Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.
Dozens in Silver Creek: A Black-Owned Nature Retreat? Not in My Neighborhood!
Maji ya Chai Land Sanctuary, a center focused on reconnecting Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color with nature, is set to open on the North Shore this summer. Founded by holistic health practitioner Rebekah Ndosi, it will offer group hikes, outdoor yoga, bird watching, healing massages, sauna sessions, and yurt camping. Sounds like a good thing!
But while many people in the area have voiced support for the project, 35 residents of Silver Creek township (located just north of Two Harbors) are asking the Lake County planning commission to repeal the business’s conditional use permit. “I don’t want the traffic, the noise. It’s going to impact my way of life,” one neighbor said during a recent hearing.
The permit allows no more than 24 overnight guests at a time, with an allowance for one event per month where more people could be onsite. Ndosi says creating a welcoming safe space for Black people was crucial. “I was always very aware that I was being watched as one of very few Black folks up there,” Ndosi tells Dan Kraker at MPR. “And that is something that was a barrier, honestly, to fully taking in what this relaxing and restful experience could be on the North Shore. [The opposition] really affirms the need for a space like Maji ya Chai Land Sanctuary, a space that is intentionally welcoming and safe.”
T-Wolves/Lynx Latest: New Billionaires, Stadiums, and TV Stations?
There’s always new news about the Timberwolves and the Lynx these days, even if most of it is only theoretical. The big “what ifs” right now? For starters, there’s another billionaire in the mix; The Athletic's Jon Krawczynski reports that ex-NYC mayor/failed presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg is teaming up with Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez to finish buying out current majority owner Glenn Taylor. Bloomberg is stupid rich; Forbes ranks him as the 12th-richest person in the world at $106.2 billion. His investment would most likely expedite the transfer of power for these two basketball teams.
In other B-ball news, sportswriter David Sharma writes that Lore and Rodriguez are considering building a new arena to replace Target Center over by the downtown farmers market/International Market Square. If so, that could be big business for nearby-ish businesses like Sisyphus Brewing, La Doña Cervecería, and, uh, the impound lot (though Krawczynski notes in his piece that a new arena could come “as soon as 2031”). Possibly delaying these plans: Nick Halter over at Axios tweeted this afternoon that key building owners in the area haven’t even been contacted about a possible purchase.
Meanwhile, Sports Illustrated has the story on another side hustle planned by the A-Rod/Lore duo, who are interested in launching a new TV station that would carry Wolves, Lynx, and other games. This could (theoretically!) be good news for people who want to watch games from the comfort of their couch; many fans have been left in the dark after Diamond Sports Group, which owns airers Bally Sports North, declared bankruptcy last month.
Jon Tevlin Tries Ketamine
When Jon Tevlin’s wife Ellen died in April of 2023, the former Star Tribune columnist sought therapy and medication to help him recover from grief and profound depression. When neither worked, he decided to try ketamine-assisted psychotherapy via the Institute for Integrative Therapies. Tevlin returns to the pages of the Star Tribune in this sweet piece recounting his experience and examining the spotty history of the Timothy Leary-endorsed drug, which has been enjoyed by counter-cultures and weaponized by the police. While his first trip was more somber, with crying and visions of his wife, by his second session he was celebrating victory.
“I was smiling and even laughing," he writes. "At one point… I put my hands in the air in triumph, like Rocky on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.”
While Tevlin’s ketamine experience seems mostly positive, he also notes that it’s not for everyone—especially folks susceptible to psychotic episodes or substance abuse. Still, his doctor estimates “the number of patients who have benefitted from the treatments to be in the thousands in the state.” Sounds like better living through chemistry, man.
Remembering Jimmy Jam’s Third Birthday
On this day in 1962, Master Jimmy Harris turned three with a party, and the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder published a summary of events a few weeks later. There were cupcakes, “little friends,” and “informal conversation.” Man, I wish newspapers still recapped wholesome parties like this! Anyway, this A+ news clipping is brought to you by local author/music critic Andrea Swensson, who just released a book on his dad, James “Cornbread” Harris.
