Minnesota Flag Redesign Commission Member Blasts Process as ‘Absurd’ and a ‘Colossal Waste of Time’

A lengthy deliberation Tuesday among 13 Minnesotans tasked with selecting a new state flag and seal at times devolved into argument and confusion among some, with one member of the State Emblems Redesign Commission calling it “a colossal waste of time” for those who submitted the designs.

Others criticized any potential incorporation of the state motto “L’etoile du Nord” or the statehood date of “1858” into a new state seal or flag as “hurtful” to many with indigenous backgrounds.

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Minnesota Taxpayers Spending $3 Million on Malls

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) announced recipients of the $3 million Minnesota Cultural Mall Operator Grants program.

The Legislature passed the $64 million bipartisan Main Street COVID-19 Relief package in 2021 and Gov. Tim Walz signed it into law, which will award grants ranging from $20,000 to $300,000 to 12 cultural mall operators across Minnesota whose facilities lease space to a total of over 1,178 Black, Indigenous, and People of Color business owners.

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University of Minnesota Museum Won’t Charge Native American Visitors Because Building Is ‘on Dakota Land’

Bell Museum

A University of Minnesota museum announced last week that it will no longer charge Native American visitors an admission fee since the museum “sits on the traditional and treaty land of the Dakota people.”

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Native Owned Company Says Northern Minnesota Pipeline Project Will ‘Benefit Our People’

Minnesota regulators unanimously approved Enbridge Energy’s proposal to begin construction on a replacement pipeline stretching across northern Minnesota, prompting public outcry across the state. As The Minnesota Sun reported Friday, opponents of the project shut down a performance at Minneapolis’s Theater of Public Policy last week in response to the…

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