Just 240,000 cubic yards of soil standing in the way of invasive carp swimming their way up to Duluth. In the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, Brian Francisco writes: “Eagle Marsh stakeholders will celebrate a pile of dirt today. … It’s a large amount of dirt, to be sure – 10 feet tall, 80 feet wide and nearly 2 miles long, presumably more than enough to stop invasive Asian carp from reaching the Great Lakes and wrecking their commercial and recreational fishing industries. … Local, state and federal officials will meet on the southwest edge of Fort Wayne this afternoon for what they are calling a celebration of the Eagle Marsh berm. The $3.5 million project to widen one bank of a drainage ditch running through the marsh began in late 2014 and was essentially finished last fall.”
“Grown-up” being used ironically here. In the Star Tribune, Barry Lytton writes: “A couple of blocks away, regular adults in suits and dresses were filing out of mass at the Basilica of St. Mary. But at Sisyphus Brewing on the edge of downtown Minneapolis, lab coats were thrown over jorts, beer flowed and science projects — by adults, for adults — were exhibited to a buzzing crowd. … It was a Casual Science Fair, put on by Twin Cities kid-agains who make up the Grown-Up Club. For four hours on a recent Sunday, 21 teams competed for a grand prize of $100 cash, smaller prizes of pickle jars and T-shirts, and, most important, peer adoration.”
More consumer-protection work from Sen. Klobuchar. KMSP reports: “Sen. Amy Klobuchar and several other lawmakers are calling on the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to initiate a full recall of all IKEA’s MALM dressers after three children, including one toddler from the Twin Cities, were killed when the dressers tipped over. … After the deaths of two children in 2014, CPSC and IKEA announced a repair program that would provide free wall anchoring kits for MALM dressers.”
Things are happening in St. Paul. The Pioneer Press’ Frederick Melo reports: “It’s said that everything old is new again. By December, a concert hall with almost twice the capacity of First Avenue will open in downtown St. Paul with rock and hip-hop among the acts showcased at the Palace Theatre — a 1916 vaudeville stage mostly shuttered since 1977. Even sooner, a Hyatt Place hotel opens in the Custom House, the 17-story former post office tower overlooking Kellogg Boulevard and the Mississippi River. …Like the six new restaurants ringing CHS Field, the new home of the St. Paul Saints, there’s fresh energy in downtown St. Paul.”
In other news…
Dayton comes in at #11 on approval rating: “America’s Most (and Least) Popular Governors” [Morning Consult]
And Minneapolis ranks #17 for dog attacks on postal carriers: “Postal Service Releases Annual Dog Attack City Rankings” [USPS]
Nothing we can add to improve on this headline: “Minnesota taekwondo master escapes violent bear encounter” [Inforum]
Mostly outside the metro for Minnesota: “Where broadband access is unequal” [Center for Public Integrity]
Not welcome in Minnesota: “Gene Simmons apologizes for calling Prince’s death ‘pathetic’” [CNN]
Check it out: “New Netflix comedy stars Duluth’s Maria Bamford” [Pioneer Press]
A little national sympathy for the plight of the Minnesota basketball fan: “Richard Pitino won’t fill up gas tanks and it’s costing Minnesota money” [ESPN]
Sen. Klobs
Is taking another of her characteristic bold and controversial stands, this time against dresses that fall on and injure or kill children. It’s not just consumer cell phone contracts where she wades into troubled waters.
Given her bravery, it’s no surprise that her name has been bandied about for SCOTUS and HRC’s VP position. One wonders where she stands on puppies and apple pie.