ST. PAUL, Minn. — Lawyers representing two Minnesota school districts and the state’s prominent teachers union petitioned a federal judge on Wednesday to halt a policy change initiated by the Trump administration. This change has allowed immigration officials more freedom to carry out enforcement activities in school areas.

Last year, the Department of Homeland Security withdrew longstanding national guidelines that restricted immigration enforcement actions at “sensitive locations.” These include schools, school bus stops, churches, and hospitals, which were typically regarded as off-limits except under exceptional circumstances.

In response, the Fridley and Duluth school districts, along with the Education Minnesota union, filed a lawsuit in February to challenge the new policy. This lawsuit came at a time when the Department of Homeland Security had deployed approximately 3,000 federal officers to Minnesota as part of Operation Metro Surge. Notably, federal agents involved in this operation were responsible for the deaths of two citizens in Minneapolis in January.

On Wednesday, the plaintiffs requested either a stay or a preliminary injunction from the court to reinstate the previous restrictions.

Attorney Amanda Cialkowski, representing the school districts and union, mentioned to the press that it remains uncertain whether a favorable ruling would extend beyond Minnesota or apply to other “sensitive locations” such as churches and hospitals.

“We’ll just have to wait and see what the judge does,” she said.

Teachers across the country have detailed the ways Trump’s immigration crackdown has shaped their work and the lives of their students. In court filings in an ongoing case filed by national teachers unions in federal court in Oregon, educators described rumors of raids that scared away students, immigrant parents who stopped sending their children to school altogether, and stories of parents and students being arrested at bus stops.

And a demand by Democrats that federal authorities refrain from enforcement operations around schools, churches and hospitals is one of the unresolved disputes in the standoff between Congress and the administration over funding for Homeland Security.

The arguments before U.S. District Judge Laura Provinzino on Wednesday hinged mostly on complicated legal issues of whether the districts and union had legal standing to sue, and could show they had been directly harmed by the policy change, and whether the new guidance counted as the kind of final agency decision that a court would have the legal authority to review.

Justice Department attorney Jessica Lundberg said “swapping out” last year’s policy guidance for the previous guidance, as the plaintiffs want, wouldn’t really have a meaningful impact. Even under the old rules, she said, enforcement action in and around schools was always a possibility.

Provinzino said she would rule “as quickly as I can … but also making sure I get it right.”

The superintendents of both the Fridley district, in suburban Minneapolis, and the Duluth district, in northern Minnesota, were in the courtroom for the arguments.

Fridley Superintendent Brenda Lewis said that the change “deeply impacted” attendance because families did not feel safe in sending their children to school. She said her schools had to pivot to virtual learning for many students, which put an additional strain on resources.

The superintendent also said her district has lost 72 students since December, which has hurt funding that was dependent on the numbers of pupils and meals served. Some enrolled in districts they considered safer, while others have left the country, and some are in detention centers, she said.

While the official end of Operation Metro Surge means Fridley hasn’t seen ICE officers on school property in eight weeks, Lewis said the impacts will last for many years.

Duluth Superintendent John Magas pointed out that his district — which is about 150 miles north of Minneapolis — is well outside the Twin Cities metro area but started feeling the effects of the policy change long before the surge.

Minneapolis Public Schools had over 8,000 students stay home on the last school day in January, close to 30% of students. And Fridley saw attendance drop by nearly a third, according to court filings.

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An Illinois resident has recently become a millionaire overnight, thanks to lottery numbers her mother suggested years ago. This incredible turn of fortune came when the woman, opting to stay anonymous, struck gold in the March 21 Lotto Million 2 draw.

Her winning numbers—2, 14, 16, 31, 40, and 46—were not randomly chosen. Instead, they were deeply personal, derived from family birthdays and anniversaries. By matching all six numbers, she secured a cool $1 million prize.

Adding a small cherry on top of her windfall, the woman also netted an additional $5 from another line, nudging her total winnings to $1,000,005.

Interestingly, these auspicious numbers were not new to her family. Her mother had once played the exact same combination but, unfortunately, forgot to submit the ticket. This oversight caused her to miss out on what would have been a transformative $6.4 million jackpot at that time. Now, years later, fate has smiled upon the family in a way that can only be described as poetic justice.

The woman said that her mother had played those exact same numbers years earlier but forgot to submit the ticket, so when they hit, she lost out on a life-changing $6.4 million jackpot. 

‘The numbers were drawn exactly as she had them. She just never played the ticket,’ the anonymous woman told the Illinois Lottery. 

‘So my mother told me, “Play these numbers. One day, they’ll hit,”‘ she added.

The woman said that she was in disbelief at first and asked herself, ‘Is this really true?’ She only informed her family of the big win after it was confirmed by email.

This anonymous Illinois woman won a $1 million jackpot from the state lottery by playing numbers that were suggested to her by her mother

The woman told the Illinois Lottery that her mother had played the numbers years before but forgot to submit the ticket, so she lost out on a $6.4 million prize. A man is pictured at a lottery ticket machine (stock image) 

The newly wealthy woman added that her husband and daughter were also in disbelief when she told them her mother’s numbers had worked. 

The winner said that she plans to use her windfall to take her family on an all-inclusive trip to the Bahamas, buy new cars and invest in her daughter’s college education.

‘We’re just normal, everyday people,’ she told the Illinois Lottery. ‘This win is truly a blessing from my mother.’

There is a 24 percent federal withholding tax on lottery wins, and Illinois has an additional 4.95 percent state income tax. That means if the anonymous winner opted for the lump sum, she took home $710,500.

The Illinois Lottery’s Lotto Million game, which is the one the anonymous woman played, has numbers drawn three times per week on Monday, Thursday and Saturday. The woman won a Saturday draw. 

The game can only be played in Illinois and is available in stores, online and through the state lottery’s app.

The Illinois woman’s win came from lucky numbers suggested by her mother, but jackpot-winning luck can come from a variety of places.

A diner in Nantucket, Massachusetts, recently made headlines after selling its fourth million-dollar winning ticket in just two years. 

The woman will take home $710,500 due to tax withholdings if she opted for the lump sum. A person is pictured buying lotto tickets (stock photo)

This lucky diner in Nantucket, Massachusetts, called Old South Diner, has sold four winning million-dollar lottery tickets in just the past two years

Last month, Old South Diner sold a $2 million winner to local resident Yancy Contreras Menjivar. The other winners were sold in March 2024, May 2024 and August 2024. 

Also last month, an Ohio man won a $158,585 jackpot after a cashier mixed up his ticket. 

The man, who was not identified, had attempted to purchase five $1 tickets and one $5 ticket of EZPLAY Quick Spot on March 14. 

But the cashier misunderstood and gave him a single $10 ticket. He kept the ticket and shoved it in his pocket before leaving the store. 

When he played the ticket online, he was shocked to discover that he had all 10 numbers.

Due to the cashier mix-up, he will keep the entire jackpot prize, the Ohio Lottery said.

A North Carolina resident is facing new charges related to the 2018 death of his wife, whom he allegedly poisoned using eye drops. The man, accused of staging his own kidnapping, pleaded not guilty to these accusations.

Joshua Hunsucker, a former paramedic aged 41, is suspected by prosecutors of methodically killing his wife, Stacy Robinson Hunsucker, using eye drops that contain tetrahydrozoline. Authorities claim he falsified the cause of her death to secure a $250,000 life insurance payout in September 2018.

During a court appearance on Monday in Gaston County, North Carolina, Hunsucker remained silent as his defense attorney submitted a not guilty plea on his behalf. He faces charges of first-degree murder, insurance fraud, and obtaining property by false pretense.

It is alleged by prosecutors that Hunsucker poisoned his wife with eye drops and later used the same method to tamper with his daughter’s drinks, attempting to incriminate his in-laws.

Authorities believe Hunsucker administered the eye drops to Stacy’s beverages over a long period, culminating in her untimely death at their residence in Mount Holly.

According to WBTV, investigators said Hunsucker told people that his wife had died of a heart attack in September 2018, and filed paperwork with the insurance company.

Stacy’s body was cremated within two days of her death, but suspicion arose when Stacy’s mother reported that Hunsucker seemed unusually unfazed by the death and had moved in with a girlfriend shortly after.

Prosecutors say they were able to build their case on a single blood sample taken by the hospital due to the North Carolina woman’s status as an organ donor.

Joshua Hunsucker is accused of killing his wife, Stacy Hunsucker, to collect a $250,000 insurance policy. (Facebook)

Hunsucker was arrested in December 2019 and was released on $1.5 million bond while awaiting trial on first-degree murder charges.

While out on bond in 2023, authorities allege that Hunsucker staged his own kidnapping and intimidated and harassed his late wife’s parents. He is accused of using zip ties in a staged kidnapping and claiming his in-laws injected him with an unknown substance.

Joshua Hunsucker is accused of killing his wife Stacy Hunsucker with eyedrops and poisoning their daughter with the same concoction. (Facebook)

But he was hauled back into court in August 2024 to answer to new allegations that also attempted to poison his daughter, who was then 10, using the same method.

Prosecutors demanded the revocation of his bail package, which a judge granted.

Hunsucker has requested that his trial be moved out of Gaston County due to the intense media coverage. A trial date for the murder case is still being finalized.

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