Forest Lake Mayor Blake Roberts said Wednesday that he is worried the Forest Lake Area School Board will vote to repeal a ban on the wearing or displaying of the Confederate flag, swastika and KKK signs or symbols on school grounds.

“I think it’s repulsive that they’re even thinking about this,” Roberts told the Pioneer Press. “The fact that we’re even talking about this in 2025 is appalling.”

Forest Lake School Board Chairman Curt Rebelein and Mayor Blake Roberts. (Courtesy of Rebelein and Roberts)

Roberts addressed the issue publicly at the end of the Forest Lake City Council meeting on Monday night. He stated that he met with School Board Chairman Curt Rebelein last week and was dismayed by what he heard.

“It sounds as though he’s interested in removing that (language), so that that there will be an opportunity potentially for people to come to the school in Forest Lake here wearing those symbols of hatred, genocide and lynching,” Roberts said during the meeting. “This is not Forest Lake. We welcome everyone here, and this is a bad look.”

Rebelein, in turn, said Wednesday that he was “very disappointed” that the mayor was inserting himself in the discussion.

“He should take his own advice and stay in his own lane,” Rebelein said. “Mayor Roberts should focus on fiscal responsibility for the residents of Forest Lake. The massive tax increase that Forest Lake subjects residents to year after year is unsustainable for residents and negatively impacts our community and our schools. I’d also suggest that he read the actual text of the proposed policy. If he did, he would quickly realize that the text he is concerned about is monotonous and unnecessary. In fact, over 99 percent of the school districts in Minnesota do not include a list of prohibited items that Mayor Roberts believes to be necessary.”

Rebelein said he read all 331 dress codes across Minnesota school districts over the past week, and “only one other district has a list of prohibited items, and one district has a list of possible example items that may be prohibited.”

“Attempting to list offensive items results in bad policy,” he said. “This concern is why the state and national standard for student dress codes does not focus on itemizing offensive symbols and instead utilizes the language provided by the Supreme Court that anything that materially disrupts the educational process is prohibited. … The other 328 districts across the state utilize the ‘Tinker standard’ and choose not to list prohibited or offensive items. At the moment, Forest Lake has the most prohibitive and ambiguous dress code in the state.”

Policy No. 515

The school board in May held a first reading of the original proposed version of Policy No. 515 that would have followed Minnesota School Board Association model language and removed specific bans on symbols such as swastikas, the KKK and the Confederate flag on clothing.

At the time, Rebelein said the board wanted to align the district’s policies with Minnesota School Board Association recommendations, adhere to state and federal laws, and “provide a consistent process for all activities.”

“This is based on recommendations from our school district attorneys,” Rebelein said at the time. “The proposed policies utilize thoroughly vetted model policies provided by the Minnesota School Board Association, and contain necessary language that does not currently exist in policy … to ensure the district complies with relevant statutes.”

Superintendent Steve Massey told the board in May that the ban was implemented in 1997 after an African-American student was surrounded by a group of students after school and was physically assaulted. The next day, a group of students wore white T-shirts to school to show their support of the racial assault.

Massey told that board that it is important that the specific ban of the three symbols remain in Policy No. 515.

School board meeting Thursday

Roberts said Wednesday that he has reached out to the other school board members and hopes to hear back so he can express the same sentiment.

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“All you have to do is Google ‘Forest Lake,’ and this is the crap that comes up right now,” Roberts said at the council meeting on Monday night. “I am extremely upset about this. I will be speaking at the school board meeting on Thursday against it. I’ve reached out to a number of board members, and I will continue to do so. Forest Lake is much better than this, and we cannot let this happen to our school and to our community.”

Roberts said Wednesday that he expects the school board meeting to be packed on Thursday.

“I really do believe that elected officials should stay in their own lane and not try to get into the business of another board, but on something like this, I have to speak out,” Roberts said. “Our staff, our council, all of our employees, we can do as much as we want to try and bring business and new residents to our city, but if all you have to do is Google ‘Forest Lake’ and some of this stuff comes up, we’re just wasting our time because people don’t want to live in an area where this is even being considered.”

The Forest Lake school board meets at 6 p.m. Thursday in the District Office Boardroom, 6100 N. 210th St.

By JAKE COYLE

NEW YORK (AP) — Denis Villeneuve is going from “Dune” to Bond.

Amazon MGM Studios announced Wednesday that Villeneuve will direct the next James Bond movie. The untitled film will be the first since the studio took creative reins of the storied film franchise after decades of control by the Broccoli family.

Producers Amy Pascal and David Heyman had maintained that before the next Bond is cast, they would develop a screenplay and find a director first. Now, they have one of the most respected blockbuster makers in Hollywood, who’s coming off a pair of widely acclaimed “Dune” films.

In a statement, the 57-year-old French Canadian filmmaker said he grew up watching Bond movies.

“I’m a die-hard Bond fan. To me, he’s sacred territory,” said Villeneuve. “I intend to honor the tradition and open the path for many new missions to come. This is a massive responsibility, but also, incredibly exciting for me and a huge honor.”

Since taking creative control of Bond in February, Amazon MGM has worked quickly to get the next movie going. The studio is also trying to win over fans skeptical of the new corporate leadership and the fearful of future spinoffs.

“James Bond is in the hands of one of today’s greatest filmmakers,” said Mike Hopkins, head of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios.

With Pascal and Heyman lodged as producers and Villeneuve behind the camera, the next Bond movie will have an enviable brain trust. Villeneuve beat out a field of directors floated for the movie including Edward Berger (“Conclave”), Paul King (“Paddington 2”), Edgar Wright (“Baby Driver”) and Jonathan Nolan, co-creator of “Westworld” and brother to Christopher Nolan.

“Denis Villeneuve has been in love with James Bond movies since he was a little boy,” said Pascal and Heyman. “It was always his dream to make this movie, and now it’s ours, too.”

No release date has been announced for the next Bond movie. Villeneuve will shoot the third “Dune” film this summer. If production on Bond began next year, a release sometime in 2027 would be likely.

Villenevue’s first two “Dune” films have together surpassed $1 billion in box office worldwide and been nominated for a combined 15 Academy Awards, winning seven. His other films include “Blade Runner 2049,” “Arrival,” “Sicario,” “Prisoners,” “Enemy” and “Incendies.”

Amazon bought MGM Studios in 2022 for $8.5 billion, but didn’t gain creative control of the studio’s most prized asset until this year. Until this film, every Bond director has been handpicked by the Broccolis.

By CATHY BUSSEWITZ

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday granted a preliminary injunction to stop the U.S. Department of Labor from shutting down Job Corps, a residential program for low-income youth, until a lawsuit against the move is resolved.

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The injunction bolsters a temporary restraining order U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter issued earlier this month, when he directed the Labor Department to cease removing Job Corps students from housing, terminating jobs or otherwise suspending the nationwide program without congressional approval.

Founded in 1964, Job Corps aims to help teenagers and young adults who struggled to finish traditional high school and find jobs. The program provides tuition-free housing at residential centers, training, meals and health care.

“Once Congress has passed legislation stating that a program like the Job Corps must exist, and set aside funding for that program, the DOL is not free to do as it pleases; it is required to enforce the law as intended by Congress,” Carter wrote in the ruling.

Department of Labor spokesperson Aaron Britt said said the department was working closely with the Department of Justice to evaluate the injunction.

“We remain confident that our actions are consistent with the law,” Britt wrote in an email to The Associated Press.

The Labor Department said in late May that it would pause operations at all contractor-operated Job Corps centers by the end of June. It said the publicly funded program yielded poor results for its participants at a high cost to taxpayers, citing low student graduation rates and growing budget deficits.

The judge rejected the department’s claims that it did not need to follow a congressionally mandated protocol for closing down Job Corps centers because it wasn’t closing the centers, only pausing their activities.

“The way that the DOL is shuttering operations and the context in which the shuttering is taking place make it clear that the DOL is actually attempting to close the centers,” Carter wrote.

The harm faced by some of the students served by the privately run Job Corps centers is compelling, the judge said. Carter noted that one of the students named as a plaintiff in the lawsuit lives at a center in New York, where he is based.

If the Job Corps program is eliminated, she would lose all the progress she’s made toward earning a culinary arts certificate and “will immediately be plunged into homelessness,” the judge wrote. That’s far from the “minor upheaval” described by government lawyers, he said.

As the centers prepared to close, many students were left floundering. Some moved out of the centers and into shelters that house homeless people.

“Many of these young people live in uncertainty, so it takes time to get housing and restore a lot of those supports you need when you’ve been away from your community for so long,” said Edward DeJesus, CEO of Social Capital Builders, a Maryland-based educational consultancy which provides training on relationship-building at several Job Corps sites. “So the abrupt closure of these sites is really harmful for the welfare of young adults who are trying to make a change in their lives.”

The National Job Corps Association, a nonprofit trade organization comprised of business, labor, volunteer and academic organizations, sued to block the suspension of services, alleging it would displace tens of thousands of vulnerable young people and force mass layoffs.

The attorneys general of 20 U.S. states filed an amicus brief supporting the group’s motion for a preliminary injunction in the case.

Monet Campbell learned about the Job Corps’ center in New Haven, Connecticut, while living in a homeless shelter a year ago. The 21-year-old has since earned her certified nursing assistant license and phlebotomy and electrocardiogram certifications through Job Corps, and works at a local nursing home.

“I always got told all my life, ‘I can’t do this, I can’t do that.’ But Job Corps really opened my eyes to, ‘I can do this,’” said Campbell, who plans to start studying nursing at Central Connecticut State University in August.

The program has been life-changing in other ways, she said. Along with shelter and job training, Campbell received food, mental health counseling, medical treatment and clothing to wear to job interviews.

“I hadn’t been to the doctor’s in a while,” she said. “I was able to do that, going to checkups for my teeth, dental, all that. So they really just helped me with that.”

Campbell said she and other Job Corps participants in New Haven feel like they’re in limbo, given the program’s possible closure. They recently had to move out for a week when the federal cuts were initially imposed, and Campbell stayed with a friend.

There are 123 Jobs Corps centers in the U.S., the majority of them operated by private organizations under agreements with the Department of Labor. Those private jobs corps centers serve more than 20,000 students across the U.S., according to the lawsuit.

Susan Haigh in Hartford, Connecticut and Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho contributed to this report.

By JIM VERTUNO

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A group of Dallas-area families and faith leaders have filed a lawsuit seeking to block a new Texas law that requires copies of the Ten Commandments be posted in every public school classroom.

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The federal lawsuit, filed Tuesday, claims the measure is an unconstitutional violation of the separation of church and state.

Texas is the latest and largest state to attempt a mandate that has run into legal challenges elsewhere. A federal appeals court on Friday blocked a similar law in Louisiana. Some families have sued over Arkansas’ law.

The plaintiffs in the Texas lawsuit are a group of Christian and Nation of Islam faith leaders and families. It names the Texas Education Agency, state education Commissioner Mike Morath and three Dallas-area school districts as defendants.

“The government should govern; the Church should minister,” the lawsuit said. “Anything else is a threat to the soul of both our democracy and our faith.”

Ten Commandments laws are among efforts, mainly in conservative-led states, to insert religion into public schools. Supporters say the Ten Commandments are part of the foundation of the United States’ judicial and educational systems and should be displayed.

Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed the Ten Commandments measure into law on June 21. He also has enacted a measure requiring school districts to provide students and staff a daily voluntary period of prayer or time to read a religious text during school hours.

The Texas Education Agency did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

Abbott, who was Texas attorney general in 2005 when he successfully argued before the U.S. Supreme Court to keep a Ten Commandments monument on the state Capitol grounds, defended the state classrooms law in a social media post on Wednesday.

“Faith and freedom are the foundation of our nation,” Abbott posted on X. “If anyone sues, we’ll win that battle.”

Opponents say the Ten Commandments and prayer measures infringe on others’ religious freedom, and more lawsuits are expected. The American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom From Religion Foundation have said they will file lawsuits opposing the Ten Commandments measure.

Under the new law, public schools must post in classrooms a 16-by-20-inch or larger poster or framed copy of a specific English version of the commandments, even though translations and interpretations vary across denominations, faiths and languages and may differ in homes and houses of worship.

The lawsuit notes that Texas has nearly 6 million students in about 9,100 public schools, including thousands of students of faiths that have little or no connection to the Ten Commandments, or may have no faith at all.

The Texas Education Agency did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. The law takes effect Sept. 1, but most public school districts start the upcoming school year in August.