Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily midday digest of what local media outlets and Twitter-ers are gabbing about.
No One Man Should Have All This PowerPoint
Nothing numbs public outrage quite like bureaucratic overkill. Maybe that’s why Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey unleashed a PowerPoint offensive against city council yesterday, outlining his plans for adapting Minneapolis to a so-called “strong mayor” system via a series of convoluted diagrams.
The big takeaway from Frey’s proposed overhaul is that his new cabinet will include an Office of Community Safety, which will contain the police department, the fire department, and violence prevention. (Speaking of the cops, Frey was not present at an earlier council committee meeting where the proposed police contract was debated, and passed on to the full council with no recommendation.) “Community Safety.” Hmm, that kinda sounds like the option for a "Department of Public Safety" that was on the ballot, except... not. "It's meaningless,” said TakeAction Minnesota’s Kenza Hadj-Moussa of the prospective office—an evergreen response to a Frey proposal.
"Bro-micron" Emerges
Don't know about y'all, but here at Racket we're getting pretty tired of all these new COVID variants. So it brings us no pleasure to tell you about a new subvariant, BA.2, that's been nicknamed “stealth omicron.” “It’s very much like omicron," Dr. Rebecca Wurtz, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health, told Minnpost. "I’ve heard people call it bro-micron." Great, so this variant also plays beer pong in a Barstool Sports tank top? Stealth omicron behaves a lot like its predecessor—similar symptoms, controlled by COVID-19 vaccines and boosters—but it's more contagious. What that means for Minnesota is... well, nobody knows yet. Pandemic health policies vary so widely from state to state and county to county that there are very few A to B comparisons anyone can make. And while case counts in MN are stable now, they'll probably spike sooner or later. Get vaccinated and boosted if you haven't already, and get ready to hang out outside a bunch this spring.
RIP to Another Dinkytown Staple
Dinkytown is changing. While it’s easy (and fun!) to talk shit about the glitzy high-rise construct-a-thon that’s robbing the U of M-adjacent ‘hood of all charter, a recent influx of global dining options has been more positive. Sadly, 35-year-old institution Camdi Restaurant won’t be part of Dinkytown’s increasingly flavorful future. Camdi Phan’s family-run Vietnamese spot will close after one more dinner service on Saturday, the Star Tribune reports. The hole-in-the-wall space at 1325 SE 4th St. will, fittingly, become a rental office for an apartment complex. Phan cites challenges from the pandemic and less Dinkytown foot traffic for the closure, though she’s not exactly sweating it. "It will be fun to give life a little change; I want to say thank you for [loyal customers’] support,” she tells the Strib in a blog post that weirdly uses terms like “foreigners." In other Dinkytown food news: Japanese doughnuts, Singaporean bubble tea, and Korean corndogs are all on the way.
Proposal: Fine Angry Sports Parents $1K
Are you an angry sports parent? Well, the Minnesota legislature has had enough of your bullshit. The House Public Safety Committee has unanimously approved a proposal that would fine people who act like jerks at school sporting events up to $1,000. What constitutes being a jerk? We’re talking about throwing things at referees, stepping onto a field/court/rink to mansplain or be a Karen, and shouting profanities at coaches, officials, and kids. Rep. John Huot, who has probably seen some shit as a basketball/football referee, put forth the bill, which is getting a good reception from both GOP and DFL reps. "Win or lose, they should walk away saying, 'You know what, that was a good event,'” says Huot of kid athletes. “And right now, we're not having that." The Safety Committee is also calling for better reporting of instances of parental rage, and stricter enforcement of year-long bans for adult fools who can’t act normal at a teenagers’ sporting event.
