Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.
Who, What, Where, When Meets Ones and Zeroes
Maybe, when you think of user-facing generative AI, you picture the sort of Phillip K. Dickian deranged, dystopian slop described in incredible detail by Max Read via New York Mag. Maybe you think of the colossal environmental toll. Maybe you think of the Silicon Valley hucksters feverishly pumping up this bubble—the way they did with Meta, Bitcoin, and NFTs—until it pops in spectacular fashion.
Or maybe you think AI is essential to the future of journalism. Star Tribune CEO/Publisher Steve Grove, himself an ex-tech bro, seems to be bullish on it. "To figure out the future, you have to partner with those inventing it," he tweeted earlier today, linking to this press release. "We're excited to work w/ OpenAI and Microsoft to deepen our AI work at the Minnesota Star Tribune in a responsible way that delivers for our growing audience in MN." Here's an achingly credulous Axios news story that functions the same as that press release, though it does share each newsroom's cut: $500K to hire a two-year AI fellow, plus "credits" toward OpenAI and Microsoft Azure.
The Lenfest Institute AI Collaborative and Fellowship Program will award the Strib, Chicago Public Media, Newsday, and the Philadelphia Inquirer "up to $10 million" for various AI projects, all meant to "empower local newsrooms to explore, implement and advocate for AI business solutions that uphold the highest ethical standards while strengthening their future prospects," according to Lenfest CEO Jim Friedlich. Speaking of possible ethical concerns! Earlier this year, after concerned workers peeled off from it, OpenAI dissolved the entire team that was tasked with researching the tech's various existential threats to humanity. Cool!
Curious about the specifics of these responsible implementations, we emailed Strib PR guy Chris Iles for clarification on what the AI initiative will mean for the average reader. In particular, will it mean AI-authored articles—either partially or fully—and, if so, at what scale and in what areas?
We didn't hear back from the company spokesman; the newspaper's union declined to comment on how AI might be implemented.
HOA Roof Drama Rocks Otsego
Over 1.5 million Minnesotans live in HOA-controlled communities like Villas at Pheasant Ridge, an Ostego housing development that's managed by a company called Gassen. Some residents who spoke with the Minnesota Reformer don't recall hail dinging their homes last July, and one resident who ran a roofing company for 20 years couldn't find any damage at all. But a few months after the storm, every resident received a letter that stated “the July 13, 2023, wind/hailstorm damaged all buildings." Every single roof would have to be replaced, they were told, to the tune of $18,657.94 per resident. "I was just beside myself that they were filing this insurance claim," said the ol' roofing contractor.
Here's where things gets interesting: Somehow, a company called Gassen Construction & Maintenance was entrusted with replacing every roof. Our savvier readers might have already deduced that, yes, that company is a subsidiary of the one that manages Villas at Pheasant Ridge. According to the HOA contract, Gassen didn't have to solicit competitive bids for the big job. Some homeowners who fought back, like Tony Tran, are getting smacked with thousands of dollars in legal fees for questioning the roof replacements, Madison McVan of the Reformer reports, and the cost has driven at least one resident into foreclosure. “We get charged for asking questions,” Tran says.
For more on the perils of HOA tyranny, consult this predictably great Last Week Tonight deep-dive from last year.
Company That Poisoned the East Metro's Water on Quarterly Profits: 'All of This Is Momentum In the Water'
If you're feeling very charitable, forgive new 3M CEO Bill Brown for being unaware of the prodigious past PFAS sins his company committed against the eastern Twin Cities water supply. If you're not, get a fucking load of his word choice when commenting on how the Maplewood-based company beat Wall Street expectations this past quarter: "All of this is momentum in the water." Stock traders were mixed on the Q3 report, with shares ticketing downward today by as much at 6.3% due to concerns over flat year-over-year sales.
We don't have a lot to add about this soldier-deafening, dumb-naming multinational conglomerate that doesn't seem any worse for the wear despite all that stuff it did. Rather than dwelling on Brown's regrettable MBA-speak, we encourage you to revisit Deena Winter's indispensable reportage on the devastating human and environmental toll 3M knowingly took on Minnesota through its forever chemicals.
Nation Notices MN: Walz on Daily Show; Ant/JJ Recreate Iconic KG/Moss Photo
First up: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz appeared last night on Comedy Central's Daily Show. The Democratic VP candidate talked at length with host Jon Stewart about wooing undecided voters, tunnel vision messaging, Minnesota's muscular soybean production, rural vs. urban divides, his proudest achievement (free school meals), and ex-VP Dick Cheney shooting a guy in the face. Speaking of the Cheney family: Shoutout to Stewart, who really is crushing it these days, for calling out the Harris-Walz ticket's disheartening strategy of sprinting toward right-wing voters as Election Day looms.
"You elect folks who come from the middle class," Walz tells Stewart toward the end of their chat, outlining a much less disheartening strategy than rehabbing warmonger Republicans. "For example, in Minnesota, it matters to people there that now you get paid family medical leave. You get those types of things, and those are the things that workers are asking to have. When it's easier to form a union, you take home more money. You have a better living style."
Up next: We've got Wolves guard Anthony Edwards and Viking wideout Justin Jefferson recreating the iconic 2000 Sport magazine cover that featured another T-Wolf (Kevin Garnett) and another Vike (Randy Moss). (The word "iconic" gets abused and overused in the worlds of journalism and copywriting, but come on man, it fits here.) It's a fun so-called "cover story" profile of two legit young superstars (ESPN the Magazine, the print product, shuttered in 2019), one that even offers some lukewarm comfort to the perpetually nervous Minnesota sports fan.
"I just want to bring a championship to Minnesota," Jefferson tells ESPN. "The people are too good here. The fan base is too good. It's been a long time coming."
"If I can, I'm trying to be here for my whole career," Edwards says. "I ain't trying to go nowhere."
