Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily noontime(ish) digest of what local media outlets and Twitter-ers are gabbing about.
Squeegee Solidarity
Following a 10-day strike, the high-rise window washers who keep your skyscraper gleaming scored a new contract Thursday.
Around 40 workers, who count among the 8,000 represented by Minneapolis union SEIU Local 26, won 12% wage increases, reportedly placing them only behind their New York City counterparts with regard to pay. The four-year contract also includes an apprenticeship safety program plus increased sick and disability pay.
"The last 10 days were so beautiful and I'll never forget the unity for the rest of my life. From my fellow window cleaners to people on the street honking horns and pumping their fists, the solidarity that came out is something I'll treasure forever," window washer/union steward Eric Crone said in a statement. "Our strike showed that no one will just give that to us, but you have to stand up and fight for what you deserve. I hope our strike, and our strong new contract, show other essential workers that when you band together and stay the course, you can get results."
Amen brother.
New Bean Field Just Dropped
We've heard of jumping beans but... falling beans?!
It's true: A seemingly stationary bean field in Polk County, just outside the town of Climax, Minnesota, randomly dropped 25 feet into the dang earth.
"When I drove out here, it looked like the Grand Canyon," farmer Wayne Erickson said of his dramatically altered bean field.
Drought conditions, sinking Red River water levels, and recent storms contributed to the freaky event, geologists from the University of North Dakota tell Fargo's WDAY-TV. Making matters even more disconcerting: The bean field continues to slide and shift.
Do yourself a favor and check out WDAY-TV's report from the scene.
With All Problems Solved, Lawmakers Discuss Work Clothes
Sen. Mary Kiffmeyer (R-Big Lake) recently convened a bipartisan Zoom meeting with fellow woman lawmakers to talk work clothes... for some reason. There is no formal dress code at the Minnesota State Capitol, Minnesota Reformer points out, and it's unclear why this group gathered to discuss how women in the Minnesota Senate dress.
Ten years ago—another point in history when no issues of greater magnitude existed—Minnesota legislators attempted to define various pant/shirt/skirt/tie/etc. standards but the effort failed, the Reformer notes.
If Kiffmeyer & Co. are taking suggestions, we humbly submit that the dress code should mandate the wearing of these stylish and affordable items.
Moonshot Miguel
Streaky-yet-surging Twins slugger Miguel Sano smacked the living daylights out of a baseball last night, sending it 495 feet (!) over Fenway's Green Monster.
495 feet.
— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) August 26, 2021
Miguel Sanó is now slugging .525 with 20 homers in his last 80 games.pic.twitter.com/eaBD31CM8T
No player has punished a ball that far outta the ballpark in 2021, MLB.com reports. Sano's homer helped the Twins beat the Red Sox 9-6 over 10 innings.
Hungry for more Twin's content? Scarf down our 2,500-word ode to the Dome Dog.
