Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.
Stressed DOJ Lawyer Seeks Stressful Job in Congress
Federal prosecutor Julie Le wasn’t locked up, just fired from her job after a recent courtroom meltdown. Now she's applying for a new gig: U.S. House Rep. Specifically, Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) seat.
"It’s not because she’s not doing the job,” Le tells Maria Sacchetti at the Washington Post. “It’s just for what I could bring to the table.” Not a particularly rousing battle cry!
Le made national headlines last month for confessing in open court that she was overworked and over it. "I wish you would just hold me in contempt of court so I can get 24 hours of sleep," she told a judge who had summoned her to explain why his orders weren’t being followed. "The system sucks, this job sucks, I am trying with every breath I have to get you what I need." (Friend of Racket Dan Suitor has a great thread featuring highlights from the transcription here.)
And she’s right. Her inept former bosses have been creating unmanageable amounts of chaos and paperwork. But is she up for another high-stress job? The WaPo article says she could be just as happy leading her Catholic church choir. And is the Fifth District really looking to send a former ICE lawyer to Congress?
Le’s campaign site currently doesn’t state what seat she's running for, but Sacchetti notes that she plans to go official this Saturday with an announcement in Brooklyn Park.
Frey Vetos Renter Eviction Extension Ordinance
Strong Mayor Jacob Frey today nixed Minneapolis City Council’s Pause Evictions, Save Lives ordinance, which would have extended the eviction notice grace period from 30 days to 60 days through August 31.
“I understand the authors’ intent, but the experience from COVID-19 and guidance from shelter and affordable housing providers shows that this strategy has not worked,” Frey writes in his veto letter. “When rental assistance isn’t available, time is a debt trap that becomes a barrier to securing future housing.”
Instead, Frey proposes setting aside $1 million in rental assistance from the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund. (Good luck applying and receiving funds in a timely manner.)
Council Minority Leader Robin Wonsley, who authored the vetoed ordinance, notes that, in eviction cases, time is still of the essence. "Preventing eviction is always more cost-effective than trying to re-house someone who has been evicted,” she says in a statement. “It’s also far more humane."
“I’m so disappointed Mayor Frey vetoed this bare-minimum policy that would show that he could move beyond cuss words and take real action to provide material support for our neighbors,” Council President Elliott Payne writes in a statement.
So now the debate has been boiled down to money vs. time. But—hear me out here—why can't we do both? As Racket noted in this in-depth feature on the struggles people face when trying to stay off the streets, this is a complex social issue where multiple support systems need to work together.
Target Boycott Called Off. No Wait, It’s Back On!
This morning, the Star Tribune sent out a "BREAKING NEWS" email blast that “the year-long national boycott of Minneapolis-based retailer Target Corp. ended Wednesday, March 11, after executives reached an agreement with the organizers.”
So, which organizers were involved in these negotiations? Surely it was one of the local instigators, right? Nope. Turns out it was Pastor Jamal Bryant, a Georgia-based church leader who had called for a 40-day “Target Fast” during Lent in 2025. Presumably, that fast ended last Easter, but Carson Hartzog writes that Bryant confirmed its conclusion this week at a news conference in Washington, D.C.
But not so fast! The original Minnesota organizers, including Nekima Levy Armstrong, have confirmed that the boycott is not over, nor were they contacted for the Strib piece. (The story has since been updated to include part of Armstrong’s statement.)
“I am once again disgusted by the Star Tribune and their attempts to minimize and erase the voices of our community,” Armstrong writes via Facebook. “The nationwide Target Boycott is not over, unless and until Target reverses its decision to rollback Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, as we said from the beginning. ‘Pastor’ Jamal Bryant does not speak for us or our community and has zero authority to end the nationwide boycott of Target, a company that is headquartered in Minneapolis.”
So far, Target has not agreed to reinstate its DEI policies. And that’s not the only reason people stopped spending at the big-box giant anyway. While there’s no national boycott, LGBTQ+ groups have also made calls for people to stop shopping there (queer folks are also impacted by DEI policies) not to mention the corporation allowing ICE to come for its patrons and employees during Operation Metro Surge.
Thank You, Magic Balls, For Your Service
Quit your snickering, Beavis! That is a legit tech term.
Turns out “magic balls,” also referred to as “smart sensors,” are being used in parts of Minnesota to collect data and keep our power grids healthy. According to Dan Kraker at MPR News, these things are the “size of a bowling ball,” look “like Pac-Man,” and can squeeze “more electricity through existing power lines.” Neat!
"And that's really huge at a time where it's really expensive and hard to expand the grid, but we really desperately need to,” Rocky Mountain Institute’s Sarah Toth Kotwis tells Kraker. “This is the perfect technology that fills that hole."
... Quit your snickering, Beavis!
