Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.
Walz Watch: Extra Mayo Edition
Itâs a very Minnesota problem: Tim Walz may have been too accommodating during his time as governor. Thatâs what Max Nesterak and Jessica Lussenhop conclude in this excellent ProPublica piece examining the VP hopefulâs big business track record. For example, Walz has drawn criticism for placating billion-dollar corporations that threaten to take their business elsewhere if certain legislation passed or if they were, you know, are actually expected to follow the law.
This year, when Uber and Lyft threatened to leave Minnesota over a new minimum wage bill, he vetoed it, eventually signing a different one that didn't rankle rideshare companies. In 2023, Rochester's all-powerful Mayo Clinic managed to get a special exemption on a nurse staffing bill while successfully lobbying to kill another bill that would penalize hospitals charging above a board-approved rate. (âThe cost of care at Mayo is 88% higher than the state average,â ProPublica points out.) Is this just the cost of doing politics in a state blessed and/or cursed with so many Fortune 500 companies?
âIs that caving or is that pragmatism?â asks Larry Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the U of M. âI think what you're seeing is how you govern the progressive way in the real world.â
âModerate Democrats, they havenât been able to stand up to the hospital industry," adds Gillian Mason with Healthcare NOW, a progressive org that advocates for single-payer health care. "Thatâs a pattern all over the country."
Walkinâ Dog Walks Back Into Existence
Here at Racket, weâre big fans of hot dogs. Weâre also big fans of tasty cheap eats. So when we heard the triumphant return of Walkinâ Dog, a formerly closed downtown Minneapolis skyway spot offering both of these things, we had to give it a shoutout.
Located in downtown Minneapolis in the Northstar Center (618 Second Ave. S.), the tubed meat purveyor opened in 1991, selling Vienna sausage-made dogs with plenty of options for fixinâs. When it closed in April of 2023, its fate appeared uncertain at best. But low and behold, itâs back.
The entire building is back, with a renovated first-floor space anchored by Northstar Cafeteria, a nod to â60s downtown dining (with the $14 plates of 2024, natch). According to this Reddit thread, Walkin' Dog 2.0 is serving up breakfast sammies and other eats as well.
Former Op-eds on Stribâs Non-Endorsement: âGod, Not This Year.âÂ
In August, the Minnesota Star Tribune announced that the Editorial Board would be taking a pause on any campaign endorsements this year. In September, the paper confirmed that it would endorse votingânot specific candidatesâthis November. So former Strib editorial page editor Jim Boyd decided to rally a bunch of alumni and release their own dang endorsement earlier today. (Theyâre for Democrat Kamala Harris, in case you were wondering.)
âItâs the responsibility of the newspaper to do this,â Boyd tells Lev Gringauze for MinnPost. âIf you want to have some kind of roundtable discussion of the value of editorial endorsements, fine, go do it. But God, not this year.â
The Strib is one of many news outlets opting not to endorse candidates this year, including The Washington Post, USA Today, and LA Times. While studies have shown that endorsements have little to no influence on election outcomes, not doing so can impact a newspapersâ bottom line; WaPo lost over 200K digital subscribers last week, though its situation is uniqueâbillionaire owner Jeff Bezos reportedly yanked a planned Harris endorsement, just ahead of Election Day.
Happy Halloween From the â80s
Earlier this week the Old Minneapolis Facebook group unearthed this very special commercial break, which they say came from 1987. Itâs a pretty good one, featuring Jake Esau from local horror movie show Count Dracula Presents shilling a New Brighton car dealership followed by an ad for an album by local goth-metal icons Morticia.