All wet. MPR’s Matt Sepic reports: “Communities in southeastern Minnesota and southwestern Wisconsin are bracing for more rain Friday even as they clean up from major flooding earlier this week. High water along rivers and creeks washed out roads, flooded homes and businesses, and even rerouted a trout stream. … Como Falls in Hokah, Minn., has long been a favorite spot for weddings. The apron-shaped waterfall and the stone bluffs on either side provided a perfect backdrop for outdoor ceremonies. Now that picturesque spot only exists in memory. … ‘There is no waterfall anymore. It has completely cut a different path,’ said Hokah resident Jessica Ross.”
Are people still opening tobacco shops? KSTP’s Rebecca Omastiak reports: “On Friday, Minneapolis City Council members will discuss a possible one-year ban on new tobacco shops in the city. … The moratorium has been proposed in the wake of an ordinance that has banned menthol products from being sold in convenience and grocery stores. … City council members said an alarming number of new shops selling tobacco products have been proposed, since the menthol product ban was passed.”
Minneapolis teachers union considers lowering the strike threshold. City Pages’ Hannah Jones reports: “Minneapolis teachers are trying to figure out a difficult math problem, among the most fundamental for a labor union: how hard should it be to go on strike? … The Minneapolis Federation of Teacher’s bylaws currently dictate a two-thirds majority — just under 67 percent — of the union’s 3,500 vote to initiate a strike. Union leaders have been combing through their constitution, discussing what that number should be going forward. For a while, they were looking at rounding up to 70 percent. Now, according to education specialist chapter president Shaun Laden, they’re considering lowering it to 60 percent. … It may sound like quibbling. But a lot rests on this number.”
The publication “Taste” takes on the supper club. Nataline Rinn writes: “A classic Midwest supper club is hard to define. I grew up going to one. It was called—it still is called—the Great Blue Heron, in Cold Spring, Minnesota. It was a town of 2,000 people at the time, 80 miles north of Minneapolis. Put your finger in the middle of the state and that’s approximately where you’ll find it, surrounded by gently rolling hills covered in towering cornstalks (12 feet routinely), Holstein cows munching on wild grass, lakes filled with sunfish, and hundreds of miles of two-lane highway cutting through the vast, empty rest of it.”
In other news…
Service journalism at its finest: “Labor Day 2018: What’s Open, Closed In Minneapolis, St. Paul” [Patch]
Congrats on the new gig: “Minneapolis Council Member Cano hires Ilhan Omar’s husband as senior policy aide” [Star Tribune]
Cool: “Minnesota-shot movie ‘Farmer of the Year’ gets Fargo opening” [Fargo Forum]
Harsh: “North Dakotans don’t plan to legalize pot, first statewide poll shows” [Fargo Forum]
These are often the most interesting stories. Why don’t you give them more space and proper coverage?
Why is there a virtually complete absence of piano bars in the Twin Cities? The kind where professional singers can entertain, and customers can belt out a few while they belt down a few? Are there any supper clubs, even? Any night club entertainment? Has Michael Feinstein ever performed in a Twin Cities establishment? It is a serious cultural absence, and in such a great theater area, a real lack.
How about a moratorium on tattoo parlors? They have become a plague, along with “body modification.” This kind of self-abuse should be outlawed, particularly banning it for anyone under 21.