Minnesota officials are recommending that lawmakers pass legislation this session for weapons screening at the state Capitol.

During the last meeting of the Advisory Committee on Capitol Area Security on Tuesday members voted on potential security changes in accordance with a third-party assessment from The Axtell Group. The Axtell Group was hired July 29 in response to the Minnesota lawmaker shootings on June 14, as well as a break-in and threats of violence at the Capitol.

Weapons screening — which passed 4-2 — was the only recommendation from the report to not pass unanimously. Other recommendations include emergency drills and technology systems integration. The full 400-page report of Axtell’s assessment and recommendations is not available to the public as it is protected by the Government Data Privacy Act and contains sensitive security information, lawmakers said.

At the committee’s Jan. 7 meeting, Todd Axtell, former St. Paul police chief and founder of the Axtell group, said screening is the “biggest bang for your buck.”

“The No. 1 thing that the state of Minnesota could do to help keep people more safe in these spaces is to screen for dangerous items,” he said.

Funding

One of the members who voted against the weapons screening provision was Rep. Jim Nash, R-Waconia.

“The funding picture is beyond unclear, and my reticence on moving forward on that is because we don’t have an understanding of where things are. And as my legislative career has unfolded here, I don’t vote for things that I don’t have my arms folded around from a funding perspective,” he said Tuesday.

Rep. Kelly Moller, DFL-Shoreview, said she doesn’t think the funding rationale stands, as other security measures recommended Tuesday could also carry costs.

“I’m still a little uncertain as to why they use the funding rationale to vote ‘no’ for the thing that was the No. 1 item that the security folks said that we could do that would result in the biggest bang for our buck when it comes to security,” Moller said. “I really do hope that that changes when these bills do come before the Legislature.”

No explicit weapons vote

The committee didn’t explicitly vote on whether to ban certain weapons at the Capitol on Tuesday, despite at least some support from the public to do so. Lexi Anderson with Students Demand Action testified in favor of banning guns before the committee.

“Plans being discussed are a great first step. Banning guns from Capitol grounds should also be part of the safety plan when students come here, it matters that we know that adults are thinking ahead about our safety,” she said. “The first thing my mom said to me when I told her I was here today to testify … ‘I don’t know if that’s safe.’ My friends who are part of Students Demand Action aren’t here today because they are afraid of being shot and detained in this very building.”

It’s not clear whether the vote to recommend weapons screening includes a recommendation to ban guns. After the meeting adjourned, Sen. Bonnie Westlin, DFL-Plymouth, said she thinks banning guns is “implicit” in the weapons screening recommendation.

“I think that addressing guns on the Capitol is implicit in this weapons screening, and I think the lieutenant governor has said, ‘We’re going to screen for weapons. That’s what we’re recommending, and that people should not be bringing guns on the Capitol complex,’” Westlin said.

Minnesota 1 of 6 capitols that don’t restrict firearms

Minnesota’s is one of six capitols that don’t restrict firearms, and one of 10 without some form of weapons screening, according to the Axtell group.

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A Minnesota State Fair poll conducted by Minnesota House Research found 79% of 10,000 fairgoers favored banning guns. At an Advisory Committee on Capitol Area Security meeting on Jan. 7, Maggiy Emery, executive director of Protect Minnesota, testified in favor of banning guns.

“We’re living through a period of rapidly rising political violence,” she said. “Allowing guns in the Capitol doesn’t make this building safer. It magnifies intimidation, silences voices, and pushes advocates, staff and community members out of civic engagement. No one should have to choose between protecting their life, engaging in democracy and doing their job.”

The St. Thomas Ice Arena’s frozen surface features six blue goal creases, four of them on the sides for practice use. The only two that matter, of course, are at either end and St. Thomas Academy’s Owen Ryan tended them to near perfection Tuesday night during a 3-1 defeat of Edina.

Undated courtesy photo, circle January, 2026, of St. Thomas Academy freshman goalie Owen Ryan. (Courtesy of St. Thomas Academy)

Ryan, a 6-foot-1, 170-pound freshman from White Bear Lake, stopped 22 shots, including a dozen during the third period, justifying coach Mark Strobel’s faith in returning him to the net after starts against Edina and equally powerful Moorhead earlier this month resulted in a loss and a tie.

“He wasn’t his sharpest mentally and it translated to how he moved in the net,” said Strobel, whose team was  2-3-2 over its last seven games entering Tuesday’s contest. “Tonight, he bounced back and had a coming-out party under pressure. He grew the last couple of games, and this will build confidence.”

Said Ryan: “It’s good to know the coach believes in you. I had a few butterflies before the game, but I did some breathing exercises to keep my mind calm.”

St. Thomas, ranked fourth in the latest Let’s Play Hockey state coaches poll, used goals by Oliver Marvin, Cole Braunshausen and Maverick McKinnon to overcome a lackluster first period against the third-ranked Hornets. Edina sniper Tucker Johnson produced his team’s lone goal.

Hornets goaltender Chase Bjorgaard, last seen producing a state-record six touchdowns during the Class 6A football championship game in late November, was outstanding in stopping 20 shots.

Edina took 10 of the first period’s 15 shots on goal, but it was the hosts who cranked off six of the first seven in that category to open the second stanza. Marvin, one of the Cadets’ five Edina residents, opened the scoring when he finished a 2-on-1 break with Bennett Knutson into the net’s left side.

“We were standing and watching,” said Edina coach Curt Giles, who’s guided the Hornets to five state titles and, like STA, to last season’s state tournament. “Against a good team, if you do that and they start moving their feet, they get on a roll and get momentum.”

St. Thomas outshot Edina11-2 during the second period and Stobel wasn’t afraid to acknowledge that he provided some loud “motivation” for his troops during the first intermission.

“You’re either going to do what we need or you’re not going to play,” said the coach, who feared his team’s early struggles during its first clash with Edina (11-5) were repeating themselves.

“What’s in their psyche before they come to the rink?” he asked. “It needs to change or I’m going to have a heart attack. We have to make sure we’re the hunters and not the hunted for the first 17 minutes.”

Edina’s Miller Wenkus was penalized for hooking five minutes into the second period and STA went up, 2-0, with the man advantage. Braunshausen, unguarded on the left side of the slot, popped a McKinnon feed into the net’s vacant left side.

“Anden Roy picked a puck off the (right) half wall and get it to Mav in the middle,” Braunshausen said. “It’s tough to miss that one after two great plays. Those guys definitely did the heavy lifting on that one.”

Edina created late tension after Johnson, who entered with seven goals and 28 assists, fired in a slap shot from center point on a power play and past a screened Ryan. McKinnon scored into an empty net with a minute remaining.

St. Thomas (10-4-2) graduated 10 seniors from last season’s team, many with deep varsity resumes. This season’s eight seniors include four who played junior varsity as juniors but developed enough at that level to be promoted. Marvin is part of that quartet.

“It’s taken them a little longer to develop the speed and quickness and brain power for the things we do from a strategy standpoint,” said Strobel, noting that he kept 42 of the 90 players who tried out before the season.

Ryan’s play has helped buy time for that development to occur. Inspired to don the pads after watching former Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk, another tall and slender goaltender, he’s shared his crease with junior Jacksyn Crary, but is staking a strong claim to being the Cadets’ big-game starter.

“He’s so young and talented and for him to keep his head under pressure like tonight in front of a full barn is pretty remarkable,” Braunshausen said. “He’s got a lot of weight on his shoulders but we expect that from him now. I’d put him up against anybody in the state.”

Can STA make another state-tournament run and give Ryan a chance to occupy the blue paint Dubnyk once defended?

“I think so, but I’ll have a better idea a month from now,” Strobel said. “We’ll see where our minds are heading into the playoffs. You have to get lucky but it’s hard work and buying into your team’s system in your own end. Because not a lot of high school kids want to play defense.”

With Ryan in the crease, it’s unlikely the Cadets will need much convincing.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday revived a Republican challenge to a law that allows the counting of late-arriving mail ballots, a target of President Donald Trump.

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The high court ruled 7-2 that Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill. has the legal right to challenge the law, even though the ballots likely had little effect on a race he won handily.

The state had argued that allowing the lawsuit would open the floodgates for more election litigation and “cause chaos” for election officials. Bost said vote-total considerations shouldn’t affect his ability to come to court.

The Illinois law allows ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if they are received up to two weeks later. More than a dozen states, as well as the District of Columbia, accept mailed ballots received after Election Day as long they are postmarked on or before that date, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The Supreme Court will also consider the broader issue of whether states can continue to count late-arriving mail ballots in the spring.

The Trump administration weighed in to support Bost. The Republican president has asserted that late-arriving ballots and drawn-out electoral counts undermine confidence in elections.

An Apple Valley man has been spared prison time for shooting a man during an argument at a mobile home park in Mounds View last year.

Alex Robert Quevedo-Holmes, 21, was sentenced Monday in Ramsey County District Court to nearly a year in the workhouse and four years of probation for the daytime shooting of a 22-year-old, who was struck in the thigh in the 2100 block of Buckingham Lane on March 13, 2025.

Alex Robert Quevedo-Holmes (Courtesy of Mounds View Police Department)

Quevedo-Holmes had pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and Quevedo-Holmes’ attorney asked Judge Thomas Gilligan Jr. for a downward departure from state sentencing guidelines, arguing the victim was the primary aggressor before and during the incident. The judge granted the departure request, which was objected to by the prosecution, and stayed a three-year prison term for four years.

According to the criminal complaint, a woman told police the man who was shot is her former boyfriend and that she has a child with him. She said she met Quevedo-Holmes at a bar a week earlier and that he spent the night at her residence.

The man texted her that he was going to beat up Quevedo-Holmes and then arrived just before noon. The two men argued outside, the woman got between them to break it up and told her ex to leave. He approached Quevedo-Holmes, who shot him.

The man was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center with severe blood loss.

Quevedo-Holmes ran from the scene, leading to a search by several law enforcement agencies, a SWAT response and “a shelter in place” issued. He was arrested without incident in South St. Paul the next day.

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