Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.
House Siding Project Leads to Historic Find
Surprise "discoveries" are rarely a good thing when working on home improvements. But George Johnson is one of the lucky few, as a re-siding project on his home has yielded an incredible find: a remarkably well-preserved Gold Medal Flour mural.
“The contractors started ripping off the siding. I was working inside, came out, and they had already ripped off about three quarters. I could clearly see it was a Gold Medal Flour sign at that point,” the south Minneapolis homeowner tells Racket. “I was just absolutely gobsmacked. I was just floored that this thing was on the side of my house. And why is it there? I have no idea. I mean, 110 years it's been there, and it's absolutely vibrant. It's amazing."
Records show that his home was built in 1912 and was originally used as a grocery store before. In 1915, it was moved one lot over on the 4500 block of Minnehaha Avenue, where it was retrofitted into a private residence. The painted sign's slogan—“Eventually… why not now?”—is an enduring one; it was used between 1907 and the 1950s, according to the Gold Medal website.
Johnson's discovery is actually a twofer: An identical sign was found on the opposite side of the house, too.
"I'm working with my contractor to preserve the side that's not facing direct sunlight. It's just a matter of making sure it's weathertight, protecting the paint from fading out,” says Johnson, who reports that he has been hounded by chatty neighbors and media members since making the find this week. “The last thing I want to do is destroy something we're trying to preserve."
Report: Lynx Remain Awesome
Rooting for a Minnesota pro sports team often leads to heartbreak and loss—unless you’re rooting for the Lynx, who have won four WNBA championships since launching in 1999. The WNBA team is currently first in the Western Conference with a 14-2 record.
In this new cover story Q&A with Slam Magazine, Olympic gold medalist, Lynx team leader, and Unrivaled league founder Napheesa Collier talks about the upward trajectory of women’s basketball and her career, which has only gotten better since becoming a mother. In the piece, author Mya Peterson proclaims “Queen Phee,” now in her seventh pro season, to be a modern-day “Superwoman.”
“I think it’s just like such a time of empowerment, honestly, like we hold the most cards we’ve ever held,” Collier tells Slam. “Just the way that people view women’s sports, the accessibility to us is more than it’s ever been, the availability, the way that you’re able to see us on TV more than ever. Like, we still want to make a lot of changes in that area, but it’s better than it’s ever been, and you can see the growth that’s happening because of that.”
In other Lynx news: It turns out that Justin Vernon (aka Bon Iver) is a big fan of women’s basketball—the towering indie-rocker played hoops himself in high school—and has partnered with the Lynx and over a dozen local organizations to provide more than $3 million in grants supporting gender equity. It will be the first of its kind in the WNBA.
“I think showing your support is good, but I think the sport is good. It’s just my speed, It’s a different game to watch,” Vernon tells Sam Stroozas at MPR of what he likes about Lynx games, which he attends with his personal trainer when his schedule allows. “They’ve got their focus, they’re locked in. That’s what I feel. That’s what we’re cheering for.”
Legislators Demand More Skateparks
Finding a free skatepark is going to get easier over the next few years, thanks to better funding. During this past legislative session, eight skateparks—four in the metro and four outstate—were slated to receive around $4 million from the general fund. Locations include Folwell and Central Gym Parks in Minneapolis, Merriam Park in St. Paul, and parks in Northfield, Rochester, and Brainerd.
“Each city has really been working on this for years, if not decades, trying to get skate parks across the finish line,” City of Skate’s Executive Director Paul Forsline tells Brian Arola at MinnPost.
“The fact of the matter is there are many, many thousands of young people who participate in skateboarding who wouldn’t otherwise be participating in other kinds of sports,” longtime skatepark supporter Sen. Scott Dibble (DFL-Minneapolis) said during this month's special session. “Our failure to serve them would mean they simply go unserved.”
Concrete Barriers Don’t Cut It When the Mississippi Floods
A new research project at the University of Minnesota aims to help cities, farms, and homeowners better prepare for Mississippi River floods. While concrete barriers were once sufficient, weather changes and the wear and tear of time have made them precarious, and their failure often leads to costly damage. “Much of the infrastructure along the Upper Mississippi was built for a different climate, and it’s struggling to keep up with today’s extremes,” researcher/scientist Philip Adalikwu tells Andrew Hazzard at Sahan Journal.
His project, titled “Nature’s Value in Reducing Flood Risk Impacts in the Upper Mississippi River Basin,” estimates that flooding in the area causes $340 million in damage annually.
Amazingly (or, perhaps, ironically) it turns out that nature may have been the solution all along. Adalikwu suggests that increasing wetlands and forests along the river area could be key. “The benefit of these is they soak up water like a sponge,” he says.
