Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily midday digest of what local media outlets and Twitter-ers are gabbing about.
U of M Bus Strikes Acadia Cafe
It bears repeating: holy shit! Beyond that, details are slim regarding how, exactly, a University of Minnesota Campus Connector bus implanted itself halfway inside Acadia Cafe on Minneapolis's West Bank. We emailed U of M PR moments ago, but haven't heard back yet. Mercifully, there were no injuries to the riders, driver, or Acadia workers, according to some dude on Twitter whose son witnessed the incident. (Update: There were, in fact, no injuries, a U of M spokesman tells Racket; the cause of the crash is under investigation.)
Said son provided this vantage point of the crash site:
And here are a few more at the bar/venue/bus:
And, since we're now certain nobody got hurt, how about a wee bit of levity?
Folks looking to support Acadia staff, who are out of work until further notice, can donate here via GoFundMe.
Update (March 16): Fox 9 obtained video of the crash from inside Acadia:
Mpls Cop Under Investigation for Beatings Awarded $190K
As teachers strike for scraps, the Minneapolis City Council keeps handing out fat workers' compensation settlements to cops who terrorized the city following the 2020 police murder of George Floyd. The lottery, er, sorry, workers' comp settlement process is simple: Claim you have PTSD from teargassing and rubber-bulleting citizens, as many officers have, and then claim your check. Cory Taylor, a Minneapolis cop who’s currently under investigation for the brutal beatings of Jaleel Stallings and Virgil Lee Jackson Jr., is about to cash a $190,000 one, Minnesota Reformer reports. It's unclear what affliction he cited. Taylor joins 15 other officers who were awarded $2.6 million just last week, since, apparently, these payments are less costly to the city than court cases, a lawyer tells the Reformer, adding that perhaps $34 million in such payments have been issued to cops since Floyd’s murder. Stallings and Jackson are suing the city over alleged police brutality, which was (allegedly) captured via bodycam footage. Council Members Jeremiah Ellison and Jason Chavez have expressed concern over the size and scope of the workers’ comp settlements their council keeps approving.
He Did the 'Rod
Minnesota native Brent Sass (great name) won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race across Alaska, crossing the finish line just before 6 a.m. today. The PiPress has the rundown on Sass, who left MN in '98 (sometimes in our excitement, we too stretch the limits of what counts as a local angle) and was racing in his seventh Iditarod. This is his first win, besting a third-place finish last year. "Every one of these dogs I’ve raised since puppies, and we’ve been working towards this goal the whole time, and we’re here,” Sass said, noting that he was “super, super, super proud” of the pups.
The "K" is for "Knight"
Some religious folks put crosses in their yard, others do a manger scene around the holidays, and others put awkward yard signs on their lawn. Hope Church Pastor Paul Knight in Grand Forks, North Dakota, has a busted “K” from a Kmart sign on his. The giant letter showed up on his front lawn last week in the middle of the day. "I don't know who to call, cuz I don't know who put it up," the Pastor told WDAY-TV/Inforum. "So I am kind of making a general announcement: the people who are responsible for this, you're welcome to remove it anytime.” The Pastor has deduced that the sign probably came from a nearby Kmart that recently closed, and was most likely put there by a member of his congregation. His wife has given the “K” a soft deadline to for it to find a new home: “My wife hopes it's gone by June, I think," he says.
