Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.
What's Going Down in Uptown?
Gauging the vitality of Minneapolis's Uptown neighborhood is a timeworn tradition, ranking right up there with debating its geographic boundaries. Reporting for Southwest Voices, Brian Gabrial and Melody Hoffmann recently took the neighborhood's pulse and found that it has been "pushed to the brink" from a "crisis" of open-air drug use, trash-piled streets, and homelessness. It's a bleak scene report.
“If we don’t find a solution, there’s no reason to be here,” says Marsha Magdalene, whose store Shop My Closet operates out of the landmark Seven Points mall.
“It’s hard to convince people to come out here when they don’t feel safe or they see what’s happening in the streets," says Amanda Vallone, owner of ARTrageous Adventures at Seven Points.
"It's like a dead zone there,” Ward 7 Council Member Elizabeth Shaffer says of Hennepin & Lake. “Our city just cannot have that kind of reputation growing, right?” (Ward 10 Council Member Aisha Chughtai didn't respond to multiple interview requests.)
“The biggest problem that I am seeing consistently is the open-air drug use, the homelessness,” says Seven Points security guard Mike Savage. "I’m wondering, did we give up Uptown for Northeast and North Loop?”
Southwest Voices notes that "1,200 unhoused people" were "evicted" from the Seven Points parking ramp this past January, according to security, a year-over-year jump of more than 1,000. (Those numbers beg for more context/explanation, but they sure do sound bad.)
The story does end with hints of optimism. Groups like the Uptown Association and Uptown United are working hard at improving the area, and developer Doran Companies is poised to do something with part of the Seven Points ghost mall. Shaffer seems to be operating with a level of urgency, telling Southwest Voices, “I can't reiterate how important it is for me and how much responsibility I feel to see progress in this area because this is my neighborhood."
We'll echo many of the interviewees by saying the city needs to do more (literally anything?), and beat the comment section to the punch by adding that should begin with a vacancy tax on bum landlords.
More Dems Pile on Ken Martin
Former DFL Chair Ken Martin got off to a rough start when he was promoted last year to chair the Democratic National Committee. He fought with his then-vice chair, activist David Hogg, telling him "you essentially destroyed any chance I have." In a scathing Atlantic piece last month headlined "The Democrats Aren't Built for This," Martin described his job as "the political equivalent of being a fire hydrant," and writer Mark Leibovich more or less treats him as a punching bag throughout.
Today via Axios, we have more intra-party Martin bullying, with "more than two dozen" (this likely means 25) Dems blasting his "leadership, fundraising ability, and handling of the party's still-secret 'autopsy' of the 2024 election loss." (That autopsy revealed, in part, that Democrats' refusal to confront the genocide in Gaza helped sink Kamala Harris.)
The Axios piece brims with anonymous shit-talking from donors, operatives, and fellow DNC members. Direct quotes are in short supply, though paraphrased anecdotes like "Martin has shown a thin skin and that he personalizes criticism in a way that can be self-defeating," "Martin... seems melancholy and put-upon," and "Martin has a habit of over-promising and under-delivering" abound. There's even a Minnesota angle: Some insiders are frustrated with what they see as Martin's over reliance on old DFL buddies they dub the "Minnesota Mafia," which, frankly, sounds cool.
Anyway, the only viable opposition party is broke, rudderless, and Trump has gone mask off with the authoritarian bit—get to work Ken or somebody/anybody more competent!
Meet the Only Surviving Minneapolis Millerette
Women's sports is more popular than ever, but we're guessing you still don't know much about the Minneapolis Millerettes—Minnesota's first first women's professional sports team. Well, local writer Dan Whenesota has the deep dive for you. In it, we learn about the short-lived All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL), which is the very real league that was depicted in A League of Their Own.
The Millerettes played at Nicollet Park, making between $50-$75 per week to compete against the Rockford Peaches, South Bend Blue Sox, Kenosha Comets, Milwaukee Chicks, and Racine Belles. Our gals went 45-72 in the first and only season. “I never talked about it because people made fun of it," pitcher Audrey (Haine) Daniels once said.
Whenesota managed to track down and interview the only living Millerette, 97-year-old Ann (Meyer) Petrovic. We learn that she missed just one AAGPBL reunion in over 35 years, and still keeps in touch with several players. The friendships forged the summer of '44 serve as her happiest memory, she says, noting that she's often asked for autographs and happily passes out her baseball card to fans. Though the Millerettes didn't last long or win much, Whenesota writes that "their legacy can be seen today on every court, rink, and field where Minnesota women’s and girls' teams play."
This Year's Hockey Hair Vid Dropped
Each year Minnesotans gather 'round the ol' YouTube to enjoy John King's “All Hockey Hair Team," a video cavalcade of the mullets, mustaches, and manes topping high school hockey players in the boys' state tournament. This year is no exception. For the 21st time, enjoy!
