Star Tribune
Albert Lea Pride drag show draws controversy after venue pulls out
Tensions are rising over Albert Lea’s second-ever Pride Festival after a local golf course pulled out of hosting a drag show as part of the event.
Wedgewood Cove was set to host this year’s drag show after some residents complained about the 2023 show being held at the local American Legion. Yet the golf course canceled late last week after a nearly yearlong reservation, citing concerns over hosting the event, according to Pride organizers.
Wedgewood Cove officials did not respond to several interview requests Wednesday.
The drag show found another venue at the Freeborn County Historical Museum, and it will take place as planned during the Pride Festival June 15. Holly Babcock, director of the city’s convention and visitors bureau and one of the main organizers, describe the venue change as a minor setback easily fixed.
But the issue has caused some residents to speak out against Wedgewood Cove’s management.
“In today’s day and time, it’s not OK to marginalize people or to pick and choose who you will or won’t serve,” Sherri Rasmussen said.
An Albert Lea City Council member, Rasmussen is part of the city’s LGBTQ+ community and said she cried when she heard about Wedgewood Cove’s decision. Rasmussen vowed on social media Wednesday not to spend any more money at Wedgewood Cove, or at owner Jerry Vogt’s other business Mrs. Gerry’s Kitchen, a food manufacturer. She also encouraged others to avoid those businesses.
Rasmussen said in a phone interview she posted only as herself and wasn’t representing the city with her views, but felt it was important to speak up.
“If businesses don’t stand behind us then I really feel like we shouldn’t stand behind them,” she said. “If my money’s not good for them on that day, then my money’s not good for them on any other day either.”
Albert Lea is the latest in a number of Minnesota communities struggling with LGBTQ issues. Grand Rapids is planning its first Pride parade this year, while competing organizers are putting together a “straight pride” parade on the same day. Owatonna Mayor Thomas Kuntz last year made amends with local Pride organizers and vowed to learn more about LGBT issues after comments he made on social media about a planned drag show drew scrutiny.
Babcock said she prefers not to give attention to any negativity surrounding Albert Lea’s Pride festival, saying it only emboldens would-be detractors while distracting from the event’s message of acceptance. She and Bob Furland, recreation manager at the city of Albert Lea, launched Pride last year as part of a wave of new events showcasing the community’s growing diversity.
Babcock said she hopes residents will instead focus on this year’s expanded events at Pride, which will include more food vendors, live music and “Pawject Runway,” a pet-oriented fashion show whose proceeds will go to the Freeborn County Humane Society.
“With any kind of change or shift in a community’s culture, there are a lot of really positive, beautiful things to come out of it,” she said.
Star Tribune
Sentencing set for Monday morning for a Minnesota man who was drunk and speeding when he hit a woman’s SUV and killed her.
A man with a history of driving drunk received a four-year term Monday for being intoxicated and speeding when he hit a woman’s SUV on a southern Minnesota highway and killed her.
John R. Deleo, 54, of Lake Crystal, Minn., was sentenced in Brown County District Court after pleading guilty to criminal vehicular homicide in connection with the crash on Aug. 17, 2023, in New Ulm at Hwy. 68 and S. 15th Street that killed 82-year-old Sharon A. Portner, of New Ulm.
With credit for the two days he was in jail after his arrest, Deleo is expected to serve the first 2⅔ years years of his term in prison and the balance on supervised release.
A week ahead of sentencing, defense attorney James Kuettner asked the court to spare his client prison and put him on probation for up to five years.
Kuettner pointed out in his filing that Deleo stayed at the crash scene and attempted “to aid Portner, and he left [her] side only when directed to by law enforcement.”
The attorney also noted that Deleo has been sober since the crash, and therefore, at a particularly low risk for reoffending.
According to the criminal complaint:
Police arrived to find the two damaged vehicles near 15th and S. Broadway streets. Emergency responders took Portner to New Ulm Medical Center, where she died that day.
ROCHESTER – The defense for Shane Roper, the former state trooper charged for his role in a crash that killed Owatonna teenager Olivia Flores, has asked the court to dismiss eight of the nine charges against him.
In a motion filed Oct. 24, Roper’s attorneys said the state has “failed to meet its burden of offering direct evidence tending to demonstrate that [Roper’s] actions, or negligence, were the proximate cause of death or bodily harm.”
Roper, 32, faces nine criminal charges related to the May 18 crash, including felony charges of second-degree manslaughter and criminal vehicular homicide. Both charges carry maximum sentences of 10 years in jail.
The only charge the defense did not ask to have dismissed is a misdemeanor for careless driving, which carries a maximum sentence of 90 days in jail.
Among the other requests made to the court, Roper’s defense asked for a change of venue outside of Olmsted County, citing the extensive media coverage of the case. The defense said “jury pools have surely been tainted and a fair trial cannot be had” in the county.
Roper’s attorney, Eric Nelson of Halberg Criminal Defense, also argued that any evidence related to Roper’s prior speeding or traffic incidents should be precluded as evidence in the case.
In the five years leading up to the crash, Roper had been disciplined by the State Patrol on four separate occasions for careless or reckless driving, including a February 2019 crash that injured another officer.
District Judge Christa Daily has not responded to the motions. Roper is scheduled to be back in court Nov. 21 for a pretrial settlement conference.
Star Tribune
Who is comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who insulted Puerto Rico at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally?
NEW YORK — Of the nearly 30 speakers who recently warmed up the crowd for Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe got the most attention for racist remarks.
”I don’t know if you guys know this, but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” he said, later including lewd and racist comments about Latinos, Jewish and Black people.
The comments have led to condemnation from Democrats and Puerto Rican celebrities, with Ricky Martin sharing a clip of Hinchcliffe’s set, captioned: “This is what they think of us.”
The Trump campaign took the rare step of distancing itself from Hinchcliffe. ”This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” senior adviser Danielle Alvarez said in a statement.
Here’s what to know about Hinchcliffe, his comedic styling and the response to his Madision Square Garden comments.
Hinchcliffe, raised in Youngstown, Ohio, is a stand-up comedian who specializes in the roast style, in which comedians take the podium to needle a celebrity victim with personal and often tasteless jokes. He has written and appeared on eight Comedy Central Roasts, including ones for Snoop Dogg and Tom Brady.
Even fellow comedians aren’t immune. At the Snoop Dogg roast, Hichcliffe made a joke referencing comedian Luenell, who is Black, being on the Underground Railroad. Of the honoree, he said: ”Snoop, you look like the California Raisin that got hooked on heroin.”
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