One of the traits that makes America great is its wilderness. The Trump administration is moving to open to extraction and development tens of millions of acres of forests now protected by a federal regulation known as the Roadless Rule.

In officially designated roadless areas, no new human infrastructure is permitted, except for conservation and public safety matters, such as wildfire prevention. (In those cases where roads already exist in newly designated wilderness, maintenance is permitted.)

This effectively holds these regions off-limits to logging, mining and other extractive industries. The rule applies to 58.5 million acres of American wilderness. Most of the nearly 200 million acres supervised by the Forest Service is available to industry in some way.

The Roadless Rule is a case study in participatory democracy. When the Clinton administration codified the rule, which went into effect in early 2001, an astounding 1.6 million Americans submitted comments to regulators.

While the vast majority of roadless areas are in the West, Pennsylvania also benefits: About 5% of the Allegheny National Forest, 25,000 acres, is designated roadless by the Department of Agriculture and its subsidiary, the Forest Service, according to the PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center. Those areas, many of which hold some of the last remaining old growth tree stands in northern Appalachia, are regional and national treasures whose loss would be incalculable, no matter what brief economic gain might result.

America has protected this wilderness not just to preserve special and irreplaceable forests. Protection also ensures that animal habitats, especially those of wide-ranging creatures, is as free as possible from human influence. Perhaps most of all, it’s about preserving these places for the enjoyment and benefit of humanity for generations to come.

Few people, if any, walk through an ancient landscape, like the “forest cathedral” of Pennsylvania’s Cook Forest State Park, and complain that it wasn’t clear-cut a century ago. They give thanks for the foresight the people who held back industry, who insisted that some lands must remain intact. Because of them, in this very commonwealth you can touch a hemlock that first broke through the earth while Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel.

The Roadless Rule has always been controversial, with both the George W. Bush and first Trump administrations attempting to weaken it. The rule is a much more potent political issue in the West, where it protects tens of millions of acres many states would like to control and to use to generate tax revenue. Trump’s Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced plans to rescind the rule at a meeting of the Western Governor’s Association.

Western politicians have long complained that because the Roadless Rule lets the USDA secretary create roadless areas, the department creates de facto wilderness areas by fiat, while the official “wilderness” designation requires Congress to act. This argument has been rejected by federal courts, but the expansion of roadless areas remains a sore point.

It may be possible to adjust the rule in a manner that would place some limits on this expansion. But, characteristically, thoughtful reform is not what the Trump administration wants: They’d like to rescind the Roadless Rule in its entirety. And that would be a disaster for American wilderness, and thus for Americans as a whole.

Roadless wilderness represents a moral principle: that some things are good in themselves and more important than short-term economic gains, and that among them is our country’s responsibility to steward its lands for generations to come. Entirely rescinding the Roadless Rule would deny that principle, and in so doing wound America’s distinctiveness, and its greatness.

— The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

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For months, if not years, the shed-like, one-story building at 1350 Hague Ave. sat largely unattended at the edge of a Hamline Avenue service road, on a small spit of land that runs beneath Ayd Mill Road and the Hamline Avenue bridge. A house on the site was demolished in 2018.

Bradley Taylor, who lives within walking distance, figured the small black box of a building would be an affordable place to launch The Donut Trap, an homage to his favorite Los Angeles doughnut shop and his love of the arts. Backed by city STAR grant funding to fix up the heating, ventilation and air conditioning, Taylor opened his coffee, ice cream and doughnut counter this summer with the support of the Union Park District Council and others eager to see him succeed.

The Donut Trap’s exterior mural and hot pink front door have helped draw families from a nearby playground on the other side of the bridge. What hasn’t helped is a $5,000 bill from the city for purchasing a vacant building that is no longer vacant.

Surprised by an outstanding vacant building fee that has more than doubled his tax assessment, Taylor took his concerns to the Department of Safety and Inspections, and then to Ramsey County, and then to the city’s legislative hearing officer, and finally to the St. Paul City Council.

Disagreement, ambiguity

The strange, years-long saga of the Donut Trap’s vacant building fee came to a close on Wednesday when the city council agreed to meet the budding shop owner — the self-proclaimed “Black Martha Stewart” — halfway and voted 5-2 to cut his special assessment in half, even though it had already been added to his tax statement.

The unusual decision followed some disagreement and ambiguity over whether Taylor had been told by city inspections to ignore the fee while he was in the process of installing the Donut Trap with some $24,000 in STAR grant funding from the mayor’s office and the Ward 1 council office.

At the very least, “DSI failed to ask Ms. Taylor and Mr. Taylor if they understood St. Paul’s vacant building program,” wrote Sarah Dvorak, president of the Union Park District Council, in a letter to the city last month, which was later backed by the Lexington-Hamline Community Council.

The vote also followed strong words from the city attorney’s office to Ward 1 Council Member Anika Bowie, who was advised in a two-page letter to recuse herself from the vote. She did not.

“This is not a problem property,” said Bowie on Wednesday, urging the council to cut a new business some slack. “This is not a property that is in the vacant building program. This is a building that operates as a doughnut shop. They are done with all of their (upkeep), as far as being up to code. The thing that complicates this is there was a change in ownership.”

The $5,000 vacant building fee, according to Taylor’s appeal to the council, was incurred by a previous owner and then added to his property taxes after he had filled the long-underutilized structure with a menu inspired by his own sweet tooth and love of pop culture.

Taylor has maintained that when he inquired with DSI about the vacant building notices, he was advised by city employees to ignore them, and that he had text messages proving as much. DSI officials have said no such conversations took place.

Vacant building fee

The building was enrolled in the city’s vacant building program in April 2019, a few years before Taylor acquired the property, according to the city’s Department of Safety and Inspections.

“We purchased the building in May 2023 and immediately filed for sewer permit, building permit, plumbing permit, gas permit, etc.,” wrote Taylor, in an email last May to Marcia Moermond, the city’s legislative hearing officer.

“Shortly afterward we began receiving letters regarding a vacant building fee,” he added. “We were very concerned since it was for a large dollar amount, so we reached out multiple times to DSI — via phone, text, and even in person — and were repeatedly told it was a mistake. We were advised not to worry about the letters and that no further action was needed on our part. At no point were we informed that we needed to formally appeal or take additional steps.”

“I even visited the DSI office in person for clarity, where I was again told the issue would be resolved and to ignore the notices,” he wrote.

Ashley Taylor, who co-owns the property, testified before Moermond this June: “We called every time we got a letter or notice. We received the same answer every time we contacted someone. Our confusion is we called multiple vacant building inspectors in 2023. What could we have done differently when we feel we were proactive … and (were) told it was a mistake?”

Taylor’s appeal won the support of the Union Park District Council, which assembled a timeline of events to share with the city council. Several neighborhood residents have expressed relief to see a derelict building find a new public-facing purpose.

‘Eat Donutz, Keep It Sexy’

The building’s exterior, previously painted industrial black, has been redecorated with a dynamic collage of splashy colors. Benches now line the patio. Taylor’s menu is no less bold, with inventive ice cream, coffee and doughnut flavors promising a quick sugar high.

Under the motto “Eat Donutz, Keep It Sexy,” the Donut Trap’s wide-ranging temptations include the Gay 90s (a vanilla glazed doughnut encrusted with Fruity Pebbles cereal), the Thotiana (a churro and tres leches-flavored doughnut) and a Coca-Cola Cold Brew (“Bubbly. Buzzed. A little wrong, but somehow so, so right.”).

Behind the scenes, the wrangles with City Hall have been less joyous.

On Dec. 3, 2023, the unpaid $5,000 vacant building fee — representing a year of vacancy — was forwarded to Ramsey County, to be added to the Donut Trap’s property tax notice. The building was released from the city’s vacant building program in March of 2024, at which time Taylor was sent a reminder of the fee, which was neither paid nor appealed at the time, according to the city.

During a public hearing last month on Taylor’s appeal, Bowie asked the council for a two-week layover, giving Taylor time to produce copies of the communications from DSI.

“I asked if they would please provide those text messages,” said legislative hearing officer Marcia Moermond, addressing the council on Wednesday. “Those text messages did not come forward.”

The vote

Council Member Nelsie Yang, who cast one of two votes against reducing or refunding the assessment, said she could not support a fee reduction without evidence. “The fact that we haven’t received anything is really disappointing,” Yang said.

Bowie this week was advised by the city attorney’s office that she had been seen conversing with the Taylors in the hallway outside the council chambers, which could be construed as stepping outside of her role as a neutral party in an appeals hearing. For appeals, council members serve quasi-judicial roles, and are expected to steer clear of dealings with either side.

Bowie denied that she held a hallway conversation, though she said her legislative aide talked with the Taylors. The county attorney’s office noted Bowie had written to the Union Park District Council, thanking them for their input, which could be construed as encouraging them to continue speaking out on behalf of the Taylors.

Bowie said she acted as a neutral party seeking more clarity on the situation. “If there’s evidence, I have to make a judgment call on that evidence,” said Bowie, in an interview. “Deciding to continue a hearing should not be reason to recuse myself.”

“The previous owner did not disclose that they had this assessment, and their title company did not disclose it,” she added. “(The Taylors) testified and said ‘we made calls and texts (to DSI).’ When I look at the record, I don’t see any evidence of that. I’m being neutral and saying, ‘well, show the evidence.’”

On Wednesday, after some discussion and disagreement, the city council voted 5-2 to support Moermond’s recommendation to cut the Donut Trap’s assessment by half. The relief will be structured as a refund, Moermond said, which is unusual for the city.

Council members Yang and Cheniqua Johnson cast the dissenting votes.

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It doesn’t make any sense. Last week, the Trump administration executed the largest single-site immigration raid in U.S. history at a Hyundai Motor Co.-LG Energy Solution Ltd. battery plant in Ellabell, Georgia.

The surprise raid antagonized South Korea, one of America’s closest allies and a country that had signed a $350 billion trade pact with President Donald Trump just weeks earlier. It contradicted Trump’s stated immigration policy of removing the “worst of the worst” by detaining workers employed to help meet Trump’s goal of expanding manufacturing in the U.S. And by releasing video footage of South Korean nationals shackled at the wrists and ankles, Immigration and Customs Enforcement managed to humiliate South Korean businesses and investment firms that had recently pledged billions to expand operations in the U.S.

What’s the upside? It’s hard to see one. Automakers with factories in the U.S. are counting on EV battery deliveries to meet demand. Trump is hoping to stimulate foreign investment in American manufacturing. This raid helps achieve neither.

Trump’s Border Czar Tom Homan told CNN on Sunday that there will be “more worksite enforcements” because “it’s a crime to hire an illegal alien.” Homan is correct, but he is also a master at sidestepping the real problem.

It’s not clear that “illegal alien” is even an accurate term to describe the people seized from the plant. Immigration attorney Charles Kuck, who represents some of the workers, told MSNBC on Monday that many of the employees at the plant had “valid visas” from the U.S. and were installing the equipment needed to make the batteries “so the plant could then employ U.S. workers.” He said ICE was looking for workers from Latin American countries and didn’t expect to apprehend Koreans, so the agents hadn’t even brought a translator.

It’s starting to look like another bumbling, high-profile error — but it also underscores a major flaw in Trump’s immigration policy. He would like to use his heavy-handed tariff policy to incentivize foreign investment in multibillion-dollar manufacturing plants, but building those facilities requires companies to bring engineers and contractors to the U.S. to help complete the job. The Trump administration has done nothing to make it any easier for the South Korean companies involved with the Hyundai Metaplant America site to secure the work visas needed.

Several officials associated with the project told Bloomberg News that they have struggled to get work visas under the Trump administration, especially for contractors and engineers with expertise in production line design. South Korean lawmaker Oh Gi-hyoung said at a news conference on Sunday that visa delays with the U.S. had complicated legitimate business travel for months, and speculated that many of the workers who were detained appear to have been trapped by visa delays that, in many cases, were caused by the Trump administration’s red tape. If the U.S. expects to attract investment from South Korean companies, he said, it should “match its calls for Korean investment with proper treatment of our citizens.”

Complaints have also surfaced recently from members of local unions. Barry Zeigler, the business manager of UA Local Union 188, which represents plumbers, pipe-fitters, welders, and air-conditioning technicians, told the New York Times that about 65 union members had been initially hired at the plant but were laid off earlier this month. He claimed they were replaced with undocumented workers.

The Trump administration should have sorted out the labor complaints from both sides of the equation here. Homan and ICE should have given the South Korean companies a firm deadline to make sure their employees had valid and up-to-date visas, and then put in place a process to fast-track those visas.

But of course, that kind of response would not have produced the headlines or sensational videos. And it would have required leadership and political finesse — skills that Trump’s Homeland Security team seems not to possess.

The raid also made no sense politically. When Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, a Republican, unveiled the $7.6 billion Hyundai Motor Group deal in 2022 — with nearly $2 billion in taxpayer-funded incentives — he touted it as the largest economic development project in state history and predicted it would help Georgia become the hub of U.S. electric vehicle manufacturing.

Now, the raid has turned one of Kemp’s greatest achievements into a liability. By bringing the plant to a screeching halt, and interrupting the labor pipeline, costs will inevitably rise. What’s more, inflamed tensions between the American and Korean governments also raise questions about Hyundai’s investment in a major auto plant in Montgomery, Alabama and its $5 billion proposal to build a steel plant in Louisiana.

Trump has not had smooth relations with Kemp since the governor refused to go along with his illegal quest to manufacture votes in 2020, but Kemp has otherwise been a reliable foot soldier. Last week, Kemp announced that he would send more than 300 Georgia National Guard troops to Washington, DC, at the president’s request. Kemp has remained silent on the immigration raid except to say that the state Department of Public Safety coordinated with ICE to support the operation and would “always enforce the law, including all state and federal immigration laws.”

Kemp doesn’t have authority over immigration enforcement. Trump does, but his administration’s focus on deportations over governing is no way to revive manufacturing in this country. The U.S. is long overdue for an overhaul of its work visa program, and the Georgia fiasco should be the catalyst.

Mary Ellen Klas is a politics and policy columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. A former capital bureau chief for the Miami Herald, she has covered politics and government for more than three decades.

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P.J. Fleck’s personality includes a sarcastic streak, so it was worth checking if the Gophers football coach was genuine with one comment he made last week.

“I’m giving you all a little secret,” he prefaced during his KFAN radio show Sept. 2. “There is a cut-up (video) that we have that is basically: ‘If Coach Fleck ever dies, play this at his funeral.’ ”

That, in fact, wasn’t an attempt at gallows humor.

The 44-year-old Fleck isn’t planning on going anywhere anytime soon, but when he does eventually leave this Earth, he wants an edited string of hustle plays made by Minnesota (and Western Michigan) players to be played on a loop at his celebration of life.

Minnesota Gophers head coach P. J. Fleck leaving the field after a NCAA football game against the Northwestern State Demons at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

On that topic, he did mix in a grim joke.

“As everyone goes through the walk line — there might be six people there — if you are looking at the screen, you are watching ‘how’ clips of extra effort because that is what gets me really excited in football,” Fleck added on the radio.

One hustle play in each of the Gophers’ first two games will be added to the reel. More will be required when the Gophers (2-0) play California (2-0) on Saturday night in Berkeley, Calif.

In the season opener against Buffalo, it was tailback Darius Taylor tracking down Buffalo linebacker Mitchell Gonser after his interception to save a Bulls’ touchdown.

In Week 2 against Northwestern (La.) State, it was linebacker Mason Carrier blitzing into a Demons screen pass to running back Myion Hicks. Hicks caught the pass near the sideline and had blockers in front to turn it into an explosive play, but Carrier turned on a dime and chased down Hicks for a relatively short 9-yard gain.

“That is us,” Fleck told the Pioneer Press. “That one goes in the funeral tape.

“We pour our life into this; this is my life,” Fleck later explained. “I want the players to watch themselves. I don’t want them to think about me in a casket. I don’t want them thinking about that and being sad. Watch some ball.”

Offensive coordinator Greg Harbaugh said hustle plays are the “No. 1 thing that we look at” after every single play. Then it’s scheme, execution and technique.

“I have loved when you put on the tape from last week and even the week before against Buffalo, the level of strain and physicality and how we have attacked each play offensively has been something that I’m very proud of,” Harbaugh said. “I want to continue to see that this week.”

Defensive coordinator Danny Collins said what happens in games is “just proof” of what is emphasized in practice.

Late in the first quarter last week, U linebacker Maverick Baranowski stripped running back Zay Davis of the football and fellow linebacker Matt Kingsbury scooped it and scored from 25 yards out.

Baranowski did a very same thing a seven-on-seven passing drill in spring practices.

“It doesn’t just happen on game day,” Collins said. “You have got to train those things. And when it does happen, you have to highlight them, because it shows the proof that it’s working.”

After no takeaways against Buffalo, the Gophers had four against Northwestern State. Turnovers might be pivotal come Saturday, when the Gophers are a slim 2.5-point favorite over the Bears.

“Those ‘how’ clips are what you want to be on,” Baranowski said. “It’s cool making a big play, but at the end of the day when you are recognized for how hard you play, that means a lot.”

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