By MICHAEL CASEY, GEOFF MULVIHILL and KIMBERLEE KRUESI, Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) — Two judges could rule as soon as Friday on whether President Donald Trump’s administration must replenish SNAP food aid benefits for November despite the government shutdown.

The grocery-buying ability for about 1 in 8 Americans could hinge on the outcomes.

Even if a judge rules the benefits cannot be suspended for the first time in SNAP’s 61-year history, many beneficiaries are likely to face delays in getting the debit cards they use to buy groceries reloaded. That process can take one to two weeks, so it’s likely too late to get funds on cards in the first days of November.

In a hearing in Boston Thursday on a legal challenge filed by Democratic officials from 25 states, one federal judge seemed skeptical of the administration’s argument that SNAP benefits could be halted.

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani told lawyers that if the government can’t afford to cover the cost, there’s a process to follow rather than simply suspending all benefits. “The steps involve finding an equitable way of reducing benefits,” said Talwani, who was nominated to the court by former President Barack Obama.

Talwani seemed to be leaning toward requiring the government to put billions of dollars in emergency funds toward SNAP. That, she said, is her interpretation of what Congress intended when an agency’s funding runs out.

“If you don’t have money, you tighten your belt,” she said in court. “You are not going to make everyone drop dead because it’s a political game someplace.”

Government lawyers say a contingency fund containing some $5 billion cannot legally be used to maintain SNAP, a program that costs about $8 billion a month. The states say it must be used for that purpose and point to more money available in a second federal account with around $23 billion.

Talwani said her ruling would apply nationwide, not just in the states that are part of the challenge. That could defy the intentions of the U.S. Supreme Court, which has limited the use of nationwide injunctions, though it hasn’t prohibited them.

A hearing on a second, similar challenge filed by a coalition of cities and nonprofit organizations is scheduled before a Rhode Island-based federal judge for Friday.

Any ruling in either case is likely to face an appeal.

Meanwhile, states, food banks and recipients have been bracing for an abrupt shift in how low-income people can get groceries.

The majority of states have announced more or expedited funding for food banks or novel ways to load at least some benefits onto the debit cards used in the program.

Advocates and beneficiaries say halting the food aid would force people to choose between buying groceries and paying other bills.

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At a Washington news conference Friday, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, whose department runs SNAP, said the contingency funds in question would not cover the cost of SNAP for long. Speaking at a press conference with House Speaker Mike Johnson at the Capitol, she blamed Democrats for conducting a “disgusting dereliction of duty” by refusing to end their Senate filibuster as they hold out for an extension of health care funds.

A push this week to continue SNAP funding during the shutdown failed in Congress.

To qualify for SNAP in 2025, a family of four’s net income after certain expenses can’t exceed the federal poverty line, which is about $31,000 per year. Last year, SNAP provided assistance to 41 million people, nearly two-thirds of whom were families with children, according to the lawsuit.

Mulvihill reported from Haddonfield, New Jersey; and Kruesi from Providence, Rhode Island. Associated Press reporter Lisa Mascaro in Washington, D.C., contributed.

Mark Coyle wants the money to talk.

The Gophers have $20.5 million to spend via revenue-sharing payments to current players for the 2025-26 academic year, and the U’s athletics director has put what he believes to be a larger investment into Minnesota’s men’s basketball program, which hasn’t been to an NCAA tournament since 2019 — and has advanced to the Sweet 16 just once since 1998.

University of Minnesota Athletics Director Mark Coyle on the sidelines during a Gopher’s NCAA football game against the Northwestern State Demons at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

“Like our fans, I’m frustrated that we haven’t had more success with our men’s basketball program,” Coyle said in a Pioneer Press interview in September.

For competitive reasons — and because no organization is compelling them to do so — how much money being divvied up by schools to its sports programs remains in the dark. That’s true across the country.

One estimate is new head coach Niko Medved has roughly 15% of that $20.5 million to work this school year; that’s a little more than $3 million.

An industry-wide norm is for top-level football programs to receive approximately 75% of revenue sharing, so Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck would be getting in the ballpark of $15 million. Meanwhile, Gophers women’s basketball, volleyball and men’s hockey would be getting the remaining 10%, or roughly $2 million.

The U also is adding a few scholarships to football and other women’s sports — volleyball, hockey, soccer, softball and gymnastics, which will also come out of the $20.5 million total.

After Coyle fired head coach Ben Johnson and courted Medved away from Colorado State in March, revenue sharing was discussed in the hiring process.

“Those conversations he and I had were very upfront, talking about that,” Coyle said. “We wanted to invest a little bit more in men’s basketball to help that program get jumpstarted.”

Medved’s first team at Minnesota will debut against Gardner-Webb on Monday night at Williams Arena. A Roseville native, U alum and former Minnesota assistant coach, the new coach was encouraged by what Coyle pitched him last spring.

“I felt good about the direction that they wanted to take men’s basketball,” Medved said Thursday. “’It’s kind of like, if not now, then when? And that it was a priority to get this program back up and running.”

The Gophers have yet to play an official game, but Coyle comes into Year 1 of Medved’s tenure encouraged by the roster build. Only two players from Ben Johnson’s last team remain, and nine transfers were brought in.

“I think by the kids he signed, that he brought in here, I think that (revenue sharing sum) helped us through that process,” Coyle said. “But we need to continue to, again, get information.”

Facts are few on how other Big Ten teams are dividing up their own revenue-sharing pies. Similar to Minnesota, Iowa has a brand new men’s basketball coach in Ben McCollum, who arrives from Drake, and the Hawkeyes also are believed to be trying to boost that program early in his tenure. A similar 15% or $3 million sum might be used there, too.

Nebraska and Wisconsin are believed to be distributing 75-80% to football, which also would leave a comparable sum for men’s basketball and its other programs.

Revenue started in July, and Coyle said he hasn’t heard startling anecdotes or intel from his coaches on what their competition is doing.

“I haven’t had coaches run in here and say, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re so far off. It’s not even close,’ ” Coyle said. “So, I feel like we’re very consistent with our peers in the Big Ten and (schools we are) recruiting against. But, again, we’ll continue to evaluate on a day-to-day basis.”

Revenue sharing payments, which came via the House vs. NCAA settlement, are set to increase 4% to a total of $21.3 million for next year. Coyle has said UMN leadership is currently determining how that money will be distributed for the 2026-27 school year.

“That ultimately is the administration and Mark Coyle’s decision,” Fleck said to the Pioneer Press this week. “Our job is to coach the football team and do everything we can to put the best product on the field. He’s got really hard decisions and tough decisions to make. But I don’t see it as jockeying for position. I don’t. I think that’s the athletic director’s job to disperse that money, how he feels fit and how they feel fit.”

The goal, or hope, is that some level of transparency will follow the advent of revenue sharing. Coyle said that could come in the form of raw data on, for example, what a men’s starting basketball point guard is expected to make.

“At some point, we’ve got to have some kind of national standards around what we’re doing with eligibility, transfer regulations, NIL regulations,” Medved said. “I hate to say this, but we’re still probably four or five years away (from) really finding where this lands.”

Medved has just joined the Big Ten’s coaching fraternity, but he’s been a college head coach for 12 years, making three NCAA tournament appearances across seven years at Colorado State. He’s been around the block.

“The culture among basketball coaches is different than football coaches. I figured that out,” Medved said. “We talk a lot, we’re probably a little bit more open with each other as far as what’s going on. … There’s still a little bit of gamesmanship, right? Not everybody’s putting all their cards on the table.”

One note on revenue sharing is how each sport must budget their lump annual sum. It must be distributed via contracts with current players, but another amount must be set aside to offer incoming players once each sport’s transfer portals open in 2026.

Revenue sharing constitutes a salary cap era for schools and players, who are still not considered university employees, while Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) represents de facto bonuses to players.

Along with revenue sharing, the College Sports Commission was created to handle regulation and enforcement of player compensation, including NIL. The commission set up the “NIL Go” portal to approve third-party deals for rules compliance.

In addition to revenue sharing, the Gophers’ NIL collective, Dinkytown Athletes, is working to boost those funds for each U sport.

“Are we where we need to be? No, not as far as where I want to take the program,” Medved said. “But we have come a long ways. Now, where we go from here, I think, will be the next step. But I feel like everybody understands the urgency behind that. I think we’re moving in the right direction.”

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CHICAGO — A 56-year-old widower, a single parent and sole caretaker for four U.S. citizen children, had secured an immigration court date with a good case for being granted bail, according to his attorney.

But despite entering the U.S. legally and securing a work permit, a lawsuit alleges, immigration agents made the man sign a voluntary departure waiver while he was housed in allegedly inhumane conditions at the west suburban Broadview, Illinois, holding facility.

Later that day, he was “on the other side of the border.”

The man’s case is detailed in a sweeping class-action lawsuit filed on Friday against immigration officials, alleging dirty and unsafe conditions at the federal holding facility in Broadview where they say arrestees are being warehoused for days on end.

The complaint, filed in federal court in Chicago, also accuses officials of denying detainees their right to consult with lawyers, effectively creating a “black box” where those arrested disappear with little ability to contact attorneys.

“His children, who are already grieving the loss of their mother from earlier this year, now must process the sudden loss of their father,” the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit is the first class-action effort to bring accountability and relief to detainees, who allegedly are housed there in overcrowded rooms with little contact with the outside world. It is filed on behalf of Pablo Moreno Gonzalez and Felipe Agustin Zamacona, who are both currently detained at Broadview.

An ambulance pulls out from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement holding facility on Beach Street on Oct. 13, 2025, in Broadview. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)

Named as defendants are Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Todd Lyons, acting director of  U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs, Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino, interim Chicago ICE Field Office Director Samuel Olson and other parties.

Agency officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Conditions at the west suburban processing facility have come under harsh scrutiny as the Trump administration has ratcheted up immigration enforcement measures in the Chicago area.

An August investigation by the Tribune found that the typical detainee was being held two or three days in the building that is not equipped for overnight stays, far longer than the usual five or so hours in years past.

“Everyone, no matter their legal status, has the right to access counsel and to not be subject to horrific and inhumane conditions,” said lead counsel on the suit Alexa Van Brunt, director of the MacArthur Justice Center’s Illinois office, in a statement.

The complaint paints a grim picture of circumstances at the facility, which largely has been subject to an information vacuum with few opportunities for attorneys, advocates and members of the media to assess conditions there.

But during the “Operation Midway Blitz” enforcement action, the complaint alleges, the consequences of the beefed-up raids and edicts for mandatory detention on a building meant only as a way station have been “dire, and wholly predictable.”

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People are being confined in holding cells with dozens of others, the complaint says, and denied basic necessities like enough food and water, menstrual products and soap.

They are forced to sleep on plastic chairs or the concrete floor, the complaint alleges.

The lights are usually kept on all night, leading to sleep deprivation, the suit says. The temperature swings from too hot during the day to freezing cold at night.

Conditions at the facility have further eroded since the beginning of “Operation Midway Blitz” in September, according to the complaint.

To make matters worse, the complaint says, detainees are often prevented from speaking to their lawyers or obtaining counsel.

“Officers tell attorneys they cannot visit their clients, and attorneys who try to contact their clients inside the facility are rebuffed or ignored. Attorney telephone calls are sent to an unattended line, and their calls and emails go unanswered,” the complaint says.

Meanwhile, the complaint says, officers are coercing people to sign documents that relinquish their rights, as officials try to deport them without going before an immigration judge.

“Defendants are transferring people to distant detention facilities—or sending them out of the country outright—before their attorneys can locate them and intervene,” according to the complaint.

Members of Congress, faith leaders and others have also been turned away from Broadview, the suit says.

“By blocking access to detainees inside Broadview, Defendants have created a black box in which to disappear people from the U.S. justice and immigration systems,” the complaint alleges.

Moreno Gonzalez immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico and has been here for about 32 years, according to the complaint. He lives in Chicago with his wife and two of his children, who are U.S. citizens. Moreno Gonzalez was arrested on Wednesday while walking near West Foster Avenue and North Pulaski Road.

Also from Mexico, Agustin Zamacona has lived in the U.S. almost 30 years — most of his life, the complaint said. He was arrested in Wheeling while working as a delivery driver.

Accounts from detainees and their attorneys detail a litany of abuses, from malnutrition and medical neglect to racial slurs and dangerous overcrowding.

There are four small holding rooms at the facility, according to the lawsuit. The two largest are about 30 feet by 30 feet, it said. Sometimes there is not enough room for detainees to lie on the floor as dozens if not more than 100 people are packed in for days on end, the lawsuit said. One woman said the detainees were confined in cells “like a pile of fish.”

“We told the guards that the place was at full capacity, but they kept bringing people inside,” another detainee said, according to the lawsuit. “They treated us like animals, or worse than animals, because no one treats their pets like that.”

Broadview cells smell like sweat and body odor as men are forced to stand shoulder to shoulder.

One detainee, Claudia Pereira Guevara, said she asked for a broom to try and clean the cell but was refused, according to the lawsuit.

“Officers never cleaned the room during the five days she was detained from October 2 to 7. There was no soap, no sanitizer, no showers, and no way to wash herself,” the lawsuit alleged. “She was forced to wear the clothes she was arrested in the entire time she was detained at Broadview.”

Detainees do not receive hot meals and there are no hired food preparation staff at the facility, according to the lawsuit. Instead, they receive two to three cold sandwiches a day without regard for medical needs.

One attorney reported that her 70-year old diabetic client, who also has high cholesterol and blood pressure, was offered sandwiches for every meal, a harmful diet for someone with their medical problems, according to the lawsuit.

Another man’s religious restrictions weren’t respected and officers told him to “take it or leave it,” leading him to go about four days without eating, the lawsuit said.

A mother who was arrested at a routine check-in in June reported being “confined in a holding room for four days with nearly 30 other women, including women who were nursing, pregnant, and elderly, some of whom were held for up to six days,” according to the lawsuit.

“(Detainee) Chao Zhou had no opportunity to bathe or shower at Broadview, and the only shower fixture he saw had a sign on it that read ‘out of order,’” the lawsuit said. “The room stank of body odor.”

Others reported unsanitary conditions. In one alleged incident, a man defecated in his pants, which were placed in the garbage and allowed to remain there all night where it stank up the room.

One inmate became ill – “suffering from numbness in her lower body, an inability to feel her legs, and vomiting” – but was not seen by a doctor and ICE refused to take her to a medical facility, according to the lawsuit. The detainee also saw one man who “appeared to have suffered a heart attack” but officers “laughed at the man and made light of his medical condition,” the lawsuit said.

Another man reported attempting to alert officers to a detainee who was not feeling well but being sworn at by officers who did nothing. They did remove the man once he began foaming at the mouth, according to the lawsuit.

Outside the protest zone in Broadview, it’s not unusual for family members of detainees to bring medications for their loved ones. Attorney Louise Carhart reported that her client required medication for high blood pressure but didn’t receive it from ICE, even though his family brought the prescription to the detention center, according to the lawsuit. Attorney Shelby Vcelka reported similar neglect for a pre-diabetic client.

Detainee Rosalio Pelayo Salgado “reported that agents directed racial slurs at detainees and only gave them food and water for what they felt was good behavior,” the lawsuit said.

Rebolledo Altamirano said officers responded to his requests by saying he was “not supposed to be here.”

The lawsuit also alleges repeated refusal by agents to allow detainees to speak with immigration attorneys. One officer allowed Willian Giménez González to call his wife using his cellphone but when the officer heard his attorney’s voice on the call, he then “reached for the phone and hung up the call himself,” according to the lawsuit.

ICE uses the coercive conditions to trick detainees into waiving their rights and signing forms authorizing their deportation, the complaint alleges.

“Officers have told detainees that they are required to sign forms and that there is no need or right to speak with a lawyer,” the lawsuit said.

The suit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, the MacArthur Justice Center and the Chicago office of Eimer Stahl.

Outside of the detention center, the building has become a focal point for opposition to tactics by Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Protesters have gathered there regularly, at times clashing with police and federal agents.

By DAVID A. LIEB, OLIVIA DIAZ and MARK SCOLFORO, Associated Press

A Republican-dominated Ohio panel adopted new U.S. House districts on Friday that could boost the GOP’s chances of winning two additional seats in next year’s elections and aid President Donald Trump’s efforts to hold on to a slim congressional majority.

The action by the Ohio Redistricting Commission comes as Trump has been urging Republican-led states to reshape their U.S. House districts in an attempt to win more seats. But unlike in other states, Ohio’s redistricting was required by the state constitution because the current districts were adopted after the 2020 census without bipartisan support.

Ohio joins Texas, Missouri and North Carolina, where Republican lawmakers already have revised their congressional districts.

Democrats have been pushing back. California voters are deciding Tuesday on a redistricting plan passed by the Democratic-led Legislature. And Democratic lawmakers in Virginia were voting Friday on a proposed constitutional amendment that, if adopted by voters, could allow lawmakers to redraw congressional districts in response to the actions elsewhere.

The political parties are in an intense battle, because Democrats need to gain just three seats in next year’s election to win control of the House and gain the power to impede Trump’s agenda.

Republicans already hold 10 of the 15 congressional seats in Ohio. The new map could boost Republican chances in districts currently held by Democratic Reps. Greg Landsman in Cincinnati and Marcy Kaptur near Toledo.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

Mid-cycle congressional redistricting efforts could move forward Friday in two more states as part of growing maneuvering to influence which party will control the U.S. House after next year’s midterm elections.

A Republican-controlled Ohio commission is meeting to consider a proposed map that could give the GOP a chance at winning two more seats. Meanwhile, senators in the Democrat-led Virginia General Assembly are expected to vote on advancing a proposed constitutional amendment that would let them temporarily bypass a bipartisan commission and redraw congressional districts to their advantage.

Their scheduled vote comes after the Virginia House passed the same resolution Wednesday. President Donald Trump kicked off the redistricting fray this summer by urging Republican-led states to redraw voting districts ahead of next year’s congressional elections. Republicans in Texas, Missouri and North Carolina already have done so. Voters in Democratic-led California are deciding on new districts.

GOP-controlled Ohio commission considers new map

In Ohio, the map proposed by the commission appears to increase Republican chances in districts held by Democratic U.S. Reps. Greg Landsman in Cincinnati and Marcy Kaptur around Toledo, an area that voted for Trump in last year’s presidential election. Kaptur won a 22nd term last fall by about 2,400 votes, or less than 1 percentage point, while Landsman was reelected with more than 54% of the vote.

If the Ohio commission fails to adopt a map, the job goes to the Republican-led Legislature, which could enact one designed to bolster the size of the state’s GOP congressional delegation, now with a 10-5 Republican majority.

In Virginia, the proposed constitutional amendment being considered by senators is in its early stages. After Friday, the resolution would need to pass the General Assembly again next year, then go before voters by way of a referendum.

Along with California, Virginia would be one of the few states with a Democratic-led legislature to enter the national redistricting battle.

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“There’s a double standard for Democrats in authority that somehow we have to lay down while Donald Trump seizes power that we’ve never seen, and the Republicans run the play,” Virginia House Speaker Don Scott said this week.

Through the constitutional amendment, Virginia’s General Assembly would have the power to create a new congressional map only when other states do so between now and 2030. Democrats have not unveiled their planned map.

Asked about whether his party has begun drafting new districts, Scott said: “You’re not naive.”

The developments come as Virginia has statewide elections Tuesday, where all 100 seats in the House of Delegates are on the ballot. Democrats would need to keep their slim majority in the lower chamber to advance the constitutional amendment next year.

The party’s bullish approach to redistricting reflects members’ confidence in holding onto power. There are roughly a dozen Republican-held seats that are vulnerable to being flipped this year, with Democrats vying to expand their legislative edge.

Conservatives blasted Democrats for undoing efforts to put the maps in the hands of a bipartisan commission, arguing the proceedings went against a Virginia custom of bipartisanship and decorum.

Republican U.S. Rep. Jen Kiggans, who represents a competitive seat, said this week that “there’s partisan games in Washington that it seems like the partisan games have now trickled down here in Richmond.”

A new Virginia way?

Virginia Republican Minority Leader Terry Kilgore said: “Because we have a disagreement with the President of the United States, we’re going to throw Virginia’s constitution to the wind.”

Still, most Republicans rebuking Democrats curtailed their anger when it came to Trump’s role in the national redistricting fight. One GOP Virginia delegate was a prominent exception.

“Candor requires admitting that this bad idea of mid-decade redistricting did get its 2025 watch by the President,” Del. Lee Ware said, though he later added: “To travel down this tortuous path is to transgress long-standing precedent in Virginia. It is to turn our backs on the Virginia way.”

Democratic Del. Cia Price, the first Black woman to chair the House’s elections committee, rebuffed Ware’s argument.

“I know, that as a student of history, that the Virginia way was once used to quiet dissent in the guise of decorum, but I’m living for the future,” she said. “That’s why new times and unprecedented times call for a new Virginia way. ”

Diaz is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.