People 18 and older can now obtain a permit to carry a gun in Minnesota after the U.S. Supreme Court declined this week to take up the state’s appeal in a case challenging the minimum age of 21.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension on Monday notified certified firearms trainers and sheriff’s offices that people between the ages of 18 and 20 can now apply for a firearms carry permit.

The change comes nearly four years after gun rights advocates brought a lawsuit on behalf of a group of legal adults under 21 seeking to overturn the age limit. They argued the age restriction deprived legal adults of a Constitutional right.

A Minnesota federal judge ruled in favor of the group in March 2023, which the state appealed. Last July, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled in favor of gun rights groups.

Attorney general response

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison sought to appeal that decision as well, but the limit is officially gone now that the highest court has turned down the case.

At an unrelated Tuesday press briefing, Ellison said that while the state lost the case and will have to issue permits to young adults now, he didn’t think it would be the last time the issue comes up in court.

“We believe that the state of Minnesota has the right and the authority to pass laws to protect people from gun violence, and we were disappointed,” he said. “We thought that was a good case for the Supreme Court to consider, but there are other cases of that nature, and so we’ll see. This matter will be addressed eventually.”

Courts across the country have come to different conclusions about gun rights for 18- to 20-year-olds in recent years, the Associated Press reported. Though the Supreme Court has been selective about the cases it takes. In addition to leaving the Minnesota decision intact, they also allowed a ban on guns at the University of Michigan to remain in place.

MN Gun Owners Caucus

In a statement on the Supreme Court’s decision, gun rights activists hailed the change it brings to Minnesota law, and reiterated their commitment to challenging restrictions on Second Amendment rights in the state.

“This is a resounding victory for 18-20-year-old adults who wish to exercise their constitutional right to bear arms,” said Bryan Strawser, chair of the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus.

Despite the setback for his office’s efforts, Ellison said he will continue to take action against gun manufacturers and retailers.

The attorney general’s office in December sued Glock, Inc., over its handguns’ convertibility into automatic weapons.  In 2022, he sued Fleet Farm for what the office alleges were inadequate safeguards against “straw purchases” — when someone buys weapons for a person ineligible to do so themselves.

What did judges say about age limit?

In the first 2023 ruling overturning Minnesota’s age limit for carry permits, U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez wrote that a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision requires regulations on guns to be weighed on whether they are consistent with the nation’s “historical tradition” of regulation, rather than public safety concerns.

At the time, Menendez expressed reservations about the required historical analysis sought by the Supreme Court in their ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen.

A year later, an appeal by the state resulted in a unanimous ruling in favor of the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus and other gun rights groups on the lawsuit, including the Firearms Policy Coalition and Second Amendment Foundation

Judges on the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed with the lower court’s finding that Minnesota’s age limit of 21 to obtain a concealed carry permit can not be enforced, as it deprives legal adults of constitutionally guaranteed rights.

“Ordinary, law-abiding 18 to 20-year-old Minnesotans are unambiguously members of the people,” wrote Judge William Duane Benton in the court’s opinion, joined by Judges Lavenski R. Smith and David R. Stras. “Because the plain text of the Second Amendment covers the plaintiffs and their conduct, it is presumptively constitutionally protected.”

MN permit law

Minnesota enacted its permit-to-carry law in 2003.

Applicants must take an approved firearms training course and apply at their local sheriff’s office. The sheriff’s office then investigates the applicant’s background before deciding whether to issue a permit. Permits are valid for five years.

Minnesota doesn’t have a “concealed carry” permit, per se.

The state’s permit-to-carry law allows for the concealed and open carrying of firearms. Other states, such as Wisconsin and North Dakota, allow for open carrying of firearms under certain circumstances without a permit.

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Sweat dripped down Pablo López’s face in the hours before Tuesday’s game, fresh off a bullpen session in which he threw nearly 30 pitches, simulated a couple of at-bats and tested out his hamstring, once again.

That bullpen session went well, López said, as did the rehab outing he made for the Triple-A St. Paul Saints in Des Moines on Saturday. And now, he appears poised to return — possibly as soon as Thursday, though the Twins have yet to make an announcement on when he will next start.

The Twins have listed Thursday’s starter as TBA. That’s the day López is first eligible to return from the 15-day injured list. Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said he had “a loose date” for López’s next start, which he did not yet announce.

“I think he’s in a really good spot to return to the big leagues, not have to make another rehab start and then rejoin the rotation,” Baldelli said. “That’s probably the best I can go with right now. All positive from his rehab.”

López threw 4 2/3 innings on Saturday night, allowing a run on three hits while striking out four. He got a workout in in a hallway “very minor league style,” he said, and catered a meal for the Saints while he was down in Iowa.

Sushi was not his first choice because “Iowa is as landlocked as you can possibly (get),” he said, but clubhouse manager Matt Tramp assured him he knew a good spot, and López made sure the minor leaguers were fed well.

“There were even some people that had sushi for breakfast on Sunday,” he said. “I don’t know how I feel about breakfast sushi … but no, it was good. It worked out, and everyone was thankful for it, which is always a very pleasant thing to feel.”

Bader commits to WBC

Harrison Bader had to pull out of the World Baseball Classic last time around because of an oblique injury, but he’s excited to have another opportunity, announcing on a podcast that was released on Tuesday that he would suit up for Team Israel in the 2026 tournament.

Bader was born in the United States, but per WBC rules, a player is eligible to compete for a country if they meet the eligibility requirements for citizenship. Bader, who is Jewish, does.

“The World Baseball Classic is awesome for so many reasons, and just getting an opportunity to represent Israel on the baseball side and wearing that uniform I think is special for me and my friends and family and a lot of people I love and support tremendously,” Bader said.

Briefly

Royce Lewis (hamstring) did a total body lift, glove work, sprints and hit in the cage as part of his day of work on Monday. On Tuesday, he ran the bases. Lewis was injured more than a month ago running to first base during a spring training game. … Willi Castro was out of the starting lineup again on Tuesday. He did not play this weekend after leaving Wednesday’s game with oblique tightness, but the Twins did not put him on the injured list, and Baldelli said he thought they would benefit from that.

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By PHILIP MARCELO

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump’s border czar joined New York City’s mayor on Tuesday to tout new federal charges against 27 people accused of being Tren de Aragua gang members and associates.

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The joint announcement is the latest example of the close ties between Mayor Eric Adams and the Trump administration, which recently dropped federal corruption charges against the Democrat so he could better focus on the Republican president’s immigration priorities. Adams is now running for reelection as an independent.

Trump, in his nationwide immigration crackdown, has labeled Tren de Aragua an invading force as he invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a little-used authority from 1798 that allows the president to deport any noncitizen during wartime.

“Every member of TDA should be on the run,” declared Thomas Homan, Trump’s border czar, referring to the initials of the gang, which originated in Venezuela more than a decade ago and has been linked to a series of kidnappings, extortion and other crimes throughout the Western Hemisphere.

Adams’ administration recently announced that it would let federal immigration officials operate at the city’s Rikers Island jail complex — and Homan used the news briefing to take a swipe at a City Council lawsuit seeking to stop the plan.

“This is what collaboration looks like,” he said. “I never asked the city or the NYPD to be immigration officers. I asked them to work with us on significant public safety threats and national security threats, and that’s what we’re committed to doing.”

A New York judge ordered city officials on Monday to temporarily halt the plan, which would let Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agencies establish offices at the massive lockup, until an April 25 hearing on the suit.

Adams said Tuesday’s announcement showed he remains “unapologetic” in his desire to rid the city’s streets of violent immigrant gangs.

“The question that we must answer is whose side are you on?” the Democrat said. “Are you on the side of those who are carrying these illegal guns, wreaking havoc, sex trafficking, harming innocent people regardless of their documentation, or are you on the side of hardworking New Yorkers and Americans? I’m clear on which side I’m on.”

Manhattan prosecutors say the case is the first to bring federal racketeering charges, which were famously used to bring down the Mafia, against the Venezuelan street gang. The more than two dozen accused also face charges including sex trafficking, drug trafficking, robbery, and firearms possession.

Prosecutors said those arrested smuggled young women from Venezuela into Peru and the U.S. The women, who they referred to as “multadas,” paid off their debts through prostitution and were threatened with violence and death.

The gang members also committed armed robberies and smuggled illegal drugs, including a substance called “tusi” that contains ketamine, prosecutors said.

Of the 27 charged, 21 are in custody, including five arrested Monday and Tuesday in operations in New York and elsewhere, they said. Six others remain at large.

The charges are broken out into two separate indictments, one for six alleged members of Tren de Aragua and the other charging 19 alleged members of “Anti-Tren,” a splinter faction made up of former Tren members.

Among those named in Tuesday’s indictment was Anderson Zambrano-Pacheco, who was among those arrested back in January in the Bronx during some of the Trump administration’s first efforts to ramp up immigration enforcement in the city.

Authorities say the 26-year-old was part of a group of heavily armed men seen in a now-viral video forcing their way into an apartment in Aurora, Colorado, raising fears that Tren de Aragua was in control of the rundown complex in the Denver suburbs.

Zambrano-Pacheco’s lawyer didn’t immediately comment Tuesday.

FILE – New York City Mayor Eric Adams appears before a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing with Sanctuary City Mayors on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, March 5, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.,File)

Adams rejected the notion that many of those apprehended by immigration and law enforcement officials in recent months are otherwise law-abiding people.

“The American dream is not armed robbery. The American dream is not discharging guns. The American dream is not shooting at police officers. The American dream is not going into homeless shelters and taking the documentation from innocent people and forcing them into sex trafficking,” he said. “That’s not the American dream, and we’re not going to be a safe harbor for criminals.”

Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo.

When it came time on Monday for David Powers to be cross-examined by Washington County prosecutors near the end of his five-day criminal trial, Powers never appeared.

David Powers. (Courtesy of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office)

On Tuesday afternoon, a Washington County jury found Powers, 37, of New Auburn, Minn., guilty of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, kidnapping and domestic assault by strangulation.

Powers had testified in his defense on Friday, but when the trial resumed on Monday, he failed to return to be cross-examined by prosecutor Scott Haldeman.

Powers’ attorney, Bruce Rivers, informed the court that he did not know where his client was. Haldeman requested that Washington County District Court Judge Helen Brosnahan issue a bench warrant for Powers’ arrest, which she did.

Washington County Attorney Kevin Magnuson said Tuesday that he plans to ask for a “significant” upward departure from the presumptive sentence under state sentencing guidelines after Powers is arrested and brought back to court. “This office places a high priority on prosecuting predators engaged in these types of violent offenses and ensuring the safety of the public,” he said.

The maximum sentences for each of the three convictions: 40 years for amended kidnapping; 30 years for first-degree criminal sexual conduct, and three years for domestic assault by strangulation.

“We know how difficult it is for victims to come forward, testify in a public courtroom, and relive these horrible events,” Magnuson said. “We are grateful for the victim’s courage in testifying.”

Lake Elmo rape

Powers, who also is known as David Robekevich, was charged in 2023 with beating and raping a Lake Elmo woman while holding her against her will in her home for more than 24 hours.

Washington County sheriff’s deputies were dispatched about 9 a.m. May 2, 2023, to conduct a welfare check at an address on Hudson Boulevard in Lake Elmo, where they saw a woman “screaming for help and frantically trying to open an upper-level window,” according to the criminal complaint.

“Officers then saw a large male appear behind her and pull her from view,” the complaint said. “Officers used force to enter the apartment and detained the male found inside.” The man was later identified as Powers.

When the deputies found the woman, they saw she had significant injuries to her neck, forearm and hands. She told police that she and Powers, who had been staying with her for several weeks, got into an argument, and she decided to sleep at a friend’s house. When she returned home on May 1, 2023, Powers “snapped,” tearing off her clothes, throwing her on the bed and strangling her, according to the complaint.

Powers allegedly covered the woman’s nose and mouth with his hands until she temporarily lost consciousness, telling her she had one hour to live. He continued assaulting the woman for about three hours, pulling her hair, punching her and slapping her, the complaint said.

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When she begged Powers to allow her to leave, he allegedly responded that he would “end her right now” before punching and sexually assaulting her, the complaint states.

When the woman woke up early the next morning, she attempted to escape and call for help, but Powers prevented her from leaving the apartment or using her phone, the complaint said.

After he was arrested, Powers told police he had been using Adderall, alcohol and cocaine, and that he didn’t remember the events of the previous 24 hours, according to the complaint.