NEWARK, N.J. – Just a few months shy of a decade ago, on June 2, 2015, a 40-year-old John Hynes got his first call to “the show” as an NHL head coach with the New Jersey Devils. At the time, he joked with a friend that Mike Yeo, then coaching the Minnesota Wild at age 41, would no longer be the league’s youngest coach, nor have the least hair among the NHL coaches.

Now 50 and on his third stop in the league, having coached in Nashville prior to taking over the Wild last season, Hynes admitted that the Devils’ home ice will always bring back fond memories.

“So many good people that you met here within the organization, some of the players are still here and then obviously life away from the game,” he said following Minnesota’s morning skate at Prudential Center. “My family really enjoyed it here, so it’s kind of a combination. So, it’s always special where you got your first opportunity; a lot of great memories.”

In four-plus seasons with the Devils, Hynes’ teams were a cumulative 150-159-45 with one playoff appearance — they fell 4-1 to Tampa Bay in the 2018 opening round. He spent parts of four years in Nashville before the Wild hired him midseason in late 2023. Thinking back on his early days as an NHL head coach, Hynes admitted that he’s a different person 10 years later.

“It’s just more experience. There’s lots of similarities that help you get to the NHL, the structure of practices and all the hockey part of it. But I think the more opportunities you have to coach in the NHL, you learn different things. I think experience is a factor, so it’s good. I learned a ton (in New Jersey), I learned a ton in Nashville and I’m still learning here…I think in this business you have to adapt and change and keep some core values, but I think you’re always trying to find a way to be better.

For Wild, a bit more wait for Buium

University of Denver sophomore defenseman Zeev Buium may sign with the Wild at some point this season, after Minnesota made the San Diego native their first round pick in last summer’s NHL draft. But first, he has another college hockey game, or two, to play.

Buium and the Pioneers are headed back to the NCAA Frozen Four looking for a repeat national title after they beat top-ranked Boston College 3-1 on Sunday evening in the finale of the Manchester (N.H.) Regional. Buium had two goals and three assists in Denver’s wins over Providence in the first round and the Eagles in the regional title game. They will face NCHC foe Western Michigan in St. Louis on Thursday, April 10, with a trip to the NCAA title game at stake.

Buium, who was named the NCHC’s most valuable player during the conference tournament in St. Paul earlier in March, has emerged as one of the favorites for the Hobey Baker Award, given annually to college hockey’s top player.

The Pioneers defeated Boston College in St. Paul last April to win the program’s record 10th NCAA hockey title.

Another Gopher signs early

After three seasons in maroon and gold, and a World Juniors gold medal, defenseman Ryan Chesley is taking his game to the next level. The Washington Capitals, who picked the Mahtomedi native in the second round of the 2022 NHL draft, announced on Monday that they had signed Chesley to an entry-level contract and he would report to their AHL team in Hershey, Pa.

Chesley, one of the Minnesota Gophers’ co-captains, played in all 40 games last season, with eight goals and 12 assists. He also led the team with 48 penalty minutes. The most recent signing means that eight of the Gophers’ top 11 scorers will not return next season due to graduation or early signings.

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By JANIE HAR

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal judge on Monday paused plans by the Trump administration to end temporary legal protections for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans, a week before they were scheduled to expire.

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The order by U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco is a relief for 350,000 Venezuelans whose Temporary Protected Status was scheduled to expire April 7. The lawsuit was filed by lawyers for the National TPS Alliance and TPS holders across the country.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has also announced the end of TPS for an estimated 250,000 additional Venezuelans in September.

Chen said in his ruling that the action by Noem “threatens to: inflict irreparable harm on hundreds of thousands of persons whose lives, families, and livelihoods will be severely disrupted, cost the United States billions in economic activity, and injure public health and safety in communities throughout the United States.”

He said the government had failed to identify any “real countervailing harm in continuing TPS for Venezuelan beneficiaries” and said plaintiffs will likely succeed in showing that Noem’s actions “are unauthorized by law, arbitrary and capricious, and motivated by unconstitutional animus.”

Chen, who was appointed to the bench by President Barack Obama, a Democrat, said his order applies nationally.

He gave the government one week to file notice of an appeal and the plaintiffs one week to file to pause for 500,000 Haitians whose TPS protections are set to expire in August. Alejandro Mayorkas, the previous secretary, had extended protections for all three cohorts into 2026.

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, center, speaks to the press during the arrival of Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, Venezuela, Monday, March 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Congress created TPS, as the law is known, in 1990 to prevent deportations to countries suffering from natural disasters or civil strife, giving people authorization to live and work in the U.S. in increments of up to 18 months if the Homeland Security secretary deems conditions in their home countries are unsafe for return.

The reversals are a major about-face from immigration policies under former President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and come as Republican President Donald Trump and his top aides have ratcheted up attacks on judges who rule against them, with immigration being at the forefront of many disagreements.

At a hearing last Monday, lawyers for TPS holders said that Noem has no authority to cancel the protections and that her actions were motivated in part by racism. They asked the judge to pause Noem’s orders, citing the irreparable harm to TPS holders struggling with fear of deportation and potential separation from family members.

Government lawyers for Noem said that Congress gave the secretary clear and broad authority to make determinations related to the TPS program and that the decisions were not subject to judicial review. Plaintiffs have no right to thwart the secretary’s orders from being carried out, they said.

In public remarks, Noem has described Venezuelans in the U.S. as “dirt bags” and conflated TPS holders with members of a Venezuelan gang even though the vast majority have no criminal history, said Ahilan Arulanantham, an attorney with the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at The University of California, Los Angeles, law school.

“It seems to defame an entire group of 600,000 Venezuelans who are here with this image,” Judge Chen said to government lawyers. “Isn’t that almost the definition of racism?”

Sarah Vuong with the U.S. Department of Justice said Noem was motivated by government objectives on border and national security, not racism.

Biden sharply expanded use of TPS and other temporary forms of protection in a strategy to create and expand legal pathways to live in the United States while suspending asylum for those who enter illegally.

Trump has questioned the the impartiality of a federal judge who blocked his plans to deport Venezuelan immigrants to El Salvador, levelling his criticism only hours before his administration asked an appeals court to lift the judge’s order.

The administration has also said it was revoking temporary protections for more than 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans who have come to the U.S. since October 2022 through another legal avenue called humanitarian parole, which Biden used more than any other president. Their two-year work permits will expire April 24.

CHICAGO —  Four games into their season, the Twins are hitting a collective .143, have an MLB-worst on-base percentage (.206) .and OPS (.436) and reside near the bottom of the majors in most offensive categories.

They’ve scored just six runs in their first four games. Their run totals in those games? Three, one, two, zero.

There has been some bad luck, to be sure — they might have to sacrifice a live chicken to get Ty France a hit, manager Rocco Baldelli suggested — but overall, the at-bats haven’t been where they need to be.

“You’ve got to force the issue sometimes,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “You can’t just keep saying, ‘We’re having pretty good at-bats.’ You’ve got to just take a game over at some point, just get a bunch of baserunners and bring them around.”

The Twins were no-hit into the seventh inning on Monday by Martín Pérez and a rookie reliever, finishing with just two hits, one of which did not leave the infield. A couple of days earlier, they managed just three.

Collectively, Carlos Correa said, they need to stay in the zone more and stop chasing.

“When hitters are searching and chasing hits, things like this happen,” said Correa, who is still without a hit despite plenty of hard contact. “You hit the ball right at people, and the next at-bat you want to put the ball in play and make something happen as opposed to (waiting) for that pitch you can drive and hit hard. Right now we’re getting caught up in that.”

The shortstop suggested it was an “easy adjustment,” but one that the team needs to be conscious of — and make quickly after dropping to 0-4.

“I’m very optimistic about the way our roster is constructed, and I think we’re going to be in a good spot. But we’ve got to adjust quick. We cannot keep dragging with the way we’ve been playing.”

Dobnak’s ‘reward’

Randy Dobnak’s “reward” for a job well done on Sunday wasn’t much of a prize: After throwing 5 1/3 innings in the series finale in St. Louis, Dobnak lost his job.

It was to be expected — the Twins needed a fresh arm for the bullpen after Dobnak’s performance, and his contract ($3 million) is such that the Twins can designate him for assignment without much fear of losing him. But it doesn’t make it any easier. Dobnak gave up only one run in his extended relief appearance, saving the bullpen after Bailey Ober’s shortened start.

“I wouldn’t say it’s ever easy ‘cause he did a really nice job,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “Whenever guys go out there and do a really nice job and step up … you feel obligated to let them know. … I think this will be a situation where we see Randy Dobnak helping us many times throughout the year.”

In his place, the Twins selected the contract of reliever Darren McCaughan, who threw 2 2/3 scoreless innings in Monday’s loss.

Baldelli alters pregame routine

In the hours before Monday’s game, the Twins’ hitters met for their meeting. And as they dispersed, Baldelli was leading the crowd back into the clubhouse.

The manager has altered his pregame routine this year, sitting in on pregame hitters’ meetings, something that he said he has thought about doing over the years. Around the league, when managers do sit in on these meetings, it’s mostly as an observer rather than very vocal participant. That’s the case with Baldelli, as well.

“I probably won’t be in every single hitters’ meeting throughout the year, but I’d say being in more than not, just being able to just occasionally jump in with a message or backing up a particular message or something I feel strongly about, I think, is a nice thing,” Baldelli said.

Briefly

— Simeon Woods Richardson will start Tuesday’s game, looking to help the Twins’ snap their four-game losing streak. He will be opposed by Rule 5 draft pick Shane Smith, who will be making his major league debut.

— Tuesday marks the Twins’ first night game of the season.

— Correa and Byron Buxton were pulled early in the game with the score out of hand. That led to some interesting late-game defensive configurations. Edouard Julien appeared at shortstop, and Mickey Gasper played left field. Willi Castro, as he has done a handful of times, pitched.

With the goal of launching citywide trash collection from a former Randolph Avenue tow lot, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter has declared a state of local emergency to take effect Tuesday morning. It will allow the city to temporarily suspend zoning regulations at the site and allow trash-hauling partner FCC Environmental to immediately commence service for more than 60,000 residential accounts.

Carter asked the city council to extend his three-day emergency declaration another 90 days when the council convenes Wednesday, which will grant the city additional time to work through zoning challenges the council previously supported.

Trash collection is “a basic public service that impacts the health and safety of every single person in our community,” said the mayor, who addressed reporters from a St. Paul Public Works facility in the North End on Monday. “State law and commonsense dictate that failure to pick up the trash would be unacceptable.”

The Randolph Avenue site is crucial to launch trash collection operations, according to the mayor’s staff. Finding another site in the city — with the right zoning and size — is more difficult than many assume, they said.

Trash collection

How Wednesday’s council vote on the extension will go is anyone’s guess.

At FCC Environmental’s request, city staff and the city Planning Commission determined this year that the existing “light industrial” zoning at 560 Randolph Ave. would indeed support privately-run garbage dispatch, cleaning and maintenance, as well as a compressed natural gas facility to be constructed down the line.

Siding instead with neighborhood residents, the council voted 5-0 two weeks ago in an appeal hearing brought by the West Seventh/Fort Road Federation against that zoning clarification, effectively freezing FCC Environmental’s trash operations out of the site.

Since then, council members have been deluged with calls and letters from the public, demanding to know if their trash collection was in jeopardy, as the mayor and Public Works officials have suggested.

Carter was joined Monday by Council Members Anika Bowie and Cheniqua Johnson, who called garbage collection an essential service that trumps zoning concerns, at least in the short term.

A council decision revisited

The council members also noted that the appeal hearing had asked them a narrow question: Would FCC Environmental’s privately-owned trash truck facility be comparable to that of a Public Works yard, which is allowed under light industrial or I-1 zoning? Following the lead of Council President Rebecca Noecker, who represents the neighborhood, the five council members voted to support the appeal on March 19. Johnson was absent at the time and the Ward 4 seat is vacant.

The mayor joined St. Paul Department of Safety and Inspections Director Angie Wiese on Monday in emphasizing that garbage collection meets the definition of “Public Works” under state law, an allowable use under the city’s “I-1” zoning.

Bowie on Monday said that neighborhood concerns about the volume of trash trucks — which could exceed 30 trucks, and eventually more than double that as FCC Environmental adds more municipal clients in the Twin Cities — had not fallen on deaf ears, and residents had raised legitimate questions about the impacts of a future compressed natural gas refueling station.

“Those concerns are still relevant today, but what’s even more dire or more relevant is that people have their trash collected,” Bowie said.

“The option of not doing a basic city service is not an option to take,” added Johnson. “Right now, the primary focus is on collecting the trash, and getting through this week.”

She said another council member had considered sponsoring an effort to reconsider, or overturn, the March 19 vote last week, but it was never entered into the public record.

Why so late?

Under FCC Environmental’s contract with the city, citywide trash collection has been scheduled to begin April 1, raising questions about how so many loose threads came undone or were never pinned down by Tuesday’s launch date.

Wiese, the DSI director, noted residents were within their right to appeal the zoning decision initially issued by city staff in January.

“The city values a public process,” she said.

After the March 19 council vote, Noecker said that the company had dragged its heels in securing a site, seeking the necessary zoning approvals and preparing a site plan for public scrutiny, and the city could not be blamed for FCC Environmental’s last-minute scramble.

The council president also noted that no matter how the March 19 vote went, a two-week build-out of the site at 560 Randolph Ave. was unrealistic. A call on Monday to a representative of FCC Environmental was not immediately returned.

The St. Paul Planning Commission’s zoning committee will review a site plan for FCC Environmental’s proposed $25 million trash truck facility on April 10, and the full Planning Commission will consider their recommendation a week later.

Since November, FCC Environmental has been using the 560 Randolph Ave. location to collect recycling at apartment buildings with five or more units, which Kershaw said is allowed under a separate part of the zoning code.

Seven-year contract

Despite the debacle over the contested trash truck hub, Carter and St. Paul Public Works Director Sean Kershaw on Monday emphasized the benefits of the seven-year contract with FCC Environmental, which will include pick up of one refrigerator-sized “bulky” item per month.

The city will eventually allow opt outs and cart-sharing for households who can prove they generate limited waste. City staff will handle billing and customer service calls, as well as 10% of the trash collection routes, generally the most difficult routes to maneuver come winter.

“FCC has been a great partner, and we’re really excited about the services,” Kershaw said.

After decades of allowing private trash haulers to compete for residential accounts across the city, St. Paul switched to organized trash collection in 2018, with private companies assigned to separate zones or districts. The goal, in part, was to limit the number of trucks traveling each alley, keep rates fair from neighborhood to neighborhood, reduce illegal dumping and protect smaller haulers.

The results have been mixed, with most smaller haulers selling their routes to larger companies like Waste Management anyway. Illegal dumping has continued, as have missed pick-ups on the

Last summer, Carter announced that St. Paul was going to ditch that system and enter into a contract with Houston-based FCC Environmental to service 90% of the city’s street and alley routes with some 60 private employees.

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