Star Tribune
Spike in sales has Northfield-based Loon Liquor thinking big
NORTHFIELD – A decade after becoming the first legal spirit producer in southern Minnesota in more than a century, Loon Liquor Co. is doubling down on its presence here with an expanded destination-style distillery downtown.
Co-owners Simeon Rossi and Mark Schiller are finalizing plans to buy the former Northfield News building along Fifth Street W., where they hope to move their entire operation to by fall 2025. Loon Liquors, now in a business park on the outskirts of town, will pay the city of Northfield $960,000 for the property.
The new building, with about 7,500 square feet of space, will be more than double the size of the business’s existing facility, where it has been distilling spirits since 2014. Rossi and Schiller estimate the new space, which will house not only the distillery but also a 120-seat cocktail room, will cost an additional $3.5 million to build out.
Among their notable investments into the facility will be an on-site flour mill for making farm-fresh pizza, and a custom Italian-made still that will allow Loon to scale up its production of organic spirits by about eight times its current output.
“Not only are we going to be able to significantly increase capacity, but the new equipment will also be a beautiful showpiece and really draw people in,” said Rossi, who heads up product creation for Loon.
The decor at Loon Liquors includes lots of flavors they experiment with in their cocktails and spirits. (Renée Jones Schneider)
Loon now produces about 2,000 bottles of vodka, whiskey, gin and other made-from-scratch spirits per month, the owners said, triple what they were doing five years ago. In addition to selling their products on site, the brand is in about 400 Minnesota liquor stores and a couple of dozen restaurants.
Rossi and Schiller, former Northfield High School classmates who started the company with no distilling experience, said much of the growth has been driven by their pre-mixed cocktails, including an old fashioned mix that was released about 18 months ago and now accounts for about 40% of all sales.
The business has also been intentional about keeping prices below other small-batch craft brands. Prices vary location to location, but spirits generally go for about $27 per 750ml bottle while the premixed bottles are about $23.
Star Tribune
Special counsel Smith asks court to pause appeal seeking to revive Trump’s classified documents case
WASHINGTON — Special counsel Jack Smith asked a court Wednesday to pause prosecutors’ appeal seeking to revive the classified documents case against President-elect Donald Trump in light of the Republican’s presidential victory.
Smith’s team has been evaluating how to wind down the classified documents and the federal 2020 election interference case in Washington before Trump takes office because of longstanding Justice Department policy that says sitting presidents cannot be prosecuted.
The case accusing Trump of hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate had been seen as the most legally clear-cut of the four indictments against Trump, given the breadth of evidence that prosecutors say they had accumulated. That included the testimony of close aides and former lawyers, and because the conduct at issue occurred after Trump left the White House in 2021 and lost the powers of the presidency.
But U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the case in July, ruling that Smith was illegally appointed by the Justice Department. Smith had appealed her ruling to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals before Trump’s presidential win last week over Vice President Kamala Harris.
Prosecutors asked the 11th Circuit in a court filing Wednesday to pause the appeal to ”afford the Government time to assess this unprecedented circumstance and determine the appropriate course going forward consistent with Department of Justice policy.” Smith’s team said it would ”inform the Court of the result of its deliberations” no later than Dec. 2.
The judge overseeing the federal case in Washington accusing Trump of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election canceled all upcoming deadlines in the case last week after Smith’s team made a similar request.
Smith is expected to leave his post before Trump takes office, but special counsels are expected to produce reports on their work that historically are made public, and it remains unclear when such a document might be released.
First, they must live in St. Paul. Then, their incomes must be no more than 400% of current Federal Poverty Guidelines — about $120,000/year for a family of four — or their medical debt must be 5% or more of their annual income. Also, only debt owed to participating providers like hospitals will qualify for the program.
“Health is not only about buildings, hospitals, or clinics — health care is about meeting the needs of patients where they are and doing whatever we can to improve health outcomes and decrease cost,” Fairview Health Services President and CEO James Hereford said in a statement.
Undue Medical Debt CEO and President Allison Sesso also issued a statement, which read, in part: “Medical debt is a psychological burden, in addition to a financial one, that can cause patients to avoid necessary care.”
She added: “Simply having medical debt creates stress which undermines people’s health.”
Officials said national medical debt has reached about $220 billion and affects more than 100 million Americans. About 54% of insured adults carry medical debt, officials said, while 41% of people without insurance face even greater challenges, often delaying necessary care in order to pay for food and housing.
In Minnesota, the Medical Debt Fairness Act that recently went into effect bans medical debt from being reported to credit reporting agencies. It also ensures medical providers cannot withhold medical care despite unpaid debt. St. Paul and Undue Medical Debt officials said they hope to partner with the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office to explore ways to build on the Debt Fairness Act.
Orono City Council Member Matt Johnson resigned Tuesday, putting the city on track to replace four of its five elected leaders in 2025.
Johnson, who had two more years left in his term, submitted a one-sentence letter to the city Tuesday asking that his resignation be accepted that day. Reached by the Star Tribune Wednesday, Johnson declined to comment on why he chose to resign.
His departure comes one week after local elections, in which voters selected a new mayor and two new council members to take over next year. Former Orono School Board Chair Bob Tunheim will replace Dennis Walsh as mayor in January. New Council Members Steve Persian and Jacqueline Ricks will replace Council Members Richard Crosby and Maria Veach.
City leaders will need to hold a special election next year to fill Johnson’s seat and will need to figure out how to fill the vacancy until then, Orono City Administrator/City Engineer Adam Edwards said during Tuesday’s council meeting. He said more details on that process will be presented at a meeting later this month.
The political turnover is happening at a time when Orono is grappling with contentious issues, including the future of its fire department.
Orono is home to about 8,000 people. It borders a portion of Lake Minnetonka and surrounds the city of Long Lake. The two cities are locked in a lawsuit and face a trial next year, as Long Lake officials accuse Orono of trying to poach their firefighters after Orono broke off to form its own department.
In a court filing this week, attorneys representing Long Lake asked a judge to postpone some court dates, writing “we are cautiously optimistic that the parties may be able to reach resolution of their dispute in the new year, once the new Council is in place.”
