Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.
Folks… He’s Running
Remember Dr. Almost-Gov. Scott Jensen, quack peddler of Covid misinfo, circulator of right-wing internet hoaxes, and 2022 Republican candidate for governor of Minnesota? Well, he’s rested, he’s ready, and he’s running again in 2026.
If 2022 feels like eons ago to you too, let’s do a quick rundown of Jensen’s greatest hits. He called Covid “a mild four-day respiratory illness,” compared the treatment of anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers to that of the Jews in Nazi Germany, claimed Minnesota should be more like Iowa, thought we could eliminate the state income tax and make up the difference through sales and property taxes, and, in the last desperate days of the race, restated the hoax that children who identify as furries are given litter boxes to pee in at school, adding, “We’ve lost our minds. We’ve lost our minds” and, for some reason, explaining of human children, “They’ve got—they've got a urethra and an anus to discharge waste and fluid solids.”
Jensen lost the 2022 race to Gov. Tim Walz by eight points.
Strib Biffs Northeast Bar Crawl
When the Strib’s food/drink team gets it right, we applaud them. When they faceplant, well, may we direct you to today’s big listicle, "The ideal bar crawl through Northeast, Minneapolis’ best drinking neighborhood.”
It'd come off as mean to pick on the writing, which includes mind-bending turns of phrase such as: "the ills of late-night decisions," "a sit-down branch of the venerable wine and liquor store" (italics ours), "a must-visit for fans of guitar rock legends," "an indoor bar for leaning," "a haven for award-winning restaurants," "vaguely Australian eats," and "serviceable large-format cosmos, Jell-O shots and such keep revelers hydrated." (A commenter correctly identified the authors as outsiders for deploying “Nordeast.”)
So instead we'll focus on omissions and execution.
We’re not Northeasters, but even we know Jimmy’s Bar & Lounge, Yacht Club, and the Knight Cap achieve the platonic ideal of the Northeast dive, the types of places that exude hard-won townie authenticity—true drinker’s bars. Functionally alcoholic history buffs will spit out their Grain Belts upon seeing Dusty's "historic" phone booth mentioned while there's no reference to Stanley's nationally recognized Art Deco urinals from the '40s. Also, if you’re gonna throw the “bar” element of bar crawl out the window by featuring fancy restaurants and *shudder* "hi-fi wine bars,” ya might as well include killer bowling alley Elsie’s and union taproom Indeed Brewing.
Speaking of definitional pedantry, just two of the seven locations featured along Route 2 of the Strib’s two-route bar crawl are located in Northeast! The rest sit on East Hennepin. What are we even doing here, man?
Houses: Not Getting Any Cheaper (at Least in MN)
The big talker around town today, courtesy of Minnesota Realtors? For the first time ever, the median home cost in the Twin Cities topped $400,000, according to the association's June numbers.
A 2.8% increase bumped the metro's median home sale price to $401,000 last month, the highest that figure has ever been. As Nick Halter reports for Axios Twin Cities, that means local housing experts have been right—this is not a boom-and-bust market. Nearly a third of housing markets are in decline right now, including many in California, Florida, and Texas, but the Northeast and Midwest are still seeing "big gains," per CNBC.
That's good news if you're selling in Minnesota but bad news if you're buying, especially as mortgage rates hover around 7%. And if you're looking for a deal? Good luck! "Across the state, sellers accepted offers at 99.3% of their original list price compared to 100% in the metro," the Minnesota Realtors report reads.
70 New Ways to Get Drunk at the MN State Fair
The new alcoholic beverages at the Great Minnesota Get-Together don’t get as much attention as the new food list when it drops (read our predictions on hits and misses here), but for folks who like a cold one while scarfing down hot fried foods this press release is just as important.
And what a list it is this year, featuring 70 new drinks—more than twice the amount of new foods. While last year’s list included many fruitified brews (think cake-laced, blackberry-loaded, and quite a few takes on prickly pear), the 2025 newcomers are a little more chill, literally. We’re talking about slushies, folks. Potential standouts include the French Crêperie’s Grape Ape Slushie (did you know that the Grape Ape is one of us?), Lift Bridge’s Scooby Slushie (think tropical Skittles), and a neon green Shamrock Slushie at O’Gara’s.
The new brews this year are, blessedly, less gimmicky. Beers will be fruited with things like strawberry, Honeycrisp, and huckleberry—not too crazy when you consider there was bubble-gum beer last year. The wildest entry here is a churro cream ale from Tejas Express, which could end up being pretty good, and a raspberry beer soft serve at the West End (also probably good).
Also new this year is a NA specialty sips finder, because drink makers seem to think people love paying mocktail prices for booze-free bevvies.
