News

Dash Those Long COVID Winter Fears with Five Great Escapes

Are the predictions of a long, dark COVID winter putting you on edge? Fighting visions of being trapped in a wind–swept Ice Station Zebra? Fret no more. Much has changed since the dog days of Stay at Home MN. Many uplifting and energizing recreation options will be open this time around.

Join me as we chart our top five diversions that will keep a smile on your face and the winter blues in the rear view mirror.  

1.    Skiing Aims to Be the Next Golf Craze.  Many ski slopes across the country were sucker punched by COVID-19 and closed abruptly...

When Legends Collide -- A Tale in Gustavus Adolphus Tennis History

Hall of fame tennis coach Steve Wilkinson rousted the Gustavus Adolphus Black Team early for the long van ride to Grambling, Louisiana. The day’s match represented a daunting task because the Black Team was the junior varsity from the Division III school facing off against Grambling’s Division II varsity.   

The team understood that Grambling was a primarily black school and I’m sure that jangled the nerves of some on our lily white roster. After all, just...

Grand Theft Airline

Airline veteran Tony Randgaard takes you behind the curtain for two airline armored car heists that rocked the world’s largest airlines.

On any given day, there are dozens of secured cargo shipments containing millions of dollars in cash crisscrossing the U.S. The shipments weigh hundreds of pounds and move in the cargo holds of the nation’s major airlines. With a staggering 32 billion pieces of currency in circulation, the Federal Reserve and the nation’s financial institutions face the daunting task of retiring and replenishing those cash...

Did Minneapolis Organized Crime Steal My Bike? (And How You Can Protect Yours)

It wasn’t my first rodeo. I grew up in the City and earned my street smarts at now- shuttered Minneapolis Central High School. While Prince was also being burnished by the inner city, I was playing hoops with him every day at Bryant Junior High. So there was no way I was going to park and lock up my bike at tree-shrouded McRae Park and catch the bus to the State Fair. Instead, I locked my “Pee Wee Herman” Schwinn cruiser in the driveway of a bank, in the line of their security cameras on 47th and Chicago.

By early evening...

Lock’em Up! How Northwest Airlines Sent Administration Officials to Jail for Contempt of Congress

The story sounds eerily familiar: a new party in power in Congress; a special Congressional committee investigating collusion and top administrative operatives refusing to cooperate or testify. No, this is not the maelstrom of today’s House Judiciary Committee and the highly publicized subpoena absences of Attorney General William Barr or White House Counsel Don McGahn.

These were the nascent days of the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration, mired in the depths of the Great Depression. In 1933, FDR’s ally Senator...

Wildcatting Minnesota Oil -- Boom or Bust?

The Minnesota Oil Boom was sparked by a Missouri mining engineer visiting his doctor in Rochester in 1923. In between treatments, he whiled away the time “going up the country,” touring the surrounding landscape. He confided to his doctor that he liked the “lay of the land,” and that many of the geologic formations resembled oil field operations out West.

The engineer must have been particularly persuasive because soon a local realtor joined them to form a wildcatting syndicate called the Rochester Oil and Development Company. The plan was to enlist 25 wealthy, local investors to finance...

When Your Wildest Dreams Come True -- Call The Powerball Lawyer! 

Updated January 2020:

The wacky lottery streak that we covered in 2018-- continues in eastern Florida! While Minnesota offers scratch off games with “modest payouts” up to $200,000 the latest trend in Florida is scratch offs paying up to $15 million. A $15 million recipient and 3 other scratch-off winners have recently wandered into the same attorney office we visited in this article. 

The Powerball Lawyer

Kurt Panouses is reclining in a chaise lounge alongside his pool in Melbourne Beach Florida. The panorama reveals surf breaking in the...

Monday Miscellany — Volume 7

[caption id="attachment_1316098" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] When the MN weather is nice, this column isn't so much. So, yeah.[/caption] Monday Miscellany is a weekly-ish column with no real focus or direction. A mix of news, politics, sports, culture, media, reviews, trivia, local events, puppy GIFs, stuff I saw on Reddit/Wikipedia & some other items perhaps only tangentially related to Minnesota. If this column has a purpose, it would be to provide you, my dear reader, with (A) a brief escape from the monotony of your Monday morning/afternoon chores and duties, and (B) some topics to talk about should you encounter an awkward silence during an upcoming first date. I only mean...

Monday Miscellany — Volume 6

[caption id="attachment_1316060" align="aligncenter" width="960"] Water Dock Lake Sky Midwest Clouds Minnesota[/caption] Monday Miscellany is a weekly-ish column with no real focus or direction. A mix of news, politics, sports, culture, media, reviews, trivia, local events, puppy GIFs, stuff I saw on Reddit/Wikipedia & some other items perhaps only tangentially related to Minnesota. If this column has a purpose, it would be to provide you, my dear reader, with (A) a brief escape from the monotony of your Monday morning/afternoon chores and duties, and (B) some topics to talk about should you encounter an awkward...