We’re in the Dome Days of Summer

Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.

It's Too Hot To Handle

It sucks outside right now. And, if you’re like me and living your life AC-free, then it sucks inside, too. I’m not the only one working parked directly in front of a high-powered fan this week: According to Axios Twin Cities, there are 89,000+ homes in Minnesota without AC, with 37,000 of those located in the Twin Cities.

Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, reporter Kyle Stokes created this interactive map showing hyper-specific AC figures. Turns out downtown Duluth is the least air-conditioned; those cool Lake Superior breezes help keep 49% of the residences there comfortable during warmer months. (Anecdotal counterpoint: Friends of mine who visited the Twin Ports last weekend described the weather as “hot as balls”). 

“Extreme heat has been the nation's deadliest weather hazard for decades, killing more Americans than tornadoes, floods and hurricanes combined,” Stokes writes.

It’s going to become even more hazardous to leave your home in the coming days, as the raging hellfire up in the Superior National Forest has forced the entire freaking Boundary Waters to close for the first time since 2021. Smoke from that situation is expected to start moving south over the next 24 hours, and will likely hit the Twin Cities on Wednesday. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has issued an air quality alert for fine particle pollution through Friday.

Headless Man in Sheila Qualls Parade Vehicle Revealed

It's unclear how Michelle Griffith came across this photo on GOP-endorsed gubernatorial candidate Kendall Qualls’s personal Facebook page, but when you start a story with “To whom do those floating arms belong?” we're locked in. According to this wild Minnesota Reformer story, the hands and torso, clad in a “No Apologies” tee, belong to Terencio Safford, who until recently served as political director of Qualls’s campaign.  

Safford was photographed in a Polaris Slingshot with Qualls’s wife, Sheila, at a July 4 parade in Buffalo, Minnesota. He was arrested in that flashy roadster the following day because, after three DWIs, Safford can only operate vehicles equipped with ignition interlock breathalyzer devices. This likely led to someone on Team Qualls deleting his head from the Slingshot pic. Safford's lengthy record also includes six speeding tickets as well as domestic assault and felony burglary convictions, per court docs.

Writes Griffith, “The Qualls campaign says Safford was never paid, which is consistent with campaign finance records. (The Qualls campaign’s fundraising has been lackluster, and just one campaign aide appears to be drawing a salary.)”

Grandma Can Finally Get Lit at the Nursing Home

Minnesota’s puritanical liquor laws never cease to amaze. Until this year, assisted living communities and nursing homes needed liquor licenses if they wanted to serve beer or wine to residents.

Now, thanks to “The Grandparents’ Happy Hour” law, facilities like these can host happy hours and other parties. (Though no law ever stopped my grandparents from drinking in their nursing home on the down-low.)

"Happy hour is our connection, laughter, sharing stories from our lives," senior resident and elderly drinking advocate Anita LaBrun tells WCCO. "It brings friends together and helps make everyday moments special."

Cheers!

About That Trader Joe’s vs. Aldi Rave

Over the past month or so, I’ve had a bunch of people ask me about this Trader Joe’s vs. Aldi Rave. So here’s the answer: It started as a First Ave April Fool’s joke, and then—because jokes can’t just be jokes anymore, they have to be monetized somehow—became reality on July 10.

It looks like people had fun, so right on to that, but there’s something dystopian about people dancing to footage of convenience store clerks doing their job and images of store-brand probiotic yogurt. It all feels like a lame trick, like when corporations try to get people excited for Super Bowl commercials.

Anyway, see more footage of the most corporate rave ever via this MPR vid …