Star Tribune
Walz’s emergence a chance to tell a new story about Minnesota
Years ago, I hopped into a pickup truck — I’d never been in a pickup truck before — with two friends on a trip to Walmart in Mankato shortly after I’d started my freshman year at Minnesota State Mankato. I wanted a DVD, “Along Came a Spider,” but I needed cash, so I asked an employee to point me toward the nearest time machine.
I’d only been in Minnesota for a few weeks, and I had not realized that some of the lingo from my hometown might not make sense here. In Milwaukee, we called the ATMs “time machines” because they were actually made by a company named “TYME.”
The young staffer working at Walmart that night stared at me for a moment before he lowered his head, shrugged and said, ‘No … No, we don’t have any time machines.’” That may have been his last shift.
More than 20 summers later, I no longer call them time machines. But I still haven’t had a hot dish and the only Jucy Lucy I ever tried did not convince me that I should order another one. I’ve enjoyed a lot of great food on a stick at the State Fair, where I’ll gladly wait in a line for an hour or longer to get a bucket of Sweet Martha’s cookies this weekend. And — at age 41 — I’m known in my household for a weekly rant about disruptive construction projects in the Twin Cities. I won’t call myself a full-fledged Minnesotan, but this is my home.
This state we all call home will undergo another examination in the months ahead as Gov. Tim Walz continues his tour of America as the Democratic Party’s vice presidential nominee. Walz resembles the image of what America believes represents Minnesota: a lot of folksy white people.
That notion, which denies the presence of this state’s immaculate Black and brown movers and shakers, is only partly true. But with a national spotlight on Minnesota yet again, I hope the full story of the state and the experiences of its diverse communities receive the attention they deserve.
Four years ago, the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder showcased the significant hurdles faced by marginalized communities in Minnesota, a state with a problematic history it had to confront before it could begin to move forward. It’s a place that often secures multiple spots on those “Best Places to Live” lists, but in that moment, the country learned that Minnesota ain’t always the best place to live for everybody.
Yet, the politicized national narrative about Minnesota — embraced by opportunists who’d hoped to falsely cast Minneapolis in particular as a dangerous cesspool that people should avoid — also stripped those diverse communities of their chance to tell the world that we should be acknowledged and heard, too.
DULUTH — A Duluth man who said he doesn’t remember killing his girlfriend pleaded guilty to second-degree murder without intent Tuesday in St. Louis County court — a plea deal that could land him in prison longer than sentencing guidelines would dictate.
Dale John Howard, 25, told Judge Theresa Neo that he doesn’t remember it but believes he caused the death of his girlfriend, Allisa Marie Vollan, 27, on March 22. Vollan, described on a fundraising site as a “bright young lady” with “an abundance of friends,” had a no-contact order against Howard at the time of her death. Howard could be sentenced to 20 years in prison — more than seven years longer than Minnesota’s presumptive guideline for the murder. According to the county attorney’s office, the longer sentence is legal because of the active domestic abuse no-contact order against him.
Howard’s sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 14.
According to court documents, officers responded to a morning call at Howard’s Central Hillside apartment and found him beneath a blanket with Vollan, who was dead. He told officers that he had hung out with Vollan late the previous night, then left to meet friends at a bar, and Vollan went to sleep in a guest room. When he tried to move her into his bedroom the next morning, she wasn’t breathing. He called his father, who was at the apartment when Duluth police arrived.
Neighbors in the upper level of the duplex told officers that, in the time before Howard would have left for the bar, they heard a woman crying and an angry male voice. They heard muffled moaning, thuds and the sound of something being dragged. They recorded it.
A preliminary autopsy by the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office found that Vollan had likely been smothered.
Earlier the same month, Howard had been arrested after neighbors saw him repeatedly slam Vollan’s head into a door. The no-contact was issued by a St. Louis County judge.
Minneapolis School Board Member Fathia Feerayarre, who represented District 3 in the city’s center since January 2023, has resigned effective immediately, the district announced Tuesday.
Her departure comes too late to add the seat to the November ballot, however, meaning her colleagues will have to appoint her successor in a process and under a timeline to be outlined next week.
Feerayarre ran unopposed in 2022 as part of a four-candidate slate endorsed by the Minneapolis DFL and the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, and was set to serve until Jan. 4, 2027.
Board Chair Collin Beachy, who also was part of that four-person slate, said in a news release: “I thank Ms. Feerayarre for her service to the Minneapolis Public Schools community as a member of the school board. We all wish her the best in her future endeavors.”
Minneapolis School Board Member Fathia Feerayarre, who represented District 3 in the city’s center since January 2023, has resigned effective immediately, the district announced Tuesday.
Her departure comes too late to add the seat to the November ballot, however, meaning her colleagues will have to appoint her successor in a process and under a timeline to be outlined next week.
Feerayarre ran unopposed in 2022 as part of a four-candidate slate endorsed by the Minneapolis DFL and the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, and was set to serve until Jan. 4, 2027.
Board Chair Collin Beachy, who also was part of that four-person slate, said in a news release: “I thank Ms. Feerayarre for her service to the Minneapolis Public Schools community as a member of the school board. We all wish her the best in her future endeavors.”
