Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.
Lawfare Waged Against Bold Truth Tellers
Without Alpha News, we citizens would have no place to read stories the leftist mainstream media ignores, like “As Minnesota governor, Tim Walz signed legislation to bypass Electoral College.” What electoral shenanigans are afoot here? Oh, they’re just referring to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (read about it here), which 16 other states and Washington, D.C. have also entered. OK, but how about “Self-proclaimed firearm enthusiast Tim Walz struggles to load $2,100 shotgun during hunting trip.” Wait, that bit of social media-fostered misinfo was countered by Christopher Vondracek of the Strib, who accompanied Walz on the trip/photo op.
Hm, so I guess Alpha News’s headlines don’t always tell the whole story. But Assistant MPD Chief Katie Blackwell says the right-wing news org has done more than exaggerate in the past. Blackwell is suing Alpha News, along with its marquee reporter, Liz Collin, for defamation, alleging that “deceptive framing and editing” were used in the publication’s film The Fall of Minneapolis and Collin’s book, They’re Lying: The Media, the Left, and the Death of George Floyd. While those titles might suggest sober, detailed recountings of the facts, allegations of, uh, creative editing are not new—Deena Winter gave the film close scrutiny for the Minnesota Reformer just after its release. Personally I wouldn't watch that thing with someone else's eyes, and if this does go to trial, I hope that poor jury gets bonus pay.
In any event, check out Racket's review of They're Lying below.
Substitute Teacher Terrorized Woodbury Kids
Speaking of George Floyd’s death, a substitute teacher recently saw fit to conduct a sort of historical re-enactment at Woodbury High School, kneeling on a child to “prove” that Floyd died of a drug overdose. According to a letter sent to parents by Principal Sarah Sorenson-Wagner, the teacher also mimicked pointing a gun at students, said police brutality isn’t real, told sexist jokes, and made racist comments.
Oh, and he described dead bodies he’d seen and sexual assault cases he’d investigated (the teacher claimed to be a police officer, but the school says if so he’s not a Minnesota cop), and claimed he once got an A on a paper about “how to get away with murder.” This being 2024, some students captured video of the teacher in action. I don’t want to sound too excitable here, but I think this might be even worse than stocking school bathrooms with tampons.
New State Program Sends Low-Income Students to College
College? Not cheap! Loans? Hard to pay off! That’s where Minnesota’s new North Star Promise Program comes in.
Minnesotans from families with an adjusted gross income below $80,000 are now eligible to receive fees and tuition for an in-state public institution or tribal college. (In addition, The program also keeps students in state.) Today Feven Gerezgiher of MPR News talked to seven of the approximately 17,000 students who benefitted from the program in its inaugural year. They’re not all fresh out of high school, either—among those profiled are a mom in her 30s who was dissuaded previously as well as a student who thought previous loans would stop him.
"I honestly wrote off college as an option a long time ago, just because it was completely unaffordable,” Niklas Gamble says. “It was really, really hard getting out of debt, and I didn't want to go back into debt,” Heather Storie says. And now those folks are getting an education. A good first step! Next let's make in-state public college tuition free for all Minnesotans.
Time to Elect School Board Members
What do you know about the folks running for Minneapolis School Board this election? If your answer is “not enough,” well, Becky Z. Dernbach talked to six of the candidates for Sahan Journal today. There are two contested races: Lara Bergman, an early childhood educator, and Greta Callahan, a former teachers union president, face off in District 6, while Shayla Owodunni is challenging incumbent Kim Ellison for an at-large seat. Dernach also spoke to unchallenged incumbents Sharon El-Amin in District 2 and Adriana Cerrillo in District 4.
Sahan Journal also lays out the stakes for the incoming school board, with issues including a “school transformation” that may result in closures and consolidations, the arrival of 2,500 new immigrant students, and budget cuts spurred by the end of Covid relief. And while I hardly feel competent doling out advice here, Naomi Kritzer, who has become many people’s go-to election guide, offers up her picks here if you’d like some tips.
