Klobuchar’s Governor Move, School Claims 5-year-old Was Taken By ICE; DHS Responds, Amber Alert Child Found Safe
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47 segmentsSo good, so good, so good. New markdowns, up to 70% off are at Nordstrom rack stores now. Stock up and stay big on shoes, tops, dresses, accessories, and more must-haves for summer. Join the Nordi Club to unlock exclusive discounts, shop new arrivals first, and more. Plus, buy online and pick up at your favorite rack store for free. Great brands, great prices. That's why you rack. This episode is brought to you by Facebook. So you were scrolling on Marketplace, and there it was, the bike you'd been searching for. You sent a message, and it turned out the seller was super chatty, kind of funny, and an avid cyclist. The next thing you know, you're in a cycling crew, well, a community cycling group. The thing about Facebook, you might find more than what you're looking for. From a browse to a bike ride, this summer find more on Facebook. You're listening to Four Things to Know, a WCCO Daily News podcast. Today is Thursday, January 22nd. I'm Maria Lysignoli. And I'm Johnny Connor. Thanks for listening to Four Things to Know. Our top story today, Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar made the first steps in entering Minnesota's governor's race. That's according to a source close to the senator. Esme Murphy has more on today's announcement. Well, we have some breaking news into our newsroom. Senator Amy Klobuchar has filed paperwork with the campaign finance board, the state campaign finance board, to run for governor. This does not mean an official announcement has been made. A source close to the senator says that an announcement is coming in the next few days. She will make her intentions clear. However, Senator Amy Klobuchar, who I've covered for many years, is not one to issue frivolous statements. So I think the fact that she is filing is very significant and certainly indicates that an announcement from her is coming very, very soon. She's filing the paperwork with the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board. That's where you have to file if you're running for a statewide election. Senator Amy Klobuchar is a four-term U.S. Senator. She's in her fourth term. She has won each of her races very decisively, increasingly decisively, I might add. Before that, she was the Hennepin County Attorney. Senator Amy Klobuchar has not made a statement yet, but a source close to her says that she has filed this paperwork with the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board and that an announcement is forthcoming from the senator in the next few days. Number two today, ICE says it did not target a five-year-old boy. They say that boy was abandoned. His name is Liam Ramos. Leaders from Columbia Heights Public Schools said yesterday he was taken by ICE with his father while they were both in their driveway after just arriving home from preschool. Columbia Heights Schools claims the child was used as bait. According to them, agents made Liam knock on the door asking to let them in in order to see if anyone else was home. The district superintendent, Zena Stenvick, says Liam's family is far from alone.
Why detain a five-year-old? You can't tell me that this child is going to be classified as a violent criminal. Two weeks ago, a 10-year-old student, fourth grader, was taken by ICE agents on her way to elementary school with her mother. During the arrest, the child called her father on the phone to tell him that ICE agents were bringing her to school. The father immediately came to the school to find that both his daughter and wife had been taken. In response to this story, Homeland Security posted on X that the five-year-old's father, quote, fled on foot, abandoning his child. For the child's safety, one of our ICE officers remained with the child while the other officers apprehended his father. The agency also said that parents are asked when they're detained if they want to be removed with their children, otherwise ICE will place the children with a safe person that the parent designates. They said his father was undocumented. Number three, you may have woken up to an Amber alert on your phone last night, and the Sherbourne County Sheriff's Office now says the child is safe and a suspect is in custody. A public safety alert went out yesterday, saying a seven-year-old girl was missing and was last seen getting off the school bus in Zimmerman. People in that area were asked to check their ring cameras and property. Law enforcement got a call just before 1 a.m. that led them to a car more than two hours south in Albert Lee. Thankfully, they found the little girls safe inside and arrested the driver. Sherbourne County Sheriff's Office Commander Ben Zawaki says the 7-year-old and the 28-year-old man who they say abducted her had some kind of tie on social media. We tell parents to monitor the social media used by their children, especially young children. There's just way too much access by people that would want to do harm. So you have to know what your children are doing on social media. The 28-year-old abduction suspect is behind bars. Number four, we're talking about the cold weather. We're already seeing a handful of school closures tomorrow. District leaders tell us extreme cold is easier to predict, but when it comes right down to it, each district sets its own guidelines. In St. Paul, the deciding threshold is a forecasted wind chill of minus 35 degrees or colder at 6 in the morning. And a lot of schools also follow that, including Rosemount, Apple Valley, and Egan, and also Shakope and Minneapolis. Overall, districts set similar benchmarks, but they alert families at different times. These districts aim for evening decisions when forecast confidence is high. But district leaders also say extreme cold is easier to predict than a precipitation forecast. St. Paul Public Schools Director of Communications, Erica Wacker, says it's likely families will know early this time around. The goal is to be in school. If it's safe to be in school, we want people to be in school. It's a hardship either way on parents and staff to have to adjust plans on short notice, but this is Minnesota. We have winter, we have weather that we deal with all times of the year, but our goal is always to give people as much notice as we possibly can.
And a reminder for you, Minneapolis schools will not have classes tomorrow because it is a teacher workday. You can see the latest closings and next weather alerts right now and anytime on our website, WCCO.com. Now let's check in on our forecast. Next for the meteorologist, Adam Delroso, checking in on this frigid Thursday, and it's only going to get colder. We've got a next weather alert in place, as well as extreme cold warnings through tonight as temperatures. Actual air temperatures are going to be falling into the teens below zero, close to 20 below zero as we're waking up tomorrow morning. You factor in a gusty northwest winds with... wind, which at times this afternoon is going to be gusting upwards of 35 miles an hour. It's going to drive wind chills down near 40 below here in the metro. We're not going to warm much tomorrow either. Actual air temperatures best we do close to 10 below zero. We're still going to have a breeze through the morning. However, winds will be relaxing. Through the weekend, we still have some cold weather advisories as temperatures remain below zero, but there won't be as much wind. It's not until Sunday afternoon when we find those temperatures back up above zero. And now here's more to know. This morning, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security updated the public on its immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota. Leaders of Operation Metro Surge claim protesters are purposefully interrupting their federal operations and making it harder for ICE agents to get who they call the worst of the worst off the streets. Frankie McClister was at their press conference this morning. Here's his report. It was a joint press conference with Border Patrol Commander at Large, Gregory Bovino, and ICE's executive assistant director of enforcement and removal operations, Marcos Charles. Now, they say that they've now arrested over 3,300 since they launched Operation Metro Surge right here in Minnesota, and those are numbers right there that we haven't been able to verify. Now, Charles claims that protesters are trying to defend those who committed crimes. The people we've arrested here here are not people you want living next door to your families, your children, your parents, or your best friends. This mission's ongoing until there are no more of those criminal illegal aliens roaming the streets of Minneapolis. Now, Bovino also criticized Minneapolis police for not helping what they say during yesterday's protest. And when the press asked if they could, if they called for help, he only mentioned that they did at some point. Now, we've reached out to MPD for their take and he says that also several thousand agents remain right here in the state.
Vice President JD Vance is in Minnesota today. The White House says JD Vance plans to meet with ICE agents today and defend their immigration operations. His office says he'll host a roundtable and deliver some remarks. As of this recording, he has not spoken publicly yet. JD Vance's visit comes days after the Justice Department subpoenaed several Minnesota officials as part of an investigation into whether state and local leaders have obstructed federal immigration enforcement efforts. Before heading to Minnesota, JD Vance gave remarks about Minneapolis at a speech in Toledo, Ohio. Now I'm headed from here to Minneapolis, where we're going to talk with some of our ICE agents, talk with local officials, about how we can turn down the chaos. And my simple piece of advice to them is going to be, look, if you want to turn down the chaos in Minneapolis, stop fighting immigration enforcement and accept that we have to have a border in this country. It's not that hard. WCCO will be there for the VP's visit and meetings. Look for updates on air and online at WCCO.com. We're learning there have been three arrests after a protest at a St. Paul church. Protesters disrupted a service at City's church last Sunday over Pastor David Easterwood's role as acting director of the Icefield office in St. Paul. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced this morning that she directed agents to make those arrests. They include social justice activist and lawyer Nekima Levy Armstrong, along with Chantel Louisa Allen. She's an elected board member of the St. Paul School Board. Pam Bondi says Levy Armstrong allegedly played a key role in organizing what she calls the attack on city's church. The third arrest today was for a man named William Kelly. He's been an outspoken protester. Pam Bondi ended her statement by saying, quote, more to come. We're learning new details about a clash between protesters and police near the U of M. Take a listen to what it sounded like last night. To the group protesting at the Graduate Hotel, do not tamper with the barricades. You may be subject to arrest. Anyone going beyond the barricades may be less in for me. As you can hear, demonstrators made noise to disturb the federal agents. They say were staying inside the graduate hotel last night. University police told us they had to use chemical irritants on the crowd to stop them from throwing objects or breaching security barriers. U of M sophomore Jack Ops said it was very scary. I've been standing in the crowd. I've been, you know, clapping, trying to make noise. And they've been bear spraying people on the front of the line that you can feel coming, you know, in the wind because the wind's blown towards us. And, you know, I've never been bear sprayed, but it makes everybody around me just start coughing. It's kind of brutal to deploy that against students. I mean, we've got classes tomorrow, you know. But it's been kind of scary, actually, to see this sort of thing. They got guys up on the roof with, like, paintball guns full of pepper balls. University police say they arrested three demonstrators for unlawful assembly. Authorities say no one got hurt.
As we hear more stories of ICE impacting schools, St. Paul Public Schools is now offering a virtual learning option that starts today. It's for families feeling uncomfortable traveling to and from school or work. District leaders say this temporary option was made in collaboration with their educators union. Staff have had the past two days to prepare to teach students in the classroom and online. So far, officials say more than 6,000 students have opted in. That's about 20% of students. There is no set end date for the virtual learning option. Leaders say the need is going to be reviewed on a weekly basis. The federal immigration activity also continues to impact workplaces across Minnesota. Small business owners like Rodrigo Cardoso with Inter-American Services are gathering to call for an end to ICE operations. We need the support of all our Congress representatives, House of Representatives. And we need the Congress to act, you know, and... request and limit the ICE operations. We need ice out of our business, out of our homes, out of our streets, out of our city, our out of our state, and out of our lives. Hundreds of local businesses are planning to close their doors tomorrow to support the movement they're calling Minnesota's Day of Truth and Freedom. Union representatives and community members are urging all Minnesotans not to go to work, school, or go shopping in response to Operation Metro Surge. Let's get to some sports headlines. Good news for the Vikings, Maria, in my opinion, at least, and in many fans. The defensive coordinator, Brian Flores, agreed to come back. That's if he does not get a head coaching job. So he signed a contract extension, assuming he doesn't get a job. He'll be back as the defensive coordinator next year. The Timberwolves have slipped a bit. Three losses in a row. The Chicago Bulls now in town tonight. Maxie says the fourth quarter defense has been a big problem. But they know it's an easy fix. That's according to Rudy Gobert. And defensively, we just compete. You know, come in to get every lose ball, come in with physicality, come in with a mindset of, you know, winning our matchups. You know, usually good things happen. And the wild back at home tonight against Detroit. Late puck drop, though, 8.30. It's going to be freezing cold, too. It's time to take a breath with your daily bright spot. The nominees for the 26 Oscars were announced this morning. Bleeding into most of the categories was sinners, a vampire horror that broke records with 16 nominations. The single feature was nominated for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay,
and Best Picture, among other nominations. A few other notable films for Best Picture include Bogonia, Hamnet, and Marty Supreme. The only one I've seen is Marty Supreme, which I liked a lot. And you've seen Hamnet, right? I have seen all of them, except for Marty Supreme. Really? Yeah. I'm going to watch that one soon, though. You've also seen sinners? Yeah, I've seen, I'm a huge Oscar movie. Wow. I try to watch all of them every year. And so, you know, we have still some time to until the award ceremony, but I definitely want to watch all of them. My favorite. nominee for Best Picture was sentimental value, which is a foreign film, but it is beautiful. I don't know if it's going to win. One battle after another was another great one, and I feel like a lot of people loved that. Johnny, I think you would like that one. What's that one about? That's the Leonardo DiCaprio one. No, you don't, not ringing a bell? Not ringing a bell. I don't see very many movies, though. You really don't. He's like the one Gen Z person that like isn't on social media, doesn't see a lot of movies or TV, but you know what he does? He reads and watches sports. Yeah. And that is amazing. Really empowering stuff there. I love it. Yeah, I mean, everyone's been talking about, I've heard sentimental value a lot from people. I haven't heard of sinners, though, but I would never see a scary movie. It's just not up my alley. No, it's not too scary, to be honest, but I guess if you don't like scary movies, don't go sick. Oh, well, yeah, I love Oscar season. It's always very fun. On that note, thanks for listening here to Four Things to Know. With Johnny Connor, I'm Maria Lizignoli, and we're here with the news you need every weekday afternoon by 3 o'clock. Listen to Four Things to Know, a WCCO Daily News podcast, wherever you get your podcasts.
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