Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.
Stay in touch
Sign up for The Flyover newsletter
What’s a Police Chief Gotta Do to Get Fired Around Here?
Your department can ignore a city resident’s complaints about his violent neighbor until it results in a shooting. You can mishandle domestic violence calls until one woman is murdered by an abusive partner. You can allow your department to go over budget by $20 million.
None of these black marks on Brian O’Hara’s record were disqualifications for Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who nominated the MPD chief for a second term earlier this month. But proving the old adage “it’s not the crime, it’s the cover up” true yet again, what finally brought about O’Hara’s resignation was the discovery that while undergoing a sexual misconduct investigation, he deleted a contact in his city-owned phone, apparently covering his tracks.
That O’Hara was even under scrutiny came as news to Minneapolis City Council President Elliott Payne, who says that he and his colleagues were not notified at all by the mayor’s office that the chief was being investigated. But it’s not just Frey’s usual council adversaries who are speaking out. Ineffective former Commissioner of Public Safety Cedric Alexander, presumably seated on a giant pile of money, is now saying that he brought concerns about O’Hara to Frey much earlier.
Angie Craig Didn't Want Your Dumb Endorsement Anyway
Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan will be the DFL-endorsed candidate for U.S. Senate in the fall. That much was already all-but-certain after the DFL caucuses, but the deal was sealed on Wednesday when Flanagan’s opponent, U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, announced she would not be heading to Rochester for the party’s convention this weekend.
If you’re hoping for relief from those endless pro-Craig YouTube commercials about how valiantly she has defied Trump, guess again. Craig will continue campaigning, hoping to score a primary win in August; the 2nd Congressional District lawmaker argues that party insiders decide the endorsement process, which "doesn’t reflect the full scope of the party that we are."
“If you can't show up and face your own party, then you're not ready to face Republicans,” Flanagan countered.
Craig has resigned from her congressional seat, so if she doesn't head to the Senate next year she'll have to find another career where she can combines her two loves: law enforcement and cryptocurrency.
They’re Calling It the Most Minnesotan Movie of the Year
I haven’t seen The Devil Wears Prada 2, though I’m relieved to hear that Adrian Grenier does not return as Anne Hathaway’s crappy boyfriend. But I did learn today that former Minnesota Timberwolf (and, yeah, current New York Knick, whatever) Karl-Anthony Towns makes a cameo.
More significantly, local angle specialist Jay Gabler reports for the Duluth News Tribune that Duluth-born designer Misha Kahn had a great deal of his work featured in the sequel. We’re told Kahn’s work is “known for a playful, nonsymmetrical aesthetic exploding with bright colors and organic forms,” which sure sounds preferable to the brown, peeling pleather sofa on which I’m currently parked. And, apparently, the designer’s mom, Margi Preus, could not contain her pride during one Duluth screening. "I kind of shouted out, 'Couch! Tapestry! Mirror!'" she tells Gabler.
Minnesota Is So Crazy
Did you know they play ice hockey in Mongolia? WCCO reports that on a recent trip to his home country, ebullient sushi restaurateur Billy Tserenbat, better known as Billy Sushi, saw some kids playing in an old outdoor U.S.S.R.-era rink. He invited four players and two coaches to the U.S. to enjoy some better facilities, working with a pro hybrid development program. And what do the visitors make of our state? “Minnesota is so crazy,” one kid tells WCCO.
