Star Tribune
Greater Minnesota really is mostly rocks and cows
Plus, rocks have an illustrious history in greater Minnesota. Iron ore, used to make steel, fed and clothed generations of Iron Rangers. There are agates, beloved by North Shore visitors and the official state gemstone. And then, of course, there’s the world renowned Kensington Runestone, now housed in the Runestone Museum in Alexandria, carved with Norse characters that many believe prove that the Vikings explored Minnesota centuries before Father Hennepin laid eyes on what he named St. Anthony Falls.
Other famous Minnesota rocks include the Jeffers Petroglyphs, which are carvings by native Americans that date back 7,000 years; and the ancient pictographs on rocks in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
If you want to sink into deep geologic time, the rocks of the Minnesota River Valley in southwest and south-central Minnesota are 3.5 billion years old, among the oldest on the planet.
Lotta rocks? Yeah, Walz gets us.
And for the alleged cow insult. Let’s dissect that.
According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, there were 2.13 million cattle and calves in Minnesota as of Jan. 1. Of the 5.8 million Minnesotans, about 2.6 million live outside the seven-county Twin Cities metropolitan area, so yeah, definitely more people than cows in greater Minnesota. That holds true even when you add in the 16,000 cows in Ruth Klossner’s Cow Moo-seum in Bernadotte just outside New Ulm.
Record store Electric Fetus, a mainstay of Minneapolis’ music scene since 1968, started carrying K-pop albums around 2020, said Jim Novak, the store’s music buyer. Now, nestled between R&B CDs and electronic vinyl albums, a K-pop end cap offers a few hundred physical records, less than 10% of the 3,000 physical albums offered in the store, according to Novak.
“It’s currently driving a whole different generation of people into our shop,” Novak said.
Novak appreciates the thought put into K-pop physical releases. Each album takes a different shape: a classic CD case, a thick cardboard box or even a notepad. These different forms make it fit best as its own end cap, he said.
Novak, who designed the section, said he is still learning what the genre means to its fans. When he sees a young group flip through the CDs, he can’t help but feel excited.
“It is really encouraging to see young people be so into physical media,” he said.
K-pop albums often come in different shapes, sizes and formats, encouraging a new interest in physical merchandise. (Ayrton Breckenridge/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Sweet Escape opened in 2022 in the Maplewood Mall and often brings Twin Cities K-pop fans together through events hosted at the mall’s Center Court.
The St. Paul Police Department said the Ramsey County Medical Examiner has identified Carrie Shobe Kwok as the woman killed while working on a mural near the Lowertown Lofts Artist Cooperative where she and other artists lived.
Police Chief Axel Henry said in a news conference Thursday that there is no indication Kwok knew the shooter, adding that her death was one of the most brazen acts he’s seen in 30 years of policing.
“[This killing is] one of the most cold-blooded things I’ve ever seen in my life. And as, what appears to be right now, a random act performed in a manner like that — I’ve never seen anything like that even in a movie. It is awful,” Henry said. “As the evidence comes out in the next few days, I hope we use this as an opportunity to really revisit how serious we are as a state and as a country about the types of violence that have become all too common.”
Kwok’s death comes days before the St. Paul fall art crawl, an annual event showcasing work from artists across Lowertown and Minnesota. In a statement, event organizers said they hope to honor Kwok’s memory.
“Her passion for creativity reminds us of the essential role that art plays in our community — it connects us, heals us, and allows us to express our deepest emotions,” St. Paul Art Collective Executive Director Mariusz Kujawski said in a statement. “Let us come together to celebrate not only the art she created but also the vibrant contributions each of you makes to our collective artistic journey.”
The man suspected of killing Kwok was tracked to Belle Plaine where St. Paul officers attempted to arrest him. St. Paul Police said the man was armed with a handgun when he was confronted by the officers, and two St. Paul officers shot him.
Both officers gave the man medical aid before he was airlifted to HCMC where he died. The officers involved in that shooting were placed on standard administrative leave as the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigates that shooting. Although police have not named the suspect, a family member identified him as Seantrell Murdock, 29, of Belle Plaine.
In Thomas County, Georgia, where residents had been under a curfew, the sheriff’s office said it was extended until noon Friday. “Please shelter in place,” the office posted online.
Helene is the third storm to strike the city in just over a year. Tropical Storm Debby blacked out power to thousands in August, while Hurricane Idalia damaged an estimated 1,000 homes in Valdosta and surrounding Lowndes County a year ago.
”We’ve seen some storms and grown some thicker skins,” Herrera said.
Soon after it crossed over land, Helene weakened to a tropical storm, with its maximum sustained winds falling to 70 mph (110 kph). At 5 a.m., the storm was about 40 miles (65 kilometers) east of Macon, Georgia, and about 100 miles (165 kilometers) southeast of Atlanta, moving north at 30 mph (48 kph), the National Hurricane Center in Miami reported.
Forecasters expected the system to continue weakening as it moves into Tennessee and Kentucky and drops heavy rain over the Appalachian Mountains, with the risk of mudslides and flash flooding.
Even before landfall, the storm’s wrath was felt widely, with sustained tropical storm-force winds and hurricane-force gusts along Florida’s west coast. Officials begged residents to evacuate.
