A deaf Los Angeles teenager says he was assaulted and taken into custody during a protest in downtown Los Angeles last month by federal immigration officers, who cited him for failing to comply with their directions.

Videos posted on Saturday, Jan. 24 to Instagram show armed agents, wearing U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security uniforms, chasing and tackling 18-year-old Anthony Paredes, seen wearing a red, green and white poncho, to the ground.

Multiple people are heard in the background yelling, “He’s deaf! He cannot hear!” and asking officers not to hurt him. “DHS agents just tackled a young deaf man to the ground,” the caption read. Another read, “DHS puts lives at risk.”

It was not clear what preceded the incident. DHS did not respond to requests for comment over the weekend.

“DHS came outside and started chasing a hearing woman, and ended up chasing me instead,” Paredes, who does not speak, signed on social media. “Because I’m disabled; they took advantage of that. … they targeted me because I’m deaf.”

18-year-old deaf activist Anthony Paredes with L.A. educators and organizers at a Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026 rally decrying federal immigration enforcement. The rally was held in front of LA Unified School District headquarters in downtown Los Angeles. (Photo by Joshua Silla)

At a Saturday, Jan. 31 press conference and rally in front of LA Unified School District headquarters, Paredes gathered with supporters and LAUSD educators, including his own teachers, to denounce the incident.

Around 60 educators and organizers from Union del Barrio, the Association of Raza Educators and Educator Power 2026 joined to decry what they called a violation of Paredes’ civil rights.

This was a “brutal assault for speaking out and standing for justice,” Ron Gochez, an LAUSD teacher and organizer with Unión del Barrio, said at the rally.

“As educators, we called this event together. We are here in support of Anthony, a high school student at LAUSD who was brutalized by the agents. We are here to support Anthony and demand justice.” Gochez said. “As teachers, we have the responsibility to not only teach our children in the classroom, but to defend our kids on the street as well.”

Paredes, who is a high school senior at Ramón C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts, said through an interpreter on Saturday that the encounter was “frustrating to navigate.” He said on social media that his chest hurt when they tackled him, and after he was taken into custody, no sign language interpreters were provided. Also, requests to use a bathroom were ignored.

“There were so many people, a lot of overlapping noises … they tackled me to the ground … I felt so alone. I used my phone to write back and forth,” Paredes said.

The 18-year-old said he was protesting that evening “on behalf of Alex Pretti, Renee Good, and all people who were brutally murdered” by federal immigration enforcement officers.

In a later statement shared to the media, Paredes said that he was “deeply disturbed” by ICE activity, which motivated him to join protesters nationwide assembled peacefully “to call attention to what they saw as excessive use of force.”

Minnesotans and people around the country have gathered in freezing temperatures, and at times by the tens of thousands, to object to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics and to defend their neighbors from ICE. They patrol in cars and on foot and film what officers do, stand outside schools to protect families, and deliver groceries to those fearful of leaving their homes.

Paredes called out President Donald Trump’s family for being immigrants themselves, and denounced the MAGA movement for, he said, “hating immigrants.

“Immigrants have helped build this country for generations. When we stand together and support one another, we are stronger. We should work together to protect families, friends and loved ones and to make sure everyone is treated with dignity and respect,” Paredes wrote. “I believe strongly in the right to peacefully protest and to speak up when something feels unfair. Peaceful protest is an important way for people to ask for change and to protect civil rights. Everyone deserves to be treated fairly, no matter who they are.”

At Saturday’s rally, organizers and LAUSD educators said they are going to file a claim and a lawsuit against the government, and will fight to have Paredes’ case dropped. They also called for more support and accessibility for the community.

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At the rally, L.A. teacher Lupe Carrasco Cardona said she was proud of not only her students, but of educators who openly criticized ICE.

“We should not be attacked for trying to ensure that there is a better world out there for all of us, because every single student, all of our community members, enrich our communities,” Cardona said. “Never in my 26 years as an educator did I have students who actually know … terror in their streets, in their communities, in their families.”

Ingrid Villega, an organizer with United Teachers Los Angeles, said that Paredes watched “the death of an innocent American citizen (Alex Pretti), and that provoked him to come and stand for dignity and justice.

“He was exercising his constitutional right as a student, a human being, and a citizen in this country. But laws here don’t matter anymore. As educators, we are asking that all charges be dropped; that both the union and LAUSD use all their resources and relationships to ensure all the charges be dropped against Anthony,” Villega said.

“I can just imagine how much training those agents need to understand the (deaf) community, and make sure their rights are observed,” she said. “It’s ridiculous to give a deaf person orders and expect them to follow — and not to give that deaf person an interpreter, or a right to call his mom, his attorney — and still charge him.”

Guadalupe Diaz, Paredes’ mother, thanked those at Saturday’s rally for their support, and was grateful that her child is able to express himself despite not being able to hear or speak. She said she was concerned that during Friday’s encounter, federal agents did not provide her son with an interpreter.

“Let’s hope that what happened with Anthony makes them take our people, our families, into account,” Diaz said. “He’s doing this from the heart … it takes a lot of courage. What we want is simply for our voices to be heard and for justice to prevail above all else.”

A court date is set for April 1.

On social media, Paredes also called for more accessibility and resources for deaf and hard-of-hearing students in LAUSD. He also called on the Latinx community, and those who support the deaf and hard-of-hearing to come to his hearing to support him.

“I’m going to continue showing up to these protests and not giving up my rights,” he signed. “This needs to stop — the goal is for ICE to melt, and we are fire! We have the power.”

A group home worker admitted to police that he slept while a vulnerable man he was supposed to be caring for stepped out into dangerously cold weather and died in a North St. Paul street last week, according to a criminal complaint.

Abiodun Olalekan Onakoya, 29, of Champlin, is charged in Ramsey County District Court with felony criminal neglect in connection with the Jan. 27 incident at the group home in the 2700 block of McKnight Road North in North St. Paul.

According to Thursday’s complaint:

A North St. Paul police officer on routine patrol saw a naked person lying face down in the street at the intersection of 17th Avenue East and Second Street North about 4:24 a.m. Medics arrived and pronounced the 44-year-old dead; autopsy results are pending.

(Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

Temperatures were well below freezing during the early morning hours, the complaint said.

Officers checked the group home and discovered the man was a vulnerable adult who lived at the residence, which is about four blocks north of where he was found.

Officers were told Onakoya was the staff member assigned to the man’s one-on-one care.

A staff member told police that he wasn’t aware the man was missing until police arrived. He said he found the man’s bedroom door open, so he looked inside and saw he wasn’t there. He looked for Onakoya, who was responsible for the man, and found Onakoya sleeping in a spare bedroom of the residence with the lights off and the door closed, the complaint said.

Police discovered from group home records that the man had left his room in recent days. On Jan. 19, eight days before his death, he left his room naked and ran back to his room when confronted by staff. The next day, he left his room naked three times between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. Three days after that, he disrobed and attempted to run out of the house through the garage, but was stopped by staff arriving for shift change, the complaint said.

Police believe the man also went through the home’s garage the night he died. When they arrived, the garage door was open and “staff members were by the main entrance and exit and would have noticed (the man) attempting to leave,” the complaint read. “There were no footprints in the snow outside of (the man’s) windows.”

Police reviewed camera footage from a home located near where the man was found. It showed he walked past the camera on the sidewalk on westbound 17th Avenue at 3:22 a.m., just under an hour before he was found. “He was walking normally and did not appear to be injured,” the complaint read.

Onakoya, in an interview with police, admitted that he was sleeping in a downstairs bedroom off the living room. He said that he knows he is not supposed to sleep while at work and that “he never thought this would happen,” the complaint read.

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Onakoya’s signed work agreement states that he was not allowed to sleep at any time while at work, the complaint said.

Onakoya went before a judge on the charge and was granted conditional release from jail ahead of a next hearing scheduled for April 14. An attorney for Onakoya was not listed in his court file.

State records show the Department of Human Services temporarily suspended the license for the group home on Friday, pending further investigation. A message left Monday for the license holder, Pathways to Community, based in St. Paul, seeking comment on the suspension and the criminal case against Onakoya was not immediately returned.

The NBA trade deadline is Thursday afternoon, and Minnesota is expected to be in the mix between now and then amid the league-wide player movement frenzy.

Whether any such move is big or small in relative scope remains to be seen.

It is worth remembering Minnesota has been in the past two Western Conference Finals – it’s the only team in the West to reach consecutive conference finals since 2020. The Wolves’ front office does believe if you reach that point, you are a title contender.

Minnesota entered Monday’s slate seeded fifth in the conference’s playoff picture, just two and a half games out of the No. 2 spot.

With all that in mind, weighty decisions face basketball boss Tim Connelly and Co. over the next few days, as Minnesota must consider whether a seismic shakeup to a productive core is wise or foolish. And if tinkering is the proper path, what tiny maneuver could push the Timberwolves over the top?

The big swing

The Timberwolves remain firmly in the public conversation centered on a potential Giannis Antetokounmpo trade.

But Minnesota doesn’t have the draft capital the likes of, say, a Golden State possesses in negotiations. So a Wolves package would be built around current players.

It’s impossible to forecast a trade that wouldn’t feature talented two-way wing Jaden McDaniels going out to bring in Antetokounmpo – a top-three player in the NBA at the peak of his powers. Julius Randle and/or Naz Reid may need to be included, as well.

The result of such a deal, which would pair Edwards and Antetokounmpo as the NBA’s clear top tandem, would also require an on-the-fly restructuring of Minnesota’s entire roster.

Such all-in moves can result in championships, but they can also fly directly in the face of a franchise.

Connelly has proven to not be risk averse during his time in Minnesota, but this certainly would be a massive swing with numerous long-term implications.

A seventh man

Minnesota’s starting lineup has been effective for most of the season. But the bench production outside of Naz Reid – the frontrunner to win a second Sixth Man of the Year trophy – is hit or miss.

Bones Hyland has shown flashes, but he remains inconsistent on both ends of the floor. Mike Conley has struggled to score, and the tolls of an 82-game season weigh physically on the 38-year-old. Jaylen Clark’s defense is enticing, but his offense remains a hindrance. Terrence Shannon Jr. hasn’t panned out when healthy, and Rob Dillingham is out of the rotation entirely.

No team is stacked one through 10, but Minnesota doesn’t have a surefire seventh man it can consistently rely on behind its five starters and Reid.

That could be a point guard, sure. But could just as easily be a guard/wing combo player. Anyone who could provide more consistent offensive production while – perhaps more importantly – seamlessly fitting into the team’s desired defensive identity could increase confidence in the team’s rotation as a whole to go pound for pound with the best of the West for three consecutive playoff rounds.

The Nickeil Alexander-Walker archetype doesn’t grow on trees, but Minnesota’s rotation is missing exactly that type of player.

Of the names realistically available mentioned in connection with Minnesota, Bulls guard Ayo Dosunmu may best fit the bill.

Veteran center

A rim protecting center who could patrol the paint during the non-Rudy Gobert minutes looked like a must add earlier in the season, but rookie big man Joan Beringer’s aptitude in limited opportunities of late have quelled much of that concern.

Should Minnesota face a bigger front or need additional defensive resistance when its starting center is off the floor, Beringer looks to be at least as good of a solution as anything the Timberwolves would find available on the trade market.

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN – JANUARY 13: Joan Beringer #19 of the Minnesota Timberwolves defends Giannis Antetokounmpo #34 of the Milwaukee Bucks during the second quarter at Fiserv Forum on January 13, 2026 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)

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After selling out a pair of 2024 shows at the former Xcel Energy Center, singer/songwriter Noah Kahan will take his show outdoors when he headlines Target Field on Aug. 5.

Tickets go on sale at noon Feb. 12 through Ticketmaster. Fans have access to a presale if they register at signup.ticketmaster.com/noahkahan by the end of the day Thursday. Kahan is using Ticketmaster’s Face Value Exchange and tickets will be non-transferable and can only be resold on Ticketmaster at face value.

Raised on a tree farm in Vermont, Noah Kahan started writing songs at the age of eight. He later applied and was accepted to Tulane University, but chose instead to focus on his music. In 2017, he signed a deal with Republic Records and went on to score a hit in 2019 with the single “Hurt Somebody.”

Kahan’s second album “I Was/I Am” was largely ignored in 2021. When he set out to make 2022’s “Stick Season,” he adopted a more pronounced folk-pop style that struck a chord with listeners. Thanks in part to TikTok, the title track became a worldwide hit, as did 2023’s “Dial Drunk” with guest Post Malone.

Collaborating with other artists has become common for Kahan, who made “She Calls Me Back” with Kacey Musgraves, “Northern Attitude” with Hozier, “Everything, Everywhere” with Gracie Abrams and “Homesick” with Sam Fender. Kahan also guested on Zach Bryan’s single “Sarah’s Place,” a Top 5 hit on both rock and country radio.

Last week, Kahan released “The Great Divide,” the first single from his album of the same name, which is due out April 24.

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