Why Was the Police Chief on TV Telling You How to Vote?

Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily noontime(ish) digest of what local media outlets and Twitter-ers are gabbing about.

Cop: We Need Cops

Why did Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo hold a press conference Wednesday to urge voters to reject ballot Question 2? Is it wildly unethical for him to do so, as suggested by Councilmember Cam Gordon? Is this the same chief who, just days ago, was said to stay “largely out of the political fray” by the Star Tribune? Is it fair for Arradondo to assert that proponents of the public-safety amendment are so clueless that he’d "take a drawing on a napkin" explaining their vision, especially since a goddamn ice cream company provided a pretty illustrative metaphor? Is Arradondo’s department instilling much faith in preserving the undisciplined status quo, considering many cops have proudly stopped doing their jobs? Why is the discourse around Arradondo’s future similar to our panicked speculation about whether a star athlete will leave for a larger market? What, exactly, has he accomplished as chief other than preside over a crime wave and ceaseless police shootings?

A Local Homeless Center is Getting a Major Glow Up

More construction is coming to the Whittier neighborhood, but in this case it’s for a good cause. A homeless center, located on First Avenue and 28th Street, will be expanding from a run-down one-story into a five-story building offering a variety of services. “The new space will... include a suite of services to access affordable housing, mental health and chemical dependency treatment, job placement, and more,” writes Solomon Gustavo via this MinnPost article. The center, run by Simpson Housing Services, is in dire need of repairs; it is believed that wear-and-tear damage to the building’s current roof means it won’t make it through the winter. What won’t change: the 70 shelter beds currently in the space, as it’s believed one-on-one help would suffer if that number were to be increased. So, who is paying for this? So far Hennepin County has contributed $3.5 million, though County Commissioner Angela Conley says she’d like to get that number up to $30. The City of Minneapolis has committed $3.5 million to the project. All of these funds are coming from money received under the federal American Rescue Plan. 

Going Off the Rails Like a Martin County Train

Trains: We like ‘em on their tracks, don’t we folks? But that’s not what happened Wednesday in the tiny southern Minnesota town of Fairmont. Not by a long shot. Instead, we get the harrowing video captured by Tracie Schumann that shows an ethanol tanker chugging along until, domino-like, the damn cars topple off the track. "Let's get the fuck out of here," Schumann or her car mate smartly says. Nobody was injured, according to Martin County authorities, though firefighters were dispatched to survey the wreckage. That’s about all we have to offer, in terms of voice-y play-by-play; watch the video below. Also: Ethanol is an earth-destroying scam perpetuated by Big Ag and the feckless lawmakers who do its bidding. 

Mom of Twins has to Explain Camera Angles to Angry People on TikTok

Babies: Everyone has an opinion on them. Add in a funky camera angle and some filter paranoia and you’ve got a lot of people freaking out on TikTok. St. Paul mom Alex LaRue, @themejiafamily_, discovered this after posting a video featuring her beautiful chonk babies, seven-month-old twin girls Camila and Elena. The TikTok, which was posted late September, features a breathless LaRue holding her two babies and explaining that she is trying to do some sort of baby holding challenge, but her 20-pound babes are “too chunky.” The post now has 50 million views, and countless reaction TikToks of people in disbelief that these babies aren’t part-giant, actually toddlers, or on their way to starring in My Big Fat Fabulous Life. LaRue has rolled with the attention, making a series of posts about being a petite mom with top-percentile babies, showing up on national morning news shows, assuring people that she’s not using a filter, and demonstrating how angles are everything--even for babies.