Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of what local media outlets and Twitter-ers are gabbing about.
Gad-Zooks!
Sarah Gad has been making headlines this week. (So. Many. Headlines.) Most of 'em have focused on the fact that the Minnesota attorney just announced that she will be challenging U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) in the DFL primary next year to represent the 5th Congressional District. But a Washington Post story that ran in the paper’s “Inspired Life” section on Wednesday was much more general: “She was a felon who was addicted to drugs. Then she became a lawyer.” In fact, the story didn’t mention Gad’s candidacy except as an aside a few paragraphs from the end of the story.
Talk about burying the lede! The piece was initially published without any mention of Gad's upcoming run; MPR's Jon Collins flagged that strange omission and, within hours, the following endnote was added: “This story has been updated to include Gad’s candidacy for Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District.” Why the omission? Must be that someone in Gad’s camp had been floating her (genuinely moving) story around in advance of her announcement. Nothing necessarily illegal or even unethical about that—not by political standards, anyway. But it is a sneaky little way to get a flattering, uncritical story about your candidate out there just in time for the campaign.
Uptown Sinkhole No Longer Sunken
Don't cry because it's (paved) over, smile because it happened: The Uptown Sinkhole is no longer. It's been four months since the eight-foot-deep hole opened its gaping maw, capturing hearts and minds here in Minneapolis and beyond. (Revisit Racket's coverage of the roadway impediment turned unlikely social hotspot here.) But sinkhole correspondent and friend of Racket Zachary Green, who took one of the first widely circulated photos of the hole, tweeted today that the cavern at Girard & 27th has at last been paved over. Unfortunately for those who live in the area, the sinkhole isn't quite finished being an inconvenience, as the intersection is still blocked off to traffic.
Dear Star Tribune: Crop Art Is Not a Flavor!
Axios reporter Torey Van Oot, a former Stribber herself, just hollered as much via Twitter, and we couldn't agree more. Context: Today the Star Tribune announced this year's Minnesota State Fair lip balm flavor, a PR freebie the paper annually distributes at the Great Minnesota Get-Together. Past flavors have made much more sense: blueberry 'cakes, Sweet Martha's Cookies, cheese curd—you get the idea. (Apparently "stick," "traffic cone," and "fresh-cut grass" have previously made the cut, so this installment is part of a rich WTF history.)
In any case! The crop art flavor justification, per Taste section editor Nicole Hvidsten, is that it tastes and smells of wild rice. Yet a more accurate interpretation of crop art would be a dehydrated potpourri of barnyard grains, all accented by rich, gooey notes of glue. Instead, we've got a fraudulent lip balm varietal that somehow beat out reader suggestions like rhubarb pie, egg coffee, Juicy Lucy, walleye sandwich, and, most interestingly, lutefisk. (We can only speculate as to which Taste staffer shot down the regional burger option...) Next year go with the slimy cod drowning in lye, cowards!
Thousands of Adorable Mink Set Loose in Wisconsin
Over 3,000 mink were freed last weekend Trempealeau County's Olsen Fur Farm. The Animal Liberation Front, a group formed in 1994 and now labeled extremist by the FBI, are taking credit. “We hope many of the mink enjoy their freedom in the wild and that this farm will be unable to breed thousands upon thousands of them in future years,” ALF's most recent blog post states. “They have an opportunity now to cut their losses and leave the fur industry forever.” Unfortunately, Olsen probably won’t be doing that; so far they say they’ve recaptured about 90% of their furry inmates. And while American mink are native to the Midwest, as anyone who has ever had to lure a confused hamster out from under a fridge knows, cared for/caged animals don’t necessarily know what to do in the wild.
