Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.
Regents Preemptively Surrender
Add the University of Minnesota to the long list of institutions that have happily capitulated in the face of threats from the Trump administration. Despite intense pushback from both faculty and alumni, the Board of Regents passed a resolution Friday, by a vote of 9-3, that will drastically limit academic freedom.
As a result, no university “unit,” such as a department or a center, may now address "matters of public concern or public interest” (well, that narrows it down) without the approval of the university president, Rebecca Cunningham. This limitation on academic speech is rooted in the days following October 7, 2023, when academic units such as the Department of Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies spoke out about the Hamas attack on Israel and the Israeli military response in Gaza. In response 26 state legislators demanded that the U remove such statements.
“We cannot ignore the reality that the public, whether it is the federal government, our state legislature or donors, is holding the university accountable for the statements and positions by units within the university and is then taking actions against the university that jeopardize its mission and operations,” says Board of Regents Chair Janie Mayeron, an absolute fucking coward without a clue why universities exist.
The Regents certainly got more nervous with the election of Donald Trump, especially as his goons have threatened to illegally withhold grants to universities unless their demands are complied with. In February, the administration launched an investigation into “antisemitism” at the U, a matter that a guy who derisively called Chuck Schumer “a Palestinian” can certainly diagnose accurate and fairly.
Maybe some regents even think this will appease their critics. But for a taste of the future, look to Columbia University, where compliance with Trump's wishes has only led to more demands. Trump doesn't want to stamp out antisemitism; he wants to stamp out universities.
Quite simply, no one who thinks this resolution will silence bad-faith critics has the judgment and intelligence to be making decisions on the U’s behalf. Respect to dissenting regents Robyn Gulley, Bo Thao-Urabe, and Mary Turner, the only three members of the board with any respect for academic freedom.
Who Built the Timberwolves?
Almost three years ago, at the urging of then-minority owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez, the Minnesota Timberwolves landed a big-fish president of basketball operations in Tim Connelly, who'd built the Denver Nuggets into a powerhouse team that'd win the Finals the following year. Your currently surging 38-29 Wolves have flourished under Connelly, but how well do we know—really know—the 48-year-old hoops executive?
Well the state's best basketball writer, Britt Robson, is on the case for Mpls-St. Paul Magazine. Robson authored this loooooooong, illuminating profile of Connelly, and it's chock-full of goodies for T-Wolves fans. Voted "shyest" senior at his Baltimore high school, the future basketball boss slugged it out for a decade in the scouting department of the Washington Wizards. He'd eventually come out of his shell in a major way. Robson writes that, today, "great relationships" are Connelly's super power.
“Tim connects with people better than anyone I’ve ever met,” says Adam Simon, assistant GM for the Miami Heat. “You know how, when you meet someone for a second time, you work to remember how you know them in the first place? Tim remembers everything that was talked about, what you like personally, what you do for a living, the whole initial conversation."
The story is loaded with neat anecdotes about Connelly globetrotting as a scout, paying cash for VHS tapes of players in Italy and struggling to escape Latvia without a credit card. For the family man who oversees the Wolves roster, that sorta thing remains his favorite part of the increasingly global game: “To meet really cool people all over the world."
Ruling: MN Can Still Prosecute Weed Crimes on Reservations
Recreational marijuana has been legalized by both the state and on tribal land, but anyone with an egregious amount of green can still be prosecuted and serve jail time. That’s the ruling a Minnesota district court judge recently made regarding a case against Todd Thompson, a White Earth man who is facing felony charges that could net him up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
The man, who owns a smoke shop, was raided the day after the state legalized marijuana, with police seizing 7.5 pounds of cannabis and $1,958 in cash from his store (his home was also searched but nothing was found there). While his lawyers are appealing the decision, Thompson will likely have to go to trial (and, potentially, prison) as his case proceeds.
“The potential conviction of a Native American man for selling marijuana without a license would seem to cut against one of the central arguments Minnesota Democrats made in favor of legalization, which was to undo racial disparities in marijuana charges,” Minnesota Reformer's Max Nesterak writes of one of Thompson’s arguments in this really good primer on the case.
In this specific case, that angle might not be strong enough. “[Thompson] possessed a large quantity of marijuana well over the limit for public places,” the judge states in the ruling. “Moreover, these facts along with the tip received by law enforcement in July 2023 show that Thompson’s conduct predated August 1, 2023.” Regardless, the ruling and pending case would set a precedent for similar prosecutions.
Consequences for Bad Drivers
Racket staffers are collectively of the mindset the way people drive these days is out of fucking control. It's not normal to run red lights; it's not normal to drive 20 mph over the speed limit on residential streets; it's not normal to use bike lanes—especially separated bike lanes—as lanes of traffic; it's certainly not normal to smash into parked cars or flip over into front yards and then flee the scene.
Apparently, our legislators have also had enough. As Peter Cox reports for MPR News, there are a bunch of bills with bipartisan legislative support that would toughen punishments for speeding, repeat DWIs, and driving without a license. Gov. Tim Walz actually wants drivers caught going more than 35 mph over the speed limit get their licenses revoked for six months. Good! Everyone needs to get a grip!
“Running stop lights, speeding—all the highways are insane. I mean, you go down any highway somebody blows your doors off at 100 miles an hour,” Rep. Terry Stier (R-Belle Plaine) says. “Hopefully the public is fed up with it, and they get behind us.”
