Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.
Brenda Short, Mayor of Incredible Over-Shares
Sometimes, when fledgling reporters encounter fledgling politicians, magic can happen. In that spirit, major kudos to Minnesota Daily reporter Katrina Bailey for opting to edit this recent Q&A with Minneapolis mayoral hopeful Brenda Short with a feather-light touch. Short, a onetime City Council candidate for Ward 9, decided to speak at extraordinary length about the internal tumult of her just-launched candidacy, eventually opting to fire her (allegedly) hapless campaign manager in real-time. Please enjoy a level of bewildering candor that’s oh-so-rare in politics; here's Short, answering loooooooong:
I have got my challenges already. So I have been attacked at the city level. The city refused to give me my offer or tell me proper information on how to get my candidacy. I called, I went downtown for weeks, and they refused to give me the proper information I had to contact the secretary of state and I went down to that office and I thought she would not. This lady was not listening to me. She just wrote my name down and said I’m going to call you back. She called me back with a direct number and she said, "Look, I can only tell you, they’re going to deny you. You stand on your word. Just keep on pushing them in that phone, do not let them get off the phone call because you were supposed to have that ability to register." I learned in running, that as a campaign you have to register your candidacy so you can collect money so you can print documents and say here’s what I’m running for and what I am.
Another challenge was that I hired my campaign manager Jake who will no longer be working on my team as of today. I had a press release and I sent it to Jake and all he had to do was forward it. I even gave him the emails to all the newspapers and all Fox 9, KARE 11 numbers. Jake sent in the press release and then I kept on asking him. I said "Jake, did you follow up? Did you hear anything back?" And he said, "Oh I’ll call right now," and he kept on saying he got voicemails up until. The time of my press release was on Tuesday and the people came but the news people didn’t come so I called Fox and they said they got the documents, but it didn’t give a date or time. I’m like "No, it was there," and I looked on my email and he said, "No, we got it from Jake, but it wasn’t there," so the email I sent Jake had the information on it, but Jake sent it to Fox 9 without the proper information on it and he had even deleted the date line where it said date and time and I was like, "Okay, that was a mistake."
And then when I called him on it, he’s like, "Oh, my bad." So then that was my first knowledge that you are trying to destroy my campaign within the campaign. I cried about it yesterday, got up (today) and wrote his termination letter this morning and I hadn’t had time to talk to him. I was going to talk to him later on today. So I guess he’ll read it in the newspaper.
FWIW: Southwest Voices editor Melody Hoffmann confirmed that poor Jake did mess up that press release. Short joins a crowded field of candidates hoping to unseat incumbent Mayor Jacob Frey in 2025, though it’s nothing compared to the bonkers, 35-candidate (including one pirate!) mayoral election of 2013—at least so far. We encourage you to check out Short's, um, charmingly DIY campaign website, where she's already introducing herself as mayor.
Report: Let’s Trip Toward Magic Mushroom Legalization
While many spent yesterday nursing hangovers, Minnesota's Psychedelic Medicine Task Force was getting to work, publishing a 191-page report recommending we take incremental steps toward legalizing magic mushrooms. How's that for a New Year’s resolution?
We’re talking about psilocybin here, a naturally occurring hallucinogenic substance found in certain varieties of mushrooms (so no synthetics like LSD or MDMA). The task force's findings, which are two years in the making, suggest that Minnesota should establish a state-regulated clinical program for therapeutic administration of the drug, decriminalize use and possession of ‘shrooms (criminal record expungement could also be on the table), and fund more research to better understand the potential value of hallucinogens as tools for treating things like addiction, mood disorders, and persistent PTSD. The report also notes that full legalization could (and probably should) be considered... eventually. Baby steps, folks!
Incredibly, those three recommendations appear to have bipartisan support, and could actually show up during the 2025 legislative session. "Doesn't mean I'm a wild, crazy person who believes in all drugs," Sen. Mark Koran (R-North Branch), reassures Fox 9. "If the research proves that it's something we should move from a medicinal perspective, I'm all for it."
No Snow, No Sled Dog Races
So far, this winter is at least shaping up to be colder than the last, when weirdly warm temperatures shuttered skating rinks, canceled ice festivals, and generally made the season a big bummer for Minnesotans who love to get outside. "Not since we’ve had snowmaking capabilities have we really had a winter where there was no winter available here,” Loppet Foundation executive director Claire Wilson told Racket almost exactly one year ago, and this January, at least, the Loppet's cross-country skiing trails at Theodore Wirth Regional Park are blanketed in artificial snow.
But there are some uncomfortable similarities between January 2024 and January 2025—specifically, a lack of actual, natural snow. Which is why the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon, which should have had its 40th running along the North Shore of Lake Superior on January 28, has been postponed until March. MPR News's Dan Kraker reports that it's the second northern MN sled dog race that's been postponed this year; the The Gunflint Mail Run, originally scheduled for January 11, has been pushed back until February.
But while both races were canceled last year, organizers are optimistic that future snowfall will allow them to take place in 2025. Here's hoping those pups get to mush on a trail that isn't made of it!
TV Show Takes Place Here
Radio station blogging is really the last remnant of the great old internet that was.
For instance, let’s say I wanted to tell you about Doc, a new TV show starring Molly Parker that premieres on Fox next week. I’d say it takes place at Minneapolis's Westside Hospital (which doesn’t exist) but that it was filmed in Toronto, except for a few establishing shots here. I’d give you a brief synopsis: After a brain injury, a doctor can’t remember anything that happened over the past eight years—lucky her, amirite? And then I’d be done.
But Curt St. John at 96.5 Quick Country in Rochester is not so easily satisfied. He begins his post by mentioning movies that were shot here, mentions a few fictional characters from Minnesota, then lists many TV shows that took place here. He muses (naturally enough for a Rochesterian) on whether the show will mention the Mayo Clinic. He continues:
And though it is set in here, as we noted, it wasn't actually filmed on location here. Nor apparently, will there be other Minnesota natives in the program. But our state does have its share of famous residents, however. Keep scrolling to check them out and where they went to high school here in the Bold North!
And then we get pics of famous Minnesotans with their alma maters listed, just as we were promised. Do I need this information? Not especially! But thanks for putting your heart into this, Curt.
