is special. That’s why the players have voted to go play in the Olympics. It is, you know, a best-on-best tournament. You don’t get a lot of opportunities to be able to represent your country.”

However, out of challenges come opportunities for the young defensemen in the Wild system that have been tasked with filling those roles. Already this season, prospects like David Spacek and Carson Lambos have made their NHL debuts for the Wild, and newcomer Matt Kiersted — originally from Elk River, Minn. — has logged four games for his home-state team.

The two mainstays among the next wave of defensemen getting ice time have been David Jiricek and Daemon Hunt.

In a strange twist, last season the Wild traded Hunt to Columbus as part of the package that brought Jiricek to Minnesota. At the end of training camp, when Columbus placed Hunt, 23, on waivers for purposes of sending him to their American Hockey League team, the Wild claimed him and brought Hunt back to Minnesota.

Hunt admits there was a bit of an odd relationship between Jiricek, 22, and him early in the season, knowing that they were once traded for each other.

“But now, half way through the season, I think it feels normal,” said Hunt, who had three assists in his first 21 games with the Wild this season. “He’s a good friend of mine now.”

Jiricek, who was a top-10 draft pick by Columbus, was prized enough by Wild general manager Bill Guerin that he sent Hunt, a first-round pick, and three other draft picks to the Blue Jackets to get the big Czech in green and red.

In Minnesota, Jiricek’s development has been slower than most had hoped. But after 22 games at the NHL level this season, Hynes is seeing some encouraging signs, especially when Jiricek lets his 6-foot-3, 210-pound frame do the work.

“He’s always been competitive. I think now it’s understanding how to use his body, when to use his body, how to have angles, how to use your leverage against elite players,” Hynes said. “I think the more opportunities you get to do that, whether it’s here or the American League level, you’re always going to get better and better. The good thing is he has a willingness to work on those things.”

For the Wild system’s young defensemen, those opportunities to work on their game, and learn, while playing at the NHL level are expected to help them be valuable additions as inevitable injuries happen to veterans. Time with the Iowa Wild is important for any developing player but there is no substitute for what they experience playing for Minnesota.

“Those games are highly competitive, but they’re not the NHL,” Hynes said of the work done for Iowa. “So, I think when you get your opportunities and you get a taste of the speed of the NHL, the strength of the NHL, the structure that teams and individual players play with, it does give you a better perspective of whether you’re truly ready or not, but also what you need to work on.”

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By OLIVIA DIAZ, Associated Press

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Virginia judge ruled Tuesday that a proposed constitutional amendment letting Democrats redraw the state’s Congressional maps was illegal, potentially foiling their efforts to pick up seats in the U.S. House in November.

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Tazewell Circuit Court Judge Jack Hurley Jr. wrote in a court order that Virginia lawmakers’ proposed constitutional amendment was not valid due to a technicality under state law that says such proposals must be passed and published by the clerk’s office at least three months before a general election.

In October, lawmakers advanced their mid-decade redistricting resolution less than a week before their statewide races.

The unusual mid-decade redistricting battle across the country has resulted, so far, in a nine more seats that Republicans believe they can win in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio. Democrats, meanwhile, think they can win six more because of redistricting in California and Utah.

That leaves the GOP up by three seats, and Democrats hope to fully or partially make that up in Virginia.

As in Virginia, redistricting is still being litigated in several states, and there is no guarantee that the parties will win the seats they have redrawn.

“A bench that mirrors the city’s diversity is not just more representative—it is better equipped to deliver justice that is fair, credible, and trusted.”

A view of the Queens County Criminal Courthouse located on Queens Boulevard on the morning of November 20, 2024.

New York City’s courts shape millions of lives, yet one gap remains stark: Black men are dramatically underrepresented on the bench. Despite the city’s growing diversity, political and judicial leadership has not kept pace, leaving too few Black male judges in positions of influence.

Demographics have long shaped city politics. In the 1970s and 1980s, rising engagement by Black and Hispanic voters reshaped the landscape. By the 1990s, minority candidates—many women—gained ground in the City Council, State Legislature, Congress, and county leadership in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan.

The judiciary followed a similar path.  Early waves of elected minority judges often included Black men who had practiced law in their own communities and were well known to local voters and elected officials. As the legal profession diversified, women—long the backbone of minority voting communities—advanced steadily. More Black women began winning Civil Court judgeships with strong support from Democratic county leadership. This was, and remains, a positive and important development for communities of color.

Yet this progress has produced an unintended consequence. As more women excelled in the pipeline, identifying and elevating qualified Black men to the bench has become increasingly difficult. New York State’s Office of Court Administration publishes an annual self-reported judicial demographics report reflecting participation by roughly 76 percent of eligible jurists. In the city’s elected Civil Court, about 22 percent of judges are Black; in Supreme Court, just 19 percent. Appointed courts show similar disparities: roughly 15 percent of criminal court judges and 23 percent of Family Court judges are Black. Including men and women, Black male judges are an even smaller share, reflecting a narrowing pipeline despite qualified candidates.

Nowhere is this imbalance more consequential than in criminal court. NYPD arrest data and New York City Criminal Justice Agency reports show roughly 49 percent of arrests are Black, with Black men making up the overwhelming majority. Black men thus constitute a substantial—often the plurality—of defendants, even as their chances of appearing before a Black male judge remain exceedingly low.

Representation matters not because judges should decide cases based on identity, but because courts depend on legitimacy and public trust. For many Black male defendants, the system has long felt distant or unresponsive. Seeing Black men on the bench strengthens confidence that courts understand defendants as individuals and can administer justice with rigor and humanity.  That trust reinforces respect for court outcomes and compliance with judicial decisions.

Judges must follow the law, but within it, judicial discretion matters—especially in criminal court, where decisions on bail, sentencing, and alternatives to confinement can shape a person’s life. Black male judges, informed by both professional training and lived experience, may be especially attuned to when a defendant is a strong candid][ate for rehabilitation rather than jail.  This is not a call for favoritism, but for the thoughtful use of discretion to promote public safety while reducing unnecessary incarceration.

Remarkably, more Black judges—of any gender—build trust not only between Black defendants and the courts but also influence white judges. Their relationships with Black colleagues deepen understanding of Black defendants’ circumstances and encourage more thoughtful discretion.  That influence, in turn, can strengthen Black defendants’ trust—not just in the Black judges they encounter, but in their white colleagues and the court system as a whole.

A 2023 study in the American Political Science Review found that as Black judges serve in greater numbers, white judges are less likely to impose custodial sentences on Black defendants, narrowing racial disparities by up to 7 percentage points. A 2022 Journal of Criminal Justice study found similar patterns, with lower confinement rates in jurisdictions with more Black judicial representation. In short, greater diversity on the bench reshapes judicial discretion and reduces reliance on incarceration.

The path forward is clear. To build a more representative bench, promising Black male candidates—whether from district attorney offices, public defender organizations, the courts, or community-based legal institutions—must be identified, mentored, and supported through transparent election and appointment processes. 

That work should begin early, with law schools re-emphasizing criminal law, practice and procedure, and expanding access to public-sector training increasingly constrained by economic pressures—cultivating a pipeline that strengthens judicial decision-making and better reflects the communities it serves. Local Democratic and Republican Party organizations, bar associations, judicial nonprofits, justice centers, and judicial screening committees also play a critical role in providing these candidates the guidance, resources, and opportunities they need to succeed.

New York City has proven its institutions can evolve to reflect the people they serve. By intentionally cultivating the next generation of Black male judges, the city can build on decades of progress, restore confidence in the courts, and strengthen justice. A bench that mirrors the city’s diversity is not just more representative—it is better equipped to deliver justice that is fair, credible, and trusted.

Arthur Greig, Esq. is a Manhattan-based election lawyer and former counsel to the New York County Democratic Party. Michael Oliva is a public relations consultant who has specialized in New York City judicial elections.

The post Opinion: Why More Black Male Judges Matter in New York City appeared first on City Limits.