Star Tribune
Lower Sioux Indian Community has grand opening of $2.3 million industrial hemp facility meant to solve housing shortage using hempcrete
MORTON, MINN. – Eight-foot-tall stalks of hemp swayed in the in a field on the prairie here, ready for harvest. But these plants won’t get anyone high. Instead, they’ll be turned into hempcrete, a building material that members of the Lower Sioux Indian Community hope can solve a housing shortage.
The Lower Sioux Community opened a $2.3 million facility to process industrial hemp in Morton on Thursday. The 10,000 square-foot facility will process hemp grown by farmers on the reservation and turn the woody stalks into building material for homes.
Joey Goodthunder, a tribal member, said he mostly farmed corn and soybeans before growing an interest in hemp five years ago. Hemp comes from the same cannabis species as marijuana, but Goodthunder’s plants are bred to have less THC.
“No, you don’t get high when you walk through the fields,” Goodthunder said, shortly before mounting his tractor and mowing the field of hemp.
Goodthunder said he hopes the Lower Sioux Indian Community’s industrial hemp project can help alleviate a housing shortage of about 100 homes on the reservation. The tribe completed its first hempcrete house, a duplex, this summer. The house had its first two occupants move in last week and is believed to be the first of its kind in Minnesota.
“How cool is it that I plant the seed and I see it going into a wall for homes here?” said Goodthunder, hemp coordinator for the tribe.
At the industrial hemp facility’s opening on Thursday, a worker sprayed hempcrete into a wooden housing frame, using a tool that looked much like a leaf blower. The hempcrete, which looked like sawdust but was wet to the touch, started to clump together in the wall. When it’s dried, the material looks much like particle board.
A block of hempcrete pictured on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. Hempcrete is made from hemp stalks broken up into wood chips and blended with a lime-based binder and water, before being installed onto the structural frame of a building. Members of the Lower Sioux Indian Community in Morton, Minn., said they hope hempcrete building materials can help with a housing shortage. (Jp Lawrence)
“It is super strong,” said Danny Desjarlais, hempcrete construction project manager for the Lower Sioux Community. Desjarlais, 39, said he has worked in construction for much of his life. He said he’s been obsessed with hemp, which he believes is healthier for the environment than current building materials, for three and a half years.
”This senseless act of violence has touched each of us, whether directly or indirectly,” he said at the school’s homecoming convocation Sunday morning.
A pastor who leads the Tuskegee National Alumni Association told those at Sunday’s convocation service that the shooting is a reminder of the fragility of life.
”It is in moments like these that we need to be reminded not to stand on our own understanding because in a moment like this, I don’t have understanding,” said the Rev. James Quincy III.
”I can only rely on my faith, and my prayer for our entire family, this community, as we close out this marvelous family reunion that we shared this week,” Quincy said, “and most importantly because of that faith walk and that trust in God, that we have resilience, resilience in the time of trouble.”
Miles College in Fairfield, Alabama — the school’s opponent for Tuskegee’s homecoming football game on Saturday — released a statement expressing sympathy.
”Today, our hearts are with the Tuskegee family as they face the tragic aftermath of the recent shooting on campus,” the college said. ”We extend our deepest condolences to those impacted and pray for healing and justice. Miles College stands with you in this difficult time.”
Star Tribune
Billie Eilish visits vintage store in former Minneapolis White Castle ahead of Xcel Energy Center shows
Pop star Billie Eilish stopped at VINTAGE, a south Minneapolis vintage store located in a historic former White Castle, on Saturday, the store’s owner confirmed.
Singer and songwriter Eilish is in town playing two sold-out nights at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. She stopped in at VINTAGE on Lyndale Avenue near closing time, store owner Justin Schaefer said, describing her visit as a “complete surprise.”
“She seemed very into the vibe of the shop,” Schaefer said. “She was quoted as saying, ‘this place is so awesome.’”
The “BIRDS OF A FEATHER,” and “What Was I Made For?” singer bought a ‘60s cooking apron with a female nude on it, which Schaefer described as “very punk.” She also bought a 1950s Coca-Cola work shirt and a black and white striped ‘60s referee jacket, Schaefer said. Members of her entourage also bought items.
At the store, Eilish posed for a photo with Schaefer’s 11-year-old son, who Schaefer said “played it cool.”
“My son was the most excited, which is the best,” Schaefer said.
Schaefer wondered how Eilish found his shop, which he said carries niche items.
“I don’t really know how she found it, probably like anybody else,” he said. “People are always curious what’s in this 1930s White Castle on the National Register of Historic Places.”
Star Tribune
Paris to deploy 4,000 police officers for France-Israel soccer match following violence in Amsterdam
PARIS — Paris police said Sunday that 4,000 officers and 1,600 stadium staff will be deployed for a France-Israel soccer match to ensure security in and around the stadium and on public transportation a week after violence against Israeli fans in Amsterdam.
France and Israel are playing in a UEFA Nations League match on Thursday.
”There’s a context, tensions that make that match a high-risk event for us,” Paris police chief Laurent Nuñez said on French news broadcaster BFM TV, adding authorities ”won’t tolerate” any violence.
Nuñez said that 2,500 police officers would be deployed around the Stade de France stadium, north of the French capital, in addition to 1,500 others in Paris and on public transportation.
”There will be an anti-terrorist security perimeter around the stadium,” Nuñez said. Security checks will be ”reinforced,” he added, including with systematic pat-downs and bag searches.
Nuñez said that French organizers have been in contact with Israeli authorities and security forces in order to prepare for the match.
Israeli fans were assaulted last week after a soccer game in Amsterdam by hordes of young people apparently riled up by calls on social media to target Jewish people, according to Dutch authorities. Five people were treated at hospitals and dozens were arrested after the attacks, which were condemned as antisemitic by authorities in Amsterdam, Israel and across Europe.
On Sunday, Dutch police detained several people for taking part in a demonstration in central Amsterdam that had been outlawed following the violence targeting Israeli fans, a local broadcaster reported.
