Minnesota
Pardoned Jan. 6 rioter Jake Lang arrested in Minnesota after ice sculpture stunt
Why is ICE in Minnesota? What to know amid immigration crackdown
A federal surge of 2,000 agents, a $9B fraud probe and rising tensions after a fatal shooting have made the state the center of a nationwide immigration crackdown.
Pardoned Jan. 6 rioter Jake Lang is back in Minnesota, and this time he got arrested.
In a video Lang posted to X Thursday, Feb. 5, he is seen kicking over the letters of an ice sculpture reading “Prosecute ICE,” to make it read “Pro ICE.” In the accompanying text, Lang wrote he was arrested. The incident took place around 2:30 p.m. that day.
Minnesota State Patrol spokesperson Mike Lee confirmed with the St. Cloud Times Lang was arrested near the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and University Avenue in St. Paul, as Lang tried to leave the area in a vehicle.
“Mr. Lang was arrested without incident and brought to the Ramsey County Jail to be booked for suspicion of criminal damage to property,” Lee wrote in an email.
The ice sculpture was a permitted display, according to Lee.
Lang, whose full name is Edward Jacob Lang, was booked at the Ramsey County Jail, according to the online roster. As of 5 p.m. Feb. 5, no charges have been filed. The investigation remains open and active, according to Lee.
The Minnesota State Patrol states Lang is a resident of Lake Worth, Florida, which is consistent with paperwork Lang filed with the Federal Election Commission to run for a U.S. Senate seat in Florida.
Why is Lang in Minnesota?
Lang came to Minnesota to host another rally at noon this Saturday, Feb. 7, outside the Minnesota statehouse in St. Paul, according to the video. As of 5 p.m. Feb. 5, CBS News reports a permit has not been issued for the rally.
“President Trump we support you, we support ICE,” Lang said in the video. “Our country was made for Americans, not for Somalis.”
Lang, who has about 75,000 followers on Facebook, was in Minneapolis on Jan. 17, when he held his “March Against Minnesota Fraud.” Fewer than 20 supporters attended his march. Meanwhile, a counter-protest on the other side of the street rallied about 150 people.
The January protest came after former First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson said that since 2018 at least half of the $18 billion paid through Minnesota’s Medicaid waiver programs could be fraudulent.
A small group of counter-protesters were on the same side of the street as Lang and threw water balloons and silly string at him. Lang left his Jan. 17 rally about 30 minutes after it was scheduled to begin. Counter-protesters followed him through downtown Minneapolis.
Corey Schmidt covers politics and public safety for the St. Cloud Times. He can be reached at cschmidt@gannett.com.
The Minnesota Lynx fell to the Connecticut Sun 90-89 on Monday night. Brittney Griner scored a season-high 29 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, and Kennedy Burke added 16 points off the bench, including two 3-pointers in the final three minutes for the Sun.
Burke made a 3-pointer with 2:53 remaining in the fourth quarter to give the Sun a five-point lead, and Griner added a shot in the lane with 1:25 left to make it 84-79.
Burke sank a wide open 3-pointer from the top of the key with 44.5 seconds left for an 87-84 lead. Then, former Lynx forward Diamond Miller made a key block for Connecticut and Griner sealed it on a layup with 18.2 seconds left for another five-point advantage.
Leila Lacan had 13 points and Olivia Nelson-Ododa added 10 points and eight rebounds for Connecticut (5-16), which won its second road game of the season.
Kayla McBride scored 28 points for Minnesota (15-6) and Courtney Williams had 23 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Natasha Howard scored 18.
Minnesota was without Napheesa Collier (left ankle) and Olivia Miles (right calf). Dorka Juhasz made her season debut and finished with three points in 25 minutes.
Griner scored 13 points in the first half to help Connecticut build a 48-44 lead.
Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve’s second attempt to become the WNBA’s career wins leader came up just short. The next chance will come Wednesday when Minnesota plays at Connecticut. Reeve is tied with Mike Thibault at 379 regular-season victories.
Up next
The teams play again on Wednesday in Connecticut.
Police are investigating after a man was arrested and another was injured in a shooting in Oakdale, Minnesota, on Thursday, according to officials.
Officers responded to a home on the 700 block of Gershwin Avenue around 10:24 p.m. for a report of an individual suffering from a gunshot wound. Police at the scene said they found a 32-year-old man who had been shot in the abdomen. He was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
Witnesses, according to police, said the injured man was standing near a bonfire in the backyard of the residence when he was hit by gunfire.
The officers weren’t able to find any suspects after they set up a perimeter and searched the area with help from several other law enforcement agencies.
Officials said police on Friday night arrested a 64-year-old Oakdale man in connection with Thursday’s shooting. Oakdale Police Chief Nick Newton said he was booked and later released.
Neighbors along a three-block stretch in St Louis Park, Minnesota, say vandals smashed car windows early Sunday morning along Quentin Avenue.
A spokesperson for the City of St. Louis Park said officers took 18 reports of vehicle tampering and stolen property around 5 in the morning. The city wouldn’t confirm how many cars were hit, but said the investigation is ongoing.
“I was just pulling out and I had to swerve and avoid all the glass on the street because most cars on this block had their windows smashed,” said Nachshown Fertel.
While Fertel’s car wasn’t damaged, a car parked across the street was smashed across the windshield. Two others were missing windows.
“Obviously, it’s expensive to repair and we don’t know who did it,” Fertel said. “We all have Ring cameras, but since most of them were on the street, only a few people caught glimpses of it.”
Two blocks away, WCCO talked to a man with four damaged cars sitting outside his home. He said all the windows on his family cars were smashed early in the morning, but no one got away with anything valuable. He called the whole ordeal upsetting.
Aharon Harkavy spent part of Sunday cleaning up shattered glass in his driveway. He said neighbors have had issues with stolen cars and some break-ins in the past, but this string of damage felt like an escalation.
“This needs to stop, the police need to really do something about it,” he said.
Back in May, Minneapolis police were investigating a string of break-ins on the southwest side of the city. That followed 30 cars hit by vandals in April over an 8-hour span. Last summer in Minneapolis, there were roughly 475 vehicle break-ins in 30 days between July and August.
Fertel said many of his neighbors in St. Louis Park attend the same synagogue and the community came together to help with repairs.
“I went over to the rabbi and I said, ‘Can we start a fund?’” Fertel explained. “I got a few people to donate. We pulled together some funds to help people pay for the damage.”
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