Chris Finch has a history of sticking with trusted veterans, even during lengthy mid-season struggles.

Kyle Anderson couldn’t find his shot and at times crushed Minnesota’s offensive spacing because of it two years ago.

Julius Randle’s fit was clunky, at best, over the first half of last season.

Yet the Timberwolves’ coach never flinched in regards to his backing of both players. Anderson’s spot in the rotation was never threatened, nor was Randle’s spot in the starting lineup.

Finch’s patience paid off in the playoffs with both guys, with Anderson serving as a key cog in Minnesota’s run to the Western Conference Finals in 2024, and Randle doing the same in 2025.

Mike Conley is another test. Frankly, a reboot of one from a year ago for Finch.

The veteran point guard is struggling with his shot this season, hitting just 34% of his 3-point attempts this season. That number plummets to 24% since Dec. 1.

Which renders Conley as a de facto “zero” in the scoring department in his current state. He hasn’t been effective attacking off the bounce over the last two seasons. So when the outside shot isn’t falling, he’s simply not a threat to score in any fashion. Conley hasn’t produced a single point in either of Minnesota’s last two losses to San Antonio or Utah.

That’s frustrating for fans to watch. Pitchforks were out with added force following Minnesota’s inexplicable loss to the tanking Jazz on Tuesday.

Minnesota’s current three-game skid has led to similar calls from various corners of the internet for the coach to take action on a struggling veteran. Will he?

There are compelling reasons to this season. Conley’s net rating – how the team is performing when he’s on the floor – is worst among all current rotational players.

Plus, the Timberwolves have actual options to turn to. Conley exiting the rotation could free up playing time for rookie center Joan Beringer if the likes of Naz Reid and Jaden McDaniels slid down positions in the lineup. Or, more plausibly, Jaylen Clark and/or Bones Hyland could simply absorb Conley’s minutes.

Those are more enticing routes for Finch to take than demoting a struggling Randle last season to promote a struggling Reid. Or to take Anderson out of the rotation in favor of … no other real legitimate NBA option two years ago, when depth pieces like Troy Brown and Shake Milton struggled so mightily in Minnesota they were dealt during the season for Monte Morris, who hasn’t regained his NBA footing at other stops over the last two years.

Minnesota could also make a move at or prior to the trade deadline to upgrade the roster at the guard position and potentially force Finch’s hand.

But he could still stick with Conley. He trusts Conley and what he brings to the floor – Conley’s decision-making with the ball and team defense are very much still positive assets for this team – even if that package doesn’t include an ounce of scoring. There could be something to say for Conley’s mere presence on the court. The last two games he sat for rest purposes in December — against Atlanta and Brooklyn — were both embarrassing losses for Minnesota.

The tide could turn on the shooting. Conley shot 36% from deep pre-Christmas last season, and 44% from deep after the holiday. A similar bounce back is no guarantee. Conley is now 38 years old. Father Time does eventually come for all.

And it won’t be as easy for the veteran – who has started his entire career up until this season – to find the rhythm he’s searching for in his diminished reserve role. But that’s the job currently available on this roster. It’s on Conley to find a way to fill it. If he can’t, Finch may eventually have to make a tough decision.

But history suggests the coach will give the player who has done so much for the team in recent years every chance to correct course before taking an alternative route.

It also suggests he’s right for doing so. A slow trigger may be the most accurate shot.

HOUSTON, TEXAS – JANUARY 16: Mike Conley #10 of the Minnesota Timberwolves walks to the locker room for half time during the game against the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center on January 16, 2026 in Houston, Texas. 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 Kenneth Richmond/Getty Images)

 

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By TODD RICHMOND

Congressional Republicans moved closer Wednesday to lifting a 20-year ban on mining near Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, pushing a resolution to end the moratorium through the House despite environmentalists’ warnings that it could devastate a premier destination for campers, kayakers and canoeists.

The resolution now goes to the Senate, and approval there would send it to President Donald Trump for his signature.

The push to end the ban comes as a Chilean mining company considers opening a copper mine in the Superior National Forest on the edge of the wilderness area that conservationists say could contaminate the watershed.

“Minnesota’s Boundary Waters is one of our nation’s most iconic wilderness areas,” Jackie Feinberg, the Sierra Club’s national lands conservation campaign manager, said in a statement. “This push by the Trump administration and their Congressional allies to allow toxic mining in the Boundary Waters watershed puts this fragile ecosystem at risk, and is a clear giveaway to corporate polluters.”

A beloved destination for outdoor enthusiasts

Boundary Waters is a vast swath of remote woods, lakes and swamps in the Superior National Forest in far northeastern Minnesota, stretching for about 150 miles (about 240 kilometers) along the border with Canada.

It remains largely untouched by humans; logging is prohibited, planes must stay above 4,000 feet (1,220 meters) as they fly over it, except in emergencies, and motorized boats are limited to certain areas.

The promise of serenity has drawn campers, hikers, kayakers and canoeists for decades. The U.S. Forest Service issued about 776,000 visitor permits between 2020 and 2024, according to agency data.

The Biden administration banned mining

Part of the Superior National Forest is situated on the Duluth Complex, a rock formation that contains deposits of copper, nickel, lead, zinc, iron, silver and gold, according to the Forest Service.

Twin Metals Minnesota LLC, a subsidiary of Chile-based Antofagasta Minerals, submitted a plan with the U.S. Department of the Interior in 2019 proposing to mine copper, nickel, cobalt and other precious metals in the forest.

President Joe Biden’s administration blocked the project in 2023, imposing a 20-year moratorium on mining on about 400 square miles (103,600 hectares) in the forest, saying that was necessary to protect the watershed and canoe wilderness.

Trump pushes to relaunch mining projects

The president has sought to bolster domestic energy and mineral production, declaring an energy emergency just days after retaking office a year ago. Last fall his administration reinstated a 2017 legal opinion that allowed Twin Metals to renew its leases in the Superior National Forest, and Minnesota regulators approved its exploratory mining plans in December.

This month U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber, a Duluth Republican, introduced the resolution to lift the Biden-era moratorium, saying it has cost jobs, put the nation’s mineral security at risk and is “an attack on our way of life.”

The House approved it on a voice vote Wednesday afternoon. It’s unclear when or if the Senate will take it up.

National security or toxic threat?

Republicans said on the House floor that they must open the door to mining near the canoe area to compete with China and Russia in the race for key minerals such as cobalt, copper and nickel. Stauber, almost shouting at times, called the moratorium “a dangerous, purely political decision.”

“It’s better in our backyard than in China or Russia or other adversarial nations,” he said.

Democrats painted mining as an existential threat to the wilderness and said any minerals extracted would just be sold on the international market anyway.

“Some places are just too precious to mine,” said Betty McCollum, a Minnesota Democrat.

Stauber brought the resolution under the Congressional Review Act, which allows lawmakers to overturn certain actions by federal agencies.

Democrats argued that the resolution was out of order because Republicans had to bring it within 60 days of the ban’s implementation, not three years later, and such resolutions cannot be used to erase public land protections. They said approving it would set a dangerous precedent.

Republicans countered that the Biden administration failed to formerly notify Congress of the ban in 2023.

By REBECCA SANTANA, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal immigration officers are asserting sweeping power to forcibly enter people’s homes without a judge’s warrant, according to an internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo obtained by The Associated Press, marking a sharp reversal of longstanding guidance meant to respect constitutional limits on government searches.

The memo authorizes ICE officers to use force to enter a residence based solely on a more narrow administrative warrant to arrest someone with a final order of removal, a move that advocates say collides with Fourth Amendment protections and upends years of advice given to immigrant communities.

The shift comes as the Trump administration dramatically expands immigration arrests nationwide, deploying thousands of officers under a mass deportation campaign that is already reshaping enforcement tactics in cities such as Minneapolis.

For years, immigrant advocates, legal aid groups and local governments have urged people not to open their doors to immigration agents unless they are shown a warrant signed by a judge. That guidance is rooted in Supreme Court rulings that generally prohibit law enforcement from entering a home without judicial approval. The ICE directive directly undercuts that advice at a time when arrests are accelerating under the administration’s immigration crackdown.

The memo itself has not been widely shared within the agency, according to a whistleblower complaint, but its contents have been used to train new ICE officers who are being deployed into cities and towns to implement the president’s immigration crackdown. New ICE hires and those still in training are being told to follow the memo’s guidance instead of written training materials that actually contradict the memo, according to the whistleblower disclosure.

It is unclear how broadly the directive has been applied in immigration enforcement operations. The Associated Press witnessed ICE officers ramming through the front door of the home of a Liberian man in Minneapolis on Jan. 11 with only an administrative warrant, wearing heavy tactical gear and with their rifles drawn.

The change is almost certain to meet legal challenges and stiff criticism from advocacy groups and immigrant-friendly state and local governments that have spent years successfully urging people not to open their doors unless ICE shows them a warrant signed by a judge.

The Associated Press obtained the memo and whistleblower complaint from an official in Congress, who shared it on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive documents. The AP verified the authenticity of the accounts in the complaint.

The memo, signed by the acting director of ICE, Todd Lyons, and dated May 12, 2025, says: “Although the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has not historically relied on administrative warrants alone to arrest aliens subject to final orders of removal in their place of residence, the DHS Office of the General Counsel has recently determined that the U.S. Constitution, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and the immigration regulations do not prohibit relying on administrative warrants for this purpose.”

The memo does not detail how that determination was made nor what its legal repercussions might be.

When asked about the memo, Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in an emailed statement to the AP that everyone the department serves with an administrative warrant has already had “full due process and a final order of removal.”

She said the officers issuing those warrants have also found probable cause for the person’s arrest. She said the Supreme Court and Congress have “recognized the propriety of administrative warrants in cases of immigration enforcement,” without elaborating. McLaughlin did not respond to questions about whether ICE officers entered a person’s home since the memo was issued relying solely on an administrative warrant and if so, how often.

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Recent arrests shine a light on tactics

Whistleblower Aid, a non-profit legal organization that assists workers exposing wrongdoings, said in the whistleblower complaint obtained by The Associated Press that it represents two anonymous U.S. government officials “disclosing a secretive – and seemingly unconstitutional – policy directive.”

A wave of recent high-profile arrests, many unfolding at private homes and businesses and captured on video, has shined a spotlight on immigration arrest tactics, including officers’ use of proper warrants.

Most immigration arrests are carried out under administrative warrants, internal documents issued by immigration authorities that authorize the arrest of a specific individual but do not permit officers to forcibly enter private homes or other non-public spaces without consent. Only warrants signed by judges carry that authority.

All law enforcement operations — including those conducted by ICE and Customs and Border Protection — are governed by the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, which protects all people in the country from unreasonable searches and seizures.

People can legally refuse federal immigration agents entry into private property if the agents only have an administrative warrant, with some limited exceptions.

Federal agents this month rammed the door of the Minneapolis home of a Liberian man with a deportation order from 2023, who was then arrested. Documents reviewed by The AP revealed that the agents only had an administrative warrant — meaning there was no judge who authorized the raid on private property.

Memo shown to ‘select’ officials

The memo says ICE officers can forcibly enter homes and arrest immigrants using just a signed administrative warrant known as an I-205 if they have a final order of removal issued by an immigration judge, the Board of Immigration Appeals or a district judge or magistrate judge.

The memo says officers must first knock on the door and share who they are and why they’re at the residence. They’re limited in the hours they can go into the home — after 6 a.m. and before 10 p.m. The people inside must be given a “reasonable chance to act lawfully.” But if that doesn’t work, the memo says, they can use force to go in.

“Should the alien refuse admittance, ICE officers and agents should use only a necessary and reasonable amount of force to enter the alien’s residence, following proper notification of the officer or agent’s authority and intent to enter,” the memo reads.

The memo is addressed to all ICE personnel. But it has been shown only to “select DHS officials” who then shared it with some employees who were told to read it and return it, Whistleblower Aid wrote in the disclosure.

One of the two whistleblowers was allowed to view the memo only in the presence of a supervisor and then had to give it back. That person was not allowed to take notes. A whistleblower was able to access the document and lawfully disclose to Congress, Whistleblower Aid said.

Although the memo was issued in May, David Kligerman, senior vice president and special counsel at Whistleblower Aid, said it took time for its clients to find a “safe and legal path to disclose it to lawmakers and the American people.”

ICE officers are told to rely solely on administrative warrants, memo says

ICE has been rapidly hiring thousands of new deportation officers to carry out the president’s mass deportation agenda. They’re trained at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Brunswick, Georgia.

During a visit there by The Associated Press in August, ICE officials said repeatedly that new officers were being trained to follow the Fourth Amendment.

But according to the whistleblowers’ account, newly hired ICE officers are being told they can rely solely on administrative warrants to enter homes to make arrests even though that conflicts with written Homeland Security training materials.

ICE officers often wait for hours for the person they’re hoping to arrest to come outside so they can make the arrest on the sidewalk or at the person’s work — public places where they are allowed to operate without the risk of infringing on the person’s Fourth Amendment rights.

Whistleblower Aid called the new policy a “complete break from the law” and said it undercuts the “Fourth Amendment and the rights it protects.”

St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Wednesday addressed the ongoing immigration crackdown in their cities and federal subpoenas brought against their them this week during a public discussion at the University of St. Thomas.

Two weeks after the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent during a confrontation in Minneapolis, Her said she is “absolutely” concerned that something similar could eventually unfold in St. Paul as thousands of enforcement officers continue to make arrests in the Twin Cities.

“Every single time we get reports that there is a large gathering of ICE vehicles…  I say a prayer, hoping that it doesn’t end the same way,” the new mayor said during a “Breakfast with the Mayors” event moderated by KSTP news reporter Tom Hauser.

St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, left, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, center, and moderator KSTP Reporter Tom Hauser, talk about the impact the ICE surge has made on the Twin Cities at the annual St. Paul Area Chamber and Minneapolis Regional Chamber Breakfast. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

Both Frey and Her noted that it is difficult for their city police departments to contend with the presence of thousands of ICE and U.S. Border Patrol agents when the Minneapolis police department has around 600 officers, and St. Paul has just under that number.

‘This isn’t about who is inflaming a situation’

Her and Frey also disputed characterizations of Minnesota officials’ rhetoric as stoking tensions in the state.

“This isn’t about who is inflaming a situation. This is political retribution, and our president has said that very publicly that that is what he is going to do,” Her said. “It doesn’t matter what we say or do right now … we are a target, and we’re going to continue to be a target, and let’s not forget that the aggressor is the federal government.”

Her, who took office earlier this month, said she was “surprised” when FBI agents arrived at the St. Paul mayor’s office Tuesday to deliver the subpoena seeking records in connection to a Trump administration probe into whether she and other Democratic Minnesota officials obstructed immigration enforcement operations.

“We are talking with our legal team and figuring out a path forward,” Her said in response to a question about what the city planned to do next. “This is not something that we … come across every day, so you want to make sure they really understand and comply.”

Immigration enforcement surge

The annual Breakfast with the Mayors event, organized by the Minneapolis and St. Paul Area chambers of commerce, shifted from its usual tone this year as Minnesota leaders’ conflict with the Trump administration remains in the national spotlight. Wednesday’s event focused largely on the immigration enforcement surge.

Her indirectly weighed in on this weekend’s storming of a St. Paul church service by anti-immigration enforcement protesters, who identified a pastor there as being in charge of the ICE field office in St. Paul.

The protest at Cities Church on Summit Avenue drew condemnation from national conservative figures, disapproval from Democratic Gov. Tim Walz and the threat of federal charges by the U.S. Department of Justice. Her said the federal government shouldn’t ask others to do things that it is not willing to do itself.

“That is an ongoing investigation, so I don’t want to comment specifically on that,” she said. “(But) if our federal government wants us to condemn the actions in one place, which I am very much willing to do, that means we also have to condemn the fact that ICE agents are not letting people get (medical) examinations … There are a lot of sacred spaces that we should be adhering to.”

Frey: Federal subpoenas ‘intimidation’

Frey called the subpoenas an attempt at “intimidation” and stood by what he called his city’s efforts to protect residents.

“You do not get to subpoena and federally investigate mayors because they speak up for their constituencies, which, by the way, is one of the core functions in our city charter,” he said. “You do not get to randomly yank Somali people and Latino people off the street because of the way that they look. You do not get to just ask for their passports because they happen to look like they’re not from here. By the way, if you’ve around Minneapolis and St Paul the last 25 years — they do look like they’re from here.”

Her and Frey did touch on some business-related issues, though largely as they related to the immigration crackdown and actions by the Trump administration.

Asked if they believed further negative media attention on the state would harm economic activity in the long run, Her said she believed long-term investors and developers, such as those working to revitalize downtown commercial real estate, understand that current political difficulties for the region will pass.

Though she expressed concern about the negative effects of ICE operations on local business traffic, which has seen declines in some areas of the Twin Cities amid the heightened enforcement presence.

“When consumers can’t consume, it impacts our taxes … But I don’t think that Trump and the federal government understand the economic impact this has on us,” she said. “Closing a business happens very quickly, but starting one up can take years, which means this is going to impact us, even if they were out here in another couple of months, this is going to have a lasting economic impact.”

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Frey urged shopping in Minneapolis’ “cultural corridors” and neighborhoods to help support local and immigrant business owners affected by the surge.

“They need us right now, Latino and Somali and Hmong and Southeast Asian owned businesses,” he said. “They need us to get them through this now. And so be there for them. I think that is of critical importance.”