Last year, country trio Rascal Flatts came roaring back to life with their first tour since 2019. Billed as an outing celebrating 25 years in the business, it was also a reunion for lead singer Gary LaVox, his second cousin (bass, vocals) Jay DeMarcus and guitarist Joe Don Rooney (guitar, vocals).

The guys had a tremendous first 15 or so years, but things started to fall apart after 2017’s relative flop “Back to Us.” In 2020, they announced they were embarking on a farewell tour that never happened due to the pandemic. Relations between the three soured in 2021 and following Rooney’s DUI arrest that September, the group quietly disbanded.

But after a few years of underwhelming solo efforts, the trio kissed and made up. Now settling into their new role as a nostalgia act, Rascal Flatts pulled in enough fans to make the 2025 tour a success and spawn a second leg that drew a crowd of about 13,000 to St. Paul’s Grand Casino Arena on Friday.

Judging by their sometimes frosty on-stage demeanor, however, it appears there may still be a few lingering grudges between them. LaVox, in particular, largely ignored his bandmates and, at times, felt like he was performing at a different concert then the rest of the guys on stage.

Now in their 50s, the three men’s vocals have largely held up, as was in evidence during audience pleasers like “Fast Cars and Freedom,” “Mayberry” and “These Days.” Early on, DeMarcus took center stage and delivered an impassioned pitch for Christianity. Rooney also shared a moment with the crowd and told them the story of how his DUI led him to a successful trip to rehab.

LeVox brought one of his openers, Lauren Alaina, to help him out on the power ballad “My Wish.” The “American Idol” vet boasts a big voice. As her own set proved, she’s also well versed at warming up crowds having toured with everyone from Carrie Underwood to Luke Bryan. (Chris Lane of “Fix” and “For Her” fame, was also on the bill.)

Later, DeMarcus performed a solo take of “Sweet Caroline” at the piano, which led into their 2004 cover of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s “Bless the Broken Road,” the group’s longest-running No. 1 single at five weeks. And, of course, they played their take on Tom Cochrane’s “Life Is a Highway,” which got a massive boost after it was used in the 2006 Pixar film “Cars.”

Rascal Flatts has scored more than 30 Top 10 hits, so it was a little surprising that they wrapped things up in a scant 95 minutes. Then again, Friday’s show was a reminder that much of Rascal Flatts’ output can get overly glossy and insincere, so maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

Catcher Victor Caratini and reliever Taylor Rogers each passed team physicals on Friday and were officially signed to free-agent contracts by the Twins. They join first baseman Josh Bell as the Twins’ only free agent acquisitions.

General manager Jeremy Zoll said there is still plenty of time for the team to add talent for 2026.

“I feel like we’ve made some really good headway there so far, and we’re excited to work through these next few weeks where we think there’ll be a lot of opportunities to find more ways to improve the club,” Zoll said Friday as the Twins began TwinsFest, their annual winter fan convention, at Target Field.

Caratini, 32, hit .259 with 12 home runs and a .786 OPS in 114 games with Houston last season. The veteran signed a two-year deal paying $7 million annually and will platoon behind the plate with Ryan Jeffers.

Rogers, 35, played with Cincinnati and the Chicago Cubs last season. The left-hander has a one-year deal worth $2 million. He closed 30 games and was an all-star for the Twins in 2019, and had a career-high 31 saves in 2022 with Milwaukee and San Diego.

Since then, however, he hasn’t been used in many save situations, earning just two more since 2022. Zoll said the Twins plan to use Rogers to get lefties out late in games.

To make room on the 40-man roster, the Twins designated right-handed pitcher Pierson Ohl and catcher Jhonny Pereda for release or assignment.

Bell, 33, hit .237 with 22 homers and 67 RBIs in 140 games for Washington last season. He signed a one-year, $7 million deal to be the Twins’ starting first baseman on Dec. 19.

“I think we’re really excited about the deals we were able to get done so far,” Zoll said. “I think we were trying to find that right balance and opportunity, and in the case of Bell and Caratini, guys that lift the lineup and raise the floor in that regard.”

Rogers is the first outside addition to a bullpen that was decimated by a busy trade deadline last July. The Twins traded away top relievers Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, Louis Varland, Caleb Thielbar, Danny Coulomb and Brock Stewart, so there are spots to be filled internally or through free agency.

Under president of baseball and business operations, the Twins have been active in the market through spring training, and Zoll said he and Falvey are confident they will add more talent before the team’s first full workout at the Hammond complex in Fort Myers, Fla., on Feb. 16.

Pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report Feb. 12.

“We’re really optimistic that we’re going to have some good chances to be opportunistic here over these next few weeks before we head down to Fort Myers to keep finding ways to supplement the club, complement it, strengthen the bullpen, and find any other creative ways to put the best team on the field for this year,” Zoll said.

Minor league invitations

The Twins announced the list of minor league prospects who have been invited to spring training, including outfielder Walker Jenkins, the fifth overall pick in the 2023 amateur draft. Shortstop Kaelen Culpepper, the 21st overall pick in 2025, also has been invited.

Jenkins worked his way from Class A to Class AAA St. Paul last season and hit .242 with five extra-base hits (two home runs) and eight RBIs in 22 games for the Saints. Culpepper started last season at high-A Cedar Rapids and moved up to Double-A Wichita, where he hit .285 with 22 home runs and 67 RBIs in 59 games.

Others in the Twins system who have been invited to camp: Trent Baker, Noah Cardenas, Kyler Fedko, Corey Lewis, Christian Macleod, Ricardo Olivar, Kala’i Rosario, Aaron Sabato, Tanner Schobel and Pat Winkel.

Briefly

The Twins’ first spring training game is scheduled for Feb. 20 against the University of Minnesota at Hammond Stadium.

The St. Thomas hockey teams had a thrilling pair of games Friday night. The women took No. 2 Ohio State to the limit before falling in Columbus, Ohio, while the No. 16 men surged past Lake Superior State in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.

Men: St. Thomas 7, Lake Superior State 4

Trailing 4-3 after two periods of play, the Tommies men were staring a bad loss in the face with one stanza left to play.

Fortunately for St. Thomas, they made the most of the final 20 minutes by surging to a 7-4 defeat of the Lakers on their home ice.

The two teams were tied at 1-all after Bauer Berry‘s goal countered the host’s initial strike less than two minutes into the opening period. However, Lake Superior State sandwiched the first intermission with three goals to take a 4-1 edge at 5:05 of the second period.

It was all Tommies from there, however, as the visitors rattled off six consecutive goals over the balance of the middle frame and the third period. Jake Braccini and Charlie Schoen scored two goals apiece, with Lucas Van Vliet and Nathan Pilling each adding a lone tally in the three-goal triumph.

Aaron Trotter replaced Carsen Musser as goaltender after the St. Thomas starter allowed three goals on seven shots. Trotter made 20 saves to help his team in its comeback efforts.

With the win, the Tommies remained atop the CCHA standings with a 12-3-2 conference mark to go with a 15-7-3 overall record. Lake Superior State fell to 9-15-1 overall, 6-11 in CCHA play. St. Thomas ran its winning streak to nine games, with its last loss coming on Dec. 5 against the Lakers. The two teams will wrap their regular-season series at 5:07 p.m. Saturday in a game broadcast on CCHA TV.

Women: Ohio State 2, St. Thomas 1 (OT)

The Tommies women were less than eight minutes away from pulling off one of the biggest wins in program history, but it was not to be.

With goaltender Julia Minotti standing on her head with a 45-save night, Whitney Horton‘s goal at 11:11 of the second period had St. Thomas clinging to a 1-0 lead before Ohio State snagged the game-tying goal at 7:58 of the third to send the game to overtime.

It didn’t last long from there as the hosts escaped with a 2-1 victory on a goal just 38 seconds into the added period.

The loss dropped the Tommies to 10-15 overall and 5-14 in WCHA play. The Buckeyes improved to 22-3 overall and 16-3 in the conference. The two teams take the ice once again at noon Saturday.

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A man was charged Friday with abducting a 7-year-old girl who had just gotten off her school bus in Zimmerman, Minn., on Wednesday and sexually assaulting her at a hotel in Plymouth.

Joseph Andrew Bragg, 28, of International Falls, Minn., is charged in Sherburne County District Court with kidnapping and first-degree criminal sexual assault of a child.

Joseph Andrew Bragg (Courtesy of the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office)

The girl’s disappearance led to a large search of the area in near-zero-degree weather, and an Amber Alert after investigators realized she was likely abducted by a stranger.

Bragg and the girl were located early Thursday in Albert Lea, Minn., more than 130 miles south of where she was abducted. The girl was taken to a hospital to be evaluated.

Authorities announced Bragg’s arrest at a Thursday morning news conference.

“This is every family’s worst nightmare to lose your child, whether they wander off in the terribly cold temperatures that we have in Minnesota, or in a case like this, that they were taken by somebody,” said Drew Evans, superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

Bragg remained jailed Friday in lieu of $4 million bail. An attorney for Bragg is not listed in his court case file.

Charges: He contacted mother through Facebook

According to the criminal complaint:

Deputies were notified the girl was missing about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. Family members said she had gone to school and was usually dropped off by the bus at 3:40 p.m. but had not returned home.

Camera footage from a neighbor showed the girl walking toward her home at 3:53 p.m. then turning and walking back toward her bus stop out of view. No vehicles or people were seen in the footage. Deputies canvassed the neighborhood in search of the girl.

The girl’s mother told law enforcement that she had an unusual online interaction last month involving someone with a Facebook profile username of “Joseph Bragg.” She said he added her as a friend on Facebook early last month and that she added him back as she thought she recognized him as a relative of an associate.

Bragg asked the mother questions about herself, including whether she had children, and “indicated he wanted children of his own, was not discouraged to learn a woman already had children, and indicated a desire to engage in activities with children,” the complaint says. He said he works in child care and asked the mother if she knew anyone in the Zimmerman/Princeton area looking for such services.

The mother ultimately blocked Bragg on Facebook.

The girl’s mother and father told law enforcement they are not otherwise familiar with a “Joseph Bragg,” prompting authorities to identify him as a suspect in the girl’s disappearance.

Law enforcement learned through its investigation that Bragg had access to a rented white 2025 Dodge Ram pickup truck. Location data of his cellphone showed he was traveling south toward the Iowa border, prompting the Amber Alert just before midnight.

At about 12:30 a.m. Thursday, a sergeant with the Albert Lea Police Department saw a white pickup truck matching the suspect’s vehicle at a gas pump in Albert Lea, about 12 miles from the border.

The officer followed the truck as it turned onto County Road 46 and confirmed its license plate number was that of the suspect’s vehicle. He saw the rear passenger taillight was not illuminating and made a traffic stop.

Bragg was driving and the girl was in the backseat, near or on top of a suitcase. No one else was in the truck. Bragg, who said he was on his way out of state, was arrested. He declined to give a statement to law enforcement.

He hired a Lyft driver

Investigators learned Bragg had a Lyft driver take him and the girl from a home residence in the Hamel/Corcoran area to a hotel in Plymouth. The Lyft driver reported driving a man and young female to the Ramada Inn. Hotel staff confirmed the defendant stayed in a room at the hotel.

The room was reserved for the time period between Dec. 27 and Wednesday. Hotel surveillance footage showed Bragg enter the hotel alone but carrying a large red suitcase that appeared to be difficult for him to handle. After about a half hour, Bragg left the hotel with the suitcase.

A search warrant was executed for the hotel room and law enforcement located a number of items, including unused diapers.

Law enforcement located Bragg’s car at home in Hamel. A resident there said Bragg asked to store his vehicle there because he would be traveling out of state.

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Location data confirmed the rented Dodge Ram was in the area of the girl’s home on Wednesday about the time she got off the bus, the complaint says. The truck was also in the same area at the same approximate time the previous day.

The girl was forensically interviewed and examined and reported being in a room with Bragg with her clothes off and described how she was sexually assaulted, the complaint says.

Evans: Talk to your children

Evans, of the BCA, commended the efforts of 200 members of law enforcement and 700 volunteers of the community who “scrambled together” after the girl’s disappearance.

In this case, he said, “there was a lot going on trying to determine if this child was missing, which happens every day across our state, or abducted. And as you can see, this team honed in on this and this frankly evil individual that took this child in this situation.”

Evans said the case highlights the importance of parents talking to their children about strangers who might approach them and ask to go with them.

“It’s a good reminder at this point in time,” he said. “Luckily, we have a child that’s alive today. … But we want to also make sure we’re reinforcing that with our children — unless the parent specifically is the one telling them to go with that person, that they do not get in a vehicle with that person.”