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Anoka PD Reported Two UFO Sightings in 2025
Now, don’t freak out, but we’ve got big news from the FBI: Aliens may have visited Anoka last year.
According to recently released docs from the National Archives and Records Administration, a slew of witnesses in the far northern 'burbs reported seeing a spacecraft on two occasions. On February 17, an officer witnessed a “diamond-shaped object” in the sky. Two days later, three more folks with Anoka PD watched a spinning “tie-dye” thing zoom around for 90 minutes.
“The object was further described as appearing similar to an orbital diagram of an atom, with six ‘hula-hoops with lights around each loop,'” states the report obtained by Brianna Kelly at Bring Me the News. Witnesses speculate that the UFO was heading toward Lake Minnetonka—are we sure it's not just Prince?
Unfortunately, the photographic evidence is… not compelling.
“I was able to capture a video of the object that we viewed by pointing my iPhone camera into the lenses of my binoculars,” one witness states. “However it turned out nearly useless and blurry.” No shit.
More Like Brian O’Harem
The Strib's Liz Sawyer has the scoop on a multi-year, independent investigation into former Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara, detailing all the accusations that Minneapolis law firm Forsgren Fisher McCalmont DeMarea Tysver (that name just rolls off the tongue) investigated.
This includes allegations of affairs with three different subordinates, threatening “to punch” former interim Police Chief Amelia Huffman, being a jerk to fellow cops working the front desk, and, hilariously, asking the universe “Why is everyone against me?” after the City Council inconvenienced him.
There were also claims of witness tampering by O’Hara’s driver, officer Abdisamad Ahmed, who denied hunting down and confronting his boss’s alleged situationships before investigation interviews. A whistleblower submitted a recorded convo suggesting otherwise; Ahmed claimed he was merely joking—classic ha-ha defense. (All three women later denied having sexual relations with O’Hara.)
Ultimately, investigators found “insufficient evidence” to support the accusations against O’Hara. Instead, it was his deleting of a contact from his work phone that prompted his resignation. And justice was served.
Bursting Beer Bubble Bringing Burnout
The local beer bubble has been bursting since 2022, and with Headflyer closing in April and Bauhaus slated to shut its door at the end of June, bubble speculation continues to grow. Matthew Alvarez dives into the topic for a refreshingly realistic piece for MPR News, with nary a business blaming the lack of street parking or accusing Gen Z of not drinking enough.
In the end, there’s probably a variety of things hurting the Minnesota beer business; the article mentions Operation Metro Surge killing the bar and restaurant scene for months, the limited shelf space in stores for small craft breweries, and businesses constantly having to account for changes in supply costs.
There’s also burnout. “I do think that there are some owners who are just choosing to step away because running a small business has never been easy, but under these conditions it's unfair and nearly impossible,” says Bob Galligan at the Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild of navigating shifting trade policies and the cost of goods.
While Galligan suggests that the craft beer industry is maturing or “hitting a cruising altitude,” the numbers still aren’t good. According to the Brewers Association, in 2020 “more than 450 taprooms opened that year alone, compared to just 128 that closed,” writes Alvarez. “In 2025, 219 taprooms closed compared to 151 that opened.”
That One Minute Tours Guy Is Back
Back online but not back in Minnesota, that is. When John O'Sullivan of One Minute Tours fame announced earlier this year that he had up and moved to Australia for the safety of his son, it didn’t go over well. Folks who had donated $65K to Hidden Middle, a Minnesota-focused video project, felt betrayed, while some Redditors celebrated the end of his self-promoting ways on local threads.
Well he’s back, suckers!
“I’ve still got family, friends, and property in Minnesota,” he notes. According to recent Facebook/TikTok posts, Hidden Middle “hasn’t gotten the eyeballs that we wanted it to,” so he’s going to be promoting that content on socials while also posting new content… mostly about Australia.
“Do you have to be in Minnesota to be Minnesotan?” he ponders. If you want your Minnesotan followers who originally followed you for your Minnesota content to keep following you? Yes, you probably do.
