Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily midday digest of what local media outlets and Twitter-ers are gabbing about.
New Fence to Make U.S. Bank Stadium Even More Welcoming
It’s unclear whether the fence is supposed to keep people out or something in, but the sleeping Transformer we call U.S. Bank Stadium will be getting a permanent fence in the coming years. A temporary chain-link fence has surrounded most of the building since its opening in 2016, but to score a top safety rating from U.S. Homeland Security it needs the real deal. Minnesota Sports Facility Authority Chairman Michael Vekich assures the Strib that the fence won’t be a "fortress," while MSFA member Sharon Sayles Belton says they’re trying to avoid an "industrial" look, indicating that this will be a softer, more gentle fence for the industrial fortress. Other renovations for the $1 billion structure include an update to club rooms and other private areas normal people will never see. One thing this fence won’t keep out: Birds. While the stadium’s reflective glass is notorious for killing confused birds, MSFA has been resistant to any solutions that would mess with its (foreboding) aesthetic.
Dire Drinking Death Stats
The Reformer has a story today about alcohol-related deaths in Minnesota, which, according to CDC data, hit a record high last year. Causes specifically linked to excessive drinking (alcohol poisoning, alcohol-induced liver disease, etc.) killed 1,162 Minnesotans in 2021, more than homicide and suicide combined, making alcohol the ninth-leading cause of death in the state for that year. And the data doesn't include “indirect” deaths from alcohol abuse, for example drunk driving, homicide, or medical conditions where alcohol is a contributing factor—the Reformer reports that doing so would double or triple the total number.
Twins Finally Acquire Twins.com—From Literal Twins!
From the mid ‘90s until very recently, Twins.com has been owned by honest-to-god twins—Durland and Darvin Miller, who live in California’s Bay Area. The middle-aged brothers—who are in fact Twins fans thanks to their Minnesotan father—claim to have received offers for the URL as high as $750,000 from sources like “some sheikh in Saudi Arabia” and plenty of porno companies, Grantland reported in this excellent 2015 deep-dive. (The Millers are close-knit rock ‘n’ rollers who drive Hummers and rock blond mullets.) “Years ago we’d actually reached out to the Twins, saying, ‘Hey, we have this [website], and we’re not really using it, maybe we could work out a deal,’” Durland said at the time. “And they just never really followed through on it. But certainly, if the right offer came around, we’d sell.” It seems an agreeable offer arrived this summer. In mid-August, ownership of Twins.com had been transferred to Major League Baseball, as reported by Domain Name Wire. MLB now controls 28 of 30 team domains, with only the Giants.com and Rays.com eluding the league. Even without Twins.com, don’t expect the Millers to abandon their twin-focused lifestyles. "Everything we do in our lives embodies twins” the brothers told Grantland. “‘Twins’ is who we are, how we live.” Hell yeah, boys.
Candidates! Remember to Buy Your Websites!
If you pop on over to tylerkistner.com you’ll learn a lot about the candidate challenging incumbent Angie Craig for the MN-2 House seat. But it won’t be Kistner making his own case. Seems he overlooked purchasing the domain name, so Craig swooped in and bought it herself. She’s been hammering him on his opposition to abortion rights, a position he’s currently down-playing without changing. Craig’s Kistner site also criticizes his health care and environmental positions, as well as ethics complaints he faces.
