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Rebecca Cunningham takes over as University of Minnesota president

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Rebecca Cunningham takes over as University of Minnesota president


Rebecca Cunningham takes over as University of Minnesota president on Monday and almost immediately faces big decisions about how the U should run its medical programs and navigate tensions stemming from the war between Israel and Hamas.

Cunningham, a longtime emergency room physician, worked most recently as vice president of research and innovation at the University of Michigan, which reports one of the largest portfolios in the nation. In recent weeks, she has been attending Board of Regents meetings, scheduling introductions with Minnesota lawmakers and meeting with student groups making competing cases for whether the U should divest from Israel and how it should distinguish between free speech and hate speech.

“I’m so excited to be here,” Cunningham said. “What is actually happening on the ground is just tremendous, and I’ve been so impressed all along the way.”

Already her research background is being called upon. Two landmark U research papers — one focusing on Alzheimer’s disease and another on stem cells — were retracted over concerns about their integrity after researchers elsewhere struggled to duplicate their findings and raised questions about images within them.

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The Star Tribune sat down with Cunningham last week to talk about her preparation and plans for tackling some of the most immediate challenges. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: It’s been a rough week for research at the U, with the news that two major papers were being retracted. What’s your analysis of the situation, and how will you prevent that from happening during your tenure?

A: I can speak in broader brushstrokes. Every major institution across the country right now has been facing this. I think it’s unfortunate when poor choices are made along the way that can impact the reputation both of research as a whole and cause concern for the public, when the vast majority of researchers are doing amazing research and are publishing with high integrity.

I dealt with this a lot last year, especially in papers from 20-plus years ago, when it maybe wasn’t quite so easy to spot all of these inconsistencies. I know that there has been a number of policies and procedures put in place here to try to do more education with faculty in the meantime to help them understand what it really means to alter a figure, and that that will be noticed.

To the prevention side: Faculty, unfortunately, are under a tremendous pressure to publish. And we have to work on the climate and support for them so that we they can focus on feeling good about the science they produced, even when it doesn’t produce the results they were hoping for — which is true science.

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Q: Have you been involved in the discussions with Fairview Health Services over the future of the U’s teaching hospital? Are you expecting any big changes in trajectory?

A: I’ve been doing learning on the 20 years of detailed negotiations that have been going on, getting familiar with the current, public [letter of intent], have begun to meet the assorted players. That’s where we’re at for right now, and then it will certainly need to be a focus for these next couple of months. I think everyone wants to see that through, in the timeline it was envisioned.

Q: The university is still navigating tensions over the war between Israel and Hamas and the controversy over hiring a director for the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Have you been consulting on those issues, and what’s your approach?

A: I’ve been updated on them. Obviously, academic freedom is critically important. I have not been involved in the decisionmaking to date. I did get to meet with both the Divest group and the group of Jewish students that [interim] President [Jeff] Ettinger had been meeting with. I think that they were great conversations, and I’m just proud to have students that are engaged and sitting down in this manner, really respectfully looking for collective solutions.

Obviously, we are bound by free speech. We’re a public university. However, we have to have a welcoming climate for all of our students and we have to be mindful of when that free speech transitions over into individual harassment. And, more than that, whatever we can do to help our students also just be mindful of how they’re coming off to each other … whatever we can do to help our students work toward feeling inclusiveness, even when they disagree, is going to be critical.

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Utah Mammoth take down Minnesota 5-2 to end the Wild’s winning streak at 6

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Utah Mammoth take down Minnesota 5-2 to end the Wild’s winning streak at 6



The Wild were taken down by the Utah Mammoth 5-2 on Friday night to end Minnesota’s winning streak at six games. 

Lawson Crouse scored twice and U.S. Olympian Clayton Keller had a goal and two assists for Utah.

Logan Cooley and Barrett Hayton also scored and Karel Vejmelka made 21 saves to help the Mammoth rebound from a 4-2 home loss to NHL-leading Colorado on Wednesday night in their return from the Olympic break. Utah began the night in the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

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U.S. Olympian Matt Boldy scored and assisted on Kirill Kaprizov’s goal for Minnesota. Second behind Central Division-rival Colorado in the West, the Wild are 9-2-1 in their last 12. They beat the Avalanche 5-2 on Thursday night in Denver.

Cooley opened the scoring with a short-handed goal with 6:37 left in the first period. The former University of Minnesota star got the puck on the right side off a deflection and put a shot between Wallstedt’s legs for his 15th goal.

Keller scored his 18th at 4:26 of the second. Nick Schmaltz forced a turnover on a forecheck and fed Keller on the right side.

Crouse made it 3-0 at 7:49 of the second. He came down the middle, took a pass from Keller and beat Wallstedt with a backhander.

Kaprizov countered for Minnesota on a power play with 5:57 left in the second. He has 33 goals this season.

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Hayton made it 4-1 on a power play at 1:19 of the third, and Crouse added his 16th of the season on a tip with 7:12 to go.

Boldy got his 35th of the season with 5:57 remaining.

Up next

Wild: Host St. Louis on Sunday.

Mammoth: Host Chicago on Sunday.

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Shorthanded Clippers can’t keep pace with Anthony Edwards and Minnesota

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Shorthanded Clippers can’t keep pace with Anthony Edwards and Minnesota


Anthony Edwards scored 31 points, Donte DiVincenzo added 18 and the surging Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Clippers 94-88 on Thursday night.

Jaden McDaniels and Ayo Dosunmu each scored 12 points and Rudy Gobert had 13 rebounds to help the Timberwolves improve to 5-1 since Feb. 9 and 3-1 since the All-Star break.

Edwards, returning to the site of the All-Star Game, where he was the MVP, was 12 for 24 from the floor and sealed the victory with a step-back three-pointer over two defenders for a 92-88 lead with 42.9 seconds left.

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Minnesota improved to 2-0 on a three-game trip.

Derrick Jones Jr. scored 18 points and Bennedict Mathurin added 14 for the Clippers, who struggled from the outset with a season-low 38 points in the first half. Kris Dunn had 11 points for the Clippers (27-31), who have lost three consecutive games for the first time since December.

The Clippers struggled on offense without star Kawhi Leonard, out because of ankle soreness. The Clippers shot 40.5% from the floor, including 18.2% (four for 22) in the second quarter. Minnesota shot 43.4% in the game.

The Timberwolves (37-23) scored just 15 points in the second quarter and still topped the Clippers, who had 11. Minnesota led 44-38 at halftime behind 12 points from DiVincenzo and 11 from Edwards.

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The Clippers led by six in the third quarter and were up 68-63 heading into the fourth. Edwards’ drive and reverse layup put the Timberwolves up for good at 76-74 with 7:40 remaining.

The Clippers pulled within one three times in the last 2½ minutes, but Edwards answered each time. He scored the Timberwolves’ last nine points.

Up next for Clippers: vs. New Orleans on Sunday night.

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Church congregant filed lawsuit against alleged Minnesota church protesters

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Church congregant filed lawsuit against alleged Minnesota church protesters


A St. Paul church member has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that a group of individuals, including journalist Don Lemon and activist Nekima Levy Armstrong, unlawfully disrupted service last month as part of a coordinated political demonstration.

The complaint, filed by Ann Doucette in the U.S. District Court of Minnesota, alleges that a Jan. 18 demonstration at Cities Church interfered with her ability to worship and caused her to suffer damages, including emotional distress and trauma.

In addition to the former CNN anchor and Armstrong, the complaint names journalist Georgia Fort and activists Will Kelly, Jerome Richardson, Trahern Crews and Jamael Lundy. It also names St. Paul school board member Chauntyll Allen.

Doucette and seven of the defendants did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Doucette filed the complaint without the representation of an attorney. In an emailed statement to NBC News, Crews denied the lawsuit’s allegations “with empathy and compassion.”

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The lawsuit accuses the group of civil conspiracy, aiding and abetting, intentional infliction of emotional distress, interference with religious exercise and trespassing.

“As a result of Defendants’ actions, the worship service was disrupted, congregants experienced fear and distress, and Plaintiff’s ability to freely exercise her religion in a private place of worship was unlawfully interfered with,” the lawsuit states.

All eight defendants are also facing federal charges for conspiracy against the rights of religious freedom at a place of worship and for interfering with the exercise of the right of religious freedom. Lemon has pleaded not guilty to all charges, saying outside the court, “I wanted to say this isn’t just about me, this is about all journalists, especially in the United States.”

Fort, Crews and Lundy were released on bond and entered not guilty pleas, according to The Associated Press.

Don Lemon reporting from an anti-ICE demonstration at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minn.@TheDonLemonShow via YouTube

This is the latest legal action tied to protests in the Twin Cities, where tensions remain over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

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According to the lawsuit, the demonstrators engaged in “coordinated conduct” by organizing meetings ahead of the “Operation Pullup” protest and promoting it on social media.

The lawsuit alleges that on the morning of Jan. 18, a coordinated group of individuals entered Cities Church, halting the worship service, and chanting “‘ICE Out!’ and ‘Hands Up, Don’t Shoot!’” while obstructing aisles. Protesters could allegedly be seen “confronting the pastor and congregants in a menacing manner,” the lawsuit says, noting that their chanting and “aggressive gestures” caused “severe emotional distress, fear, anxiety, and trauma” and caused children “terror.”

Demonstrators gathered at the church because they said its pastor, David Easterwood, was the acting director of an ICE field office in the city, the lawsuit says.

Lemon was arrested in January in California and accused of violating federal civil rights law after covering the protest on Jan. 18. He was released on a personal recognizance bond before a federal grand jury in Minnesota returned the indictment against Lemon and eight co-defendants, all of whom are also named in Doucette’s lawsuit.

Nekima Levy Armstrong, Cities Church protest arraignment, St. Paul, Minn., February 2026
Nekima Levy Armstrong in St. Paul, Minn., on Feb. 13.Carlos Gonzalez / Star Tribune via Getty Images

In the lawsuit, Doucette alleges that Lemon specifically livestreamed the protest, “noting congregants’ fear and distress, and appeared to take satisfaction in the disruption.”

Levy Armstrong, a Minneapolis-based civil rights attorney and activist, was also arrested for her participation in the St. Paul protest. Her arrest drew national attention after the White House shared on social media doctored photos where she appeared to be crying.

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