The union that represents employees of the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center is speaking out about the death of one of its own members.

AFGE Local 3669, a chapter of the American Federation of Government Employees, called the death of intensive care nurse Alex Pretti “tragic and senseless” and said it is “especially disappointed” with U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins’ reaction, according to a statement released Monday.

Pretti, 37, was shot several times and killed by federal immigration officers on Saturday in South Minneapolis.

Videos quickly emerged showing the fatal shooting that has been widely denounced as a case of excessive force. The administration, however, rushed to characterize it as a case of an armed man provoking violence.

“Alex was a son, a colleague, and a fellow union brother, not an ‘assassin’ or a ‘domestic terrorist,’” the union said in its statement. “We are especially disappointed with VA Secretary Doug Collins, who chose to use the murder of his own employee to push partisan, political narratives.”

U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images North America/TNS)

One day after the killing, Collins posted a statement from his official secretary account that appears to place blame on local officials.

“We can confirm Alex Pretti was a nurse at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center. As President Trump has said, nobody wants to see chaos and death in American cities, and we send our condolences to the Pretti family,” he wrote on X. “Such tragedies are unfortunately happening in Minnesota because of state and local officials’ refusal to cooperate with the federal government to enforce the law and deport dangerous illegal criminals.”

Minnesota law enforcement officials dispute Collins’ characterization. The state Department of Corrections and some counties have longstanding policies to turn over undocumented immigrants to Immigration and Customs Enforcement after they complete local jail or prison terms.

At the Dakota County jail, for instance, ICE placed roughly 80 detainers last year, said Sheriff Joe Leko. Dakota County doesn’t have a formal detainer agreement with ICE, but “every single one, ICE was notified of their release and I can recall dozens and dozens of times of agents waiting there” to pick them up, Leko told the Pioneer Press last week.

A Pioneer Press request for comment from Collins’ office was not immediately returned.

A member of the Republican party and a native of Gainesville, Ga., Collins has served in the Georgia House of Representatives and as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He also pastored Chicopee Baptist Church for 11 years and served in the U.S. Air Force Reserve and U.S. Navy Reserve.

Collins, who is the author of “The Clock and the Calendar: A Front-Row Look at the Democrats’ Obsession with Donald Trump,” was sworn in as secretary on Feb. 5, 2025.

Pretti’s family has since spoken out, decrying statements made about their son from the Trump administration.

“The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting,” his family said in a statement. They added that videos showed Pretti was not holding a gun when he was tackled by federal agents, but holding his phone with one hand and using the other to shield a woman who was being pepper-sprayed.

“Alex died while protecting a woman and exercising his First and Second Amendment rights,” the union said. “He was dedicated to caring for veterans and treated them with decency and respect, sometimes in their final moments – which is the exact opposite of how he was treated during his.”

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A chapter of the largest federal employee union that represents 820,000 workers, AFGE Local 3669 represents more than one thousand employees at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

The union’s letter goes on to call for “a full, transparent, independent third-party investigation” into Pretti’s killing and implores Congress to “come to solutions on immigration policy to ensure that this type of tragedy never happens again.”

A GoFundMe to support Pretti’s loved ones tallied more than $1.5 million in donations as of Tuesday. The fundraiser can be found at http://pipr.es/3J5DxCN.

“Alex was the best of us and he will be dearly missed,” the union’s letter concludes. “Rest in power, brother.”

This report contains information from The Associated Press.

By ROB GILLIES

TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday he told U.S. President Donald Trump that he meant what he said in his speech at Davos, and told him Canada plans to diversify away from the United States with a dozen new trade deals.

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Carney rolled his eyes and rejected U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s contention to Fox News that he aggressively walked back his comments at the World Economic Forum during a phone call with Trump on Monday.

“To be absolutely clear, and I said this to the president, I meant what I said in Davos,” Carney said to reporters as he arrived for a Cabinet meeting in the capital, Ottawa.

“Canada was the first country to understand the change in U.S. trade policy that he initiated, and we’re responding to that. ”

In Davos at the World Economic Forum last week, Carney condemned economic coercion by great powers on smaller countries without mentioning Trump’s name. The prime minister received widespread praise and attention for his remarks, upstaging Trump at the gathering.

Tariffs and trade deals

Trump threatened this past weekend to impose a 100% tariff on goods imported from Canada if America’s northern neighbor went ahead with a trade deal with Beijing, though Carney has said Canada has no interest in negotiating a comprehensive trade deal with Beijing.

Carney said Trump called him.

“I explained to him our arrangement with China. I explained to him what we’re doing — 12 new deals, four continents, in six months,” Carney said. “He was impressed.”

Trump’s threat came amid an escalating war of words with Carney. The Republican president’s push to acquire Greenland strained the NATO alliance, alarming Canada, which shares a 3,000-kilometer (1,864 mile) maritime border with Greenland in the Arctic. Trump has also previously talked about making Canada the 51st state.

Carney has said his recent agreement with China merely cuts tariffs that were recently imposed on a few sectors. The prime minister plans to travel to India, Australia and other countries in effort to diversify trade away from dependence on the U.S., which takes more than 75% of Canada’s exports.

The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement is up for renewal this year. Carney has set a goal for Canada to double its non-U.S. exports in the next decade.

At the table or on the menu

Carney has emerged as a spokesman for a movement to link up countries and counter the U.S. under Trump. Speaking in Davos before Trump, Carney said, “Middle powers must act together because if you are not at the table, you are on the menu.”

Carney said he also spoke to Trump about Ukraine, Venezuela and Arctic security in his phone call.

Bessent said Carney spoke to Trump on Monday. The Treasury secretary told Fox News that Carney “was very aggressively walking back some of the unfortunate remarks he made at Davos.”

“Of course, Canada depends on the U.S.,” Bessent said. “There’s much more north-south trade than there could ever be east-west trade.”

Bessent said Canada is linked to the U.S. and that Carney should stop trying to “push his own globalist agenda.”

Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade, has compared Canada’s recent trade deal with China to an agreement Trump made with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea last summer in which the U.S. cut some tariffs on China while Beijing moved to allow rare earth exports and lift a pause on purchasing U.S. soy.

Trump’s push to acquire Greenland has come after he has repeatedly needled Canada over its sovereignty and suggested it also be absorbed into the United States. He posted an altered image on social media last week showing a map of the United States that included Canada, Venezuela, Greenland and Cuba as part of its territory.

By ISABELLA O’MALLEY

Meteorologists say that water rapidly freezing in the soil amid bitterly cold temperatures can make a startling noise and even cause small vibrations.

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These noises are known as frost quakes or cryoseisms, a cold-weather phenomenon that occurs when rain or melted snow in the ground quickly freezes, expanding as it solidifies, when temperatures rapidly fall below freezing. As the ice expands, pressure builds around the surrounding soil, causing it to crack and make booming sounds and light shaking.

Evan Webb, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Louisville, Kentucky, said the office has received reports of “loud booms” that are associated with cryoseisms during bitter cold weather.

“I think some people initially wonder if it’s an exploding tree or something,” he said.

Webb said frost quakes are “relatively rare, especially in Kentucky … we don’t get quite cold enough very often to have saturated soil in the winter time to be able to freeze that quickly.”

Webb said frost quakes are “mostly harmless” and single-digit temperatures with a wind chill are a bigger concern.

The weather service office notes in a social media post that the noises can be startling, especially when they happen at night, but they’re generally not a cause for concern.

“Those loud booms aren’t paranormal—they’re cryoseisms (Frost Quakes)!” the post reads.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental 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.

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO, AP Retail Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon said it’s closing all of its Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh locations, as the online behemoth focuses on its grocery delivery, Whole Foods Market and a new “supersized” store concept.

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The Seattle-based online retailer said Tuesday in a blog post that it plans to convert some of those soon-to-be shuttered locations into Whole Foods Market stores. The company operates 57 Amazon Fresh stores and 15 Amazon Go stores.

“While we’ve seen encouraging signals in our Amazon-branded physical grocery stores, we haven’t yet created a truly distinctive customer experience with the right economic model needed for large-scale expansion,” the company said in the post.

Amazon noted that customers can continue to shop Amazon Fresh online in available areas for “fast and convenient delivery.”

The last day of operation for Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go stores is Feb. 1, with the exception of its California locations, which will remain open longer to comply with state requirements, Amazon said.

Since Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods Market in 2017, it’s seen more than 40% sales growth and expansion to more than 550 locations, it said. It now plans to open more than 100 new Whole Foods Market stores over the next few years.

At the same time, shoppers are turning to online delivery for everyday essentials and fresh food, Amazon said.

The online retailer is now delivering groceries to 5,000 U.S. cities and towns, including thousands served by same-day delivery where customers can shop produce and other perishables along with staples. Based on strong customer feedback, it said it plans to expand its same-day delivery service of fresh groceries to more areas this year.

Still, Amazon pledges to continue to experiment with new physical store formats.

The company revealed on Tuesday its plans to open a “new supercenter” physical retail concept designed for customers to shop Amazon’s broad selection across fresh groceries, household essentials, and general merchandise. The company didn’t provide any other details including the timing of the opening.

Amazon also is testing a new in-store format called Amazon Grocery, which it launched alongside Whole Foods Market in Chicago. This concept at Whole Foods Market in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, lets customer also shop for groceries and household essentials from Amazon

Amazon opened its first Amazon Go concept in 2018 in Seattle, letting shoppers take milk, potato chips or ready-to-eat salads off its shelves and just walk out. Amazon’s technology charges customers after they leave.

It said that it’s gathered valuable insights along the way.

For example, its Amazon Go locations served as “innovation hubs” where it developed “just walk out” technology—now a checkout solution operating in more than 360 third-party locations across five countries.

Amazon said it expanding its “just walk out” technology to Amazon’s own operations, with more than 40 North American fulfillment centers using it in breakrooms today, and more planned for 2026, helping employees grab meals without checkout delays.

Amazon introduced its first Amazon Fresh physical store in 2020. The stores features an assortment of national brands and produce, meat and seafood.