Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.
THC Biz a Casualty of Shutdown Deal
As the long, grueling government shutdown that has left federal workers unpaid, SNAP recipients scrambling for sustenance, and air travelers stranded staggers to a possible close, it’s tempting to say this was all for naught. After all, Senate Democrats folded without securing the Obamacare subsidies they were supposedly holding out for.
But you can’t say the shutdown, now on day 42, hasn’t achieved anything. Apparently, it’s… going to crush the low-dose THC industry that’s been thriving in Minnesota?
Yep, tucked away in the Senate approved-deal now headed to the House is a provision that would ban hemp products exceeding more than 0.4 milligrams of THC. Minnesota currently allows edibles to contain 5 milligrams of THC per serving and beverages to contain 10 milligrams.
This isn’t a done deal—the unruly House may have its own demands. But the effects of such a law could be calamitous to businesses here in Minnesota, including brewers who have made up for their loss in market share by manufacturing THC-infused drinks.
“This is an industry-killing change,” attorney Carol Moss told the Star Tribune. “Unless something happens in that one year, we will not have a hemp industry in Minnesota. The beverages, the edibles, the full spectrum of CBD. This is a killer.”
Divest Is the Best
Has the state of Minnesota decided to cut financial ties with Israel? That’s essentially what two groups that advocate for divesting funds from the Middle Eastern nation are now saying.
Upon reviewing the results of a data practices request submitted to the Minnesota State Board of Investment, MN BDS Community and the Anti-War Committee have announced that the state has divested 96% of its Israel bonds. And, reports Regina Medina of MPR News, they’re (justifiably, it would seem) claiming this as a win for their strategy to convince the board to divest.
In December 2020, the state held $13.3 million in Israeli bonds, these activists say. That’s now down to a single $470,000 bond. Activists are also saying that their analysis on the numbers undermines the state’s earlier pretexts for not divesting.
“The revelation of substantial and repeated losses seems to indicate that neither purchasing nor holding these bonds was ever about fiduciary responsibility,” says Karen Schraufnagel, a retired stock analyst and founding member of MN BDS Community.
U Got the Book: Hennepin County Releases Limited-Edition Prince Library Cards
Y'know, it's no laser loon, but props to Hennepin County Libraries for drumming up a lil enthusiasm for their services with a new limited-edition library card honoring Prince. Let's go crazy... for books?
The cards are currently available at all 41 HCL locations. New patrons can apply in person at any branch, and existing patrons are able to replace their current cards with the Prince one, though you will get a new barcode and card (there are no stickers to place over your existing one).
On a related note (music term), the library would like to remind you that it offers "many ways to discover and make music," including listening to Minnesota musicians on its free streaming service MNspin, dropping by the vinyl listening room and piano room at Minneapolis Central Library, and using the studio spaces at Brooklyn Park Library or the Best Buy Teen Tech Center. And we here at Racket would like to remind you about all the other cool shit libraries have to offer... so if you don't already have a library card, go get one! Now!
Wanna Buy the Original Sex World Sign?
When it opened in 1993, Sex World was Minneapolis’s biggest 24-7 sex shop. At its peak in the early '00s, it had expanded to three floors filled with VHS porn, sex toys of every shape and size, dick-shaped cakes, leather gear, and peep shows with live women. (Diablo Cody’s stripper memoir, Candy Girl, features a chapter on her time there.) Sadly, after over 30 years in business, Sex World crossed the big rainbow sex bridge of death in June of this year, leaving the yuppies of the North Loop one more potential space for a Bonobos.
While we’re not sure where the store's giant, rideable, golden schlong is hanging out these days (its twin resides at the Gay 90’s), we do know where the original signage is: at some guy’s house in Bloomington. And it could be yours soon, as he recently listed it for sale on Facebook Marketplace. The sign, marked as “used” (hehe), features spots for hundreds of lights that may or may not work—you’ll have to find that out for yourself! “When we picked them up from the now closed shop they said it still works,” the seller explains. “The plan was to switch them out for LED but I never got to it. These will spice up any area you desire!”
