By BECKY BOHRER and MARK THIESSEN

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A deckhand on the reality television show “Deadliest Catch,” which documents the lives of crab fishermen working in one of the world’s harshest environments, died after he was reported to have fallen overboard, the U.S. Coast Guard said Tuesday.

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The Coast Guard received a notification shortly after 5 p.m. Feb. 25 from the Aleutian Lady that crew member Todd Meadows had fallen overboard about 170 miles north of Dutch Harbor, Alaska, Chief Petty Officer Travis Magee, a spokesperson with the Coast Guard’s Arctic District, said by email Tuesday.

“He was recovered unresponsive by the crew approximately ten minutes later,” Magee wrote. Efforts to resuscitate Meadows were unsuccessful, and the crew brought his body to Dutch Harbor, he said.

The Coast Guard is investigating.

Meadows, from Montesano, Washington, was in his first year as a cast member of the Discovery Channel show. He joined the series last May but no episodes for the new season have aired.

“We lost our brother,” Aleutian Lady Capt. Rick Shelford said in a social media post that did not detail how Meadows died. Shelford called it the “most tragic day in the history of the Aleutian Lady on the Bering Sea.”

Meadows was the newest member of the boat’s crew but quickly became family, Shelford wrote.

“Todd’s love for his children, his family, and his life was evident in everything he did. He worked hard, loved deeply, and brought joy to those around him,” Shelford wrote.

A statement released by the Discovery Channel called Meadows’ death “a devastating loss, and our hearts are with his loved ones, his crewmates, and the entire fishing community during this incredibly difficult time.”

An online fundraiser had brought in about $30,000 by Tuesday to assist Meadows’ family, including his three sons, and pay for funeral costs and other expenses. The fundraiser said Meadows, 25, died what doing what he loved best: crabbing on Alaska waters.

The death is the latest for cast members of the show detailing dangerous crab fishing on the Bering Sea. The show first aired in 2005.

In 2021, crewman Todd Kochutin, 30, died as a result of injuries he received while aboard the fishing vessel Patricia Lee, according to his obituary.

Several other cast members have died of substance abuse or natural causes. They include Capt. Phil Harris of the fishing vessel Cornelia Marie, who died in 2010 at age 53 following a massive stroke, NPR reported.

Thiessen reported from Anchorage, Alaska.

A St. Paul man who killed his puppy with a hammer has been put on probation for three years.

Tyler John Van Lannen (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

Tyler John Van Lannen, 30, lived at a New Brighton apartment building with his then-wife and their puppy at the time of the June 2024 killing, telling police after his arrest that he repeatedly struck the 6-month-old soft-coated Wheaten Terrier in the head because it kept barking.

Van Lannen was accepted into Ramsey County Mental Health Treatment Court on Dec. 17 and pleaded guilty to felony animal cruelty the same day. His plea came 10 days after he was arrested in Mendota Heights on suspicion of DWI.

He has two prior DWI convictions, both out of Ramsey County stemming from incidents about four months apart in 2021.

On Monday, Ramsey County District Judge Timothy Carey followed a plea agreement Van Lannen reached with the prosecution and stayed a one-year prison sentence for three years.

The sentence includes a stay of imposition, which means the conviction will become a misdemeanor if he successfully completes the conditions of his probation. Conditions include complying with all expectations of mental health treatment court, and random testing for alcohol and controlled substance use.

Bludgeoned dog found in trash bag

According to the criminal complaint, New Brighton police responded to an apartment building in the 2200 block of Palmer Drive around 3 p.m. June 23, 2024, on a report that a man had been verbally aggressive with his wife and had killed their puppy.

Officers saw a man matching the description walking from the building and carrying a large garbage bag. As officers drove toward him, he ran toward a dumpster.

As they approached, he said, “He wouldn’t stop barking, the dog,” the complaint read. He said he had killed the dog and that it was in the bag. Inside the bag was a curled-up, dead dog that appeared to have been bludgeoned. The man, Van Lannen, was arrested.

Back outside the apartment, officers met with Van Lannen’s wife. She said she’d been away from the apartment and received a call from him complaining about their puppy’s behavior. She said he then added, “So I killed it.”

She said that she came home and they argued, and that he left with the puppy in the garbage bag.

In an interview, Van Lannen told police they had been having problems with the puppy soiling the apartment. He said that on that day, he lost his patience, as the dog would not stop barking, and hit it on the head with a hammer about six times.

Van Lannen’s wife gave officers consent to search their apartment. She gave them a hammer, saying it was the only one they have; it was clean. In the living room was a pool of blood, along with excrement. The living-room floor had a divot that matched the head of a hammer.

About a month before the killing, the complaint said, Van Lannen’s wife reported to police that he was threatening her through texts. She gave police screenshots of aggressive and threatening texts from him.

‘Ready to get back up on my feet’

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Van Lannen appeared for sentencing in Ramsey County Mental Health Treatment Court via Zoom from an inpatient treatment center.

He chose not to address the court before hearing his sentence from Carey, who asked how he is doing.

“I’ve really gotten back into my faith. That’s my No. 1 thing,” he replied. “But I’m also ready to get back up on my feet, get better. I didn’t like being homeless and just being drunk.”

Court records show Van Lannen and his wife finalized a divorce two months after the puppy’s killing and that he later moved to St. Louis Park and then to a St. Paul homeless shelter.

He is due back in mental health treatment Court on March 16 for a progress check-in and Dakota County District Court on gross misdemeanor DWI charges April 28.

After news broke of Kyle Anderson’s impending return to the Timberwolves nearly two years after his free agency departure, teammates got on the horn. Rudy Gobert, Mike Conley and Anthony Edwards were all on the phone.

The center of the conversation: It was time to finish what they started.

Memphis Grizzlies forward Kyle Anderson reacts in the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Utah Jazz, Friday, Feb. 20, 2026, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Brandon Dill)

All four, and a few others on the current roster, were a part of one of the two greatest teams in Timberwolves history, which reached the first of two consecutive Western Conference Finals in 2024.

“It’s definitely exciting,” Anderson said.

Anderson has been welcomed with open arms by those in the building who know him best. He developed close bonds with many teammates in his first stint in Minnesota. He vacationed with his then former teammates during the 2025 all-star break in Mexico. He hangs out with Jaden McDaniels and Naz Reid in the summertime.

Gobert, with whom Anderson had a public, in-game spat in the regular season finale of the 2022-23 campaign, became a close friend and dinner buddy the following year.

“These are my guys,” Anderson said.

And this is his coach.

This is Anderson’s 12th NBA season. He has played for six teams in that span, including some of the NBA’s most legendary bench bosses — Gregg Popovich, Erik Spoelstra, Steve Kerr. Yet Anderson said Timberwolves coach Chris Finch is the one who has most understood his game and skillset.

As a whole, Minnesota values the versatile forward.

“He’s a big part of what we do,” Gobert said. “He’s going to help us on and off the court. I think he’s a smart player, he’s a tough player, he’s an unselfish player, and also he’s someone who is a winner.”

That type of belief matters for a player.

“I’ve seen that first-hand. Just playing for a few teams where I feel like they didn’t see it, it sucks,” Anderson said. “I was with a lot of young guys in Utah and in Memphis, and they’re like, ‘Oh, I could be in another situation.’ I’m like, ‘The grass ain’t always greener.’ So, wherever you’re loved, you’ve got to make the most out of it.”

That’s what he intends to do with this opportunity. On the surface, Anderson figures to slot into the end of Minnesota’s rotation with minutes as either the team’s eighth or ninth man. But he’s making no such presumptions, nor demands, regarding his role.

“I’m willing to come in and do whatever,” he said. “Whether it’s not play at all, play a little bit, if I play a lot — whatever it is, I just want to contribute the best I can and I’ll go from there.”

Make no mistake, the 32-year-old forward remains confident in his game. While opportunities to play were sporadic over the past two seasons, largely due to circumstance — he spent much of this season on a Utah team prioritizing lottery balls over victories — Anderson still feels he’s “in my prime, ready to go.”

But he’s clearly making an early effort not to step on toes. While many of the faces remain the same, times have changed. Anderson was a vocal leader for two years in Minnesota, but this is a different locker room. He hasn’t been a part of the last year and a half.

“They don’t want to hear it,” he said with a laugh. “(They’d be like) ‘You haven’t been here all year. Shut up.’ When I can pitch in, I’ll do my part, but obviously the dynamic is a little different.”

He knows Minnesota reached the West Finals again last year without his assistance, and is in a position to do something similar this spring. His only goal is to aid in those efforts in any possible way.

“I think these guys are doing a great job. Like, I don’t think I’m coming in to save the day or do too much,” Anderson said. “However I can contribute and however me and Finchy see fit when we sit in his office, then that’s how it would go. But I’m not coming in expecting to play 30 minutes and taking all the ball handling responsibilities right away to save the day.

“However I see I can help, that’s how I’m gonna do it.”

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By PHILIP MARCELO

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s administration’s efforts to halt New York’s first-in-the-nation congestion fee meant to reduce traffic and pump revenue into the region’s aging transit system.

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U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman on Tuesday ruled that the U.S. Department of Transportation lacked the authority to unilaterally rescind approval of the $9 toll, which former Democratic President Joe Biden initially green-lit.

Instead, he sided with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which had argued that the department’s reversal was “unlawful” because the agency had not adequately explained its reasoning.

“The Secretary’s actions were arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion, and not in accordance with law,” Liman wrote in his 149-page ruling, referring to Trump’s Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.

The judge noted that New York’s legislature passed the toll, which its governor signed into law and received the necessary federal approvals before launching.

“The democratic process worked,” Liman wrote, even as he left the door open for future attempts by Trump and other opponents to kill the program, which took effect on Jan. 5, 2025.

Gov. Kathy Hochul said the decision vindicates a “once-in-a-lifetime success story” that’s “yielded huge benefits” in its first year of operation, including reducing gridlock and unlocking critical funding for mass transit.

“The judge’s decision is clear: Donald Trump’s unlawful attempts to trample on the self-governance of his home state have failed spectacularly,” the Democrat said in a statement. “Congestion pricing is legal, it works, and it is here to stay.”

The U.S. DOT said it’s reviewing its legal options, including appealing.

“Once again, working-class Americans are being sidelined under Governor Kathy Hochul’s policies, which impose a massive tax on every New Yorker,” the agency said in a statement.

New York’s congestion toll is imposed on most vehicles driving into Manhattan south of Central Park.

The toll varies depending on vehicle type and time of day, and is added to tolls drivers already pay to cross bridges and tunnels into Manhattan, but generally costs about $9.

Congestion pricing schemes aimed at reducing traffic pollution and encouraging public transit use have long existed in other global cities, including London, Stockholm, Milan and Singapore, but not in the U.S.

But Trump, whose namesake Trump Tower and other properties are within the congestion zone, has strongly opposed the idea. During his presidential campaign, he vowed to kill New York’s plan as soon as he took office.

Then last February, Duffy rescinded the toll’s federal approval, calling the fee “a slap in the face to working-class Americans and small business owners.” He threatened to withhold federal funding for projects in New York if the toll weren’t discontinued.

But Liman temporarily blocked the administration from following through on those threats until he issued a final decision. The Manhattan judge previously dismissed a series of lawsuits brought by local opponents, including New Jersey’s governor, unionized teachers in New York City, a trucking industry group and local suburban leaders.

Hochul had been a vocal supporter of the toll but paused its planned rollout in 2024, a move widely seen as an attempt to help suburban Democrats in congressional races where the toll was divisive. She then reinstated the fee after the election, but lowered it from $15 to $9.

As the program marked its first anniversary in January, Hochul, who is up for reelection, joined the MTA in touting the toll’s benefits.

According to a recent MTA report, the toll has led to some 27 million fewer vehicles coming into the heart of Manhattan, resulting in 22% less air pollution and 23% faster commute times for those opting to drive and pay the fee.

The toll has also generated more than $550 million in revenue for the region’s creaky and cash-strapped transit system — exceeding projections, the MTA has said.

Sales tax revenues, office leases and foot traffic in the congestion zone have all increased since the toll took effect, disproving concerns it would hurt the local economy, according to the agency.

“Traffic is down, business is up, and we’re making crucial investments in a transit system that moves millions of people a day,” Janno Lieber, the MTA’s CEO, said Tuesday. “New York is winning.”

Follow Philip Marcelo at https://x.com/philmarcelo