Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.
What the Heck Happened at Rainbow Health?
Rainbow Health, a local nonprofit that offered HIV and mental health services for LGBTQ folks, has closed without warning, leaving about 80 employees jobless. The details are murky at best, but here's what we know: Earlier this week, Rainbow’s CEO resigned after a vote of no confidence by workers. On Thursday, at an all-staff meeting, the organization announced it would be shutting down immediately. On Facebook, Rainbow Health blamed finances. “With a heavy heart, we announce the closure of Rainbow Health,” the public announcement begins. “Due to insurmountable financial challenges, we can no longer sustain our operations.” While there are 137 emoji reactions, Rainbow has turned off post comments.
SEIU Healthcare Minnesota & Iowa, the union that represents around 60 Rainbow Health employees, says it is trying to figure out what’s going on. “What happened to the funding that the organization has been receiving?" they asked in an official statement sent out last night. "Why wasn’t the union made aware of how dire of a situation the budget was in?” Per their contract, Rainbow is required to give 30 days advance notice of layoffs to union-represented employees.
Sundance to Minneapolis: It’s Just Not Going to Work Out
We’ve been ElimiDATED, gang. In April, we reported that the Sundance Film Festival was considering Minneapolis as a possible new location for the indie event when its contract with Park City, Utah, expires in 2026. (We sent them a travel brochure—that’s like a love letter from the city!) Last week, we found out that Minneapolis was one of 15 cities under consideration for further consideration, and the hosting committee here pledged to give the fest $2 million a year should they commit to the city. It was all going so well!
Alas, it turns out that love is dead, because this afternoon the film fest released its top five list, and Minneapolis ain’t on it. We've been ghosted! Who did make the cut? Atlanta, GA; Boulder, CO; Cincinnati, OH; Louisville, KY; Park City and Salt Lake City, UT; and Santa Fe, NM. Possibly relevant to the decision: Sundance is held in January.
Never Announced Netflix Prince Doc Not Happening
As ‘80s hair metal band Cinderella once sagely sang, sometimes you don’t know what you’ve got (‘til it’s gone). In the case of Netflix’s planned six-hour Prince documentary, we literally didn’t know. But, as confirmed by Variety, it’s gone. Back in 2018, Ava DuVernay (Selma) was set to direct the six-hour series; Ezra Edelman (O.J.: Made In America) took over the project in 2020 and had been deep diving through the archives for the past four years. But estate representatives are not happy with what ended up being a nine-hour project on the Purple One. One Variety source says the work was factually inaccurate/sensationalistic while another source thinks it’s just not PR-friendly enough. While Netflix could still drop this thing on us, without the estate’s approval they can’t use any Prince tunes, which kinda defeats the purpose.
Newspapers Have Mascots Now?
Mascots: They’re not just for sports teams. We’ve got Elmer, the Minneapolis Park Board’s 42-year-old tree; Skip Traffic, Metro Transit’s sentient logo; and this lady corn cob, which wants to promote corn to your children. Today we discovered that the Star Tribune has a mascot too. Or, at least, they’re aiming to have one for the summer, judging by this job posting. According to the listing, applicants don’t need to have previous mascot experience, but they do need to be able to “lift and carry up to 40 pounds” and have “strong non-verbal communication skills.” Pay for this gig starts at $25 an hour. Hey! That’s just about what I was making when I worked at the Strib-owned City Pages! (And you deserve every penny of it if you’re going to be wearing a full-blown costume in this weather.)
We haven’t heard back from the Star Tribune on what their mascot is, but I’m placing my bets on a sentient newspaper named “Newsie.”
