Tom Pohlad was officially announced as the Twins executive chair on Dec. 17, meaning not just that he’s the face of the team’s ownership, but in charge of, and ultimately responsible for, the team’s financial and competitive success.

It’s a plum gig, but it came with immediate feedback for the newest public face of the family that has owned the Twins since 1984.

“I did get a lot of voicemails,” Pohlad said, and the overall tenor of those calls wasn’t, let’s say, congratulatory.

That’s what happens when you’re named the captain of a listing ship; your first job is to get it back into seafaring shape. Until that happens, fan anger and skepticism will remain.

Since winning World Series in 1987 and 1991, the Twins have really only flirted with postseason relevance. After winning the American League Central and advancing to the AL Championship Series in 2002, they fell into a pattern of regular-season competitiveness and postseason incompetence. When the Twins won a three-game wild-card series in 2023, it snapped an 18-game postseason skid, the longest in major league history.

Because the Twins tanked down the stretch in 2024 and 2025, that skid remains the leading indicator of the team’s recent success. It was exacerbated last July when the Twins used the trade deadline to ship 11 veterans — 10 playing major roles on a team that still had a chance of making the playoffs — to other teams for prospects.

Fans were swift in relaying their displeasure, and nearly five months later, Pohlad — who took over from his brother, Joe, as the team’s executive chair — got a fresh earful. It wasn’t just voicemails, either. One of his first decisions was to call all 50 season-ticket holders who hadn’t renewed for the 2026 season.

“I had one guy hang up because they thought it was a hoax,” Pohlad said Friday as the Twins kicked off their annual TwinsFest fan event at Target Field. “I had to call him back and say, ‘This is Tom Pohlad.’ And let’s say, the response wasn’t necessarily kind.”

Tom Pohlad

Another responded with a text message that Pohlad characterized as “probably like, ‘Until I see a bigger investment in payroll, I’m not taking your call.’”

Pohlad isn’t giving up, though.

During TwinsFest on Saturday, he’ll sit down with 40 to 50 season ticket holders for what he called a “town hall” event.

He also traveled to Georgia to talk with longtime center fielder Byron Buxton and California to meet with veteran starting pitcher Joe Ryan. He was scheduled to meet with starter Pablo Lopez later Friday.

Those three are the undisputed veteran leadership in what has become a young clubhouse. Reaching out to them in person, Lopez said, is “a really professional move.”

“If that’s our leader, then I think we have to follow suit and keep those values in mind — connecting, making sure everyone is taking care of, making sure that you are meeting expectations … that you are turning things around,” Lopez said. “So, it starts at the top.”

But it’s going to take a village, of course.

New manager Derek Shelton inherits a strong, deep rotation that stretches into the Triple-A roster with Mick Abel and Taj Bradley — some of the spoils of the trade-deadline purge — but also a lot of young position players who struggled to score runs in August and September.

The trade deadline moves, and subsequent sacking of manager Rocco Baldelli after seven years, serves as a reset. “Not a rebuild, a reset,” Pohlad insisted, although offseason acquisitions have been few and uninspiring, so far.

The team brought on some minority investors for the first time this offseason in an effort to bolster coffers that were in the red, in part because of COVID-19 and the quick collapse of a broadcast model that relied on cable. Pohlad also acknowledged missteps, as well, such as not investing in the roster after winning a playoff series for the first time since 2002.

“We kind of tripped over ourselves, if you will,” he said. “And we certainly didn’t do a good job of communicating what we were going through, and what we were trying to accomplish.”

“We had a lot of time where we’ve had one good season, one bad season, one good season, one bad season,” he added. “That’s frustrating to a fan base, and it doesn’t communicate, in my opinion, that we have a strategy, that we’re just scattershot.

“We’re trying to build something different, something sustainable.”

If you don’t like what you see this summer, leave a message after the beep.

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By JACK BROOK and SARAH RAZA, Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota activist who was charged for her role in an anti-immigration enforcement protest at a church released her own video of her arrest Friday after the White House posted a manipulated image online.

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The White House on Thursday posted a picture on its X page of civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong crying with her hands behind her back as she was escorted by a blurred person wearing a badge. The photo was captioned in all caps: “Arrested far-left agitator Nekima Levy Armstrong for orchestrating church riots in Minnesota.”

A photo posted by Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem’s account showed the same image with Levy Armstrong wearing a neutral expression.

Levy Armstrong, who was arrested with at least two others Thursday for an anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protest that disrupted a service at a church where an ICE official also serves as a pastor, released her own video. Levy Armstrong is out of jail, said Jordan Kushner, who represented her in court Thursday. He declined to comment further.

The video shot by Levy Armstrong’s husband, Marques Armstrong, shows several federal agents approaching to arrest her.

“I’m asking you to please treat me with dignity and respect,” she said to the agents.

“We have to put you in handcuffs,” one agent said, while another held up a phone and appeared to record a video.

“Why are you recording?” Levy Armstrong asked. “I would ask that you not record.”

“It’s not going to be on Twitter,” the agent filming said. “It’s not going to be on anything like that.”

“We don’t want to create a false narrative,” the agent said.

At no point in the more than seven-minute video — which shows Levy Armstrong being handcuffed and led into a government vehicle — did Levy Armstrong appear to cry. Instead, she talked with agents about her arrest.

“You know that this is a significant abuse of power,” she said. “Because I refuse to be silent in the face of brutality from ICE.”

“I’m not in here to get in a political debate,” the agent filming said.

In an audio message that Levy Armstrong’s spokesperson shared with The Associated Press, Levy Armstrong said the video of her arrest exposes that the Trump administration had used AI to manipulate images of her arrest.

“We are being politically persecuted for speaking out against authoritarianism, fascism and the tyranny of the Trump administration,” said Levy Armstrong, who recorded the message Friday morning during a call with her husband from jail.

The Department of Homeland Security didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Associated Press reporters Giovanna Dell’Orto in Minneapolis and Tiffany Stanley in Washington, D.C., contributed.

A 17-year-old was sentenced Friday to 25½ years in prison for his role in the stabbing death of his friend near Harding High School in St. Paul, a killing that allegedly was over a threat sent through Snapchat.

Jay’Mier Givens (Courtesy of Waynesha Givens)

Jay’Mier Keymari Givens, 19, of St. Paul, was killed in the Dayton’s Bluff neighborhood on March 31. He’d been stabbed 22 times, with most of the wounds to his back and one to his neck, and was found by first responders lying face up and unresponsive on a sidewalk near Harding. He had a pulse, but was pronounced dead about a half-hour later at Regions Hospital.

Police arrested Jeremy Joe Davila, St. Paul, who turned 17 the day of the killing, and a 14-year-old boy. Last month, Davila waived juvenile certification and pleaded guilty in Ramsey County adult court as charged to aiding and abetting second-degree intentional murder. He agreed to the presumptive guideline sentence of 25½ years to avoid an aggravated sentence.

According to the complaint against Davila, the 14-year-old told police that both he and Davila had knives and repeatedly stabbed Givens. The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office said that because of the 14-year-old’s age it could not provide information about him under Minnesota data privacy laws.

‘Just horrible to me’

Givens graduated from Journeys Secondary School in St. Paul four months before his murder.

On Friday, his mother, Waynesha Givens, pulled out his graduation hat and diploma and showed them to the courtroom during her victim impact statement, saying: “It was not easy getting there, but we did it.”

She gave birth to her son at age 14, she said, adding “knowing that he only had this short time on Earth is just horrible to me. … But Jay’Mier is still here with us, I feel it in my heart. And he made me who I am today.”

She said her son, Givens and the boy were friends.

“Jay’Mier spoke so highly of Jeremy, not one bad thing ever,” she said.

“I thought that he was your homey, bro,” Jay’Mier’s uncle DeWayne Givens said while looking at Davila, who kept his head down for much of the hearing.

Jay’Mier’s aunt Rodnisha Love said he turned 19 the month he was murdered.

“That these kids took his life is not fair,” she said.

Snapchat threat

Givens’ cellphone showed he received a call at 10:04 p.m. on March 31. There were also multiple text messages between 10:07 and 10:34 p.m., during which someone from the number said they had a stolen Kia vehicle and wanted Givens to come “smoke n chill.”

Givens’ brother told police that Givens had left the home that night “to smoke” with his two friends, who he identified as “JC” and “Jeremy.”

The 14-year-old’s girlfriend told investigators that Givens had threatened over Snapchat to kill her 1½-year-old son and that the 14-year-old was upset about it, the complaint says.

After police arrested the 14-year-old, he said they’d texted Givens and “fabricated the story about the stolen Kia … because they knew it would interest Givens.” He stated, “that was a coverup” and “there was no car.”

The mother of Davila, who was also the foster mother of the 14-year-old, told police she hadn’t seen either teen since April 1, the day that Davila told the family they needed to leave “because it was not safe” and mentioned retaliation, according to the complaint.

The 14-year-old told police that when he, Davila and Givens met up and were smoking marijuana, he asked Givens “why he said that stuff” about his girlfriend’s son. He said he and Davila pulled out knives and stabbed Givens, adding: “We both did it multiple times.”

On April 8, police carried out a search warrant at the address linked to Davila and the 14-year-old on Margaret Street between Hazelwood and Germain streets. They found two knives hidden in basement rafters.

Admission in court

At his Dec. 5 plea hearing, Davila, upon questioning by his attorney Bobby Champion, said the three agreed to meet to smoke marijuana and walked into a wooded area, just west of the high school.

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Davila agreed with his attorney’s assertion that an “unpleasant” conversation broke out between the three of them in the woods, according to a transcript of the hearing filed in court.

Davila said he pulled out a knife, as did the 14-year-old, and they both stabbed Givens, who then tried to run away.

On Friday, Davila’s attorney told Ramsey County District Judge Jacob Kraus that he was remorseful and has taken responsibility for what he did.

Davila declined to address the court before hearing his sentence. The judge asked whether he was sure about that, to which the teen said, “May he rest in peace.”

EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988.

Colorado Bureau of Investigation officials on Friday confirmed the 2005 death of renowned author and journalist Hunter S. Thompson was a result of suicide, almost six months after the state started reviewing the case by request of the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office.

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State investigators started reviewing the case after Thompson’s widow, Anita Thompson, reached out to Pitkin County Sheriff Michael Buglione with concerns about her late husband’s death at their home, Owl Farm, in Woody Creek on Feb. 20, 2005.

“While we have always believed the original investigation was conducted properly, we recognized the importance of an independent review for the Thompson family,” Buglione said in a statement. “CBI’s conclusions reaffirm the original findings and, we hope, provide reassurance and clarity.”

Hunter S. Thompson was 67 years old when he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his home near Aspen. Family members said he had dealt with suicidal ideation and had instructed them on what to do with his body.

CBI’s case review included looking at original the investigation records from Pitkin County and autopsy report from forensic pathologist Dr. Dean Havlik; interviewing Anita Thompson, Hunter S. Thompson’s son Juan Thompson and former daughter-in-law Jennifer Thompson; along with original lead investigators Ron Ryan, county coroner Steven Ayers and former sheriff Joe DiSalvo.

State officials also re-examined the scene of his death, which was necessary because “most original physical evidence and photographs had been disposed of by the PCSO in accordance with non-criminal case retention schedules,” the CBI said Friday.

Investigators also did a trajectory analysis and scene reconstruction, which was consistent with all previous reports.

“The CBI’s review did not uncover any new physical evidence, facts, or circumstances to support a conclusion different from the 2005 investigation,” agency officials said.

Colorado officials also did not find any inconsistent information between the follow-up interviews and scene examination and original investigation.

“Original crime scene photographs, recovered by Anita Thompson, were reviewed and corroborated that Thompson’s body was aligned with the bullet trajectory, supporting the finding that the body was not moved or ‘staged’ after death,” CBI officials said.

“All speculative theories could not be substantiated,” state officials noted later.

Hunter S. Thompson was best known for developing gonzo journalism, an often-hyperbolic style of writing in which the author includes themselves as a main figure in the story.

He worked as a national affairs correspondent for Rolling Stone and penned the semi-autobiographical novel “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” which was developed into a 1998 film starring Johnny Depp and Benicio del Toro.

But Hunter S. Thompson went on to experience “physical and mental decline” and also idolized author Ernest Hemingway, who died by suicide, CBI officials said.

In a New York Times story published Sunday, family members said he showed signs that he planned to take his own life, like watching his favorite movie with his grandson and giving away gifts before his death.

Anita Thompson thanked CBI officials for their work in a statement released by the agency.

“This allows all of us who loved Hunter to move forward with a clean conscience,” she said.