It’s going to be torched. Says Alicia Elder of the Star Tribune, “Dakota tribal elders will oversee the dismantling of the controversial sculpture ‘Scaffold’ beginning Friday, then hold a ceremonial burning of the wooden timbers of what once was envisioned as a cornerstone of the renovated Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. That plan, proposed by a Dakota committee, was announced Wednesday after a three-hour meeting with Walker Art Center Executive Director Olga Viso, Minneapolis city leaders and the work’s creator, Sam Durant.”
Related … plastic bags get a reprieve in Minneapolis. Brandt Williams at MPR says, “Minneapolis’ plastic carryout bag ban won’t take effect Thursday after all. The ordinance, initially passed last spring, was blocked when Gov. Mark Dayton signed a jobs bill this week with a provision preempting cities like Minneapolis from banning plastic bags. Dayton, a DFLer, said he was disappointed the bill contained that provision, but signed it along with eight other Republican-led budget bills to fund Minnesota state government the next two years.”
Pat Pheifer of the Strib tells us, “Ryan James Stanek, the adult son of Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek, has been charged with four felonies for allegedly trying to solicit a 13-year-old to have sex with him and for possessing child pornography. Some of the pornographic images investigators found on Stanek’s cell phone involved children as young as 3, according to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday in Blue Earth County District Court in Mankato, Minn.”
You gotta wonder what Ted Cruz says to Al Franken if they meet in the Senate men’s room. In the Hill, Olivia Beavers writes, “Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) described Wednesday the reaction he once witnessed from an unnamed Democratic colleague who picked Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) during the Senate’s Secret Santa name drawing. ‘I’ve had people pick out Cruz’s name and then drop it on the floor. I’ve actually had that happen,’ the Minnesota senator said during a town hall discussion … . Franken’s comments underline what he believes is strong dislike Senate Democrats share toward the Texas senator. ‘Ted is a toxic co-worker. He’s the guy who microwaves fish for lunch,’ Franken said about his GOP colleague, adding that Cruz’s greatest accomplishment is getting the government to shut down.”
Not what you’d call a negligible account. In the New York Post, we learn, “The city is cutting its ties with Wells Fargo — eight months after the bank’s fake-account scandal exploded. Thousands of employees at the San Francisco-based institution were caught last year creating 2 million unauthorized bank and credit card accounts to make sales targets. ‘What happened at Wells Fargo was a fraud — and there should be consequences,’ Comptroller Scott Stringer said in a joint statement with Mayor Bill de Blasio. ‘We need to send a message to this bank and the broader industry that ethics matter.’” That’s a bit stronger than the usual “note of concern.”
A big delay for that Arden Hills “mega-project.” Says David Peterson for the Strib, “Minnesota’s biggest development project is being pushed back by as much as a year. A pollution problem deep underground is forcing a delay in approvals for the 427-acre town center planned for the Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant (TCAAP) site in Arden Hills, officials say. They say the discovery of contaminants in a plume of water deep underground has forced a complicated new look at where the project’s infrastructure needs to be located without affecting the attractiveness of the site or the lives of future buyers.” Contaminated water under an ammo plant. Who could have imagined that one?
