Smoldering North. The Forum News Service warns folks in northern Minnesota about current air quality concerns: “A large area of Canadian wildfire smoke is moving into far northwest Minnesota and will move south and east, covering much of the northern half of the state by early Friday morning, the MPCA said. Among people likely to be affected by the smoke are those with asthma, or other breathing conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and high blood pressure, as well as children and older adults. Also, people of all ages who are doing extended or heavy, physical activity like playing sports or working outdoors may be affected.”
Keeping Cloquet safe, I guess. Jamie Lund of the West Central Tribune has the story of a Cloquet restaurateur plucked from the golf course by ICE: “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested a Cloquet man at a Carlton County golf course Thursday, Aug. 9. Pedro Aranda, 42, was arrested by ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations for immigration violations. Aranda, who was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, is the owner and operator of Pedro’s Grill and Cantina in downtown Cloquet.”
This too shall overpass. Chris Bowling at the Star Tribune attended a neighborhood dinner on the newly rebuilt 38th Street Bridge: “For months, freeway construction has frustrated drivers across the city. Celebrating the bridge reopening as the sun set over the Minneapolis skyline was one way to relieve that tension, [City Council Member Andrea Jenkins] said. But Jenkins said meeting halfway on the bridge and inviting members of the surrounding neighborhoods also had another purpose. ‘It’s a symbol that we’re trying to knit these communities back together,’ she said.”
Ice cream queen. Tracy Briggs at Inforum honors Phyllis Litherland, co-founder of the iconic Moorhead Dairy Queen, who played a hand in creating Dairy Queen’s dilly bar: “The Dilly Bar came about in 1955, according to lore passed down by the Litherlands. A couple of brothers who supplied ice cream mix stopped by, and somebody poured a swirl of ice cream on paper, stuck a stick in it and dipped it into chocolate. ‘Somebody said that’s really a dilly,’ and the name stuck, Phyllis said in a 2010 oral history interview for StoryCorps. The original Dilly Bar was chocolate, but the Litherlands also served cherry and butterscotch versions. Although most Dairy Queens today buy their Dilly Bars from a supplier that produces the popular dessert to company specifications, the DeLeons continue the tradition of making them fresh in the store just like their predecessors.”
In other news…
Sash and burn: “Miss America says leaders, including Gretchen Carlson, bullied, silenced her” [Associated Press]
Plea squeal: “Ottertail woman makes final plea to the city to keep her pet pigs” [Inforum]
PTO for Fido: “Minneapolis company’s ‘fur-ternity leave’ lets new pet parents work from home” [MPR News]
Another chance to probably not get tickets: “Lottery for $10 tickets to Minneapolis ‘Hamilton’ begins Aug. 27 — here’s how to enter” [Star Tribune]
Admit It
You put in the link to the Miss America story just so you could make the “Sash and burn” joke.
Well played, sir.