Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily 1 p.m.(ish) digest of what local media outlets and Twitter-ers are gabbing about.
Hutch’s Car Sure Looks Bad!
Hennepin County Sheriff Dave Hutchinson has been pretty much MIA since his DWI. We know that he’s set to be arraigned in January on four charges after his rollover accident in Douglas County last week, and that he was released from the hospital with minor injuries. Beyond a pro-forma apology though? The proverbial crickets. But over on Twitter, Rebecca Brannon has some photos of Hutch’s totaled squad car that kinda have to be seen to be believed. In addition to some serious body wreckage, you can see the messy contents of his car (hey, no judgment here), including an empty pack of (legal) Delta-8 gummies (anonymous Racket staffer: “Dude, I don't even leave the house when I take those”) and a THC vaping cartridge. (Hmm, maybe Hutch is the cool sheriff after all?) OK, no joking around: This is some serious driver’s ed scared straight shit. Dude is lucky to be alive, and so is everyone else who was driving on that highway that night.
They'll Be the Judge of That
Redistricting—it's a messy, time-consuming process, and as MinnPost puts it, "The odds of bipartisan agreement on such a partisan topic are slim." That's why, if/when the Minnesota Legislature is unable to come up with a new political map, state redistricting will likely fall to a five-judge panel. So... who are those five judges? MinnPost has the full rundown on them: Minnesota Court of Appeals Judge Louise Bjorkman, who is presiding; Court of Appeals Judge Diane Bratvold; Seventh Judicial District Judge Jay Carlson; Tenth Judicial District Judge Juanita Freeman; and Third Judicial District Judge Jodi Williamson. Meanwhile, Minneapolis is going through its own uncoordinated and glitchy redistricting process; Sahan Journal has the story on it.
Climate Change Means December Tornados in Minnesota
Whether you were in central Minnesota, southern Minnesota, or the Twin Cities, last night’s weather was unseasonable bullshit. For folks in Minneapolis and St. Paul, storms weren't nearly as bad as predicted but still weren't great: We hit a record high of 58 degrees in the afternoon, followed by a severe drop into the 20s by late evening. The winds weren’t 75 mph, but they were strong, and we added a little bit of snow back after the warm-weather melt. Meanwhile, several areas of southern Minnesota were severely impacted. Hartland, a town with a population of about 300, is investigating whether or not they were hit with a tornado, as several buildings have sustained major damage. Plainview was also hit with 80 mph winds, and there were tornado sightings as well. Thankfully, there are no reports of injuries so far. Still, KSTP reports that about 8,000 homes in the metro and southern areas of the state are without power and State Patrol says there were about 120 car crashes reported during the storm.
Lexington Mayor will Not Reside in “Woketopia”
Minnesota GOP gubernatorial candidate Mike Murphy took a moment during a forum to give a bonkers rant against environmentalists while also claiming to be a big fan of Mother Earth. “Well I think Greta Thunberg and Al Gore said we’re going to be dead in another 10 years. So I guess we’ll see what happens … The woketopians on the left like to make big issues out of little things and it’s very disappointing.” (See above.) He then went on to boldly state that he is anti-strip mining the rainforest and isn’t cool with child slave labor in African and China. As a big fan of people and the environment, Murphy is hoping to bring back the pipelines that the “radical left” fought against, as well as sweet, enviro-friendly nuclear power. “Here’s the fact: The planet goes through cycles just like your body does. You get sick, you get colds, you have a fever, right?” Murphy would know about getting sick; a few weeks ago he admitted that he was unvaxxed, planned to remain unvaxxed, and had caught COVID at one point, which he described as “not fun.”
