The Hunt for Cedar Lake Stump Chumps

Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.

Stumped Sleuths Track Knotty Tree Terrorist

Are tree crimes becoming more prevalent, or is this a Baader-Meinhof thing? In November, there was the lowlife who ripped up 60 newly planted trees along the Mississippi River in St. Paul. The next month, MPR reported on the bandits who illegally harvest black spruce trees in the North Woods. 

In the latest incident fit for an episode of Law and Order: Arboreal Crimes Division, WCCO's Adam Duxter reports on the "Cedar Lake tree bandits" who illegally chopped down six shoreline trees—and the local man who's hunting them down. Steve Kotvis, who walks around the Minneapolis lake almost daily with his wife, noticed the trees were missing on one of their lake laps last week. Since then, he's been contacting every neighbor on the street in addition to everyone he can think of with the city, looking for answers about the "arborcide," as Duxter quips. (The whole story is full of great tree-related wordplay: only a sap would do this, park police are stumped, etc.) 

But anyway, whoever did this is an asshole and a bad person, and we hope Kotvis gets his tree killer! Don't cut down trees that aren't yours!

Poor Acadia Cafe Can't Catch a Break

Back in 2023, Racket reporting revealed more intel about the University of Minnesota Campus Connector bus that lodged itself inside inside Acadia Cafe, causing the historic Minneapolis West Bank bar/venue to close for over a year. “It’s funny, the path we’ve taken to get here: the pandemic, the bus," owner Brad Cimaglio told us as he prepared to reopen. "At this point we’re just seeing if this is something the community really wants... We’re going to give it a go.”

Sadly, Acadia experienced even more bad luck this past Tuesday: Vandals apparently smashed the windows overlooking Riverside Avenue. Making matters more frustrating, Acadia's windows had just been repaired from a January 18 smashing—stop smashing shit, vandals! According to a recently launched GoFundMe seeking $10,000...

Post bus, due to the nature of the damage our insurance company will not cover the expenses. We are a small locally owned business and a staple in our neighborhood and community. We wouldn’t survive without our loyal patrons. To keep the Acadia alive we are asking for your help! 

So far, the Acadia team has raised almost $2,000. If you're around the U of M this evening, pop over to see Spud & His Buds perform and enjoy a pint—sounds like the bar could use some business.

WSJ Checks in with Folks at U.S/Canada Border Towns

If cities can have friendships, then International Falls, Minnesota, and Fort Frances, Ontario, are BFFs. The folks living in these nearby towns have been known to shop at each others’ stores, share bowling leagues, and even celebrate the holidays together, including an annual multi-day festival honoring both Canada Day and the Fourth of July. 

But will friendships be tested with Trump promising to impose at 25% tariff on Canadian goods... sometime in April? “We just always assumed we were best friends, and so it’s been a little bit of a shock,” Heather Johnson, executive director of the Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce, tells Joe Barrett at the Wall Street Journal. 

More than feelings are at stake in both towns. For example, a large papermill on the U.S. side could see a steep rise in the cost of lumber from across the lake should Canada respond to Trump’s tariffs with more tariffs. “I’m watching the eyeballs, the bells, and the chenille stems (aka pipe cleaners),” says Hometown Hobby and Crafts owner Leanne Guba of International Falls. She often orders supplies from Canadian manufacturers but is worried about massive price hikes. Consarnit, now we have to worry about googly-eye scarcity, too?

Public Workers Rally at Capitol

It's not the easiest time to be a public employee. Federal workers are being fired and harassed by their unconstitutionally installed boss, and federal cuts are placing a stress on state budgets, including Minnesota's. So Thursday was a good moment for 600 members of the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE) to rally at the Capitol in St. Paul.

As part of MAPE's lobby day, members met with 170 legislators and were addressed in the Rotunda by Gov. Tim Walz. “We cannot let Minnesota’s budget take the hit for bad decisions in Washington,” MAPE President Megan Dayton said at the rally. Racket couldn't agree more, and we're also down with the sentiment on the banner in this photo:

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