Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily midday digest of what local media outlets and Twitter-ers are gabbing about.
Mayor Says Things
"I found the contents to be repugnant, at times horrific.” That’s how Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey responded to a new Minnesota Department of Human Rights report, which found that the Minneapolis Police Department—over which Frey, as mayor, has had sole authority since he took office in 2018—has engaged in a long-standing pattern of racial discrimination. Frey went on to say that the exhaustively documented behavior of the police department, over which he has had sole authority since he took office in 2018, “made me sick to my stomach and outraged.” However, Frey outlined a clear plan to change the police department over which he has had sole authority since he took office in 2018: "This time it needs to be different." And he was not shy about properly assigning blame for the actions of the police department over which has had sole authority since he took office in 2018. "Collectively, we need to own where we’ve messed up," said Frey, who has had sole authority over the Minneapolis Police Department since he took office in 2018. “It can’t be about one person.” Even if that person has had sole authority over the Minneapolis Police Department since he took office in 2018.
So My Honda Civic Is Safe Then?
As regular readers of Nextdoor are aware, the world in general and the Twin Cities especially are a dangerous place for homeowners, birds, and catalytic converters. Should you be worried? Of course! Always! About everything! But should you in particular be specifically worried about thieves sawing off this lucrative car part, which many are calling “an exhaust emission control device that converts toxic gases and pollutants in exhaust gas from an internal combustion engine into less-toxic pollutants by catalyzing a redox reaction”? To help you calibrate (car word) the proper amount of anxiety, Bring Me the News has helpfully listed the 15 most theft-prone models. And finding out your car is targeted isn’t just a good way to fret more about parking on the street—owners of those Fraught Fifteen (eh? I’ll workshop it) can access a new state “theft prevention” program for free. You can get a serial number applied to your catalytic converter, so it can (theoretically) be tracked down if (when) it’s stolen. (Hm, sounds more like “recovery” then “prevention” to me.) If your car in not on the list, like mine, you can pay to participate in the program.
False App-vertising at Target?
It may sound like a really lame Black Mirror episode, but it’s r-e-a-l-i-t-y: In 2019, shoppers noticed that the Target app would show them one price from home, but a higher one once they entered the store. The ol’ bait-'n'-switch scam got news coverage both locally and nationally, catching the attention of six California prosecutors who filed a lawsuit, saying this price fuckery violated the state’s Business and Professions Code. Target and the prosecutors managed to negotiate a settlement where the company admits no guilt, but still has to pay $5 million in civil penalties. The Minneapolis-based retail giant has also been court ordered to create a price accuracy program in… California. While we assume that the app is always spying on us to some degree, as is technology’s way, at least the price inconsistencies have stopped.
Putting Our "Soul-Sucking" April into Context
April in Minnesota, folks... if the gray skies don't get ya, the freezing weather/wind/sleet/snow/rain sure will. Yes, this April has been extremely shitty. But only Bill Lindeke at MinnPost has been brave enough to ask: How shitty? To find out, he spoke with a number of Twin Citians who are participating in 30 Days of Biking, the annual month-long cycling celebration that encourages riders to hit the pavement every day during April. Lindeke learned that it's been "a test of their spiritual resilience." Per year-round cyclist Jake Scott, “Even those below-zero days are not as bad, not as mentally exhausting as some of the weather we have this spring." Rider Kyle Goertz added, “You’re waiting and waiting for the weather to become nice, and it just doesn’t.” Lapsed cyclist Em Cassel here to chime in: "It's weather that makes ya wish you never left the East Coast."
