Twins catcher Christian Vázquez was searching Amazon last week with one goal in mind: “We needed something for homers, so I found that on Amazon.”

“That” is a silver and gold helmet with red bristles, like one a Roman fighter might have worn back in the day.

There hasn’t been as much to celebrate in the early going of the season as the Twins would have liked, but the helmet first made an appearance on Friday when Byron Buxton homered. It appeared again on Sunday with Edouard Julien becoming the second player to don it.

After Buxton hit his home run and made his way to the dugout Friday, he was approached by Vázquez, who removed his batting helmet. Pablo López then replaced it with Vázquez’s new purchase, and Buxton continued on through the dugout, receiving high fives.

As for the backstory behind the helmet?

“It looked cool, and I bought it,” Vázquez said.

This marks the third straight year that the Twins have had a home run celebration.

López purchased a fishing vest with a toy rod for the team in 2023. The vest read “Land of 10,000 Rakes,” on the back, and fish decals were stuck on for each home run the Twins hit.

A year later, López introduced a Prince-themed vest along with a fedora and an inflatable guitar. Also, famously, the Twins had a summer sausage that they began tossing up in the air for the home run hitter to catch upon returning to the dugout, something that coincided with the start of a 12-game winning streak last year and made for one of the quirkier storylines in Major League Baseball.

“We’ve had a few of them show up, and a few of them have gotten us on some pretty nice stretches of baseball,” manager Rocco Baldelli said of the celebration items. “Let’s let the helmet settle in. I think it looks pretty sharp. It looks well-made and substantial. Make sure there’s no sharp corners on it and plop it on some guys’ heads.”

France honored

The last time Ty France was named the American League’s Player of the Week, the first baseman had to share the honors with Miguel Cabrera after the future hall of famer had collected his milestone 3,000th hit that week back in April 2022.

This time, the honor is his alone. France won the award for a week in which he hit .440 (11 for 25), slugged .760 and had a .500 on-base percentage. He added a pair of home runs, drove in six and scored six runs.

“It’s pretty cool. It’s definitely a special honor. It’s been a while since I’ve won it,” France said. “It’s cool to be recognized solo this time. Just validates all the hard work I put in this offseason. Paid off.”

Briefly

Bailey Ober is scheduled to start Tuesday night’s game against New York Mets right-handed pitcher Tylor Megill, the brother of former Twins pitcher Trevor Megill. … Reliever Scott Blewett was claimed off waivers by the Baltimore Orioles. Blewett was designated for assignment over the weekend. In 14 games with the Twins across parts of two seasons, he had a 1.80 earned-run average, striking out 23 batters in 25 innings.

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By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and ERIC TUCKER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has charged a man with vandalizing a Tesla dealership in New Mexico and setting fire to the headquarters of the state Republican Party, according to court records unsealed Monday.

A criminal complaint charges Jamison R. Wagner, 40, with federal arson charges in connection with the vandalism in February at a Tesla showroom in Bernalillo, where authorities found two Tesla Model Y vehicles ablaze as well as spray-painted graffiti messages including “Die Elon” and “Die Tesla Nazi.”

Elon Musk is the billionaire CEO of Tesla and a close ally of President Donald Trump who has helped engineer a massive downsizing of the federal government and purge of employees.

The arrest is part of a federal crackdown on what the attorney general has described as a wave of domestic terrorism against property carrying the logo of Musk’s electric-car company.

Attorney General Pam Bondi previewed the arrest Thursday during a Cabinet meeting to highlight federal law enforcements’ efforts to go after vandals in recent weeks targeting the electric-car company.

Wagner is also charged in connection with a fire last month at the Albuquerque headquarters of the New Mexico Republican Party. The fire badly burned the entrance and caused extensive smoke damage throughout the office, authorities said. Republican representatives also found spray paint on the side of the building about 50 feet (15 meters) from the entrance, saying “ICE=KKK,” according to New Mexico Republican Party Chair Amy Barela.

During a search of Wagner’s home and garage, investigators found eight assembled suspected incendiary devices, black and red spray paint and a cardboard stencil with the phrase “ICE=KKK” that had red spray paint on it, according to court papers.

An attorney for Wagner didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Justice Department has charged four other cases against people accused of using Molotov cocktails to destroy Tesla cars and fire stations. The FBI last month created a task force to coordinate investigate efforts around the attacks with officials at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Bondi has suggested prosecutors will make no plea deals with those charged in the Tesla attacks, telling the president at the White House Thursday that “there will be no negotiations, at your directive.”

By KATHY McCORMACK, Associated Press

A federal judge in Vermont who is considering whether he has jurisdiction over the case of a Turkish Tufts University student detained by immigration officials in Louisiana raised the possibility Monday of having her brought back to his court for a hearing.

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U.S. District Judge William Sessions took under advisement arguments over Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, a doctoral student taken by immigration officials as she walked along a street in the Boston suburb of Somerville on March 25. After being taken to New Hampshire and then Vermont, she was put on a plane the next day and moved to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Basile, Louisiana.

Ozturk’s lawyers are challenging the legal authority for ICE’s detention. They are asking that she be immediately released from custody, or in the alternative, be returned to Vermont for further proceedings.

A lawyer for the Justice Department said her case should be dismissed, saying the immigration court has jurisdiction. But Ozturk’s lawyers, who initially didn’t know where she was for hours and first petitioned for her release in Massachusetts, argued for her to be released from detention while her immigration case continues.

Lawyers for Ozturk in the immigration proceeding asked Monday that she be released on bond, her legal team in Vermont said.

Sessions brought up the idea of a hearing in his court in May if he were to assume jurisdiction over her petition.

“Why not do that at the same time that the removal proceedings continue on?” he said.

Lawyers on both sides said they would need to consult further to provide details on the amount of time needed for such a hearing.

Ozturk is among several people with ties to American universities whose visas were revoked or have been stopped from entering the U.S. after they were accused of attending demonstrations or publicly expressed support for Palestinians. On Friday, a Louisiana immigration judge ruled that the U.S. can deport Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil based on the federal government’s argument that he poses a national security risk.

Ozturk was one of four students who wrote an op-ed in the campus newspaper, The Tufts Daily, last year criticizing the university’s response to student activists demanding that Tufts “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide,” disclose its investments and divest from companies with ties to Israel.

Ozturk’s lawyers say her detention violates her constitutional rights, including free speech and due process.

“Ultimately, unfortunately, the heart of what’s happening is that she is stuck in detention for an op-ed,” her immigration attorney, Mahsa Khanbabai, said outside the federal building in Burlington after Monday’s hearing.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said last month, without providing evidence, that investigations found that Ozturk engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group.

A State Department memorandum showed that Ozturk’s student visa was revoked on March 21 following an assessment that she had been involved in associations “‘that may undermine U.S. foreign policy by creating a hostile environment for Jewish students and indicating support for a designated terrorist organization’ including co-authoring an op-ed that found common cause with an organization that was later temporarily banned from campus.”

The Washington Post reported Sunday that another memorandum, written by an office within the State Department before Ozturk was detained, determined that there was no evidence showing that she took part in antisemitic activities or made public statements supporting a terrorist organization.

Ozturk’s lawyers said Monday that the memorandum has not been supplied to them.

A message seeking comment from the department on the report was emailed Monday afternoon.

A St. Paul man has been convicted by a federal jury after authorities intercepted more than 50,000 fentanyl pills being sent to him.

After a three-day trial in U.S. District Court, Kurtis Lavonte Gordon-Greenwood, 30, was convicted on one count of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, one count of attempted possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick.

The investigation into the St. Paul drug ring began in 2022 when law enforcement intercepted a UPS package to Gordon-Greenwood. The package, sent from Arizona, contained about 50,000 fentanyl pills, or more than five kilograms.

While searching his apartment, officers also found a shipping receipt for a FedEx package sent to Phoenix that contained three cell phones and a Taurus 9mm pistol with an extended magazine. Authorities in Phoenix intercepted the FedEx package to Phoenix and also found $8,240 cash inside.

“Firearms and drugs are a deadly combination – make no mistake that lives will be saved with Gordon-Greenwood off the streets,” Kirkpatrick said about the conviction. “Drugs are trafficked to Minnesota by air, vehicle or through the mail, as we saw in this case.”

Two co-defendants, Joshua Lanard Howse, 33, and Cornelius David Pierce, 34, also of St. Paul, have pleaded guilty for their roles in the conspiracy, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

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