Jim Bakker Lived in Minneapolis for a Year, Died Yesterday

Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories. 

Jim Bakker (RIP) Was One of Us (Briefly)

In 1987, Rev. Jerry Falwell described scandal-ridden televangelist Jim Bakker as “the greatest scab and a cancer on the face of Christianity in 2,000 years of church history.” He also accused him of being gay. In the end Bakker was really just your typical huckster. And a long-living one at that: His family reports that he died on Monday at the ripe old age of 86. 

But before all that Bakker spent a year—mostly 1961, to be specific—in Minneapolis. It was an eventful one. He met his first wife, the mascara-lovin’ Tammy Faye Messner (nee LaValley), while both were students at North Central Bible College, now North Central University. After three dates they married in the basement of the Minneapolis Evangelistic Auditorium, aka Music Box Theater, near Loring Park. The marriage would lead to them getting kicked out of school, and by the following year they had left Minnesota. (Read all about their time in town in this great 2014 MinnPost piece from Andy Sturdevant.)

In 1974, the duo founded PTL (Praise the Lord/Pass the Loot) Ministries, raking in millions annually while preaching that god financially rewards those who financially reward him… via donations to PTL. The gravy train ended in 1988, after Jim was indicted on 24 counts of fraud and conspiracy, including paying off church secretary Jessica Hahn, who accused him of rape, with ministry funds. He was sentenced to 45 years in prison, but would only serve five (partly in Rochester—another MN connection!). 

And the local angles don’t end there. While Tammy Faye would quickly remarry and rebrand as a love and gay rights crusader (she died of cancer in 2007), their son, Jay Bakker, resided in the Twin Cities for many years, hosting Sunday worship services at Bryant-Lake Bowl up until the 2020s. In his final years Jim claimed Trump was Jesus-aligned and was sued for shilling colloidal silver as a pandemic cure-all. A true scammer till the end.

Report: 506 U.S. Citizens Detained by DHS

Using court statements, DHS reports, news stories, and social media materials, ProPublica has given us a clear view of the ways American citizens have also been terrorized by ICE, from the deportation of children against parents’ wishes to wrongful arrests of Ojibwe employees during a workplace raid. “Collectively, these cases show that as the administration has relentlessly pursued immigrants, federal agents have run roughshod over the constitutional rights of citizens too,” they write. 

That includes at least 70 American kids/teens who were detained (20 were handcuffed or zip tied), 63 citizens who were arrested while recording (not illegal to do), and 36 who were denied access to a lawyer or a phone for at least 24 hours (now that’s illegal). Many incidents occurred in Minnesota, and a search tab allows you to filter cases based on type and state.  

“I've never seen so many U.S. citizen encounters in all my years,” Darius Reeves, a retired overseer at Baltimore’s ICE office, tells ProPublica. “It’s an embarrassment.” More like cruel, destructive, and evil.

MN Opera’s Orchestra Strikes

On Tuesday morning, Musicians of the Minnesota Opera Orchestra unanimously voted to strike after contract negotiations stalled for over three months. Union members are looking for increased wages to keep up with the cost of living.

According to a 2025 fiscal report, MN Opera’s net worth is nearly $41 million. The union notes in a press release that less than $80K would be needed to satisfy its conditions in the first year. “This is less than 0.5% of the organization’s total operating budget,” the union writes, while also pointing out that “MNOP has increased its total assets by $13.8 million since 2020 and has increased top four administrative salaries by 18-20%.” 

MMOO has been with MN Opera for 63 years.

Nic Cage Watch 2026: Ren Fest and Extra Guac

That’s right: Mr. Longlegs is in town, and he’s using ‘em to explore the Twin Cities. While a few posters on Facebook are debating whether or not he was at Shakopee’s Renaissance Fest last weekend, an anonymous Star Tribune editor confirms they spotted him dining with his wife and young daughter at Oro by Nixta in northeast Minneapolis. The family reportedly ordered plates to share and an extra helping of guacamole. 

“Cage drove up in a van with stuffed animals in the window, dressed in a Doors T-shirt, leather pants and a leather motorcycle jacket,” Neal Justin writes of his colleague's account.

The magnificent, scenery-chewing actor is in Minnesota filming Parish, a post-apocalyptic zombie thriller.