The cause of a middle-of-the-night fire at a Prior Lake mosque and school is still unknown, but Islamic community leaders have asked mosques across the state to be alert.

A neighbor called Scott County 911 dispatchers at 2:22 a.m. Monday alerting them to a fire at 5995 Timber Trail S.E. in Prior Lake, according to a news release from the Prior Lake Fire Department. Prior Lake fire crews responded and were on the scene at 2:29 a.m. and met with “visible flames coming through the roof,” according to the fire department.

The department said that firefighters were pushed outside the building “due to the extent of the fire,” and that a portion of the roof subsequently collapsed. The fire department reported that no one was in the building upon arrival and no injuries to the public or firefighters. The structure formerly housed a Christian church.

The Masjid Hamza Al-Mahmood Foundation doubles as the Baitul Hikmah Academy. Community leaders at a news conference outside the mosque on Monday afternoon said the school serves more than 200 children.

Because it is a religious institution, a full investigation will be completed by the state fire marshal and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the fire department said.

The Prior Lake blaze followed President Donald Trump’s recent immigration crackdown against Minnesota’s large Somali community. The president has linked the enforcement action to a series of fraud cases involving state government social services programs in which many defendants have roots in the East African country.

Trump last week labeled Minnesota Somalis as “garbage” and said he didn’t want them in the United States.

The president’s actions come as Republicans have stepped up their criticism of Gov. Tim Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential candidate, for his alleged failures in preventing the fraud. It’s already a major issue in the 2026 gubernatorial race as Walz seeks a third term.

Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) for Minnesota, said at the Monday news conference that alerts have been sent to mosques throughout the state as a safety precaution, “even though we still do not know the nature of this.”

“We do not know exactly what happened here, but the state of Minnesota continues to lead in the nation in attacks against mosques. Over 40-plus incidents and arsons,” Hussein said. “Like I said, we don’t know exactly what happened here. We hope that it’s just an accident.”

Hussein said CAIR estimates roughly 40 attacks on mosques in Minnesota over the past four years, with 16 of those in 2024 alone. He added that while there is a lot unknown about Monday’s fire, what he does know is that there’s “elevated fear and anxiety” for the Muslim community in Minnesota.

“And that’s not new, but that’s been part of the main story that we’ve been dealing with for the past week and a half,” Hussein said.

This report includes information from the Associated Press.

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ORLANDO — Derek Shelton is very familiar with Byron Buxton from the two seasons he spent as the Twins’ bench coach.

Since he left Minnesota following the 2019 season to take over as manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, the two had seen each other from time to time. But the man who walked into the Jacksonville, Fla., restaurant recently to share a meal with the new Twins manager was a much different version of himself.

“When he walked in the restaurant, the presence that he has, like, that’s a superstar,” Shelton said. “I got goosebumps when he walked in because this is a guy, this is a Minnesota Twin, this is what you want to build around and do. … (It’s) like seeing one of your kids after they come home from college and you’re like, ‘Damn, that’s what it looks like.’”

Shelton’s visit with Buxton at a meeting point in between their offseason homes — Buxton’s in Georgia, Shelton’s in Florida — was one piece of his process to acquaint himself with his new team.

He also visited third baseman Royce Lewis in Texas where the two enjoyed barbecue. On a recent Thanksgiving trip to Wilmington, North Carolina, he caught up with catcher Ryan Jeffers. Plans to go visit Joe Ryan were scrapped due to the impending arrival of Ryan’s first child, Rowan, who was born last month.  A visit to Pablo López, who also makes his offseason home in Florida, is in the works.

Everyone else, Shelton said, he’s connected with by phone and plans to see next month at TwinsFest.

“You want to introduce yourself to guys but you also — it’s their offseason,” Shelton said. “I realize I’m excited because I wasn’t doing anything for four months (after being fired by the Pirates), but they were doing things. I think the process there is generally just introduction, giving them the opportunity to ask questions … and giving them an outline of what our expectations are going to be.”

Borgschulte lands with Nationals

Former Twins hitting coach Matt Borgschulte became the latest from manager Rocco Baldelli’s 2025 staff to latch on with a new team, hired by the Washington Nationals to fill the same role. Borgschulte was the Twins’ hitting coach last season but was not brought back after Baldelli was fired. He previously served in the same capacity for the Baltimore Orioles.

Other coaches from last year’s staff who have found new jobs around the league include Jayce Tingler (Giants), Hank Conger (Orioles), Colby Suggs (Rangers) and Tommy Watkins (Braves).

Briefly

MLB’s draft lottery will take place on Tuesday evening. The Twins have the second-best odds to land the No. 1 overall pick (22.18 percent) behind the division-rival Chicago White Sox. The Twins finished with the fourth-worst record in the major leagues last year but two of the teams of the teams behind them in the standings were ineligible for a lottery pick. The draft will begin at 4:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on MLB Network.

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Curt and Karin O’Connor’s two children described them in court as a humble couple who loved God, people and each other.

They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in April 2023.

Karin and Curt O’Connor (Courtesy of Katherine Isaza)

Then, on the morning of Feb. 16, 2024, the retired couple left their New Brighton home and never made it back, both killed in a chain-reaction crash on Interstate 694 in Arden Hills caused by a drunk driver. Curt O’Connor was 76 years old and Karin was 74.

Luis Tipantua, an undocumented immigrant from Ecuador who was living with his wife and children in Minneapolis, had a blood-alcohol content nearly three times the legal limit to drive. He was on a video chat call just prior to or at the time of the crash, according to court records.

Tipantua, 33, pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal vehicular homicide in September and on Monday was sentenced by Ramsey County District Judge Andrew Gordon to nearly seven years in prison: 41-month terms for each victim, to be served consecutively. The sentence fell at the low end of state sentencing guidelines, and Tipantua was given credit for 662 days already served in custody.

The prosecution asked for consecutive sentences totaling 9½ years, with Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Jessica Plotz telling the judge “they are two separate people that had full lives individually and together, and with their family and friends.”

Tipantua’s attorney, Daniel Gonnerman, said federal charges are pending for illegal entry into the United States in 2023, and that he would likely serve prison time after the state sentence. “And then, no matter who our president is, deportation is almost certain at that point,” Gonnerman said.

Katherine Isaza, the couple’s daughter, told the court in her victim impact statement that she will never know what caused Tipantua “to drink to the point of extreme intoxication” and get behind the wheel that morning.

“I do know that, because of his actions, my parents’ lives were cut short,” she said, “and the impact will be felt by me and my family for years to come.”

3-vehicle wreck

The crash happened on the westbound I-694 near Snelling Avenue about 8:45 a.m.

According to the criminal complaint, witnesses said that Tipantua crashed his 2008 Chevrolet Equinox sport-utility vehicle into the couple’s 2018 Chevrolet Malibu and pushed the sedan into the left lane in front of a semitrailer. The semi collided with the driver’s side of the Malibu, and the couple died at the scene.

Luis Tipantua (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

Witnesses reported and a semitrailer video showed Tipantua driving erratically on the interstate prior to the collision, changing lanes often and without signaling and weaving in and out of traffic, the complaint said. He crossed over the fog line and briefly went off the interstate before spinning back onto the interstate and hitting the Malibu, causing it to go perpendicular in front of the westbound semi and be struck.

Troopers saw open bottles of alcohol in Tipantua’s Equinox, and the inside of the car smelled of alcohol. Tipantua, who had no passengers, was unconscious and breathing, but did not appear to be injured.

A preliminary breath test showed a 0.218 BAC on a “very weak puff of breath captured manually,” the complaint read. The legal limit to drive in Minnesota is 0.08.

A paramedic told law enforcement that Tipantua was so intoxicated that he would need to be hospitalized, the complaint said.

While still at the scene, Tipantua’s brother arrived and, through a Spanish interpreter, told law enforcement that they were on a WhatsApp video call when the crash occurred, according to a search warrant affidavit.

Gonnerman, Tipantua’s attorney, said in an interview after the sentencing hearing that the prosecution did not disclose evidence showing the video call was active at the time of the crash.

‘Had just gone out for a bit’

Jason O’Connor recalled in court Monday how he was at work when he learned of his parents’ deaths through a call by a State Patrol deputy.

“I screamed, cried. I stared into nothing, awake but trapped in a nightmare,” he said.

He said he knew he had to get home, but first came a “heartbreaking call” to his sister, who was 3,000 miles away in Colombia, where she lived and worked for Evangelical Covenant Church. “I could barely speak through the tears,” he said.

Then came the sympathy cards, flowers and funerals “to honor two beautiful people suddenly and inexplicably gone,” he said.

And then anger and “bottomless sadness,” he said, and “the denial and rationalizations: At least they were together. At least they didn’t feel any pain.”

Isaza recalled being “stunned and unable to grasp” what she heard from her brother.

“I knew mom and dad had a habit of going out for breakfast and a walk. They had to have been on their way home. A road they had driven thousands of times before,” she told the court. “How did they not make it home?”

Isaza said her father had a 30-year career as a real estate appraiser, while her mother had been a registered nurse.

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“By some miracle,” she said, she had seen her parents the month before their deaths “and got to give them each a hug and tell them I loved them.”

Her parents were healthy and active and “had plans for the future, plans to enjoy life together with their family,” she said, “and continue finding ways to serve in their church and community.”

She recalled walking into her parents’ home for the first time after their deaths. Coats were on the coat rack, shoes by the door and a newspaper open on a table.

“They had just gone out for a bit on that fateful morning,” she said, “and were planning to come back.”

By MATTHEW DALY and JENNIFER McDERMOTT, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Monday struck down President Donald Trump’s executive order blocking wind energy projects, saying the effort to halt virtually all leasing of wind farms on federal lands and waters was “arbitrary and capricious” and violates U.S. law.

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Judge Patti Saris of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts vacated Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order blocking wind energy projects and declared it unlawful.

Saris ruled in favor of a coalition of state attorneys general from 17 states and Washington, D.C., led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, that challenged Trump’s Day One order that paused leasing and permitting for wind energy projects.

Trump has been hostile to renewable energy, particularly offshore wind, and prioritizes fossil fuels to produce electricity.

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell hailed the ruling as a victory for green jobs and renewable energy.

“Massachusetts has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into offshore wind, and today, we successfully protected those important investments from the Trump administration’s unlawful order,” Campbell said in a statement.

“This critical victory also preserves well-paying green jobs and access to reliable, affordable energy that will help Massachusetts meet our clean energy and climate goals,″ she added.