Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.
Poultry Horrors Innumerable Celebrated at Capitol
In 2019, the Pioneer Press tiptoed around it, writing: "This turkey didn’t travel to the state Capitol to get pardoned." That same year the Star Tribune quoted John Zimmerman, former president of the the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association, who removed all ambiguity in cold (cut) terms: "That live bird there will be harvested, processed, and given to a needy family so they can consume it on Thanksgiving... we don't raise the turkeys to be pardoned."
You'd be forgiven if, upon viewing Gov. Tim Walz fraternizing today with the turkey pictured above, you assumed the bird would live a long, gobbling life on some sanctuary farm. That's the gimmick of the presidential turkey pardon, an annual White House production that just saw President Joe Biden save two Minnesota-hatched turkeys, Peach and Blossom, from Thanksgiving dinner buffets; those birds will live out their short lives in the bucolic splendor of Farmamerica in Waseca, Minnesota.
But our turkey theatrics are more macabre here in Minnesota, where, apparently, one, uh, lucky ceremonial bird is subjected to a photo op inside the Minnesota State Capitol alongside the grinning faces of the Minnesota Turkey Growers Association, only to later waddle back to the kill floor. (Minnesota is the nation's top turkey producer, accounting for 18% of total birds raised to be eaten.)
A pardoned Minnesota bird wouldn't offset the horrors of industrial meat production—as experienced by animals and humans—but hey, it'd be a nice PR layup and a shade less grim. We reached out to the governor's office in 2022 to confirm the nuts/bolts of the non-pardon, and also offer unsolicited advice about letting the bird live for the sake of optics.
Here's the cryptic response from Walz spokesperson Claire Lancaster: "It’s true [the turkey] doesn’t have a name… it’s headed to a hobby farm now and then fate will decide."
A local reporter who's familiar with the Capitol turkey ritual put it more bluntly:
"Those turkeys will die. They all die."
Jeremiah Ellison Not Seeking Reelection
After six years on Minneapolis City Council, Ward 5 council member Jeremiah Ellison announced this morning that he won’t seek reelection of his Fifth Ward Minneapolis City Council seat in 2025. “The Northside has never lacked brilliant, caring, studious leaders ready to step up and perform this job,” Ellison says via Twitter. “I feel it is time to take a step back and allow these leaders the honor and opportunity of getting to know their neighbors’ needs.”
Ellison was elected in 2017, and took office in January of 2018. Over the years he has advocated for dismantling the police post George Floyd’s murder, served as vice chair of the Business, Housing & Zoning Committee and is a member of the Administration & Enterprise Oversight Committee and Public Health & Safety Committee.
Did You Forget About the 2020 Unrest? MPD Has Merch For That!
Did you know that the Minneapolis Police Union has a merch store? Well, they do, and it’s filled with all kinds of things, including wallets, shot glasses, beanies, teddy bears, and pink tees (for the ladies, of course). Then there are the challenge coins. These items are usually given to police by their superiors as rewards for exemplary service, though civilians love to collect them too. At $20 a pop, the spendiest coin in the shop is the “3rd Precinct Challenge Coin,” featuring a horde of cops standing in front of the building before they evacuated and the structure was torched. Above that image are the words “Never Forget,” ya know, like 9/11.
But you don’t need a coin; we’ll help you remember. Here’s the very damning, data-backed U.S. Department of Justice report with sections titled “After George Floyd’s Murder, Many Officers Stopped Reporting Race,” “MPD Violates Protesters’ First Amendment Rights,” and “MPD Unlawfully Retaliates Against People Who Observe and Record Their Activities.” (You can read our summary of that 92-page document here.) The Minnesota Department of Human Rights’ investigation had similar findings. (Yep, we wrote on that one, too.) Let’s also not forget the $1.5 million settlement Minneapolis was on the hook for after cops brutally beat Jaleel Stallings, who drew his gun after police started shooting rubber bullets at a crowd via an unmarked van with no lights on.
“The patterns and practices of conduct the Justice Department observed during our investigation are deeply disturbing,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said of the DOJ Report. “And they made what happened to George Floyd possible.”
Sheriff’s Office: Please Take Your Home Back Home 🧐
We’ve heard of dumping refrigerators, old couches, and washing machines, but someone out in Pine County managed to abandon an entire dilapidated trailer. “If someone can lead us to the person who dumped this, that would be great,” Pine County’s Sheriff’s Office posted yesterday on Facebook.
After over 650 shares, the post was updated, complete with an emoji, that the sheriff's office knows who did the dumping, but they’re not picking up their phone. “We have tried to call them and there was no answer, but we did leave a message,” they write. “We sure hope that they call back before we have to send our reports to the County Attorney for possible charges 
Just how this happened is unclear—late-night shenanigans?—but the dump site at Beroun Crossing Road and Sand Hill Crane Lane is pretty dang empty.
