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Testimony was heard in the first-degree murder trial of a man who is accused of killing his mother. The man has pleaded not guilty.

The extreme fire danger in Lethbridge River Valley has prompted a call from the city for members of the public to report any fires they see at encampments. .

At a time in Minnesota marked by tension and protest, speakers at Martin Luther King Jr. Day events Monday reflected on the death of Renee Good, the assassination of state Rep. Melissa Hortman as well as the need to avoid further division and violence. The 40th anniversary of the state-sponsored Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration, titled ‘One Dream. One Minnesota. Echoes of Unity’ held at the Ordway Concert Hall in St. Paul and the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Breakfast in Minneapolis sponsored by General Mills recognized community leaders, King’s legacy as well as the impact of thousands of federal law enforcement agents conducting immigration actions. Monday’s breakfast included a theme of making “a career of humanity,” a reference to a 1959 speech by King which called on others to commit themselves to fighting for equal rights. ‘It’s the work of bringing change, which is never easy’ Soledad O’Brien, journalist and documentarian and keynote speaker at the breakfast, said Minneapolis is on frontpages of newspapers across the world. She acknowledged that Minnesotans “must be exhausted.” “But every civil rights leader that I have ever interviewed talked about that moment when they, too, lost hope,” O’Brien said. “And when they thought maybe it was too hard or not worth it. And what brought them back to hope was their religious faith, number one. Also, the faith that personal sacrifice could lead to a collective community strength. And, number three, to be hopeful you had to do hopeful things. You had to serve your community. Just sitting around and trying to feel hopeful was not going to work … It’s the work of bringing change, which is never easy.” Gov. Tim Walz, in a video interview aired during the Ordway event, said bridging divisions is especially important right now. “Dr. King often times talked about that sitting down, hearing people, of course, peaceful resistance, but saying, ‘Look, these things that we’re doing are not right. People are being left out. We’re discriminating against people. But here’s what we can do to make it better,’” Walz said. “And I think right now the challenge is that we talk past each other. It doesn’t mean you have to agree on everything, but I think hearing people out – and in a time where there are those that are trying to divide us on purpose.” In attendance at the breakfast were members of the Hortmans’ family. Hortman was assassinated in June along with her husband Mark. Melissa Hortman was honored at the event for her service and advocacy for the state. ‘We do not accept racism’ Speakers at both events also acknowledged the challenging times that Minnesotans have faced as thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and other federal agents have entered the state, leading to daily protests and the shooting death of Good in Minneapolis. Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, president emeritus of The University of Maryland, Baltimore County, spoke of his experience in jail in Alabama when he was 12 years old for his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. Related Articles Hours after ABC News ran a story about Mischief Toy Store, ICE agents arrived at their door St. Paul Animal Control likely to become ‘Animal Services’ Inside Twin Cities hospitals, ICE agents unnerve staff Downtown St. Paul: The man with a plan for U.S. Bank Center, other empty buildings DOJ investigating after activists disrupt St. Paul church where MN ICE official is a pastor The death of Good reminded Hrabowski of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, which killed four Black girls in 1963, he said. Those girls were called names, “as they’re calling the name Renee Good right now,” he said. Hrabowski encouraged people not to buy into violence. “But keep letting people know we do not accept evil. We do not accept evil. No, we do not. We do not accept lies…We do not accept racism. As a country, we are better than this. We are better than this. We believe in the goodness of humanity,” Hrabowski said.

A protester detained, her bra removed and wedding ring cut off, and some of her clothes never returned. The “gratuitous deployment” of pepper spray. A couple’s car surrounded by agents, who pointed semiautomatic weapons at them at close range. A federal judge in Minneapolis cited the episodes in an unusually detailed ruling Friday that found a pattern of misconduct by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and ordered them and other immigration agents to stop using excessive force against protesters while conducting their operations in the city. In some ways, legal experts said, the judge’s order was fairly mundane because it merely ordered federal agents to follow established constitutional law, permitting peaceful protests. In other ways, it stood out. “Extraordinary,” Michele Goodwin, a law professor at Georgetown University, said of the decision. The judge, she said, reviewed dozens of witness declarations and video evidence and found conduct “alarming enough, dangerous enough that the court has imposed a preliminary injunction.” Protesters and state officials have for weeks been calling on the federal government to withdraw its immigration agents from Minneapolis, a movement that has only intensified since Renee Good was shot and killed Jan. 7 by Jonathan Ross, an ICE officer. In late December, the American Civil Liberties Union, on behalf of several protesters, filed a complaint against the federal government and its agents seeking to protect the protesters’ rights to free speech and assembly, and against unlawful search and seizure. The court order was based on earlier interactions that immigration agents had with protesters that did not gain as much attention as the killing of Good. The accounts described in the order were submitted to the court from declarations and video submissions from both parties. Goodwin was one of several legal scholars and criminal justice experts who said the conduct of ICE agents during Operation Metro Surge, the government’s name for its immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, evoked the attacks by police officers in Birmingham, Alabama, on civil rights protesters in 1963. David Rudovsky, a University of Pennsylvania law professor, also noted the similarities. “I think about the Civil Rights Movement in the South and how Southern law enforcement reacted with hoses, dogs and lynchings,” he said. Images of Birmingham’s police dogs sinking their teeth into protesters shocked the world. The aggressive conduct of federal agents in Minneapolis has also raised alarm, particularly following the shooting death of Good. The constitutional principles at risk are the same. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called the judge’s findings “ridiculous” Sunday in an interview with CBS’ “Face the Nation” and then blamed the protesters. “We only use those chemical agents when there’s violence happening and perpetuating, and you need to be able to establish law in order to keep people safe,” she said, adding that the judge’s order will not change the agency’s operations on the ground. “It’s basically telling us to do what we’ve already been doing,” she said. Her agency was expected to appeal the ruling. The case is the latest in a series of legal challenges across the country, including in California, Illinois and Washington, D.C., where civil and immigrant rights organizations have sought to curb the tactics of federal agents. In Illinois, where immigration agents massed for several weeks last year, a federal judge issued a sweeping injunction that placed several limits on how agents could use force and interact with protesters. An appellate court later blocked that ruling, calling it too broad and too prescriptive. The legal moves have come as the Trump administration pursues its deportation agenda, a cornerstone of the campaign that helped get President Donald Trump elected to a second term. For many, including in Minnesota, the immigration crackdown is the welcome fulfillment of that promise and…