FORT MYERS, Fla. — One of Tom Pohlad’s first declarations upon assuming the role of Twins executive chair from his younger brother, Joe, in mid-December was that he planned to be an active owner.

Tom Pohlad

Since taking over two months ago, Pohlad has flown to both coasts to meet with two of the team’s star players, parted ways with president of business and baseball operations Derek Falvey, phoned disgruntled former season-ticket holders and made a run at a top free agent starter, among other things.

Now, he’s settling in for an extended stay in Fort Myers, as he continues to familiarize himself with the ins and outs of the organization that he now leads.

“I told the players this, I told you guys (the media), I want to be active,” Pohlad said. “I told them that I wanted to get to know them, to build relationships and openly communicate. Just set a new culture for this organization going forward.”

Pohlad spoke to the group ahead of the team’s first full-squad workout on Monday, delivering a message that new Twins manager Derek Shelton said he believed “resonated with the players.” The goal of the speech, Pohlad said, was to set expectations and goals for the season and to help get players aligned with the direction of the team under new leadership.

The speech, veteran reliever Liam Hendriks said, was “impassioned.”

“That was cool to see, and there’s a lot of care behind it,” Hendriks said. “He’s understanding, ‘We haven’t been good.’ He acknowledged the weaknesses that we have, and you embrace them moving forward. I liked the accountability thing.”

Pohlad, who went to Georgia to meet with Byron Buxton and California to talk to Joe Ryan, has also recently been tapping into the knowledge of former players, including the rotating cast of television analysts.

Trevor Plouffe, for example, posted a video on social media about their conversation, saying the call was “a breath of fresh air,” and both Ryan and Buxton expressed their appreciation to Pohlad for visiting.

“I can’t outsource earning back the trust of our fans or of our employees or of the players,” Pohlad said. “I think that work’s got to be done by me. So that’s what I’m trying to do.”

Much of what he’s doing is trying to hear feedback from players and former players while also trying to express where he has seen missteps and identifying things that he can do differently.

Pohlad specifically mentioned the 2023 trade deadline — the Twins were in first place by a slim margin but essentially stood pat — and the 2023 offseason when ownership slashed payroll in response to the team’s swelling debt. That deeply-unpopular move came when the Twins were riding high after their first taste of playoff success in decades.

“I think it’s about when the time is right, being willing to invest and when there’s a window for us to be really competitive and compete in the playoffs, we’ve got to be willing to put our chips on the table so to speak and go all in,” he said.

Pohlad took over midway through the offseason for his younger brother, Joe, and what they’ve done since then — improved around the margins but not made a major splash — “is less a function of what we wanted to do, but more a function of what the reality of the market was at that point in time,” with many free agents off the board, he said.

The Twins were interested in starting pitcher Framber Valdez, and Pohlad said it would have been “fun to make a splash and show the organization and the fans that we’re committed.” But Valdez wound up signing with Detroit for a three-year deal worth $115 million.

Though payroll is expected to be significantly lower than last year’s and the years prior, Pohlad is bullish about this year’s Twins team. Told the betting line from BetMGM is just 73.5 wins, Pohlad brushed it off, suggesting the Twins would be better than that.

Minnesota Twins outfielder Byron Buxton signs autographs for fans during a spring training baseball workout in Fort Myers, Fla., Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

“We really like our team,” he said. “We think we’ve got a good mix of veterans and really talented young people who want to make a statement. I think we’re going to exceed expectations.”

Still, there’s still a long way to go to win back fans, many of whom are upset with ownership and have tuned out in recent years. Last year, the Twins’ attendance was 1,768,728, the lowest since Target Field opened with the exception of the two COVID-19-impacted seasons. Their average attendance per game was 24th of 30 teams.

In an attempt to get fans back to the ballpark, the Twins have introduced pregame $2 beer specials at Target Field. But Pohlad knows only one thing will rejuvenate the fanbase.

“I’m under no illusion that the things we are trying to do are secondary to what is most important, which is winning baseball games. I’m under no illusion,” Pohlad said. “But we have to do some of those things to get people re-engaged, and then hopefully the product on the field delivers, and we build momentum that way.”

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By JACOB ZIMBA and GERALD IMRAY

LUSAKA, Zambia (AP) — She says she was let down at every step. By a partner who abandoned her when she was pregnant. By a health service that denied her a legal abortion. And by a justice system that sent her to a maximum-security prison for illegally terminating her pregnancy on her own.

Violet Zulu, a house cleaner in Zambia earning $40 a month, was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2024 after representing herself in court with little understanding of the consequences of her actions. She didn’t see her two children or other family members for nearly two years.

After word of her case reached international rights groups that helped her file an appeal, Zulu was freed last month. Activists say she represents many women in Africa who take desperate decisions when facing barriers to legal abortion services.

Her story has drawn little sympathy in her southern African nation, where parts of society view abortion harshly. Her own mother said she agreed with her daughter’s prison sentence, but said it should have been shorter.

Zulu spoke with The Associated Press as she pieces her life together again at the age of 26.

Violet Zulu, who was sent to a maximum-security prison after she was denied a legal abortion and ended her pregnancy on her own, poses for a photograph in Lusaka, Zambia, Jan. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Kille)

Turned away from care

She said she first attempted to access legal abortion services at a public clinic, which should have given her advice or services but turned her away. She then tried a private pharmacy, which requested 800 Zambian kwacha ($43) for abortion drugs, a month’s salary for her.

She was already struggling to feed her two young sons, and she sometimes had to beg food from relatives.

She said her decision to drink an herbal concoction she prepared herself, one known for terminating pregnancies, was taken out of despair. She couldn’t bear for her boys to have even less food if she had another child.

“I never wanted to abort my pregnancy, but it is the circumstances at home that forced me to do it,” Zulu said in the interview at the two-room rented home with no running water that she shares with her children and parents.

“I was scared (when I took the concoction), but I didn’t really care what would happen to me,” she added.

In her court testimony, she explained what happened next: She delivered the fetus in a toilet, placed it in a sack and dropped it in a nearby stream. She said she confided in a friend, but word got out and neighbors reported her to police.

Zulu, who left school in the eighth grade, was never offered free legal counsel despite the right to request it. She represented herself in court and pleaded guilty to the offense of procuring her own abortion. She said she didn’t understand the legality of abortion and thought she would receive a warning.

A system that failed

“This is a system that failed Violet,” said Rosemary Kirui, a legal adviser for Africa for the abortion rights group Center for Reproductive Rights, which campaigned for Zulu’s release and helped with her appeal. “It is not that she did not try. It is that she could not afford the services, yet she should be able to access them as a citizen of Zambia.”

Zulu should have been eligible for a free abortion under a provision that allows doctors in Zambia to consider risks to the well-being of her existing children, said Sharon Williams, country director for the Women and Law in Southern Africa advocacy group.

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But Zulu was not aware of that, largely because of the secrecy, stigma and shame around abortion, which is not advertised by Zambia’s public health system.

Zambia’s Health Ministry did not respond to questions about her case.

Part of the problem, Williams said, is that Zambia has legalized abortion while also defining itself in its constitution as a strongly Christian country.

Abortions are still largely restricted in Africa, with few countries allowing them for reasons other than threats to the health of the mother or the fetus. Even in countries where abortion is legal in some circumstances like Zambia, religious beliefs, conservative values rooted in local cultures or a lack of information make access to legal procedures difficult, according to health and rights groups.

Williams said Zulu’s case ought to lead to a national conversation over whether Zambian authorities should better educate communities over the legal right to abortion.

“I think now that we have this judgment, we’re ready for the conversation,” she said.

Desperate women, unsafe abortions

Activists say desperate women turn to unsafe abortions. Africa and Latin America have the highest proportions of them, with approximately 75% of all abortions in Africa deemed unsafe, according to the World Health Organization.

The Guttmacher Institute health rights organization estimated in a 2019 report that over 6 million unsafe abortions a year occurred in sub-Saharan Africa. It noted that Zambia’s abortion law “tended to be a ‘paper law’ rather than one that ensures widespread access.”

In South Africa, which claims to have the most progressive laws on the continent, abortion has been legal for nearly 30 years. It is allowed on request before 13 weeks of pregnancy and for several reasons before 21 weeks.

But studies estimate only 7% of public health facilities there offer abortion services.

In 2023, the case of a 14-year-old who was denied an abortion by South African health workers three times for reasons that were not valid prompted a national reality check. After an urgent court case, a judge ordered that the girl be allowed to have an abortion, which was performed on the last day eligible by law.

At the time, a representative of the social justice group that represented the girl said South Africa’s abortion laws were being undermined by “the abuse of medical knowledge by health care professionals” in trying to prevent abortions.

In Zambia, Zulu said she still felt bad about what she did but must now provide for her sons. She was looking for work again, she said.

Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa.

For more on Africa and development: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-pulse

The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Minnesota’s women’s basketball team entered the Top 25 for the first time this season on Monday on the heels of an eight-game winning streak, ranked No. 23 in this week’s Associated Press poll.

With a 83-60 victory at Wisconsin on Sunday, the Gophers improved to 20-6 overall, 11-4 in the Big Ten Conference.

Minnesota received 104 votes in the poll. The Gophers are host to No. 10 Ohio State at Williams Arena on Wednesday night, and to No. 18 Michigan State on Sunday afternoon.

The Gophers were ranked for two weeks last season but went 3-9 down the stretch and were left out of the NCAA tournament. Minnesota then won the Women’s Basketball Invitation tournament and finished with a program-best 25 wins in coach Dawn Plitzuweit’s second season.

Four other Big Ten teams appeared in the poll: No. 2 UCLA, No. 6 Michigan, No. 13 Iowa and No. 14 Maryland.

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FORT MYERS, Fla. — Pablo López walked off the Hammond Stadium mound after delivering a pitch, cutting short his live batting practice session. López was in his third “up” or simulated inning when elbow soreness forced him to shut things down.

The news of López’s right elbow discomfort marred an otherwise positive day of camp for the Twins, who held their first full-squad workout of the spring on Monday at their complex in Southwest Florida.

The Twins plan to send López for imaging and will have more information after they do so.

“After he and (pitching coach) Pete (Maki) talked, we decided like ‘Hey, out of an abundance of caution, let’s get him off. Let’s get him off the field and make sure he’s okay,’” manager Derek Shelton said.

The starting pitcher is further ahead in his preparation for the season than some of his teammates because he was planning on participating in the World Baseball Classic for Venezuela for the second time in his career. This news puts that in jeopardy for López.

For now, the Twins plan to move cautiously with López, one of their top arms. López was highly effective last year when he pitched, but he made just 14 starts as he dealt with a myriad of injuries — a hamstring strain, a shoulder injury and a forearm strain suffered while fielding his position all landed him on the injured list.

“I don’t live in a speculative world. It’s a terrible place to be in this game,” Shelton said. “Right now, I’m taking we had a really good day. He felt some soreness. We’ll get it looked at and kind of move on from there.”

The day started with a team meeting during which Shelton, who took over for Rocco Baldelli this offseason, gave a speech hitting on a number of topics including intent, accountability and the group sticking together.

New team executive chair Tom Pohlad also spoke, and Shelton said called his message “passionate,” and “from the heart.”

“When we walked out of that meeting this morning, there was a really good feeling about the messaging I think we wanted to get across,” Shelton said.

While pitchers and catchers have been in camp for days and all of the position players had already reported by Sunday, Monday’s workout saw an extra flurry of activity.

Like every year, hope springs eternal in the early days of a new season. Even if the expectations of the team aren’t high outside of the clubhouse — projections and betting lines have them as a sub-.500 team — there’s optimism within the clubhouse.

“It feels like everyone’s excited for the year. You can genuinely feel that,” third baseman Royce Lewis said. “I think we’re ready to shock people. We don’t even have to say anything about it. People just keep writing us off. Whatever. That’s fine. I’m ready for that.”

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