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Don Lemon formally arraigned, pleads not guilty on charges stemming from viral Minnesota church storming

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Don Lemon formally arraigned, pleads not guilty on charges stemming from viral Minnesota church storming

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Former CNN anchor Don Lemon was formally arraigned on Friday, pleading not guilty to charges related to the viral takeover of a Minnesota church by anti-ICE agitators. 

Lemon, who last month livestreamed aggressive agitators storming St. Paul’s Cities Church under the suspicion that its pastor had collaborated with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), was charged with conspiracy to deprive religious freedom rights and a violation of the FACE Act.

Prosecutors did not seek to detain Lemon, who flashed peace signs to photographers as he entered the Warren E. Burger Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse alongside his legal team and husband Tim Malone. He appeared before Minnesota Magistrate Judge Douglas L. Micko, who imposed standard release conditions, including not violating laws. 

DON LEMON TAKEN INTO CUSTODY FOR HIS INVOLVEMENT IN LIVESTREAMING PROTEST AT MINNESOTA CHURCH

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Don Lemon arrives with his legal team for an arraignment hearing at the Warren E. Burger Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse on February 13, 2026, in St. Paul, Minnesota. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

Lemon’s legal team said it planned to file a joint motion for grand jury proceeding and has “serious concerns” about the statues of the allegation. Lemon’s legal team also requested the return of a cell phone taken during his arrest. 

“I will require that if Mr. Lemon’s phone has been seized and is no longer of evidentiary value that it will be returned,” the judge said. 

Prosecutors said the phone is in the custody of the DHS, and a search warrant has been obtained, but the process is not complete, and they are not ready to hand it over. 

Lemon was arraigned alongside far-left agitators including William Kelly and Nekima Levy Armstrong, who have been accused of helping organize the church takeover. All five people arraigned on Friday pleaded not guilty. 

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Lemon has insisted he was working as a journalist and was not part of the group that harassed churchgoers. He is represented by Abbe Lowell, who previously represented Hunter Biden, and Joe Thompson, who was the lead prosecutor who helped uncover the massive $250 million Feeding Our Future food fraud case tied to the state’s Somali community. Thompson resigned from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in January. 

While documenting the hostile invasion of the church, Lemon called it a “clandestine mission.”

“You have to be willing to go into places and disrupt and make people uncomfortable. That’s what this country is about,” Lemon said.

DON LEMON RESPONDS TO TRUMP DOJ’S THREAT, STANDS BY COVERAGE OF ANTI-ICE PROTEST AT MINNESOTA CHURCH

Don Lemon flashed peace signs to photographers as he entered the Warren E. Burger Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse alongside his legal team and husband Tim Malone. ( Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

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Agitators disrupted the religious service and “intimidated, harassed, oppressed, and terrorized the parishioners, including young children, and caused the service to be cut short,” according to a federal affidavit. 

Churchgoers told law enforcement that members of their parish attempted to retrieve their children from a childcare area located downstairs, but the agitators were blocking the stairs, and the parents were unable to get to their children. One churchgoer later expressed fear that the agitators may have guns underneath their jackets and noted that aisles were blocked, making it difficult to leave. 

Lemon has seen a spike in social media subscribers, appeared on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and been feted at the Grammy Awards since his arrest. “The Don Lemon Show” streamed on YouTube as scheduled with Lemon broadcasting from Minnesota before the arraignment.

“I believe this is bigger than me, this is about the First Amendment and freedom of the press,” he told viewers. 

DON LEMON’S LENGTHY HISTORY OF ANTI-ICE RHETORIC

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Don Lemon has seen a spike in social media subscribers, appeared on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and been feted at the Grammy Awards since his arrest. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

The FACE Act makes it a federal crime, with potentially steep fines and jail time, to use or threaten to use force to “injure, intimidate, or interfere” with a person seeking reproductive health services, or with a person lawfully trying to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship. It also prohibits intentional property damage to a facility providing reproductive health services or a place of religious worship.

Fox News Media’s Joseph A. Wulfsohn and Brooke Taylor contributed to this report. 

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Missouri

Missouri consumers file class-action lawsuit against Good Day Farm

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Missouri consumers file class-action lawsuit against Good Day Farm


A marijuana dispensary chain with locations in Springfield and Columbia is again facing allegations of creating a monopoly to take advantage of the Missouri recreational marijuana market.

Damon Toussaint Frost Jr. filed a class-action lawsuit May 4 in Jackson County Circuit Court against Good Day Farm, Missouri’s largest dispensary chain.

Frost, who is identified in the court filing as a Missouri resident who has purchased recreational cannabis from GDF, alleges that the dispensary chain’s and its affiliates have conspired to monopolize recreational cannabis sales in Missouri, resulting in Missouri consumers paying significantly higher prices than they would have in a free market. Frost and other class members — defined in the suit as Missouri citizens who have purchased recreational cannabis products from Good Day Farm or its affiliates in Missouri — are seeking that the “illegal conspiracy” be dismantled and that they be compensated for damages.

Frost is represented by Michael Williams of Williams Dirks Dameron in Kansas City. Williams did not respond to a request for comment as of publication.

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A spokesperson for GDF denied the allegations.

“The claims in this lawsuit are baseless and without merit. Our company operates in full compliance with all applicable Missouri state laws and regulations, and we will vigorously defend that record,” the spokesperson wrote in an email Friday, May 15, afternoon. “We will not allow aggressive legal tactics to distract us from what matters most: our mission to deliver uninterrupted service and exceptional products to the patients, customers and employees who rely on us.”

This isn’t the first class-action lawsuit filed against the dispensary chain. In April, two Missouri-licensed cultivators and manufacturers alleged that GDF violated the Missouri Constitution and created a “cartel.”

Like in the April lawsuit, Frost’s lawsuit alleges that the “GDF consortium” — which includes Good Day Farm Dispensaries, Codes Dispensaries, Greenlight, 3Fifteen Primo and Fresh Karma — has control of about 25% of dispensary licenses in Missouri. The Missouri Constitution mandates that entities are limited to owning, controlling or managing no more than 10% of the total dispensary licenses in Missouri.

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In order to circumvent the 10% cap, GDF “arranged for investors to invest into limited liability companies” that would then acquire already-licensed entities from owners, court records said, and would then be operated by GDF. The lawsuit alleges that GDF created four limited liability companies.

It also alleges that GDF employees, including the compliance director, general counsel and former director of investor relations, were listed on paperwork for various Codes, Greenlight and Fresh Karma dispensaries.

“Defendants anticompetitive conduct (i) robs consumers of choice and selection of products, and (ii) leaves third parties to compete for a significantly (and increasingly) small sliver of shelf space in the overall Missouri market,” the petition said. “In addition, Defendants misconduct will likely result in fewer competitive brands on the market, substantially reduced diversity of products available and sold, and, ultimately, to fewer choices, lower quality, and higher prices for consumers.”



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Nebraska

Cornfield Baptism Near Omaha, Nebraska

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Cornfield Baptism Near Omaha, Nebraska


What the hell happened to my life? 

My inner monologue was deafening in the stillness of the Nebraska morning. I hadn’t heard myself this clearly since high school five years ago, before I pushed off into life as an actress in New York City. I couldn’t be sure what made my thoughts so loud—maybe it was whiplash, my abrupt move from filming HBO’s High Maintenance to my childhood stomping grounds.



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North Dakota

Cramer: ND-Norway defense partnership strong

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Cramer: ND-Norway defense partnership strong


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U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-ND, spoke about the connection between North Dakota, the United States and Norway at the 12th annual Norwegian-American Defense Conference held April 17, where he delivered the congressional keynote address.

WASHINGTON – North Dakota’s deep Norwegian roots reflect the broad, long-standing relationship between the United States and Norway, one built on shared values, cultural ties and security cooperation.

U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-ND, spoke about the connection between the two countries at the 12th annual Norwegian-American Defense Conference held April 17, where he delivered the congressional keynote address.

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He described the bond as historic and strategic, but also personal. His great-great-great grandfather, Erik Hjelden, fought in the Norwegian War of Independence prior to Norway adopting a constitution on May 17, 1814, Norway’s Independence Day known as Syttende Mai.

Starting in the 1870s, Scandinavian immigrants from Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland settled across what is now North Dakota. Today, one-third of the state’s population is of Norwegian descent, and North Dakota has the highest percentage of citizens with Norwegian ancestry of any state in the nation.

“I love the theme of this year’s conference, ‘From Seabed to Space,’ because I do think the size of the country is not nearly as important as the dynamic that happens when one plus one equals more than two,” Cramer said. “At a time when there’s talent on the factory floor, and talent in the executive suites, and talent in the engineering room, that we may have one or the other, maybe all. But together the dynamic of it is so much greater.”

Cramer emphasized how this foundation now supports a modern defense partnership. He said the United States and Norway are working together on Arctic security, aiming to strengthen interoperability and improve readiness across multi-domain operations. This alliance plays a key role in addressing today’s international security challenges.

Cramer also recognized the U.S.-Norway partnership through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), as well as the history between the two countries.

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“When you look at a globe, it illustrates why the Arctic is so important,” continued Cramer. “None of us can protect our silo without protecting our country, without protecting our continent, without protecting our hemisphere, without protecting ourselves. We protect one another by protecting ourselves, and we protect ourselves by protecting one another.”

Throughout his years in Congress, Cramer has been active in the House and Senate Friends of Norway caucuses. He hosted former Norwegian Ambassador to the U.S. Anniken Krutnes when she visited North Dakota in 2024, highlighting the state’s Norwegian heritage, economic strength and its role in advancing U.S.-Norway defense and national security cooperation. During the visit, Krutnes and Cramer emphasized the importance of strong alliances and the longstanding partnership between the two nations during various community stops, including events at the Sons of Norway Kringen Lodge and First Lutheran Church. The visit also focused on defense priorities, with a briefing at the North Dakota National Guard’s 119th Wing regarding the mission of the “Happy Hooligans,” before concluding with a public reception ahead of the Fargo premiere of the Norwegian film Songs of Earth.



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