Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.
Kelce Bros Clumsily (But Sweetly) Notice Mpls Halloween Display
There are few things more hilarious than a large adult man who cannot pronounce “Minneapolis” correctly. For that reason (and several more that I will soon get to), I’ve had a short clip of the Kelce brothers’ New Heights podcast on repeat all morning long.
What’s got Jason, the bushier (and, per Travis, “bigger-boned”) of the Kelce bros, so excited? It’s a story, he says, from “Axiest” (that’s “Axios”) about a “Minneanapolis” (you can probably guess that one) yard that’s gone full Swiftie for Halloween.
The story, by Audrey Kennedy (whose name Jason thankfully did not try to pronounce), has pics of homeowner Miranda Soukup’s fun "Life of a Showghoul" design, which includes two skeletons sitting at a “New Frights” desk, one with hearts in his eyes for the titular showgirl. (Don't worry, parents: It does not attempt to depict Travis’s reportedly impressive manhood.)
“New Frights,” Travis says comatosely, taking in the display, which he follows with a Butthead-style “huh huh, nice.”
Anyway, if you’ve always wanted a career in podcasting but feel you’ll be hampered by the English language and the need for its pesky words to be pronunciated correctly? Well, let these two lovable meathead brothers inspire you—though being NFL stars (and hooking up with one of the most famous people on Earth) may be a prerequisite for such success.
Betty McCollum Was Always Right About Israel
From Ana Radelat at MinnPost, a nice little hat tip to the Twin Cities’ other congresswoman. Betty McCollum of the Fourth District is rarely in the news, but, as Radelat points out, she’s been correct on a specific U.S. foreign policy issue for nearly two decades now. And at least some of her colleagues are finally catching up with her.
As Radelat writes:
McCollum began her activism concerning Israel in 2006 when she first sponsored a bill that would rope off U.S. funds to the Jewish state that were used to detain Palestinian children. She has since sponsored similar legislation in every Congress.
This concern for Palestinian lives made McCollum a target of AIPAC, of course. Weirdly, however, she has never drawn as much fire for her position as her Fifth District counterpart, Ilhan Omar. Whyever could that be?
Defund Asset Seizure
Asset seizure, the process by which law enforcement makes the property of alleged criminals its own, is, as they say, problematic. For starters, there’s that “alleged”—under current state law, you don’t need to be convicted of a crime, only suspected, for cops to nab your stuff.
Minnesota Reformer data reporter Alyssa Chen looks at the state of asset seizure in Minnesota, and finds that law enforcement netted $6 million in 2024, a 16% increase over the year before. In Minneapolis, the increase was even greater, with the MPD tripling its intake—$469,566 in seized assets compared to $157,375 from 2023.
This is happening, Chen notes, though a 2021 state reform effectively decreased the value of seizures Minnesota law enforcement agencies take in. How’s that? Well, a loophole allows local police departments to share some of the booty when they participate with federal agents. And the feds aren’t slowing down any.
Not great news, if you ask me. But, as we’re constantly told, if law enforcement isn’t allowed to do whatever the fuck it wants without receiving even the slightest criticism, the criminals win.
Everywhere a Sign
Dinkytown is changing, and the signs are everywhere. And I mean literal signs. We previously reported that the sign for Annie’s Parlour was up for sale on Facebook, and now the sign from the sadly defunct Kitty Cat Klub can be yours for the right price. (The one-time night spot is now a U-adjacent cop shop.) Maybe those signs belong in a museum (to coin a phrase) but if you do shell out for them, please take good care of these historical artifacts.
