DALLAS (AP) — The Colorado Avalanche activated captain Gabriel Landeskog off injured reserve, but again delayed his much-anticipated return when he was scratched from playing Game 2 of their first-round series against the Dallas Stars on Monday night.
Landeskog, who hasn't played in nearly three years, was the first Avalanche skater to take the ice for pregame warmups after being activated earlier in the day. But when the roster report was released after that, he was a scratch.
“Gabe wanted to like get a groove and take warmup tonight, get in the room and like be part of it, so that's why I did that,” coach Jared Bednar said after the Avalanche lost 4-3 in overtime.
It has been more than 1,000 days since the 32-year-old forward last played for the Avalanche on June 26, 2022, when they beat Tampa Bay 2-1 in Game 6 to clinch the Stanley Cup.
The series switches to Denver for Game 3 on Wednesday night.
A chronic right knee injury that led to two surgeries kept him off the ice through multiple attempts to get back.
Landeskog did a two-game conditioning stint with the American Hockey League’s Colorado Eagles earlier this month to take another step forward in the process. He had practiced with the Avalanche leading up to their opener in the NHL playoffs.
Having Landeskog could be boost for the Avalanche, who won the series opener 5-1 against the short-handed Stars. Dallas is without top defenseman Miro Heiskanen after his knee surgery and leading goal-scorer Jason Robertson, who was injured in the final game of the regular season.
AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
FILE - Colorado Avalanche left wing Gabriel Landeskog (92) lifts the Stanley Cup after the team defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 6 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals on Sunday, June 26, 2022, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, file)
FILE - Colorado Avalanche left wing Gabriel Landeskog (92) skates during the second period of Game 4 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals on Wednesday, June 22, 2022, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge agreed to temporarily block the Trump administration from taking any more steps to dismantle an agency that funds and promotes libraries across the U.S.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled Thursday that plaintiffs who sued to preserve the Institute of Museum and Library Services are likely to show that the Republican administration doesn't have the legal authority to unilaterally shutter the agency, which Congress created.
The American Library Association and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees filed a lawsuit last month to stop the administration from gutting the institute after President Donald Trump signed a March 14 executive order that refers to it and several other federal agencies as “unnecessary.”
Keith Sonderling, the agency's newly appointed acting director, subsequently placed many agency staff members on administrative leave, sent termination notices to most of them, began canceling grants and contracts and fired all members of the National Museum and Library Services Board.
“These harms are neither speculative nor remediable,” Leon wrote.
The judge said he was issuing a “narrow” temporary restraining order that preserves the status quo at the agency without granting all of the relief that plaintiffs' attorneys were seeking. It bars the administration from taking any more steps to dissolve the agency or its operations, fire any staffers or cancel contracts while the lawsuit is pending.
The institute has roughly 75 employees and issued more than $266 million in grants last year.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys warn that closing the agency will force libraries to end grant-funded programs, cut staff and possibly even close.
“And even if Defendants possessed constitutional or statutory authority to eviscerate IMLS, they have provided no reasoned explanation for doing so, ignored strong reliance interests, and failed to consider more reasonable alternatives,” they wrote.
Government lawyers said Trump's executive order requires the institute to reduce its work to only that which is required by statute. They also argued that the district court doesn't have jurisdiction over plaintiffs' claims.
“Plaintiffs’ requested injunctive relief would effectively disable several federal agencies, as well as the President himself, from implementing the President’s priorities consistent with their legal authorities,” they wrote.
Cindy Hohl, president of the American Library Association, said the cut in funding is already impacting libraries across the country, including in rural areas where libraries are setting up their summer reading programs.
“Many libraries that already have contracts with performers and educators, they’re having to find other ways to be able to pay for their assistance with programs,” she said. Hohl added that the grants are a minute percentage of the overall federal budget but provide sizable funding for some facilities that will have to close.
President Donald Trump arrives at Tuscaloosa National Airport, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
