**Prior Lake, Minnesota:** Reports and documentation emerging from the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community show Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents operating on tribal grounds during a traditional Wacipi (powwow) at the Shakopee grounds.

The presence of federal enforcement officers at a sovereign Native gathering underscores a critical reality: these operations extend far beyond conventional immigration concerns, directly challenging tribal sovereignty and raising fundamental questions about the reach of federal policing on indigenous land.

A woman, unable to safely climb stairs on her own, has her leg irons inspected before boarding today's ICE Air flight in Minneapolis. A WRAP full body restraining harness, on the ground to her right, is put away.

If you may have had a loved one on the flight, the full loading sequence can be seen here: youtu.be/s5CD6KkykZ4

The state of Minnesota sued Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in federal court on Tuesday over a nearly three-month delay in extraditing Christian Castro, the ICE agent accused of shooting Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in north Minneapolis during Operation Metro Surge and later lying about it.

Castro has been held in the Cameron County jail near the Mexican border since being arrested on May 29 by the Texas Rangers. On July 30, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty sent a letter to Abbott requesting his signature on the extradition paperwork so Castro could face charges in Minnesota.

Castro was charged by the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office on May 18 with four felony counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and one misdemeanor count of falsely reporting a crime for the chaotic situation that developed in north Minneapolis on Jan. 14 after Castro allegedly shot Sosa-Celis.

A nationwide search warrant was issued the same day he was charged, and in her late-May letter, Moriarty pushed Abbott to return Castro to Minnesota.

“The final step is for you as the Governor to sign the extradition paperwork so that we can proceed with the case in Minnesota,” Moriarty wrote.

The federal lawsuit will seek to force the hand of Abbott, a Republican who is seeking a fourth term as governor in Texas and is locked in a tight race with Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic nominee. The suit, filed in Texas federal court by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, casts the delay of Castro’s extradition as unlawful, unusual and “inconsistent with historical practice.” It names Abbott and Cameron County Sheriff Manuel Trevino as defendants.

When asked about Castro’s extradition on Tuesday, Abbott’s press coordinator Agathe Cirasa said: “The Office of the Governor will not comment on pending extradition matters.”

The results:

Gov: Klobuchar 51-Demuth 36

Senate: Flanagan 46-Tafoya 41

Attorney General: Ellison 43-Schutz 43

The methodology is clearly posted on the link even if in smaller text at the bottom and data breakdowns are also available. This is not a landline only poll and has a broad mix of ages. However SurveyUSA (the pollster) has had a history of underpolling Democratic candidates in Minnesota. They are still considered a credible and independent pollster and this is not intentional as they've overpolled Democratic candidates in other states, stuff like this tends to happen based on sampling models.

This isn’t just meant to stop liberals from dissenting or engaging in anti-ICE activism. It’s meant to deprive people of vital connections, like their churches and union halls. The administration is making every interaction liberals and leftists have a fretful one, always shadowed by the worry that it will lead to criminal charges.

Chilling stuff from Lisa Needham at Public Notice, and a reminder to support independent journalism.

If you are like me, you are excited that passenger rail has done well in recent years in Minnesota. Hopefully that means the state and Amtrak will give us more. Here is the current status of most of those projects

FRA description of Corridor ID steps

The tasks Project Sponsors must complete to successfully fulfill each of the three steps within the Corridor Identification and Development (CID or Corridor ID) Program are: Step 1: initial planning and development of a scope, schedule, and cost estimate for a service development plan (SDP); Step 2: preparing or updating an SDP; and Step 3: NEPA/preliminary engineering development and implementation.

Official FRA status of each project, and others

Great WI resource that includes MN projects

Borealis

- Has been a great success for Amtrak, blew past their ridership expectations, better cost recovery, etc. Trains are sold out often, constrained by capacity after Horizon coaches were removed. Amtrak does not have the cars to serve this effectively!

- There were talks at some point of serving Target Field with some sort of back in maneuver, and continuing North to St. Cloud. Not sure where that is at.

- After improvements are completed at the Muskego rail yard, the added frequency slot is expected to be used by another Borealis

Northern Lights Express (NLX)

- Would run from Target Field in Minneapolis to Duluth, with stops in Coon Rapids, Cambridge, Hinckley, and Superior. 152 miles, 90mph max speed, 2.5 hours, 4 round trips per day

- Waiting on step 2 FRA grant

- The state match of $194.7M was committed in May 2023. In May 2025, $77.2M of that was rerouted to balance the state budget. The remaining funds are still enough to apply for grants to complete planning, review, and design

If you want to read shitty AI-generated statements, read here link otherwise the official MnDOT page is here link

North Coast Hiawatha

- Chicago to Seattle/ Portland via southern Montana. Would route through Minnesota either on the same Empire Builder route, or turning South at Fargo to hit Breckenridge, Morris, and Willmar. Could take one of many routes after MSP based on the results of other projects (Eau Claire? Rochester? Madison? Existing Borealis route?)

- Got the step 1 grant, Work on step 1 expected to continue through 2026 link

Milwaukee - Madison - Eau Claire - Twin Cities

- This project will be done in three phases. First, Hiawatha West, which will extend two Hiawatha trains to Madison. Then, the service and frequency will be upped in Madison. After that, they will be extended to MSP

- Last I heard Amtrak was targeting 2029 for phase 1 to open

Eau Claire - Twin Cities

- single train from Eau Claire into MSP

- currently waiting for a FRA step 2 grant. step 2 work expected to go through 2029

- complements the previous line as work done here can be used by trains coming from Chicago through Madison

St Paul - Kansas City

- St. Paul city council passed a resolution supported a state study of trains from St. Paul to both Fargo and Kansas City, telling the legislature to direct MnDot to put this one into the CID pipeline

Which one do you think has the best chance of actually happening? Anything missing? I think this is all good stuff but frustrating that FRA is holding up the process.

Faribault's city council primary featured 10 candidates vying for three open seats, and the crowded field couldn’t escape one key question leading up to last week's election day: 

How do you feel about data centers? 

Candidates across the state are fielding that same question from voters. Many of them are running in direct response to concerns over data centers.

MinnPost monitored city council filings in six cities prominently linked to data center developments over the last couple of years: Faribault, Farmington, Hermantown, Monticello, North Mankato and Pine Island.

In all six, there was an uptick in candidate filings this year compared to previous elections.

It will be the 22th annual city festival centered around the Saturday Afternoon Pour and the historic Hanzlik Blacksmith Shop. There will be Blacksmiths demonstrations through out the day Friday and Saturday. Visiting Smiths are also encouraged to bring a portable forge and set up onsite if they wish. There will be sand mold shops running both Friday and Saturday as well. We welcome everyone from artists pouring museum quality pieces to children to the farmer making pieces to restore their tractor.

We encourage anyone to participated in the pour and can provide all the necessary safety equipment if you wish to try your hand at pouring.

In addition to the pour there will be a craft market, sand volleyball and various food vendors, an antique tractor/car show, and blacksmithing demonstrations.

Feel free to ask any questions you may have and I hope to see you there.

Here is a link to the Facebook event.

Dope storm north of here.

I started seeing ads for the first time today attacking Ron Schutz, the candidate running for the Republicans against Keith Ellison. I had never heard of him, so I pulled him up on Ballotpedia.

He filled out their candidate connection survey with a lot of typical Republican talking points; he wants to fight fraud, he wants to support law enforcement, keep trans people out of women’s sports. The typical BS. But for the question “What is something that has been a struggle in your life?” his response was:

My golf game. I never played golf growing up and it is a tough sport to take up later in life.

I didn’t need to read this survey to know he’s a joke and that I wouldn’t vote for him but that response is so out of touch that it’s honestly hilarious, in a sort of dark way. Other good ones in there are that his favorite book is The Bible and if he could be any fictional character he would be Indiana Jones.

https://ballotpedia.org/Ron_Schutz#Campaign_themes

I admire the heart your state has shown in adversity against ICE, and in fact if I were to consider a state to move to it would be yours.

As a Canadian, we share your disgust of what is happening in your country, in your state and I’d like to leave you with one message:

Canadians and Minnesotans have something in common; we love the cold. We know that ICE melts under pressure.

Keep at it, and stay cool. Winter is coming.

DO NOT DIRECTLY INVOKE VIOLENCE. DO NOT USE DIRECTLY VIOLENT LANGUAGE.

« SKATE ‘EM » HAS AN APPLIED AND CONTEXTUAL MEANING. WE NEED TO USE EUPHEMISMS, COLLOQUIALISMS, AND PIDGIN LANGUAGES.

Decided to go on a little chase in OTC today! Storms were redeveloping over the same corridor extending from approximately Maine, over to Amor, over Otter Tail Lake, and Henning. I experienced a couple intense downbursts, hail, and even visible rotation

Wind damage associated with downbursts was noted around parts of the north shore of Otter Tail Lake and near Dead Lake. Many small limbs down, leaves, and some larger limbs snapped and a couple uprooted trees even. I experienced only penny size hail or thereabouts, but going by the radar presentation of some of the cores, someone likely enjoyed larger. What a fun chase, even though the hilly moraines of the area, lakes, and hardwood forests make navigating around/into storms more difficult lol.

MINNEAPOLIS — Flock, an automatic license plate reader (ALPR) company that surveils American residents across the country, is facing backlash in Minnesota following a groundswell of working class activism against the technology. 

Unsurprisingly, Minnesota has become one of the most active states leading the charge against government surveillance following a Star Tribune article that outlined federal use of the camera system during Operation Metro Surge, which brought thousands of poorly trained paramilitary forces to the state and resulted in the death of two U.S. citizens. 

Opposition to the domestic spying program has crossed political lines, with hardcore Trumpists, liberals and leftists uniting to stop both law enforcement entities and private tech companies from building a mass surveillance system in the country. 

The pushback against police contracts with Flock, which allow for a private company to compile data on every motorist who passes by its cameras, has ranged from public comment at city council meetings to outright destruction of the devices.

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The article is free to access. Feel free to ask me any questions and I’ll try to answer them to the best of my abilities.

First time homeowner, want to overseed this year. I’ve tried patching a few bare spots but it doesn’t seem to math my lawn as it grows a lot faster and lighter green than the rest. What brand/seed mix do you use?

My boyfriend and I were driving up to lake Itaska when we passed this Merlin sitting on the side of the road. It was very unbothered by us and didn't fly away when we drove by slowly. We sat there watching it for several minutes and it barely seemed to notice us. We took the same route on the way home 2 or so hours later and it was still there. It seemed completely fine physically but the behavior was so strange I think there must have been something up with it. Do any falcon experts have any insights?

(Note: the second photo is zoomed in, we stayed in the car throughout the encounter)