Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.
How ICE Impacts Rural Campuses
If you’ve been keeping up on ICE-related campus arrests, you’ve probably noticed the national news has been focused on the (very newsworthy!) alleged human-rights violations that have been occurring at higher-ed institutions such as Harvard and Columbia.
But ICE isn’t just targeting the Ivy Leagues—U of M student Dogukan Gunaydin remains in custody despite an immigration judge ruling that he can't be deported. ICE, which yanked his Turkish student's visa because of a drunk driving incident, is holding Gunaydin in the Sherburne County jail while it appeals the case.
And ICE is also wreaking havoc on rural campuses. Take, for example, the arrest and detention of Mohammed Hoque at Minnesota State University, Mankato. “The agents had followed Hoque, a management information systems major from Bangladesh, as he was returning from a coding class,” writes journalist/professor Rachael Hanel for rural news outlet Barn Raiser. “He was arrested in front of his parents, who were in town visiting.” (This week, a U.S. District Court ordered his immediate release, citing “viewpoint-based targeting” in connection to social media posts regarding Palestine.)
With 1,800 international students on a campus of 15,200, many of whom can’t work off campus, MSU Mankato has come to rely on their labor. “When you drive around campus, every single person ticketing cars, every single person directing traffic, the security at events, it’s all international students. The dining hall—international students,” notes associate professor Jameel Haque.
Hanel writes that the exact number of students being arrested is underreported, with many universities afraid of federal retaliation (and some, like the U of M, are actually making money off ICE). But Haque says Mankato students have been vocal, traveling off campus to go into deep red areas where Freeborn County Jail contracts with ICE. “They’ve been protesting for Palestine for 18 months and repeatedly being punched in the face. We’re not getting down," he says.
Children Aren’t Drinking Enough Alcohol
As if we don’t have enough stuff to worry about, music venues are reporting that Zoomers just aren’t getting as sloshed as millennials and Gen Xers did in their youth. Uncool!
This is good news and bad news. After all kinds of alarming reports that we were trashing our livers and developing problems during the pandemic, a 2023 Gallup study found that not only do young adults drink less often overall, only 62% under 35 even drink at all—a 10% drop from 20 years ago. (The report also notes that older folks, especially those over 55, are still getting plenty sloshed for the rest of us.)
The bad? Music venues rely on bar sales to make money during concerts. While Chris Riemenschneider at the Strib agrees that drinking less is great, he writes today that the trend is having a negative impact on the bottom line at local clubs. “We aren’t singing the blues at Palmer’s,” says co-owner Pat Dwyer. “But we have to figure something out.” He tells Riemenschneider that alcohol sales are down almost 20%, while places like First Avenue, 331, White Squirrel, and others confirm they’re also looking for solutions.
Weed probably won’t save the day, either. While First Ave GM Nate Kranz reports that THC drink profits have doubled, that’s less impressive when you see the jump is only from 1% to 2% of overall sales. “They haven’t been the silver bullet,” he says.
Maybe Skip That $25 Cocktail at Target Center Tonight…
Back in February, the city of Minneapolis conducted a food safety inspection of Target Center, and the results were… not yummy. In fact, violations ran the gamut of no-nos, from technical failures to freeloading rodents to improper hand sanitation. Dozens of issues were cited in both casual vendors and the fancier club facilities, including four vendors with signs of rat droppings as well as mold in drink dispensers. Also, according to KSTP…
Several concession locations were cited for handwashing sinks that were either physically obstructed, missing signage, not stocked with soap, or being used for other purposes such as storage or dumping ice. The inspector noted that a bar location didn’t have a handwashing sink available, despite employees handling cocktails and garnishes. One employee at a pizza location was observed going directly from washing dishes to handling food without having washed their hands.
Welp... sounds like a recipe for a party in your GI tract. If you’re blessed with tickets to tonight’s Wolves-Warriors playoff game, you might want to stick to prepackaged treats and canned beer. Wolves in five!
The People Demand More Cat Tours
Have you seen the crowds at the Wedge LIVE! Cat Tour? They are epic. So epic, in fact, that they’ve received national attention, including a profile last year in the Washington Post. Obviously our thirst for cats cannot be quenched by a single event, and thus, a Hamline Midway Cat Tour in St. Paul has been announced. The June 14 event will start at 10 a.m. at Groundswell Coffee and will end with ice cream in a nearby park. And yes, you can register your cat if you’d like to be part of the show.
Correction: A previous version of this story referred to Minnesota State University, Mankato as the University of Minnesota, Mankato, which is not what it's called! We regret the error.
