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City Cast Twin Cities

City Cast Twin Cities

🎥 Journalists released after church protest arrest

February 2, 2026 · Special thanks to Winter Keefer for helping write today’s newsletter.

Hey, Twin Cities – Adam today. It's a new month, and I hope you're all feeling re-energized to keep connecting with your neighbors and taking care of each other.

Rent is due, and a lot of folks in our cities are not able to pay this month as they've been too afraid to leave their homes and go to work. There are many organizations raising funds for rent relief right now, but I want to highlight Critical Rent Assistance for Central Neighborhood Families, which is helping people in the neighborhood where Renee Good was killed. If you're willing and able to donate, I encourage you to do so.

Today’s Must-Know

A church building with a clear sky and snow on the ground. It says "cities church" on the front
Two journalists have been arrested in connection to protests that occurred at the Cities Church in St. Paul. (Stephen Maturen / Stringer via Getty Images)

Georgia Fort and Don Lemon Released After Church Protest Arrest

A judge ordered the release without bond of the two journalists who were arrested on Friday. Both were taken into custody on Friday morning after they filmed protesters inside the Cities Church in St. Paul on Jan. 18. The arrest comes after a judge previously refused to sign an arrest warrant for Don Lemon, differentiating him from the protesters. [MPR]

  • This is not OK: Several news outlets in Minnesota, including City Cast Twin Cities, have signed on to a statement condemning the arrests as well as any attempt to intimidate members of the press. "The First Amendment recognizes the press as holding a distinct and protected role in our democracy. In America, we do not arrest journalists for doing their jobs." [Star Tribune, et. al]
  • Real-time reporting: Georgia Fort live-streamed the moments before her arrest as federal agents waited outside her door. Fort said the agents told her she had been indicted by a grand jury, and that her attorney advised her to go with the agents to the Whipple building. [Georgia Fort]
  • Not the first arrests: Three activists who participated in the protest at Cities Church were arrested a week before Fort and Lemon. The activists were released after a judge denied a U.S. attorney’s request to keep them detained until trial. [The Guardian]
  • The charges: The two were charged under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act of 1994, which makes it a federal crime to physically obstruct entry to clinics offering reproductive health services. More relevantly, there is a clause in the law that prohibits impeding somebody who's trying to exercise their First Amendment rights of religious freedom at a place of worship. [MPR]
  • More to come: U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that Black Lives Matter Minnesota co-founder Trahern Crews and community activist Jamael Lundy have also been arrested, calling the protest a "coordinated attack" on the church. [Star Tribune / X]

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What the Cities Are Talking About

Liam is home: Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrián Alexander Conejo Arias, returned to Minnesota Sunday after a judge Saturday issued a release order for their release from a Texas detainment facility. Videos and photos of the father and son's Jan. 20 detainment went viral online, with witnesses saying federal agents used the boy, who was returning home from school, as bait. [ABC News / NYT Opinion]

Pretti shooters IDed: Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez, both of Texas, were identified Sunday as the agents who fired at Alex Pretti. [ProPublica]

Target sit-in: Anti-ICE protesters across the country staged a sit-in at Target stores Saturday. They called on the Minnesota-based retailer to stop any cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Protestors are calling for boycotts against retailers and businesses perceived to be cooperating with ICE. [NPR]

Defying orders: After a federal judge issued a court order to release detained refugees in Minnesota, the refugees' lawyers are saying the Trump administration is refusing to comply. In the court order, the judge wrote that refugees have a right to live in the U.S. without fear of warrantless detention. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller called the order "judicial sabotage of democracy." [MPR]

Wait, what? On a recent phone call between Gov. Tim Walz and President Trump, Trump allegedly compared ICE's operations in the Twin Cities to recent military action in Venezuela. Walz said he found it strange that the President saw an operation against a foreign nation in the same context as an operation against an American city. [MS NOW]

Nice try: A Minnesota man is accused of trying to break Luigi Mangione out of jail by impersonating an FBI agent. He allegedly claimed to have paperwork "signed by a judge" ordering an inmate's release, and went to the prison armed with a barbecue fork and a pizza cutter. [ABC News]

A large rectangular building. There is a parking lot in front with cars in it
The Whipple Building, where two Columbia Heights elementary schoolers were taken into custody. At least six children from the Columbia Heights school district have been detained by ICE in the past month. (Adam Sage / City Cast Twin Cities)

Two more kids in custody: A second grader and a fifth grader from the same school as 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos were taken into custody by ICE agents. School officials had to take the children to the Whipple building after their mother was detained during her court appointment on Thursday. Reports say the family is legally allowed to be in the United States, and a judge has issued an order to prevent them from being deported. [MPR]

One tough dude: Michael Koppy has become the oldest person to complete the Arrowhead 135-mile ultramarathon on foot. The winter endurance race is considered one of the toughest in the world, and more than half of the competitors who attempt it fail to finish. [MPR]

What to Do

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I want to wish well for our hometown hero, Lindsey Vonn, who was airlifted away after a crash in a downhill ski race last week. She injured her left knee, but says she still hopes to recover in time to compete in the Milan Winter Olympic Games. Godspeed, Lindsey!

— Adam Sage

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