Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.
St. Paul Looks To Pass “Symbolic” Assault Weapon Ban
Minnesota's preemption laws mean that any attempt at gun control has to happen at a state level, yet a special session after the mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church never materialized. Still, St. Paul’s City Council hopes to pass an ordinance banning some firearms this November, even if that would be a symbolic measure that can’t be enforced. “The best route would be for Congress to realize that we have a gun violence crisis in America and to take action,” Mayor Melvin Carter tells MPR News’ Nina Moini. “But if they’re not going to, we have to be willing to do something.”
Gun advocates are threatening legal action. “The Saint Paul City Council is trying to make a political statement with an illegal ordinance, and they know it,” says Bryan Strawser, Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus chair, in a statement. “This isn’t about safety, it’s about virtue signaling at the expense of the law and the rights of peaceable citizens.”
If passed, St. Paul would be banning—again, symbolically—assault weapons, large-capacity magazines, and triggers that enable rapid gunfire.
In other gun news, Mara Klecker and Jeff Hargarten at the Star Tribune report that the number of students enrolled in public schools dropped by about 4,000 between 2021-23 while the number of guns confiscated in schools (mostly handguns) has nearly tripled. That’s not good!
MN Supreme Court Sides With Trans Athlete
USA Powerlifting’s policy of prohibiting trans women from competing in the women’s division of a powerlifting competition “constitutes direct evidence of discrimination based on sexual orientation under the [Minnesota Human Rights Act’s] prohibition against business discrimination and discrimination by places of public accommodation,” writes MN Supreme Court Justice Natalie Hudson in a unanimous opinion issued today. (Legal writing certainly has a way with words, doesn’t it?)
It’s been a long battle for weightlifter JayCee Cooper, who was told, in a 2018 email from USAPL, that “male-to-female transgenders are not allowed to compete as females in our static strength sport.” In 2021, she opted to sue the group for Minnesota Human Rights Act violations. A Ramsey County judge ruled in her favor in 2023, then the MN Court of Appeals reversed part of the ruling in 2025. Today, seven years after being banned from two events, Cooper has won in court once again.
“There is no individualized nuance to USA Powerlifting’s position,” Hudson writes. “It assumes that every transgender woman has a competitive advantage in the women’s division. There is no assessment of whether that is true in a particular case.”
“This ruling sends a clear and powerful message: transgender people have a right to enjoy public spaces in Minnesota like sporting events, restaurants, and movie theaters, free from targeted discrimination,” says Jess Braverman, one of Cooper’s attorneys and legal director at Gender Justice, in a statement. “This decision is a historic victory for fairness, equity, and the fundamental rights of all Minnesotans.”
130-Year-Old Rug Business Is On the Move
American Rug Laundry has operated out of 4222 Lake St. E. in Longfellow for a long-ass time. Since 1918, to be exact. But while its owners recently sold the building for $1.8 million, they're not going out of business. Instead, they’re moving 10 minutes away to a new spot at the corner of Fairview and St. Clair Avenues in the Mac-Groveland area of St. Paul. "We sold it because we simply don't have the use for it anymore," brothers Sam and Far Navab tell Abby Bulger in this Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal piece. "We have a huge following in St. Paul, so it makes sense for us to move there." They purchased the 130-year-old business in 1999. While the Lake Street building once housed the massive equipment required to clean rugs, the Navabs eventually moved their machinery out to their larger facility in Golden Valley.
Wanna Live Inside the Train Depot?
Did you know that there are residential units in the St. Paul Union Depot? I sure didn’t! But here we are, with a listing for a one-bedroom, 868-square-foot loft in the historic train station. The space kinda looks like a hotel lobby, but if marble floor and bedroom views from the family room are your thing, this might be a good fit for you. “Just steps from the St. Paul Farmers Market, this sun-filled home features soaring 19-foot ceilings, oversized historic windows, and preserved architectural details that showcase the building’s storied past,” the listing states. You would also be a flight of stairs or an elevator ride away from the holiday market, free movies screenings, the St. Paul Art Crawl, and all the other fun things the Union Depot hosts throughout the year. Convenient!
