The mother of an 8-month-old boy who died of a fentanyl overdose in a Roseville hotel room has admitted she is responsible for his death and will be put on probation as part of a plea deal with the prosecution, according to court records.

Wynona Ann Littlewolf, 30, of Bemidji, Minn., pleaded guilty in Ramsey County District Court last week to second-degree manslaughter in connection with the March 2022 death of Ashton Michael Littlewolf at the DoubleTree by Hilton on Cleveland Avenue.

Wynona Ann Littlewolf (Courtesy of the Minnesota Department of Corrections)

The plea deal calls for Littlewolf to receive at sentencing a downward departure to probation for up to five years and no additional time to serve. She’s scheduled to be sentenced June 6.

According to the criminal complaint, St. Paul police were sent to a business in the city’s St. Anthony Park neighborhood around 2:45 p.m. March 12, 2022, on a report of a baby who was blue, unconscious and not breathing. Medics responded and pronounced the infant dead, noting he was already in rigor mortis and his body seemed abnormally cold.

Littlewolf and her boyfriend told officers they had stayed overnight at the DoubleTree and found Ashton was purple when they awoke in the afternoon. They left for a hospital, but stopped at the St. Paul business for help after getting lost.

Officers recovered drug paraphernalia from the hotel room: a burnt piece of tinfoil in the bathroom and a rolled-up dollar bill on the floor.

An autopsy on her son concluded he died of fentanyl toxicity.

Littlewolf agreed to speak to investigators from the Minnesota Correctional Facility-Shakopee on March 30, 2023, when she was serving time for two Cass County cases. She said her son was starting to eat solid foods and had just started crawling and standing up. She said he crawled on the hotel floor during their stay.

Littlewolf said she and her boyfriend had argued after dinner and so she went into the bathroom to calm down and smoke heroin. When she left the bathroom, she found her boyfriend and Ashton asleep on a bed. She moved the infant to his crib.

When asked if she was responsible for her son’s death, Littlewolf replied, “I think I should have been watching him more,” the complaint states. “Okay, I should have been, you know, I should have been watching him a lot more, but I pushed him off to [her boyfriend].”

Charged while incarcerated

The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office charged Littlewolf just over two years after Ashton’s death while she was still incarcerated at the Shakopee prison for second-degree burglary and possession of a fifth-degree controlled substance. Both cases occurred on Sept. 21, 2022, six months after the infant’s death.

Dennis Gerhardstein, Ramsey County Attorney’s Office spokesman, said Friday the delay in charging Littlewolf in Ashton’s death had to do with an ongoing law enforcement investigation and because in January 2023 she requested execution of her Cass County cases. She received a sentence of two years and four months in prison, with 45 days of credit for time already served in custody.

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The investigation into Ashton’s death hinged on results of an analysis by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension of the drug paraphernalia found in the Roseville hotel room — the tinfoil and dollar bill — as well as a subsequent blood sample from Littlewolf. Both the items and her blood tested positive for the presence of fentanyl, the complaint says.

Littlewolf was released from the Shakopee prison and into supervised probation on July 1. She was discharged from probation April 9.

As far as the plea deal calling for probation in the infant’s death, Gerhardstein said the attorney’s office reviews the facts on a case-by-case basis before recommending a solution. He noted that Littlewolf had taken advantage of sobriety counseling and other prison services.

“Knowing she was progressing well and that her time inside would count as time served in any conviction, the (attorney’s office) felt it would be better to pursue an outcome of extended supervised probation rather than a few additional months in prison,” he said.

Maybe it shouldn’t come as too much of a shock that the Wild have dismantled the Vegas Golden Knights over the past couple of games while turning a 1-0 series deficit into a 2-1 series lead.

Not when the Wild have winger Kirill Kaprizov, who has been the best player on either team, dominating pretty much every time he hops over the boards.

Frankly, the only other player that has rivaled Kaprizov’s impact to this point is winger Matt Boldy, which makes sense considering they are both flanking center Joel Eriksson Ek on the top line.

The best news for the Wild heading into a matchup with the Golden Knights on Saturday afternoon at Xcel Energy Center? It seems as if Kaprizov is only getting stronger.

Whether it was the pair of assists in Game 1, the pair of goals in Game 2, the pair of goals in Game 3 or any of the other little plays in between, Kaprizov has risen to the occasion when the Wild have needed him most.

Not that anybody should be surprised by this level of production.

It wasn’t too long ago that Kaprizov was viewed as a frontrunner for the Hart Trophy after scoring 50 points (23 goals, 27 assists) through the opening 34 games. His outstanding play in the early stages of this season had the Wild looking very much like a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.

Everything changed when Kaprizov suffered a lower body injury right around Christmas that eventually required surgery and forced him to miss 40 games in total. Not only did that significantly alter the trajectory of this season for Kaprizov, it forced the Wild to scratch and claw their way to simply get into the playoffs.

Fortunately for the Wild, Kaprizov was cleared to return to the lineup about a week and a half before the playoffs started, which allowed him to log a few games to get his legs back underneath him.

Though there was never truly any concern about Kaprizov’s conditioning when he stepped back on the ice, head coach John Hynes acknowledged the importance of getting him some puck touches before the playoffs.

“There was no doubt in my mind that he was going to come back physically fit and ready to go,” Hynes said. “There is a difference of getting back into the flow and the structure of how we want to play so that it becomes automatic.”

After knocking off some of the rust that built up during his absence, Kaprizov is shining once again, and his reemergence has made the Wild dangerous. It’s not so much that he’s stuffing the stat sheet; he’s also playing with the attention to detail “that’s required to win,” Hynes said.

“If there’s a play to be made, he’s making it,” the coach added. “There’s nothing forced. That (top) line has been tenacious.”

It goes beyond the intangibles, however, when talking about Kaprizov’s game. There is something magical about him when he’s at the peak of his powers. It feels like something special could happen anytime the puck is on his stick.

There have already been some examples of that in the playoffs.

How about the incredible saucer pass that Kaprizov delivered to Boldy in Game 2? How about the near 200-foot empty-net goal from Kaprizov that slammed the door shut? How about the buzzer-beater from Kaprizov at a pivotal moment in Game 3?

This isn’t some random player catching lightning in a bottle; this is a superstar taking the next step in his career.

Never mind that so much time away from the game ultimately cost Kaprizov a chance at winning the Hart Trophy. He still has a pretty good shot at the Conn Smythe Trophy if the Wild can go on a run. That Hart Trophy can wait.

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For most of the past two seasons, the Twins have employed a fairly even split of playing time behind the plate. Ryan Jeffers would start one day, Christian Vázquez the next.

Last year, each started 81 games with Jeffers playing 720 1/3 innings and Vázquez 719. That’s how things stood when the Twins started this season, too. But over the past week, that’s finally changed.

Vázquez took a foul tip to his hand on April 14 and he’s healthy now, but the playing time has flipped dramatically towards Jeffers. Vázquez has started just twice since then with Jeffers drawing seven starts behind the plate in that time period, including Friday night’s game. At one point in that stretch, Jeffers started six of seven games.

“I think RJ is going to find a few more at-bats in the near term here,” manager Rocco Baldelli said earlier in the week. “We can see if we can get the offense going even more than we’ve seen. That’s a big part of it. … I think getting him a few more games and getting him a few more at-bats might be able to jump-start our group in some ways offensively.”

Jeffers said he spoke with Baldelli about the change and the manager indicated there wouldn’t be an exact schedule but just that the 27-year-old backstop would be in the lineup more often.

Vázquez is the stronger defender of the two, while Jeffers is a better hitter. Heading into Friday’s game, Jeffers was hitting .254 with a .682 OPS and 98 OPS+ while Vázquez was hitting just .152 with a 33 OPS+, which is figure that is well below the league average hitter (100).

“I’ve gotten a good handle on how to prepare myself going every other day,” Jeffers said. “I think that was hard at first, but I think, especially when you’re trying to feel something or figure something out, it’s nice when you can get a larger sample size of games quicker.”

And while the reason the two have shared the playing time is in large part because of the rigors of the position, Jeffers said he thinks his body will be able to bounce back even with an uptick in playing time.

“I’ve always said, my whole time here, I would love to play every day,” Jeffers said. “It’s the reality of catching, you don’t do that. But I’m excited. The opportunity is exciting. I’ve always prepared my body to be ready whenever that happens.”

Lewis plan

Royce Lewis headed out to St. Paul on a rehab assignment on Friday, a major step for him as he works his way back from a hamstring strain that has kept him sidelined since mid-March.

But don’t expect this rehab assignment to be a quick one.

After a partial game on Friday, Lewis is scheduled to have Saturday as a day off. He’s supposed to play on Sunday and then the Saints have a day off on Monday. The Twins will head out on the road next week and it’s possible they will wait until they return home on May 6 to activate him from the injured list.

“He’s going to have to build back up,” Baldelli said. “In a lot of ways, he’s starting from scratch with his game action. It’s been awhile since he’s played, so he’s going to need some at-bats, he’s going to have to be at third base a fair amount. He’s going to be DHing some.”

Briefly

Simeon Woods Richardson is scheduled to start on Saturday opposed by Angels starter Yusei Kikuchi. Woods Richardson gave up three runs in 4 1/3 innings pitched the last time out. …  Minor league catcher Diego Cartaya cleared outright waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A. The Twins’ 40-man roster is now at 39.

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By ASHRAF KHALIL

WASHINGTON (AP) — Organizers and the Kennedy Center have canceled a week’s worth of events celebrating LGBTQ+ rights for this summer’s World Pride festival in Washington, D.C., amid a shift in priorities and the ousting of leadership at one of the nation’s premier cultural institutions.

Multiple artists and producers involved in the center’s Tapestry of Pride schedule, which had been planned for June 5 to 8, told The Associated Press that their events had been quietly canceled or moved to other venues. And in the wake of the cancellations, Washington’s Capital Pride Alliance has disassociated itself from the Kennedy Center.

“We are a resilient community, and we have found other avenues to celebrate,” said June Crenshaw, deputy director of the alliance. “We are finding another path to the celebration … but the fact that we have to maneuver in this way is disappointing.”

The Kennedy Center’s website still lists Tapestry of Pride on its website with a general description and a link to the World Pride site. There are no other details.

The Kennedy Center did not respond to a request from the AP for comment.

The move comes on the heels of massive changes at the Kennedy Center, with President Donald Trump firing both the president and chairman in early February. Trump replaced most of the board with loyalists, who then elected him the new Kennedy Center chairman.

The World Pride event, held every two years, starts in just under a month — running from May 17 through June 8 with performances and celebrations planned across the capital city. But Trump administration policies on transgender rights and comments about Kennedy Center drag performances have sparked concern about what kind of reception attendees will receive.

“I know that D.C. as a community will be very excited to be hosting World Pride, but I know the community is a little bit different than the government,” said Michael Roest, founder and director of the International Pride Orchestra, which had its June 5 performance at the Kennedy Center abruptly canceled within days of Trump’s takeover.

Roest told the AP he was in the final stages of planning the Kennedy Center performance after months of emails and Zoom calls. He was waiting on a final contract when Trump posted on social media Feb. 7 of the leadership changes and his intention to transform the Kennedy Center’s programming.

Immediately the Kennedy Center became nonresponsive, Roest said. On Feb. 12, he said, he received a one-sentence email from a Kennedy Center staffer stating, “We are no longer able to advance your contract at this time.”

“They went from very eager to host to nothing,” he said. “We have not since heard a word from anybody at the Kennedy Center, but that’s not going to stop us.”

In the wake of the cancellation, Roest said he managed to move the International Pride Orchestra performance to the Strathmore theater in nearby Bethesda, Maryland.

Crenshaw said some other events, including a drag story time and a display of parts of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, would be moved to the World Pride welcome center in Chinatown.

Monica Alford, a veteran event planner with a long history of working with the Kennedy Center, was scheduled to organize an event June 8 as part of Tapestry of Pride, but said she also saw communication abruptly end within days of Trump’s takeover.

Alford organized the first ever drag brunch on the Kennedy Center rooftop in 2024, and said she regarded the institution — and its recent expansion known as The Reach — as “my home base” and “a safe space for the queer community”

She said she was still finalizing the details of her event, which she described as “meant to be family-friendly, just like the drag brunch was family-friendly and classy and sophisticated.”

She said she mourns the loss of the partnership she nurtured with the Kennedy Center.

“We’re doing our community a disservice — not just the queer community but the entire community,” she said.

Roest said he never received an explanation as to why the performance was canceled so late in the planning stages. He said his orchestra would no longer consider performing at the Kennedy Center, and he believes most queer artists would make the same choice.

“There would need to be a very, very public statement of inclusivity from the administration, from that board, for us to consider that,” he said. “Otherwise it is a hostile performance space.”