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It's Enough to Make You Say "Nationalize the Power Utilities!"
Late last month the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) granted approval for Xcel Energy to hike rates by an estimated $211 million. You might find that move galling for several reasons, all of which are spelled out by our pal Karlee Weinmann at the progressive Energy & Policy Institute.
Minneapolis-based Xcel, which operates like a de facto monopoly, isn't strapped for cash. Earlier this year the company celebrated “rewarding its shareholders with higher dividends for the twenty-third consecutive year," all while rates have spiked 98%, far outpacing inflation, since 2005. Xcel raked in $2 billion last year, and CEO Robert Frenzel has watched his total compensation swell by 45.5% since 2024; Mr. Frenzel, who must work so very hard, now takes home $16 million.
Armed with all these facts/figures, concerned customers filed an "unprecedented" 8,600 comments ahead of the PUC's decision. (Weinmann notes that PUC PR framed the hike as an affordability win since Xcel had the nerve to request a 60% higher increase.) Advocacy groups say the regulatory approval amounts to an "awful deal for ratepayers," who will now pay an estimated $10 more per month over the next two years—provided their power stays on. Last year Xcel set a record by disconnecting customers 56,823 times.
What the Flock, Indeed: Duluth, West St. Paul Nix Creepy Cams
At 8 a.m. Tuesday morning Bring Me the News reported that West St. Paul had become the latest Minnesota community to ditch Flock camera programs, joining Isanti County, North Branch, and Columbia Heights. And a few hours later Duluth became the new latest; independent reporter Nikki Davidson writes that DPD will end its contract with Flock next month.
Flock Safety sells its cameras to law enforcement agencies under the guise of capturing traffic violations, but the ACLU accuses the Atlanta-based tech company of building a “nationwide mass surveillance system" out of 120,000+ underregulated, glitchy, and invasive cams.
Flock backlash represents a rare bipartisan consensus, Politico reports. “We had work boots and Subarus in our parking lot and they were united in their position against the Flock cameras,” says Josh Young, a Republican county commissioner in North Carolina. Closer to home, freedom-fighting vandals in Duluth, Edina, Faribault, and Winona are smashing the living shit outta those AI-powered eyes in the sky.
Speaking of Elusive Bipartisan Issues...
Data centers: 61% of Americans don't wanna be anywhere near 'em.
Back in March, yours truly heard that sentiment from residents of Hermantown while reporting this feature. And last month John Ramos of the indispensable Duluth Monitor captured damning audio (posted below) from a meeting between Hermantown officials. In it, city staffers scheme about how to prep City Council members with talking points ahead of an upcoming work session with Google reps and contractors.
"It's a script, but that's a good thing to do… and no one will see it, but people will be like, 'Oh, we're glad the council is finally engaged on this,'" Hermantown City Attorney Gunnar Johnson says.
"And we don't need any emails regarding this conversation," a colleague responds, eliciting laughter.
Ramos writes that it's tough to determine whether the council members stuck to their scripts, but, "if one listens skeptically, a few questions do sound rehearsed."
In any event, the Monitor provides readers a peek behind the curtain at (rather hapless) small-town politicos operating with contempt toward the people they're supposed to serve and subservience toward powerful, outside business interests.
Imagine what these types of smoke-filled rooms sounds like in the big city...
Primary Fever!
At press time, Minnesota has been diagnosed with it. In fact, it's reportedly sweeping the state.
Symptoms include compartmentalizing your intellectual misgivings about our so-called democracy, popping over to your neighborhood polling place, and experiencing the giddy thrill of filling in Scantron bubbles that might incrementally tilt the American experiment in a less fascistic direction.
Polls opened at 7 a.m., and they close at 8 p.m. Here's a gift link to the Star Tribune's live election blotter; here's a similar voter information/resource page from MPR News; and here's Racket's profile of local political blogger Naomi Kritzer, who's always the best resource in town for understanding down-ballot races.
Now, Racket's not in the endorsement business, but I'll use my modest soapbox here to state an obvious observation: If a candidate is dripping with donations from the crypto lobby and AIPAC, perhaps that candidate possesses zero credibility. Besides, primaries are for selecting your preferred candidate—save the hold-your-nose voting for November.
