Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.
Could Minneapolis-Based Game Informer Make a Comeback?
Maybe! Or, at least, something is about to happen, according to a video shared across social media by a bunch of former Game Informer editors. The clip features a laptop open to GI’s (corporately written) "The Final Level: Farewell" announcement, from when the Minneapolis-based video game magazine/website abruptly shuttered in August of 2024. At the end, a date is teased: March 25, 2025.
But wait, there’s more!
Like any good gamer, Tom Caswell managed to glean more details by reversing the background audio: “Game Informer is back and so is 100% of the team,” it says, followed by, “We are so glad to be back.”
Hell yeah! Regardless of whether Game Informer is returning as Game Informer or pulling a City Pages-to-Racket type of transformation, this is super exciting news for folks who love reading gaming news, reviews, and more on the industry—especially if it’s unfettered from the control of GameStop. (Racket will be reaching out ASAP for additional details.)
"GameStop has always been a bone dumb and lousy company," Matt Helgeson, GI's former senior features editor, told us last year. "Video games [have] lost yet another important outlet to corporate greed and stupidity."
Game Informer launched in 1991 as an in-house newsletter for the Eden Prairie-based FuncoLand, but its growth really spiked when GameStop bought the chain in 2000 and made the publication a free members’ perk of the store’s loyalty program. It would go on to have the third-largest magazine circulation in the U.S. in 2011, but by 2024 it was posting losses of over $30 million in the wake of online game shops and really bad PR from CEO Ryan Cohen.
Protesters Gather to Oppose Los Andes Liquor License Renewal
Melody Hoffmann of Southwest Voices was on the scene at Los Andes Latin Bistro Wednesday, when a small group of protestors gathered to bring awareness to recent sexual assault charges against co-owner Christian Quito. Quito is charged with raping a 16-year-old bartender after her shift; he allegedly pulled her into the backseat of his car and overpowered her. (Here's the full, awful story, via Paul Walsh at the Star Tribune.)
The charges are horrific, and maybe you caught another problem in the situation outlined above: Minnesota state law requires bartenders to be 18 years old to serve alcohol. The Lyn-Lake restaurant has a liquor license renewal scheduled for April 8, and protestors, led by nonprofit Amor Propio (which connects people with Spanish-speaking therapists) want the city to deny it.
“I will do everything I can to ensure survivors and community members feel safe at home, in our neighborhoods, and at their workplaces,” City Council Vice President Aisha Chughtai, who is not on the committee that will vote on Los Andes’ liquor license, tells SWV. The accused assailant's brother, Guillermo Quito, tells Hoffman that Christian Quito will be leaving the company and otherwise had no comment.
Maple Lake Brewery to Close
From 2013 through roughly 2023, Dangerous Man Brewing Co.'s reputation was that of an elite Twin Cities brewery. Then, in late '23, co-owners Sarah Bonvallet and Rob Miller announced that DM would vacate its longtime northeast Minneapolis home and move to rural Maple Lake. Fine, whatever, we'd miss the Chocolate Milk Stouts, but such is life in the topsy-turvy Minnesota craft beer industry.
Here's where that reputation angle comes back into play: Last year Dangerous Man launched a six-figure crowdfunding campaign to build a new taproom in Maple Lake, 50 miles from the original HQ, and condemnation from its Twin Cities customer base was swift and brutal—Insta comments had to be shut down.
"Let me get this straight: a privately owned, for-profit business is asking for donations from citizens of a city in which it has chosen to leave?" asked one social media user. "That’s some next level cringe.”
“I’d be lying if it [the social media response] didn’t make me pause and say, ‘Does the universe want Dangerous Man to exist in a new way?’” Bonvallet told Heavy Table. (This cringey saga was discussed at length on the first-ever episode of RacketCast.)
OK, all caught up? That brings us to today, when Dangerous Man's owners announced the brewery will be history by the end of the month. Here's what they wrote early Friday via Facebook (comments conspicuously off)...
With more gratitude than sadness, we say goodbye. THANK YOU for the love & support you poured into Dangerous Man. As we wind down over the next few weeks, grab another pack, raise a glass to the memories & to all you hold dear. Let’s toast to the last call of something great & the beauty of new beginnings.
U of M Posts Legally Mandated Prestige Job Listing
Should Ben Johnson have been fired last week as head coach of the University of Minnesota men’s basketball team? Probably! The Minneapolis native compiled a dismal 56–71 record through four seasons, though most observers agree the deck was stacked against his success. (The U announcing his firing at 1 a.m. certifiably stinks.)
But we’re not here to dwell on ill-fated hirings of yore; we’re here to talk about the strangely egalitarian job listing for the next leader of Gophers hoops. That’s right: If you punch in “head coach” on the U of M job board, an ad for “Head Coach - Men's Basketball” pops up for all to theoretically apply for. The description begins with…
Responsibilities include, but are not limited to: coaching, recruiting, scheduling, budget management, ensuring an appropriate team culture and leading a highly competitive Big Ten Conference men's basketball program.
Sounds about right! Among the job minimum requirements applicants must meet: Two to five years as a D1, NBA, or WNBA coach or five to seven years as a pro player. Pay ranges from to $350,000-$400,000, and bennies like low-cost dental plans abound. (Johnson, who was the lowest-paid Big 10 coach, raked in $1.95 million per year… so don’t trust those figures.) In reality, of course, the next Gophers basketball coach will be chosen by incompetent U of M Athletic Director Mark Coyle, but hey, might as well toss your hat in the ring.
