Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.
Police Chief: I Moved All the Way From Newark So You Have to Be Nice to Me
A south Minneapolis man was shot in the neck last week and seriously wounded. The victim, Davis Moturi, had been telling police since April that the alleged shooter, his neighbor John Sawchak, had repeatedly threatened him, even once pulling a gun on him. Last night, after strong City Council criticism, the fully funded police department finally apprehended the alleged shooter at home.
Naturally, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara and Mayor Jacob Frey turned this infuriating situation into an opportunity to whine that people aren’t very nice to them.
O’Hara’s defensiveness initially kicked in when, following the shooting, five council members sent a letter to the mayor, criticizing the lack of response. (Here’s a regular reminder, since so many Nextdoor commenters and other low-info internet users require one, that the mayor’s office has full authority over the MPD.) Rather than simply suck it up, O’Hara complained that “because of the intense attention that this incident has drawn, my officers are in even greater danger when trying to make an arrest.”
This weekend, Council Member Emily Koski, not among the original five critics, tweeted, “Our Chief of Police is hiding behind excuses, and our Mayor…is just hiding.” In response, O’Hara bellyached, “I left my family to come here, halfway across the country," and went on to bemoan “the over-politicization of policing in Minneapolis.” Frey, who would certainly never politicize a public safety issue, made his serious face and called for "less politics—that kinda thing is gross."
Davis Moturi may be in the hospital after asking the police to help him for months, but let’s remember the real victims here: our poor put-upon mayor and police chief.
Here's Where that Creepy Conservative Parents Group is Funneling $$$
Remember the Minnesota Parents Alliance, the weird group that launched in 2022 to get "parental rights" on school boards throughout the state? They don't like gay people or critical race theory, but they loooove endorsing candidates in local elections; this year the group endorsed nearly 130 candidates in 56 districts in its voter guide.
"Teacher unions have backed nearly 100 candidates in 33 districts," writes Elizabeth Shockman writes of MPR News, while "The School Board Integrity Project, a progressive organization launched last year, has endorsed 45 candidates in 27 districts."
MPR has the rundown on the most interesting races this year based on endorsements and overall spending: Prior Lake-Savage, Brainerd, Fergus Falls, Lakeville, Osseo, St. Francis, Minneapolis, and Northfield. Worth noting: Last year, voters overwhelmingly went with the union-backed candidates, with just 10 of 44 Minnesota Parents Alliance-endorsed candidates winning board seats in seven districts.
Check In: Sen. Beard Still on His Weird Pedo Bullshit
No matter what’s going on in Minnesota politics, you can always count on Sen. Nathan Wesenberg (R-Little Falls) to bring it back to pedophilia. Last year’s mega-omnibus bill? Legalizes pedophilia, probably. Accidentally stumble across a drag show? Call 911, that’s pedophilia! Sex education in schools? Clearly, pedophilia.
And that brings us to October 14, when Wesenberg went on Facebook to accuse a science teacher in his district of predatory behavior and teaching “boys how to give each other blow jobs.”
It all started in 2023 when a group of Milaca-area teachers, Wesenberg's soon-to-be enemy included, visited his office to discuss gaps in special education funding. But things quickly went off topic, escalating into a shouting match where he accused sex-ed programs of “teaching kids to be gay and to hate white people."
Over a year later, the grudge still stands on Wesenberg’s end, at least. Minnesota Reformer's Michelle Griffith reports that the two-week-old post was taken down this morning, most likely because Education Minnesota (aka the teachers’ union) sent a letter asking him to remove the “clearly libelous” statement and issue a retraction. A quick perusal of his page shows no apology; his most recent post is about penning a bill to protect the "Don't Tread on Me" flag—something no one asked for.
Here's a Way to Cover Greater MN
At MinnPost on Friday, Ava Kian had a good story on how city council residents in two non-metro cities reflect the changing demographics of the state. Kian focused on Miguel Garate, a Mexican-born Minnesotan running for city council in Austin, and Eugenio Lopez, who is running for city council in Worthington. The story notes that the foreign-born population of Mower County, where Austin is located, is now 16%, an increase from 7% about a decade ago, while 28.5% of Worthington's residents were born outside the U.S. Garate and Lopez are just examples of how these immigrant groups are reshaping southern Minnesota. Turns out there are ways to discuss how the state is changing beyond “aggrieved white guy in Itasca County thinks the world is changing too fast” after all.
