Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.
Long-Rumored Music Venue Might Possibly Still Happen
Remember Auntie's? Roughly four and a half years ago, following widespread accusations of misogyny and abuse in the local hip-hop scene, artists Sophia Eris, Lady Midnight, and DJ Keezy decided to open a new kind of music venue. Their 2020 GoFundMe for that venue, which they dubbed Auntie's, raised close to $69,000 (nice). "Auntie’s will be a venue owned by womxn of color rooted in radical freedom of expression without judgement," that GoFundMe stated, and it would "provide a safe space that presents performance, fosters healing, and provides professional knowledge."
But since then? Well... we haven't heard much. The Auntie's Twitter account hasn't been updated since 2021, nor has the Auntie's Instagram, though the most recent post has accumulated a few comments along the lines of, "Where did all that money go?" (Racket got an email from one reader recently who had the same question, and wrote that "as a donor and supporter they’ve never responded to my inquiries.") Their domain name, auntiesvenue.com, appears to have expired.
Chris Riemenschneider at the Minnesota Star Tribune caught up with co-founder Eris for a story today (gift link), and he has a few updates. The project is still happening, per Riemenschneider's reporting, and Eris and DJ Keezy hope to open in 2026. They've scouted two locations in Minneapolis. (Lady Midnight dropped out of the project not long after the GoFundMe went up; she “didn’t want the idea to be permanently tied to a bar setting.”) As for what the "safe space" component will mean, the co-founders are still hashing it out. It might be an invite-only kind of thing, according to Eris, but either way, "It will not operate like a traditional nightclub," Riemenschneider writes.
Asked about the fundraising campaign, GoFundMe reps said that they've reviewed it and that there's nothing amiss: “It remains within our terms of service at this time. Any additional questions should be directed to the fundraiser organizer.”
Local Prof: Maybe Trump’s Right About Birthright Citizenship
U of M law prof Ilan Wurman is drawing some flak (and some defenses) for his commentary on a federal judge’s decision to suspend a recent executive order. The EO in question: President’s Trump’s declaration restricting birthright citizenship and upending years of common sense precedent.
Now, there may well be an “entire literature” on this topic. It’s not difficult for supporters of a particular position to generate a sheaf of law review articles, regardless of that position’s merit. Law reviews are helmed by law students, not experts in a particular field, and you’d be amazed what gets published. Suddenly there’s another side to an issue that previously no one had ever considered in doubt.
Proponents of Wurman’s brand of constitutional originalism have a knack for diving into historical documents and emerging with cherrypicked evidence that just happens to support a novel Republican-backed legal theory. A skeptic might say they set out to provide Intellectual cover for ideological projects. A cynic might say that’s what all legal academics do.
As I was writing this, Wurman happened to get handed a well-deserved L: He was one of the attorneys who drew up an amicus brief for the Center for the American Experiment and other orgs in support of the suit contending that Minnesota Republicans had a quorum in the state House of Representatives. The Minnesota Supreme Court did not agree. Let’s hope the flimsy argument to limit birthright citizenship ultimately meets the same fate in the federal courts.
Fair State to Close Production Facility
Loving Fair State Brewing Cooperative is an emotional rollercoaster. In February of 2024, the northeast Minneapolis brewery filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (no!), but by August it looked like things had worked things out (huzzah!). And just last month Fair State added Farina Rossa Pizza Parlour in the space right next to its taproom (double huzzah!).
But now the unionized, member-owned microbrewery has hit another goddamn pothole. “Our Board of Directors has made the difficult decision to wind down operations at our St. Paul production facility,” co-founder/CEO Evan Sallee wrote this week in an update to members. Assets will be sold in the coming months, he explains, and many staffers will soon be let go.
“Unfortunately, these operational changes mean we must let go of many of our Fair State team members… The reality is that we have exhausted every means possible," Sallee continues. Fair State will be partnering with manufacturers to ensure that its beers stay in stores and on tap; the small-batch operation inside the Northeast taproom will keep pumping away.
Explore Longfellow's "Ghost" Grocery Stores
Keen Flyover observers will by now have observed that we heap praise on Longfellow Whatever, the newish hyperlocal publication devoted to covering Minneapolis's southeastern corner. Today is no exception. Trevor Born, the lone dude behind LW, recently took readers on a g-g-g-ghost tour of the corner buildings that once housed mom 'n' pop grocers.
Long before Cub, Born writes, "these were modest operations named after the family who ran the business and lived onsite, selling basic dry goods, often clustered with a meat shop and bakery." And by the 1930s, when the housing stock had matured but before supermarkets, they were all over town. Using expert archival digging, Born pinpointed unassuming middle-class homes like the one at 3301 31st Ave., which happened to be Rustad Grocery almost 100 years ago. Here's today vs. the '30s:
The 17 repurposed examples LW highlights jump out because of their boxiness amid blocks of craftsman bungalows—they're the corner store grocery ghosts that still haunt south Minneapolis. And for you map nerds: Born mapped out all 103 "groceries, meat shops, bakeries, and confectionaries" he could unearth from records of Longfellow circa 1937. Great stuff.
You Can (Finally!) Cheaply Watch the Twins
The glorious and dying sport of baseball has long found ways to drive away fans new and old, but there's a bright spot on the horizon: Today Twins President Dave St. Peter announced that 2025 games will be streamable for $99 per season or $19.99 per month. The new service, Twins.TV, was created through MLB Media, and upcoming games won't be blacked out for users living in Minnesota, western Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, or Iowa. "Twins’ fans will be able to watch our games where, when and how they choose on linear television or digital stream with no blackouts," St. Peter says. A home run for fans of Killebrew proportions, we say! (In a perfect world, all games would be available for free over broadcast TV, but what are ya gonna do?)
