By JENNIFER McDERMOTT and ALEXA ST. JOHN, Associated Press

A federal judge on Monday ruled that an offshore wind project aimed at powering 600,000 New York homes can resume construction, the fifth such project put back on track after the Trump administration halted them in December.

In clearing the way for Sunrise Wind to proceed, Judge Royce Lamberth found that the government had not shown that offshore wind is such an imminent national security risk that it must halt in the United States.

President Donald Trump has said his goal is to not let any “windmills” be built, and often talks about his hatred of wind power. His administration froze five big offshore wind projects on the East Coast days before Christmas, citing national security concerns. Developers and states sued to block the order. White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers has repeatedly said during the legal battle over the pause that Trump has been clear that “wind energy is the scam of the century” and the pause is meant to protect the national security of the American people.

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Danish company Orsted sued the administration over halting both Sunrise Wind and its Revolution Wind for Rhode Island and Connecticut. In a preliminary injunction hearing on Sunrise Wind at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Monday, Lamberth cited many of the same reasons that he used when he ruled in January that construction could continue on Revolution Wind.

Sunrise Wind said it would resume work as soon as possible. The state of New York and the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, sued the Trump administration over halting Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind because she said the pause threatens New York’s economy and energy grid.

Other federal judges allowed construction to restart in January on the Empire Wind project for New York by Norwegian company Equinor, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind for Virginia by Dominion Energy Virginia, and Vineyard Wind for Massachusetts by Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.

Hillary Bright, executive director of offshore wind advocacy group Turn Forward, cited the industry’s victories in court in saying the government should stop trying to block such projects.

“At a time when electricity demand is rising rapidly and grid reliability is under increasing strain, these projects represent critically needed utility-scale power sources that are making progress toward completion,” Bright said. She estimated the projects combined would generate 6 gigawatts of electricity, powering 2.5 million American homes and businesses.

Sunrise Wind is about 45% complete and expected to be operational in 2027. The Sunrise Wind LLC said in court paperwork that the stop-work order was costing the project at least $1.25 million per day, a figure that would increase in February if construction couldn’t resume. It also said if the work stoppage continued past the first week of February, it might force cancellation.

The government had argued that national security concerns outweigh any harm to the developers from a pause. It said it was relying on new classified information, provided by defense officials in November, about the national security implications of offshore wind projects.

Trump has dismissed offshore wind developments as ugly, but Orsted says the Sunrise Wind project will be at least 30 miles east of Long Island’s Montauk Point, virtually unnoticeable from Long Island. Sunrise Wind will be capable of generating 924 megawatts, enough clean energy to power about 600,000 New York homes.

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.

By ALI SWENSON, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday announced that his department will devote $100 million toward a pilot program addressing homelessness and substance abuse in eight cities, building on an executive order President Donald Trump signed last week related to addiction.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will also make faith-based organizations eligible for addiction-related grants and expand states’ ability to use federal health funding for substance abuse treatment in certain situations involving children, Kennedy said at an annual “Prevention Day” event for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

The new initiatives signal the administration acting on an issue that hits close to home for many Americans — including Kennedy, who has been open about his past heroin addiction and lifelong commitment to recovery. They represent some quick momentum for Trump’s executive order signed last Thursday launching what Trump calls the “Great American Recovery Initiative” to better align federal resources on the addiction crisis.

Yet the announcements come as the administration’s actions so far have created uncertainty, fear and logistical challenges for mental health and substance abuse treatment providers around the country.

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Over the past year, about a third of SAMHSA’s roughly 900 employees have been laid off. The agency and the organizations it serves are still reeling from the administration’s whiplash-inducing reversal last month that briefly eliminated then abruptly restored $2 billion in grant funding for substance abuse and mental health programs. Advocates and providers have said they don’t feel they can plan for the future because the administration has created an environment of uncertainty.

HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said the department is “focused on reform and ensuring that federal resources are used effectively, responsibly, and in ways that deliver real results for those struggling and their families.”

“As part of the Great American Recovery announced just last week, HHS is moving forward with new funding, expanded flexibilities, and targeted actions that strengthen the mental health and substance use treatment system and provide greater support for providers on the ground,” he said.

Federal data shows that overdose deaths fell through most of last year, suggesting a lasting improvement in an epidemic that had been worsening for decades. Still, that decline was slowing, the figures showed.

Kennedy said SAMHSA’s new pilot program will be called STREETS, or Safety Through Recovery, Engagement and Evidence-Based Treatment and Supports. He said the program, first directed at eight unspecified communities, will build integrated care systems for people experiencing homelessness, substance abuse and mental health challenges and help them find housing and employment.

While that’s an idea many advocates support, “the devil’s in the details,” said Regina LaBelle, director of the Center on Addiction and Public Policy at Georgetown Law’s O’Neill Institute.

LaBelle said the real-world impact of the funding depends on which cities receive it and how the program is implemented. She also raised questions about how the program was paid for, and whether it will take away from others that already have successfully lowered overdose death rates.

Later Monday, Kennedy appeared at another event focused on substance abuse and mental health — the launch of a bipartisan initiative called Action for Progress by his cousin, former Democratic Rep. Patrick Kennedy, now a partner at the national health consultancy Healthsperien.

The two scions of one of the nation’s most prominent political families fell on different sides of the 2024 presidential race but have found common ground on the issue that is personal for both of them, said Patrick Kennedy, who has shared publicly about his bipolar disorder and battle with alcoholism and drug addiction.

“When we go into recovery rooms we don’t think of ourselves as Democrats and Republicans,” the former Rhode Island congressman said in a phone interview Monday. “I’ve grown up with my cousin, I know him, and I have an opportunity to share with him all that I’ve learned over the years in policymaking on mental health and addiction — and he’s welcomed it.”

For several Minnesota Wild players and their head coach, one of the great thrills of their hockey careers is just a few days away. And to a man, they’re trying not to think about it.

Later this week, eight members of the Wild and head coach John Hynes will be bound for Italy, where they’ll represent Team USA (Hynes, Brock Faber, Quinn Hughes, Matt Boldy), Team Sweden (Filip Gustavsson, Jesper Wallstedt, Marcus Johansson, Joel Eriksson Ek) and Team Germany (Nico Sturm). A ninth player in the organization, minor league defenseman David Spacek, will skate for Team Czechia.

But with two regular-season NHL games still to play and four vital points available, there was a clear focus on Montreal — the Wild’s Monday night opponent — and not Milan as the players prepped for their only February home game.

“I’m just kind of trying to get through these last two games and focused on that,” Hughes said following the team’s Monday morning skate at TRIA Rink. “Get healthy and play really good hockey and go into the Olympics feeling good about myself.”

For the players who aren’t headed to Europe, or south to Iowa, the NHL has mandated that the team’s locker room be closed for 12 consecutive days, giving at least a few of them time for rest and relaxation.

Before Hynes and the Wild players embark on their Olympic journeys, they discussed plans for how to handle their return to Minnesota and to NHL hockey when their games in Europe are done.

Oddsmakers have tabbed Team Canada as the gold medal favorite, with the Americans and the Swedes in the mix for the medal podium. By contrast, a recent betting line showed Sturm and the Germans with 10-1 odds to get a medal. That means his Olympic experience might be a few days shorter than that of the Swedes or the Americans.

Hynes has a plan in place for all of it.

“I met with all the players that are going to the Olympics and talked about every situation possible,” said Hynes, who will be an assistant coach for Team USA. “If they make it all the way to the gold medal game, what that would look like? If their team gets knocked out in the quarters or whatever, what would be our expectations and their expectations for rest and recovery, but also when to come back and join the team?”

When the non-Olympic Wild players return from their 12-day break, assistant coach Jack Capuano will run practices in St. Paul. The Olympics finish on Sunday, Feb. 22, and the Wild are scheduled to play Thursday, Feb. 26, at Colorado, which on Monday morning was the only Western Conference team with more points (81) than the Wild (74),

As opposed to his normal game night red and green, Gustavsson practiced Monday with gloves and pads that were dark blue with gold accents, working on breaking in his Team Sweden gear. Sturm, who missed the Wild’s Saturday night win in Edmonton due to illness, was breaking in his Team Germany skates.

Like the other Wild players bound for the Olympics, Sturm was trying to keep that part of it off his mind.

“I’m not even too much focused on it right now. It’s just too much hockey at the moment still here,” he said. “For me, it doesn’t feel like it’s four days away. It’s just my mind is so preoccupied with NHL hockey right now and playing every 48 hours. It’s hard to get much rest, do some planning or think about other things.”

With a roughly eight-hour flight across the Atlantic in all of their futures, there will be plenty of time for thinking, and the hockey thrill of a lifetime later in the week.

New Minnesota Wild head coach John Hynes answers questions during a news conference at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023.Hynes replaces former Wild head coach Dean Evason, who was let go after starting the season with a 5-10-4 record. Hynes coached the Nashville Predators from 2019-2023. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Minnesota Wild forward Nico Sturm (7) poses for a photo during the Wild’s Media day at TRIA Rink in St. Paul on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2021. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

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Dos antiguos detenidos en el Centro de Detención del Sur de Florida, conocido como “Alligator Alcatraz”, declararon la semana pasada como parte de una demanda que alega castigo por buscar asesoramiento legal y violaciones al debido proceso. Así que para hablar de las condiciones en el centro de detención y la demanda, invitamos a Mary Kapron, investigadora de Amnistía Internacional.

La secretaria del Departamento de Seguridad Nacional, Kristi Noem, y otros funcionarios en el Centro de Detención del Sur de Florida, conocido como “Alligator Alcatraz”, en julio. (Departamento de Seguridad Nacional/ Tia Dufour)

Dos antiguos detenidos en el Centro de Detención del Sur de Florida, conocido como “Alligator Alcatraz”, declararon la semana pasada como parte de una demanda que alega castigo por buscar asesoramiento legal y violaciones al debido proceso.

Durante una audiencia de dos días, los abogados que representan a los antiguos detenidos solicitaron a la jueza federal Sheri Polster Chappell una orden judicial temporal que garantizara que los detenidos en este centro de detención de la Florida tuvieran el mismo acceso a sus abogados que los detenidos en los centros de detención federales.

La demanda, presentada por la American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU por sus siglas en inglés) y Americans for Immigrant Justice, cuestiona las operaciones llevadas a cabo por el centro de detención, las cuales se realizan a través de la cooperación entre los estados y el gobierno federal.

Este centro de detención, ubicado en una remota pista de aterrizaje en los Everglades, se ha presentado como único, ya que fue financiado con fondos federales y es gestionado por el estado de la Florida, bajo el mando del gobernador Ron DeSantis.

Desde su apertura, en el verano de 2025, este centro ha enfrentado varias demandas de ecologistas, de organizaciones de libertades civiles y la tribu indígena Miccosukee, y buena parte de las críticas se han centrado en las condiciones inhumanas de los detenidos.

Los detenidos que testificaron por video desde sus países de origen en Colombia y Haití dijeron que no podían acceder a sus abogados como en otros centros de detención de inmigrantes, donde pueden ir sin cita, y fueron puestos bajo presión para firmar órdenes de deportación.

A menudo, a los detenidos los llevan a otros centros antes de que los abogados puedan verlos. 

El año pasado, Amnistía Internacional realizó un informe en el que condenaba las condiciones de los detenidos, describiendo las políticas de inmigración y asilo del estado de Florida como factores contribuyentes a la generación de temor generalizado entre las comunidades de migrantes, solicitantes de asilo y personas con estatus mixto. 

Así que para hablar de las condiciones en el centro de detención y la demanda, invitamos a Mary Kapron, investigadora de Amnistía Internacional.

Más detalles en nuestra conversación a continuación.

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