What Did the Local TV News Look Like 25 Years Ago Today?

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

Let's Remember Some Terrorism

Local photographer Chad Davis posted a good archival find on Bluesky this morning: a video of the KSTP's reporting on the evening news, dateline: September 11, 2001.

Highlights include the IDS Center evacuating out of an abundance of caution, people donating blood out of an abundance of good will, and Bobby & Steve’s seeing a run on gas because, I guess, filling up their cars is how Americans respond to a crisis. Oh, and in non-terrorism news, R.T. Rybak won the DFL primary in the mayor’s race. 

How did Minnesotans respond in the immediate aftermath of this catastrophe? “It’s a whole lotta things gonna get changed, I really know that right now,” Charles Johnson of Roseville says. Adds an unidentified woman: “We’ll support our leaders and what they decide.” Sigh.

Biz Journal: Latino Minnesotans “Still in Survival Mode”

We’ve already read so many stories about the economic and personal fallout from Operation Metro Surge, but given the extent of the damage there’s always more to be revealed. This piece in the Business Journal from J.D. Duggan and Damenica Ellis really captures both how hard the crisis impacted the Latino community and how slow a rebound has been in coming. 

“Many are catching up on bills, saving extra money or sending cash back to their country of origin,” the Duggan and Ellis report of Latino consumers. “They’re still in survival mode.” 

“Their sense of security, of stability … it’s gone,” says Daniel Hernandez, who had to close Colonial Market in north Minneapolis because he lost so many customers. “Right now, they feel like any time can be their time.”

These awful experiences are reflected in the scope of the damage. Minneapolis accountant Rudy Trujillo estimates that one in four Twin Cities Latinos has left this year, by force or by choice. And the Biz Journal shares this horrifying bit of math: The census found 235,000 Hispanics in the metro area in 2024. By August, Homeland Security had flown 5,000 Minnesotans out of the state, most of them Latino. That’s nearly 2% of the community.

Everyone Hates AI

Good story from Jp Lawrence at the Star Tribune today (gift link) about how customers are avoiding small businesses, particularly restaurants, that use AI for advertising. Lawrence zeroes in on North Mankato to tell a story that’s occurring nationwide: Consumers say they don’t want to support places using programs that are environmentally harmful, that steal work from artists, and, let’s face it, churn out some hideous results. 

Businesses counter that the cost-saving measure helps keep them afloat.  “I’m trying to pay my bills and get my kid off to college and my daughter into school,” Seoul Foods owner Brandon Hensley tells the Strib. “They want to be mad because I saved some time taking pictures.”

Lawrence calls the issue an ethical dilemma, but for business owners it really should be a bottom-line issue. Quite simply, if AI-generated ads drive too many customers away, then those ads are losing you money. Also, some free media coaching advice to small business owners: It’s always a bad look to complain about your customers in the newspaper! 

Tween Is Talented

While the Jimmy Jam/Terry Lewis show at the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand last week was a bit of a pile up, from what I hear, one star emerged from the event. Mateo Castillo-Bonde, an 11-year-old who played the guitar solo to Janet Jackson’s “Black Cat.” 

Maury Glover of Fox 9 ran a profile of the lad, as Maury Glover will do.

"I don't want to be super-duper famous,” Castillo-Bonde says. “I just want to be pretty famous. Because I feel like if I'm super-duper famous, I feel life won't be that great. Because a lot of people say that fame isn't good.”