St. Thomas’ historic season came to a close Friday night at Maturi Pavilion in Minneapolis in a five-set battle with No. 5 Iowa State, 25-21, 13-25, 16-25, 25-21, 8-15.

Iowa State’s balanced attack proved too much for St. Thomas as four different Cyclones finished with double-digit kills. The Tommies valiant effort came up just short of a monumental upset.

In its first season of Division I postseason eligibility, St. Thomas played its first NCAA Tournament match. The Tommies looked to win and snap a 28-year drought by Summit League teams in the NCAA Tournament.

St. Thomas held its own against No. 5 Iowa State in the first set snatching a 13-10 lead midway through thanks to strong serving and dominant net presence.

Tommies head coach Thanh Pham said while Iowa State poses problems for opponents his team’s recent success in the first set had him confident.

“We were actually expecting to win the first set, and to actually (play) out that way was actually a touch of relief,” Pham said.

St. Thomas sealed Set 1 with an Addie Schmotzer kill on setter Morgan Kealy’s 15th assist of the set. It was the Tommies first-ever set win in the Division I NCAA Tournament.

St. Thomas hit .355 in the opening frame and was led by senior middle blocker Megan Wetter and freshman outside hitter Anya Schmidt with four kills each.

Kealy said the plethora of options across the court helps the offense stay on track.

“There’s really no bad option on our team,” Kealy said. “Having a balanced offense, and being able to trust anyone at any time.”

The second set started in similar back-and-forth fashion but the Cyclones asserted themselves with a 5-0 run midway through to take a 12-8 lead, forcing Pham to call a timeout.

The Tommies could not find an answer for Iowa State’s offensive onslaught as the run reached 11-0 before St. Thomas got back on the board. The Cyclones cruised to the finish line in Set 2 to even the match.

Cyclones head coach Christy Johnson-Lynch said St. Thomas came out aggressively at the service line but her team found its rhythm in Set 2.

“Sometimes you’re just in that groove, and especially once we calmed down, you could see what we’re capable of,” Johnson-Lynch said. “So we just had to calm down, we had to serve a past much better. We were kind of on our heels (in) set one.””

Iowa State found its flow offensively in the second set, hitting .552 with 16 kills and no attacking errors.

It was a commanding 25-16 Set 3 victory for Iowa State, who never trailed in the set, and put the Cyclones in pole position to advance.

But the Tommies, fighting for their season, responded by jumping out to a 7-3 lead in the fourth set. St. Thomas then responded to an Iowa State surge with a 6-1 run to grab a 19-15 edge.

Iowa State made it close late but a gritty St. Thomas effort helped the Tommies seize a 25-21 Set 4 win and force a season-deciding fifth set.

The Cyclones opened up an 8-5 lead in Set 5 thanks to three diving digs from sophomore libero Rachel Van Gorp. She finished with a career-high 33 digs.

Iowa State carried that momentum down the stretch to collect its first NCAA Tournament win since Dec. 2, 2022.

St. Thomas season ends in heartbreak after taking Iowa State the distance. Pham teared up as he talked about this special group and the nine seniors who played their final match.

“Today we didn’t win, but our program got better,” Pham said. “I know that on the scoreboard, a lot of people are looking at, “did you get the W?” I just feel like it was a momentous step for our program to compete with a team like Iowa State.”

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By COLLIN BINKLEY

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is bringing back dozens of Education Department staffers who were slated to be laid off, saying their help is needed to tackle a mounting backlog of discrimination complaints from students and families.

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The staffers had been on administrative leave while the department faced lawsuits challenging layoffs in the agency’s Office for Civil Rights, which investigates possible discrimination in the nation’s schools and colleges. But in a Friday letter, department officials ordered the workers back to duty starting Dec. 15 to help clear civil rights cases.

A department spokesperson confirmed the move, saying the government still hoped to lay off the staffers to shrink the size of the department.

“The Department will continue to appeal the persistent and unceasing litigation disputes concerning the Reductions in Force, but in the meantime, it will utilize all employees currently being compensated by American taxpayers,” Julie Hartman said in a statement.

In the letter to employees, obtained by The Associated Press, officials said the department needs “all OCR staff to prioritize OCR’s existing complaint caseload.” The office handles everything from complaints about possible violations of disability rights to racial discrimination.

More than 200 workers from the Office for Civil Rights were targeted in mass layoffs at the department, but the firings have been tied up in legal battles since March. An appeals court cleared the way for the cuts in September, but they’re again on hold because of a separate lawsuit. In all, the Education Department workforce has shrunk from 4,100 when President Donald Trump took office to roughly half that size now, as the president vows to wind down the agency.

The department did not say how many workers are returning to duty. Some who have been on administrative leave for months have since left.

The Office for Civil Rights had a backlog of about 20,000 discrimination cases when Trump took office in January. Since then, with a significantly reduced workforce, the backlog has grown to more than 25,000, AP reporting has shown using department data.

Trump officials have defended the layoffs even as complaints pile up, saying the office wasn’t operating efficiently, even at full staff.

The Office for Civil Rights enforces many of the nation’s laws about civil rights in education, including those barring discrimination based on disability, sex, race and religion. It investigates complaints from students across the country and has the power to cut funding to schools and colleges that violate the law, though most cases are resolved in voluntary agreements.

Some former staffers have said there’s no way the office can address the current backlog under the staffing levels left after the layoffs. Families who have filed discrimination complaints against their schools say they have noticed the department’s staffing shortages, with some waiting months and hearing nothing.

The Associated Press’ education 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.

It’s beginning to feel a lot like the days of the perfunctory take on holiday arts programming are behind us. Something in the air at Twin Cities performances this year suggests a renewed commitment among local artists to giving it all they’ve got. Perhaps the current troubled state of things and the attendant feelings of helplessness have theater artists and musicians recognizing their work to be all the more important, be it to offer solace or inspiration.

I submit as Exhibit A Penumbra Theatre’s production of “Black Nativity.” It’s the 33rd version of this show that’s been presented by the Twin Cities’ foremost purveyors of plays and musicals about the lives of African-American people, and I’ve caught several of them. But I don’t recall it ever being as electrifying as what I experienced at Thursday’s opening night.

In recent years, Penumbra has been making music more the focus of its “Black Nativity” productions, which combine Langston Hughes’ adaptation of the Christmas story with carols traditionally sung in African-American churches and modern dance centered on Jesus’ birth.

Albert “Coco” Conteh and MerSadies McCoy portray Joseph and Mary in the ballet sequences of Penumbra Theatre’s “Black Nativity,” which is being presented at the theater through Dec. 24. (Caroline Yang)

It’s always been a worthwhile holiday tradition, but this year’s production is suffused with so much energy, enthusiasm and masterful musicianship that the most docile visitors to Penumbra’s intimate theater in the Rondo neighborhood might find themselves bouncing in their seats.

The theatrical structure is very much that of a concert, with a chorus of six women and a five-piece band supporting the often breathtaking efforts of principal soloists Greta Oglesby and Dennis Spears. The singers’ résumés boast years of experience with such stars of spiritual-centered music as Sounds of Blackness and the Steeles.

But, as I let the waves of wonderful music flow over me, I found myself thinking about another Twin Cities group of similar vintage: Moore by Four. Back in the ‘80s and ‘90s, Sanford Moore led that vocal quartet through several successful years at local clubs, offering its own contemporary spin on jazz standards. Spears was a staple of that group, and it’s fascinating to find that music director Moore’s skills have transferred so successfully to the gospel realm.

There’s a lot of music in this “Black Nativity” that sounds like jazz, giving the sense that much of the good-natured one-upmanship between the singers could just as easily be used in wordless scatting and love ballads as singing the praises of Jesus.

Four vocal soloists — from left, Greta Oglesby, Deborah M. Finney, Angela Stewart and Dennis Spears — sing Christmas songs from the gospel tradition in Penumbra Theatre’s “Black Nativity,” which is being presented at the theater through Dec. 24. (Caroline Yang)

Yet make no mistake that these performances are clearly fired by religious fervor. Oglesby has been in these productions for years, but I’ve never heard her sing with such power and conviction as on opening night. Whether engaging Spears in an adrenaline-raising duet on “How Excellent is Your Name” or putting her own stamp on the most moving “O Come, All Ye Faithful” I’ve ever experienced, Oglesby seemed a performer who’s found another level in expressing herself onstage.

If she comes off as tapping into a fresh taste of liberation, so do dancers MerSadies McCoy and Albert “Coco” Conteh in their exhilarating execution of Marciano Silva dos Santos’ choreography. Add Jennifer Whitlock’s compelling straight-from-the-pulpit narration and Moore’s takes on the traditional that range from Louisiana swamp pop to slow-burning funk and you have a marvelous opportunity to experience some spiritual renewal, no matter your religious tradition.

‘Black Nativity’

When: Through Dec. 24

Where: Penumbra Theatre, 270 N. Kent St., St. Paul

Tickets: $45-$20, available at 651-224-3180 or penumbratheatre.org

Capsule: A particularly impassioned take on a holiday theatrical tradition.

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By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN

A federal law enforcement operation at an Arizona taco shop resulted in a fracas on Friday, with agents deploying pepper spray as a group of protesters tried to stop authorities.

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Two agents were injured, and U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva was in the vicinity as protesters were sprayed. The Democratic congresswoman from Arizona took to social media, claiming she was sprayed in the face and accused immigration enforcement officers of operating without transparency or accountability.

“While I am fine, if that is the way they treat me, how are they treating other community members who do not have the same privileges and protections that I do?” she said in a statement.

It was less than a month ago that Grijalva was sworn in as the newest member of Congress. She won special election in September to fill the House seat last held by her late father.

In a video posted to social media, Grijalva said she, two members of her staff and members of the media were harassed and sprayed by agents during a federal immigration raid that local residents had interrupted “because they were afraid that they were taking people without due process, without any kind of notice.”

The video shows a man stepping in front of Grijalva, raising his arm and turning the congresswoman away as a federal agent sprays nearby protesters. Later in the video, as Grijalva continues walking in the street, a projectile is seen landing near her foot.

She said she did not know what substance she was sprayed with, but it was “still affecting” her with a cough.

Federal officials confirmed that Grijalva was not pepper sprayed and that agents with Homeland Security Investigations were targeting multiple Tucson restaurants as part of a years-long investigation into immigration and tax violations. Several search warrants were served across southern Arizona on Friday as part of the operation.

In a statement, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin described the group gathered in Tucson as a mob. She said two agents were seriously injured during the clash and took issue with Grijalva’s account of what happened.

“If her claims were true, this would be a medical marvel. But they’re not true. She wasn’t pepper sprayed. She was in the vicinity of someone who (asterisk)was(asterisk) pepper sprayed as they were obstructing and assaulting law enforcement,” McLaughlin wrote. “Presenting one’s self as a ‘Member of Congress’ doesn’t give you the right to obstruct law enforcement.”

Authorities used yellow tape to cordon off the restaurant and its parking lot as agents removed boxes from the building early Friday. By mid-morning, protesters had gathered outside with signs and whistles. Some in the group were hit with pepper spray as they tried to keep federal vehicles from leaving the area.

Tucson police said federal tactical agents responded to extract investigative special agents from the area where the protesters were gathered. After deploying chemical munitions, police said federal agents then requested emergency support from local authorities to help with exiting the area.

Grijalva thanked officers from the Tucson Police Department for “making sure everyone is safe” and stressed that the local officers had not interrupted traffic or harassed local residents. They did not make any arrests. “They were not the aggressors here,” she said.

The Arizona Democrat’s experience is the latest incident this year of members of Congress being stonewalled by or put in physical altercations with federal law enforcement officers while attempting to conduct congressional oversight. The incidents have typically involved congressional Democrats appearing at federal immigration facilities or at immigration raids.

U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver, a New Jersey Democrat, is in an ongoing legal dispute with the Trump administration after a May altercation at a Newark immigration facility in her district. And Sen. Alex Padilla, a California Democrat, was thrown to the ground and detained by federal agents in June after appearing at a press conference for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

Associated Press writer Matt Brown contributed to this report from Washington, D.C.