Federal judge: State Fair within its rights to ban guns

For KARE-TV Dana Thiede reports, “A U.S. District Court judge says the operating body behind the Minnesota State Fair was within its rights to block guests from carrying guns on the fairgrounds. The decision shoots down a lawsuit filed by Reverend Tim Christopher, Sarah Hauptman and The Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus back in August of 2021, accusing the State Agricultural Society (The Society) of violating their rights by enacting an ordinance keeping them from bringing weapons they are permitted to carry through the gates. In his decision, Judge John Tunheim ruled claims by the plaintiff that The Society’s rule is unconstitutional are ‘procedurally invalid and constitutionally unfounded.'”

In the Strib, this from Paul Walsh, “Violent crime in Minnesota rose by nearly 22% last year compared with 2020, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has disclosed in its annual report, while property crimes like burglary showed a slight drop. The 2021 Uniform Crime Report, released Friday by the BCA, found that aggravated assault saw the biggest year-over-year increase (34%) among the violent crime categories, which also include murder, rape and robbery. There were 201 murders in Minnesota last year, up nearly 9% vs. 2020. Nearly half of those killings (97) occurred in Minneapolis. Statewide, homicides resulting in an arrest remained mostly stable at 62% compared to 65% in 2020.”

Dan Gunderson of MPR News says, “Hundreds of bees buzz around Zack Bateson as he bends over a frame from a hive that’s loaded with honey. Using a small tool, he lifts a dripping square of honeycomb into a container. He needs about one and a half teaspoons of translucent golden liquid. Bateson will take the sample back to his lab and run it through a PCR test. It’s the same process used to detect the COVID-19 virus. This bee disease test looks for fragments of genetic material from pathogens. ‘We’re able to detect viruses, bacteria and fungal pathogens that are found in bees, that are also found in the honey,’ said Bateson. ‘So the honey is a great way to survey for various diseases in bee yards. It’s a nice, quick, easy sample.'”

In The Washington Post, Phillip Bump writes, “It was just over a year ago that MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell convened supporters and data experts in South Dakota for a multiday summit at which he pledged to show his evidence that foreign actors had interfered in the 2020 election. As presented, the idea was straightforward: Lindell, who believed fervently that the election had been stolen, would finally offer up the raw information that he claimed showed how voting machines had been hacked and the results altered from overseas. This wasn’t his analysis, obviously; he’d hired guys who said they’d uncovered a pattern that could be replicated by others. But when the moment came … it couldn’t. The data was invalid and/or useless. There was no proof. None has since emerged. … This episode sprang to mind immediately when I started watching ‘The Pit,’ a symposium held in Arizona over the weekend by 2022′s in-vogue election conspiracy theorists, the leaders of the group True the Vote. Same elevation of hype. Same collapse of what was promised.”

For The Daily Beast William O’Connor says, “Predicting what will happen in the world of travel is a fool’s game (hello COVID). But on a recent trip to the brand new Four Seasons Minneapolis for Room Key, a window into what global contemporary luxury hotels will look like going forward opened to us. … While there are hints of Minnesota here and there, the hotel largely eschews that. Instead of being a hotel that pulls from its surroundings — such as the group’s new property in Fort Lauderdale — it’s an escape within Minneapolis. Housed in a glass tower downtown, this hotel, in fact, could be anywhere and gives an idea of what Four Seasons — and others who will follow their lead — thinks we want. Before we dive in, credit where it’s due: They guessed right.”

At KSTP-TV Joe Mazan reports, “Comedian and former Minnesota Sen. Al Franken is back on stage this week. Franken will be on national TV hosting ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ on Tuesday night and on the stage later this week at Acme Comedy Company in Minneapolis’ Warehouse District. The comedian is returning to the spotlight nearly five years after resigning from the Senate following allegations he inappropriately touched multiple women.”

For MarketWatch Steve Goldstein reports, “Wells Fargo is planning a retreat in its mortgage activities, according to a published report. Bloomberg News, citing unnamed sources, reported the number-one mortgage originator of commercial banks is looking to reduce its ties to outside mortgage firms that accounted for about a third of its new-home loans last year. The company told the news agency that it’s evaluating the size of its mortgage business in light of the smaller originations market. Wells Fargo has been fighting a number of scandals, including one in the mortgage business, where it reportedly rejected refinancing applications for Black homeowners more than white ones. The Federal Reserve has imposed an asset cap on Wells Fargo until the bank’s regulatory practices improve.”

At KARE-TV Jennifer Austin says, “Judging by the view from a gravel road north of Remer, Minnesota, the forest is fine. Maybe some dry patches in spots, sure. But nothing that would grab your attention as you drive by. However, the view from above gives a better picture of the damage being done to Minnesota’s tamarack trees in the past few decades. Among an otherwise green, healthy forest there are unmistakable patches of brown, dead trees. The culprit? The eastern larch beetle. … The eastern larch beetle is not listed as invasive, and historically it has not presented a problem. The beetles bore into tamarack trees in the spring, tunneling their way through and making galleries in which they lay their larvae. The larvae then essentially eat the part of the tree which moves nutrients through the tamarack.”