A community group is calling for Target to apologize and for St. Paul police to investigate the making of a false report after two young men were accused of having a gun at the retailer’s Midway store, leading officers to draw their guns and handcuff them.

Police said they found no weapons on the men and they were released.

“These young brothers clearly went through a traumatic situation,” said Nasiy Nasir X, national president of the Lion of Judah Armed Forces and national minister of information of the New Black Panther Nation, at a press conference outside the Midway Target on Tuesday.

Nasir said the “falsified” information provided to police could have led to the young men being shot by police.

Police: Staff made report about gun

On Friday, Terrence Gleason, 19, and Ronald Trice, 20, said they were passing out information about the auto detailing business they work for.

A St. Paul officer who was working contracted overtime at the Target on University Avenue was notified around noon about two people putting flyers on vehicles, according to Alyssa Arcand, a police spokeswoman. The business requested the two men leave. The officer asked them to do so, which they did.

“The officer was then told by business security that security staff had observed behavior that led them to believe one of the men was in possession of a firearm,” Arcand said in a statement. “The staff also told officers about statements they heard the men say.”

One of the young men was videotaping on his cellphone and, after the officer initially drove away, he videoed the other man lifting up his sweatshirt to show the business logo on his shirt underneath, which was to say “we’re just here at work,” Nasir said.

After the men left the Target parking lot, police stopped them in another parking lot along University Avenue.

Nasir said they’re demanding that the employee or employees who made the report about the gun be terminated and they also want to meet with the St. Paul Police Department about how false reports should be addressed.

“Why didn’t the St. Paul Police Department do a full, thorough investigation and why didn’t they look at the cameras … before they (approached) … these young brothers with their guns drawn?” Nasir asked. He also questioned how police would approach a person who had a permit to carry a gun, if they received a falsified police report.

In the department’s statement, Arcand said: “Because the information provided by security staff was believed to be true, officers had a responsibility to respond at the time.”

A Target spokesman declined to comment Tuesday.

Moms want safety for their sons

Trice said he thought he was going to die during the encounter with police. “I’ve been thinking about that all the time.”

“And this man has a child,” Gleason said of Trice, whose 6-month-old daughter was also at the press conference with him.

Gleason’s first cousin was Philando Castile, who was fatally shot in Falcon Heights by a St. Anthony police officer in 2016.

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“I don’t want my son to feel like he’s not safe here,” said Gleason’s mother, Nichole Castile. “We’ve been through this before in our lifetime feeling that way.”

Trice’s mother, Felicia Smith, said she was born and raised in St. Paul and has lived in the same house for 27 years.

“For my kids in my neighborhood to be targeted all the time when this is our Target,” she said. “… Target needs to be held accountable just as much as St. Paul police need to be held accountable.”

By MATTHEW LEE and ANNIE MA, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department has halted the scheduling of new visa interviews for foreign students hoping to study in the U.S. while it prepares to expand the screening of their activity on social media, officials said.

A U.S. official said Tuesday the suspension is intended to be temporary and does not apply to applicants who already had scheduled their visa interviews. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an internal administration document.

A cable signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and obtained by The Associated Press says the State Department plans to issue guidance on expanded social media vetting.

“Effective immediately, in preparation for an expansion of required social media screening and vetting, consulate sections should not add any additional student or exchange visitor visa appointment capacity” until the guidance is issued, the cable says.

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Asked about the suspension at a briefing Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said the U.S. uses every available resource to vet people applying for visas.

“We will continue to use every tool we can to assess who it is that’s coming here, whether they are students or otherwise,” Bruce said.

The move, first reported by Politico, is the latest in the Trump administration’s crackdown on international students.

Last week, the Trump administration revoked Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students, removing the college from the program that allows schools to sponsor foreign students for visas. That effort was quickly challenged in court and for now is blocked by a federal judge.

This spring the administration also revoked the legal status of thousands of international students already in the country, leading some to leave the U.S. out of fear of deportation. After many students filed successful legal challenges, the administration said it was restoring the students’ legal status. But the government also expanded the grounds for terminating international students’ legal status going forward.

President Donald Trump’s previous administration stepped up scrutiny of all visa applicants, introducing reviews of their social media accounts. The policy remained during President Joe Biden’s administration.

An extended pause in scheduling student visas could lead to delays that may disrupt college, boarding-school or exchange students’ plans to enroll in summer and fall terms.

A downturn in enrollment of international students could hurt university budgets. To make up for cuts in federal research funding, some colleges shifted to enrolling more international students, who often pay full tuition.

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Mary McComber’s first foray into politics was in the mid-1990s when the Minnesota Department of Transportation began buying and razing homes in Lower Oak Park Heights to build a new St. Croix River bridge.

“She loved her city,” said her daughter Laura Brown. “She wanted better, especially when all that stuff was happening with the bridge originally. They started demolishing houses, and my mom was, like, ‘You’re not going to keep going with the rest of the neighborhood,’ so she fought for her neighborhood. She fought for the people that it was going to be affecting.”

McComber, the mayor of Oak Park Heights, died Monday morning at her home in Oak Park Heights of complications related to Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. She was 71.

MnDOT ended up building the bridge upstream of the originally proposed location, and McComber ended up being one of the biggest supporters of the bridge project, Brown said, but it was a difficult decision for her.

“I remember her just feeling torn because it was coming through her neighborhood, and half of our neighborhood is gone,” she said. “All those relationships that she had with those individuals, she still fought for them to be provided for, to go and live in a different area and have the resources available. She was not done fighting for the people. I mean, yes, she pushed for the bridge, but she still made sure that things were fair and equitable for those people that were affected. I remember her constantly on the phone pushing, saying, ‘No, no, that’s not acceptable. We are going to make sure that they’re taken care of.’”

After serving 12 years on the Oak Park Heights City Council, McComber ran for mayor in 2012 and defeated the incumbent, then-Mayor David Beaudet, who opposed the project.

“The Stillwater Lift Bridge is old,” she told the Pioneer Press at the time. “I understand it will be safe for pedestrian traffic, but as for its life span for vehicle traffic, it’s past its time. It was not built for today’s volume of traffic.”

The St. Croix River bridge, which opened in 2017, would not have been completed without McComber’s “advocacy, tenacity and perseverance,” city officials said in a press release. “This bridge is now firmly part of our region’s fabric as its four lanes and pedestrian crossing serves tens of thousands of people each day.”

‘Committed local leadership’

McComber, a retired interior decorator, threw herself into municipal government after she took office in 2001.

She frequently testified at the State Capitol and served in countless leadership roles and on numerous committees and panels at dozens of organizations, including the National League of Cities, the Minnesota Mayors Association, the League of Minnesota Cities, Metro Cities, Minnesota Women in City Government, Women in Municipal Government (National League of Cities), Regional Council of Mayors, the Minnesota Association of Small Cities and the Coalition of Utility Cities Task Force.

League of Minnesota Cities Executive Director Luke Fischer said McComber “embodied the very essence of committed local leadership.”

“Through her years at Oak Park Heights and her involvement in many, many civic organizations, Mary embodied a belief that service matters,” Fischer said. “Mary made a difference in her community, in Minnesota, and nationally.”

In 2023, McComber received the National League of Cities Women in Municipal Government Leadership Award.

Oak Park Heights Mayor Mary McComber died Monday, May 26, 2025, of complications related to stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. McComber was photographed here in 2023 after she won the Women in Municipal Government Leadership Award from the National League of Cities. (Courtesy of the City of Oak Park Heights)

Cap O’Rourke, executive director of the Minnesota Association of Small Cities, wrote one of the letters recommending her for the national award. McComber, he wrote, was a “tireless advocate and enthusiastic cheerleader for all of local government, but particularly, Minnesota’s small cities (population under 5,000) – across the entire state; both rural and urban.”

McComber “spends an unbelievable amount of time to research the issues, listen to her community, and work towards a solution,” Sen. Karin Housley, R-Oak Park Heights, wrote in her letter of recommendation.

McComber received the C.C. Ludwig Award from the League of Minnesota Cities in 2016. The award, named for a former League executive director, is considered to be the League’s highest award for elected officials. Recipients are chosen for their vision, statesmanship and unwavering commitment to the public good, according to League officials.

‘Spunk, sass and sheer drive’

While she was proud to receive such awards, “her true love was the well-being of Oak Park Heights,” Brown said. “She just had this incredible amount of determination, spunk, sass and sheer drive for wanting better for not just the city, but individuals as a whole. She just had that people passion.”

Deputy Mayor Chuck Dougherty said McComber made an incredible impact on the city, and always prioritized the needs of her constituents – “no matter the issue or time of day.”

“She just really took her position to heart and did everything she could for the people of Oak Park Heights and the greater community,” Dougherty said. “She worked hard and tirelessly for that. She really cared for our community and our employees.”

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McComber loved all city employees – “from the brand-new police officer we just hired to the 38-year veteran,” said City Administrator Jacob Rife said. “She loved everyone at City Hall and cared so deeply about our employees. And it was mutual. We loved her, too, and she’s going to be greatly missed.”

Mary Murphy was born in Chicago and moved to Burnsville in 1979. She married Bruce Bernhjelm in 1970; they divorced in 1991. The couple had four children; their daughter Jennifer died at childbirth.

In 1992, she met Don McComber while country line dancing in Burnsville. The couple moved to Oak Park Heights in 1994 and got married in 1995.

In addition to her husband, she is survived by her three children, Lisa Bernhjelm-Corblick, Laura Brown and Brett Bernhjelm, and 12 grandchildren.

The funeral service will be 10 a.m. Friday at Bradshaw Celebration of Life Center in Stillwater, with visitation from 4-8 p.m. Thursday at the center.

Guitarist and singer Rick Derringer, who shot to fame at 17 when his band The McCoys recorded “Hang On Sloopy,” had a hit with “Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo” and earned a Grammy Award for producing “Weird Al ” Yankovic’s debut album, has died. He was 77.

Derringer died Monday in Ormond Beach, Florida, according to a Facebook announcement from his caregiver, Tony Wilson. No cause of death was announced.

Derringer’s decades in the music industry spanned teen stardom, session work for bands like Steely Dan, supplying the guitar solo on Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” and producing for Cyndi Lauper.

“Derringer’s legacy extends beyond his music, entertaining fans with his signature energy and talent. His passing leaves a void in the music world, and he will be deeply missed by fans, colleagues, and loved ones,” Wilson wrote.

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As a teen, he formed the McCoys with his brother, Randy, and found fame singing “Hang On Sloopy,” a No. 26 hit about lovers from different socioeconomic circumstances. Derringer enjoyed his first solo hit with “Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo,” which was used in the fourth season of “Stranger Things.”

His best-charting album was “All American Boy” in 1973, which included the instrumentals “Joy Ride” and “Time Warp.” His sole Grammy was for Yankovic’s “Eat It,” which had the Michael Jackson parodies “Eat It” and “Who’s Fat.”

Throughout the 1970s and ’80s, Derringer worked extensively as a session musician, playing on albums by Steely Dan — including “Countdown to Ecstasy,” “Katy Lied” and “Gaucho” — Todd Rundgren, Kiss and Barbra Streisand. He played on Air Supply’s “Making Love Out of Nothing at All.”

In the mid-1980s he began working with Lauper, touring in her band and playing on three of her albums, including the hit “True Colors.” He toured with Ringo Starr and The All-Starr Band.

In 1985, he produced the World Wrestling Federation’s “The Wrestling Album,” which consisted mostly of pro wrestlers’ theme songs, many of which he co-wrote, including what would become Hulk Hogan’s theme song “Real American.”