Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.
What Did Minneapolis Kids Wear on the First Day of School?
I am sincerely, sincerely obsessed with this New York Times for Kids photo essay (gift link) about what kids across the U.S. wore on their first day of school. The NYT sent reporters and photographers to five cities—Los Angeles, San Antonio, Denver, Minneapolis (hey, that's us!), and New York City—to see what the youth are wearing and whether geography plays a role in those trends.
Locally, eighth-grader Rehana Moumin is decked out in a hijab her dad brought back from Saudi Arabia, while seventh-grader Jacob Thomas wants people to look at his 'fit (see, we can use youth slang) and think, "Basketball. Basketball style." Pandora Murphy, another eighth grader, bought their super-cute suspenders at a "goth and emo shop" with their mom. And as for Kash R. Thatcher? "I like baggy and crumpled clothes," the eighth-grader tells the paper. "So I look cute, and if I want I can get back in bed and take a nap."
Baggy clothes, colorful hair, and "’90s everything" are decidedly in, but the most common piece of fashion advice these kids gave the Gray Lady was to wear what feels authentic and true to you. As eighth-grader Joseph Diaz says, sharing his advice for kids starting middle school: "Just be yourself. "It’s a big deal, but it’s also not that big a deal." Out of the mouths of babes!
Seeing Red on the Iron Range
MinnPost's Jerry Burnes has a long, loooong read today about the Iron Range's "decades-long political shift" and the near inevitability that the onetime DFL stronghold will turn red.
House District 7B hasn’t elected a Republican since 1928, and even a decade ago, Burnes writes, it would have seemed unthinkable. But in 2022, DFL Rep. Dave Lislegard won by fewer than 500 votes. Then he announced his surprise retirement earlier this year, leaving the vacant seat open for the taking by Cal Warwas (Republican) or Lorrie Janatopoulos (DFL). And the implications are big—control of the House could be on the line.
Maybe you're like, "yeah, yeah, I've read a version of this story before." But you certainly haven't read an account as in-depth as the one Burnes presents here; it goes deep on the history and tackles issues that matter to Iron Rangers like mining and the "diploma divide."
Helping Those Impacted by the Agate Housing Fire
A fire last week on the 5600 block of Lyndale Avenue South has displaced about 50 people from their homes at Metro Inn, a low-cost residential complex operated by Agate Housing and Services. As the Minnesota Star Tribune's Jim Walsh reported, 16 of the motel's 38 deeply affordable units—which are rented out to those who have have experienced homelessness—have been “damaged beyond quick repair.” (A former seedy motel, Metro Inn reopened last year as freshly renovated housing after Hennepin County issued a $900,000 forgivable loan to Agate.)
"And now [displaced residents] are at even greater risk of becoming homeless," Agate's Kyle Hanson said in a statement. "It’s a terrible situation.”
If this awful story has you looking for ways to help, Melody Hoffman at Southwest Voices has the scoop on what you can bring to Washburn Library, where they're accepting donations at the reference desk. Immediate needs include pillows, blankets, and personal hygiene items, but cleaning products, cookware, and associated items are also needed.
Travis Gienger, the LeBron James of Pumpkins
For the second year in a row, Minnesota's Travis Gienger is the winner of the World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off. The Anoka-based horticulture teacher managed to grow a 2,471 pounder, which he hauled 35 hours to the Safeway-sponsored contest in Half Moon Bay, California.
Gienger named the gargantuan gourd "Rudy" because it was an underdog; back in June, he thought there was no way the pumpkin was winning this year's weigh-off. “We had really, really tough weather and somehow, some way, I kept on working,” Gienger told NBC News. “I had to work for this one, and we got it done at the end, but it wasn’t by much.” So while Rudy the pumpkin is 2024's heftiest, it doesn't quite break the all-time world record—that would the 2,749-pound pumpkin Gienger won with last year. A dynasty!
Let's get a good look at that gourd...
