Star Tribune
St. Paul Saints come under fire for naming 2024 season’s pig mascot ‘Ozempig’
The St. Paul Saints announced the topical name for the tiny pig that will deliver baseballs and provide refreshments for umpires during the first half of the 2024 season. But the swine’s moniker, “Ozempig,” has some folks accusing the minor league team of body shaming as it attached the pig’s weight — and expected gain in mass — on social media and detailed its fictional weight loss journey in a blog post announcing the new name.
The team has employed a pig to carry water and baseballs to its home plate umpires for more than 30 years. The Saints recently began using two pigs per season, due to how quickly they grow.
Sean Aronson, the team’s vice president and director of broadcasting and media relations, said he doesn’t plan on changing the name.
“We’ve never been in the business of poking fun at anything,” he said in an interview, adding that he sympathizes with some of the critics on social media.
More than 160 folks commented on Instagram alone, where responses ranged from “this is not funny” to “big swing and a miss” and pledges from some to sit out the team’s home games this season. Ozempic, a drug meant to manage glucose levels for people with Type 2 diabetes, has been surrounded by controversy lately as celebrities and social media influencers promoted it as a way to short-term weight loss.
Over on Facebook, a similar post has garnered a more positive reaction. The majority of responses, as of Wednesday morning, were thumbs up and laughing face emojis.
Aronson said the name “Ozempig” was chosen from nearly 2,300 fan submissions this year. He added that in announcing the name, he tries to give the pigs “a little backstory.”
“The only thing I think of when writing these backstories is being creative, sometimes absurd, and the ballpig itself,” Aronson said.
Saints staff selected 20 finalists from that contest, which is sponsored by the Star Tribune, and voted on their favorites. This year, Ozempig came out on top after a few rounds of internal voting and a debate among staff.
Fan submissions are regularly topical, Aronson said, adding that it’s difficult to compare how this year’s backlash to the team’s choice of name compares to previous efforts. In 2017, the team took heat for naming one of its pigs “Alternative Fats,” a nod to former presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway’s assertion that then-President Donald Trump’s inauguration was the most widely attended in history.
“This collaborative effort between the Saints and our fans has led to great ball pig names like Pablo Pigasso, Little Red Porkette, Alternative Fats, Boarack Ohama, Slumhog Millionaire, and last year with Mud Grant and Squealon Musk,” Aronson said. “We’re excited to add OzemPig to this creative list.”
The team’s atheist nights have also come under fire over the years. Aronson said one iteration drew about 1,000 phone calls alone.
Still, the typical ball pig announcement garners a handful of responses. Recent posts by the team have also elicited only a few likes and comments.
Mohamed Omar is the new board chair of Hennepin Healthcare System, the organization that runs HCMC, making him Minnesota’s first Somali American hospital board leader.
The health care system board permanently appointed Omar to the position Wednesday at their regular meeting. He had served as interim chair since Babette Apland stepped down in September.
Omar has been on the volunteer board for three years, working on the finance, investment, audit and compliance committees. He is the chief administrative officer at the Washburn Center for Children and previously was chief financial officer at the Greater Minnesota Housing Fund.
In a statement, Omar said he was excited to lead a hospital board in the state with the largest Somali American population in the U.S. He said he shared the health system’s dedication to providing “equitable, high-quality care.”
“My commitment is to deepen our community engagement, build more authentic connections between patients and team members, and build a confident future together,” Omar’s statement said.
CEO Jennifer DeCubellis and Nneka Sederstrom, chief health equity officer, praised Omar’s selection to lead the board. They said more inclusive leadership with a commitment to ending health disparities are key to HCMC’s success.
Hennepin County Board Chair Irene Fernando, who is also on health system board, said she was excited to work with Omar. She said county leaders are dedicated to good stewardship of the “state’s last public safety-net hospital.”
“As the first Hennepin County Board Chair of color, I know how impactful it is for our communities to see themselves represented in public leadership,” Fernando said.
DULUTH – The Superior National Forest has lifted its forestwide campfire ban, including the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, effective Friday.
Recent rain and humidity have improved conditions across the national forest’s 3 million acres, forest officials said in a news release.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has also lifted fire restrictions in Cook, Koochiching, Lake and northern St. Louis counties.
Fire danger is still a concern this time of year, said Karen Harrison, DNR wildfire prevention specialist.
“As leaves fall and vegetation continues to dry out, it’s important for people to be cautious with anything that can cause a spark,” she said.
The national forest imposed its broad campfire ban nearly two weeks ago, after a third wildfire, named for Bogus Lake, was discovered on forest land. No significant fire activity has been reported in recent days for any of those three fires. A fourth fire inside the forest, the 8.5-acre Pfeiffer Lake Fire, started Oct. 17. It was contained within 24 hours, the Forest Service said.
Much of northeast Minnesota is still classified in the “severe drought” stage by the U.S. Drought Monitor.
WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris was asked this week if she thought Donald Trump was a fascist, and she replied ‘’Yes, I do.’’ She subsequently called him the same thing herself, saying voters don’t want ‘’a president of the United States who admires dictators and is a fascist.’’
But what exactly is a fascist? And does the meaning of the word shift when viewed through a historical or political prism — especially so close to the end of a fraught presidential race?
An authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is often associated with the far right and characterized by a dictatorial leader who uses military forces to help suppress political and civil opposition.
History’s two most famous fascists were Nazi chief Adolf Hitler in Germany and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Known as Il Duce, or ”the duke,” Mussolini headed the National Fascist Party, which was symbolized by an eagle clutching a fasces — a bundle of rods with an axe among them.
At Mussolini’s urging, in October 1922, thousands of ”Blackshirts,” or ”squadristi,” made up an armed fascist militia that marched on Rome, vowing to seize power. Hitler’s Nazis similarly relied on a militia, known as the ”Brownshirts.” Both men eventually imposed single-party rule and encouraged violence in the streets. They used soldiers, but also fomented civilian unrest that pit loyalists against political opponents and larger swaths of everyday society.
Hitler and Mussolini censored the press and issued sophisticated propaganda. They played up racist fears and manipulated not just their active supporters but everyday citizens.
