Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily 2 p.m.(ish) digest of what local media outlets and Twitter-ers are gabbing about.
SWAT Team Battered Door Down to Foil Pooch-Snatching
In the wake of the police killing of Amir Locke, we were reminded that the Minneapolis Police Department continued to apply for (and receive) no-knock warrants even after Jacob Frey’s campaign announced that he had banned them. So, for any enterprising investigative journalist out there, the obvious question became: What’s the most egregious abuse of a no knock warrant? KARE11 seems to have won this round. According to bodycam footage reviewed by the station's A.J. Lagoe and Steve Eckert, a SWAT team last March battered down the door of a north Minneapolis home immediately after shouting, “Police! Search warrant!” as part of… a dognapping investigation.
That Fish Belongs in a Museum!
In May 1979 Margaret Thatcher was elected Prime Minister, the Salvadoran Civil War began, and San Francisco politician Dan White was convicted of manslaughter in the murder of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. A little closer to home, LeRoy Chiovitte caught a really big fish. Let’s not downplay just how enormous this fish was: The 17 1/2 pound walleye, pulled out of Saganaga Lake at the end of the Gunflint Trail, remains the state record. “I must see that giant fish!” we can hear you say, and now you can. After 40 years of private ownership, the stuffed walleye will be permanently displayed at the Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center, operated by the Gunflint Trail Historical Society. Now all of humanity can gaze upon the walleye and say “That fish is too damn big!” The display will also serve as a warning to all other giant walleye that they cannot outwit humanity.
Lol You’ll Never Own a House
We keep reading about terrified residents fleeing the crime-ridden city for the tedious safety of the suburbs. If only! "For the person who says 'I'm done with the city' and wants to sell their house, there are probably 15 people who say 'I'll take it off your hands,'" real estate agent Emily Green tells the Star Tribune. In an infographic-studded story, the Strib looked at “the hottest neighborhoods in Minneapolis and St. Paul,” by which they mostly mean “the still barely affordable neighborhoods.” “Every single neighborhood in Minneapolis and St. Paul saw house prices rise in 2021,” the Strib reports. “But the most dynamic ones were inexpensive, working-class neighborhoods.” The biggest mover and shaker? In northernmost Northeast, Columbia Park's average price per square foot jumped by 20% while available housing stock dropped by 75%. St. Paul’s hottest hood is Dayton's Bluff, where prices leapt by an average of almost $40 per square foot.
New Digs for Mpls Pigs?
The Minneapolis Police Department’s First Precinct has been looking to move out of its current digs for about four years, citing a need for more space and better parking options. Right now, they can be found at 19 North Fourth Street, right around the corner of The Gay 90’s. According to a memorandum filed this month, the precinct is planning to move to the 21st Century Plaza, located at 1101 Third Avenue South, a little nook of downtown that’s often oddly desolate despite having a Holiday Inn and the Minneapolis Convention Center. The city would be buying the 90-year-old building for an undisclosed amount, though the Biz Journal found that Hennepin County tax records estimate that it’s worth $5.35 million. Remember the time that the Third Precinct burned down? In case you’ve been wondering, they’ve been working out of 309 Second Avenue South ever since with no set plans to move.
