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Prairie Island Community opens adult-use cannabis dispensary
A grand opening celebration is set for Saturday morning at the tribal dispensary nearest to the Twin Cities.
RED WING, Minn. — Island Pezi, the state’s newest tribal adult-use cannabis company, has seen a steady stream of customers since its soft opening on Monday.
The dispensary is owned and operated by the Prairie Island Indian Community near Red Wing, less than an hour from downtown Minneapolis. It’s far closer to the Twin Cities market than Red Lake and White Earth, the two tribal nations that opened dispensaries in Northern Minnesota.
Blake Johnson, president of Prairie Island CBH Inc., said this store is the culmination of a process that started a year and a half ago, navigating through regulations, business planning, and designs. That included the decision to use the word Pezi – one of the ways of saying “grass” in the Dakota language.
“This name came about through a community effort, so the name and the logo design was all a community-based effort that brought everything together to get the community involvement,” Johnson told KARE.
“As Dakota people anything that comes from Ina Maka which is Mother Earth, is something that’s meant to be here. We see that as a medicine. That is our approach to this.”
Indeed, many of the customers leaving the Island Pezi store told us they use cannabis products for pain management or to help with anxiety and insomnia. None of them wanted to be quoted for this article, or to appear on camera, saying their co-workers and relatives aren’t all on board with legalized weed yet.
For now, Prairie Island is selling cannabis and hemp-derived products made by the White Earth Community, through a tribe-to-tribe agreement.
“We don’t have product available on our reservation for the time being, so being able to partner with White Earth to sell their product here at the start is one of those opportunities to show our sovereignty, to work with tribal-to-tribal government relations.”
The state is still in the process of setting final rules for commercial cannabis operators and putting a licensing system in place for 2025. In the meantime, the state’s sovereign tribal nations can get a head start on retail sales.
For now, it’s a cash-only business at Island Pezi, but debit cards will be added soon. And it’s strictly a to-go proposition — no consumption of cannabis is allowed on property, any public spaces on the reservation, or at neighboring Treasure Island Resort and Casino.
Johnson said the product lines are limited now, mainly because the state’s legal cannabis industry is in its infancy. He expects the store to offer a wider array of products in years to come as Minnesota’s new cannabis producers get up and running.
In the meantime, he says the store will serve as an example of how a well-regulated, licensed dispensary works.
“We’re proud of what we’ve been able to build here,” Johnson said. “Everything that is generated from our businesses goes back into our communities to help build our government services, for education, health insurance, healthcare we need.”
A grand opening celebration is slated for Saturday, June 29, with a green ribbon cutting at 8:30 a.m. That will be followed by food trucks from Trickster Tacos and Misfits Coffee, along with Chez Annalise, BLNCD, White Earth and Slay Beverages, and live music from DJ Austin throughout the day.
The police said a similar attack occurred on Sept. 7, but the victim in that case was able to escape.
EAGAN, Minn. — The Eagan Police Department is increasing its patrols after multiple sexual assaults were reported to the department in the same area.
The latest assault occurred on Thursday morning when a woman was attacked while walking alone on the trail in Lebanon Hills Regional Park, said the police department.
“Law enforcement has limited suspect information, so we are encouraging community members to travel with someone else and be vigilant while using the Lebanon trail system and contact law enforcement if you see anything suspicious,” said the release.
The police said a similar attack occurred on Sept. 7, but the victim in that case was able to escape.
According to the release, the department is actively working on both cases.
On Dec. 12, the nonprofit will hold its biggest event of the year, WIRED to Give, a fundraising opportunity to support woman-run and -led businesses.
MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis nonprofit WIRED has already made a huge impact on the community in its two years of operation and shows no signs of slowing down now.
On Dec. 12, the organization will hold its biggest event of the year, WIRED to Give, a fundraising opportunity to connect with and support woman-run and -led businesses in the Twin Cities.
WIRED founder Jen Lindahl stopped by KARE 11 News at 4 to talk with anchor Rena Sarigianopoulos about what to expect and who the event will benefit.
For more information about WIRED, click here. For more information about the WIRED to Give event, click here.
“Let us be clear: messages like these have no place in Hopkins Schools,” said Mhiripiri-Reed in the letter to families.
HOPKINS, Minn. — Black students in Minnesota schools have been targeted by racist text messages following Tuesday night’s election, according to the superintendent of Hopkins Public Schools.
“We have learned that Black students at one of our middle schools received racist text messages referencing slavery and plantations, coming from an unidentified source,” said Hopkins Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Mhiripiri-Reed in a letter to families.
Previous reporting on KARE11.com confirmed that racist text messages were sent to Black people across the country telling them to “report” to plantations and pick cotton.
“Let us be clear: messages like these have no place in Hopkins Schools,” said Mhiripiri-Reed in the letter to families.
In Hopkins, students received the messages on their personal devices. The school district confirmed that the messages didn’t contain any data from Hopkins and the district doesn’t maintain records of students’ phone information.
“Our country is facing a period of significant division, and the recent election has stirred a range of emotions. Although Hopkins Public Schools is nonpartisan, we recognize that the outcome of the election has and will continue to spark instances of racism, homophobia, and sexism in school communities across the nation and state, including here in Hopkins,” Dr. Mhiripiri-Reed said in the letter.
