Minnesota Now July 19, 2022

[MUSIC PLAYING] CREW: 1, 2, 3, 4.

CATHY WURZER: It's Minnesota Now. I'm Cathy Wurzer. A Saint Paul restaurant owner testifies before a congressional committee today about the impact of crime on his staff and business. We'll talk to him about what he wants to see happen. We're in the dog days of summer, and phenologist John Latimer shares his latest observations of nature in the Great North.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The contentious rent control ordinance in Saint Paul went into effect in May. It's already being challenged in the city council. We'll get details on what's at stake. Wonderful, juicy Minnesota strawberries are in short supply so far this summer. We'll find out why.

And a Minnesota artist was just awarded $50,000 for new tools she created to draw digital textured hair. The impact is profound. We'll talk to her, too. All that plus the Minnesota minute-- music minute-- and song of the day, right after the news.

LAKSHMI SINGH: Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh. Sources tell NPR two former Trump administration officials will appear at the next public hearing of the House January 6 Committee that's been investigating last year's insurrection at the US Capitol. NPR's Claudia Grisales says US Chairman Benny Thompson won't be there. He's tested positive for the coronavirus.

CLAUDIA GRISALES: Select Committee Chairman Benny Thompson will not attend, but aides said he instructed the committee to hold the Thursday evening hearing as planned. Sources tell NPR former National Security Council member Matthew Pottinger and ex-Deputy White House Press Secretary Sarah Matthews are expected to testify in person. The hearing will focus on then-President's Donald Trump's inaction during the January 6 attack for more than three hours.

In an excerpt, Matthews was featured in a previous hearing describing Trump in a, quote, "fantastic mood" as noise from a rally the night before the attack flowed into the White House. Claudia Grisales, NPR News, Washington.

LAKSHMI SINGH: Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon is fighting criminal charges for refusing for months to cooperate with the select committee's investigation. On this second day of his contempt of Congress trial, Bannon's lawyers asked for a one-month delay. The judge said, no.

Wildfires have broken out across the British capital and other areas as temperatures surge into the 40s Celsius, triple digits Fahrenheit. The London Fire Brigade has declared a major incident. Wildfires are also burning in Spain, Portugal, France, Greece, and Italy.

The day is winding down on the continent with little relief in sight, even in places where excruciatingly hot temperatures have eased. Esme Nicholson is in Berlin where central air conditioning is rare.

ESME NICHOLSON: Lack of air conditioning is just part of it. Northern Europe wasn't built for this kind of heat. And while well-insulated houses can keep out some of the heat as well as it keeps out the cold, as they keep out the cold, cities here are not designed to provide the kind of shade you find built into Southern European cities.

LAKSHMI SINGH: That's Esme Nicholson reporting. First Lady Jill Biden will meet with Ukraine's first lady at the White House this afternoon. NPR'S Franco Ordonez has details.

FRANCO ORDONEZ: Ukraine's first lady met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday as she kicked off a series of meetings with top officials, including USAID Administrator Samantha Power and members of Congress. First Lady Jill Biden will welcome Zelenska at the White House this afternoon before joining her for a private meeting. This is not their first conversation. The two met in May on an unannounced visit by Biden to Western Ukraine. Biden brought Zelenska flowers for Mother's Day when they met at a school for displaced students.

LAKSHMI SINGH: That's NPR'S Frank Ordonez reporting. This is NPR.

CREW: Support for NPR comes from NPR stations. Other contributors include Progressive Insurance with Snapshot, which monitors safe driving habits to determine a personalized rate. At progressive.com. Not available in California and North Carolina or from all agents.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

CATHY WURZER: Around Minnesota right now, skies are partly to mostly sunny. A little cooler than it was yesterday, with highs in the low to mid 80s in the north, low 90s in the south. At noon in the Twin Cities, it's 92. 73 in Preston Minnesota. And outside the Edge Center for the Arts in Bigfork, Minnesota it's 83 and sunny. I'm Cathy Wurzer with Minnesota news headlines.

Closing arguments are being heard today in the road rage murder trial of Jamal Smith. He's a Chicago man accused of shooting and killing a Twin Cities man, Jay Boughton, during an incident last July on Highway 169 in the Twin Cities. Smith took the stand yesterday on his own behalf, saying it was one of the other two men riding with him who pulled the trigger. Authorities have not charged anyone else in the case.

Former Minneapolis police officer Thomas Lane will be sentenced in federal court Thursday of this week for violating George Floyd's civil rights. John Collins has more.

JOHN COLLINS: Thomas Lane was convicted on civil rights charges in federal court in February. He's also pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting second degree manslaughter in state court in exchange for a prison sentence of three years lane will serve his state and federal sentences at the same time in federal prison.

Lane's former colleague Derek Chauvin was sentenced to more than 20 years in federal prison earlier this month. Two other former colleagues were convicted in federal court but have not yet been sentenced. Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng will go on trial in state court in October for aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter. I'm John Collins, Minneapolis.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

CATHY WURZER: Leading the program at this hour, a Twin Cities chef and restaurant owner is testifying before a congressional subcommittee on how crime has affected his business. Brian Ingram, the founder and CEO of Purpose Driven Restaurants, says Republican Congressman Tom Emmer asked him to testify today. The committee will talk about how mass shootings harm communities. But the owner of the Gnome Pub and the Hope Breakfast Bar in Saint Paul, who's been burglarized seven times since 2020, says he will focus on how crime of all kinds has affected his community.

Before he appears before lawmakers, Brian Ingram joins us from the Capitol. Thanks, Brian. How are you doing?

BRIAN INGRAM: I'm good. A little nervous about today, but I'm doing well.

CATHY WURZER: I can only imagine. Say, business owners don't often talk about robberies, about staff that's been assaulted on their way home, or carjackings. It's kind of risky for business. What do you want congressional lawmakers to know about your situation in and around Saint Paul?

BRIAN INGRAM: Well, I think it's one that, yeah, is risky to talk about. I mean, it's not good for business when you're talking about crime in your cities. But if we don't take a stand now, I'm not sure we're going to have cities to take a stand for later. So for me, that's our biggest thing, is if we can get our lawmakers to stop the fighting with each other and just do some common sense things, and help make our city safe again.

I mean, when we have-- in our instance, when we have repeat offenders that are breaking in and robbing us and get released within 24 hours, break in and rob us again, and they have rap sheets that are 30, 40, 50 crimes deep, something needs to change with that. And that's really what we're just hoping before more people get murdered, more people get assaulted, that change has to happen.

CATHY WURZER: You're talking to a larger audience today. Does that mean that Saint Paul city officials have not been listening to you?

BRIAN INGRAM: No, I've had lots of talks with Melvin over the past. But I think it's more of-- I don't even know if it's lawmakers now. Now it's between our judges and prosecutors and stuff. I think it's just kind of grown out of control. And for some reason, it became a political situation instead of a common sense situation.

It seems like if you're pro-police or you're anti-violence, that that makes you Republican, and that's so crazy to me. This is our city, and this is happening to all of us. Every time my restaurant was robbed, nobody ever asked me what political affiliation I had. When our staff has been assaulted, when our guest has been carjacked, nobody ever asked them what their political affiliation was. So that's really our hope and our dream, is that that all can get squashed and we start doing some commonsense stuff.

CATHY WURZER: What do you mean by that? I mean, as you just said, there are people who argue something needs to be changed on how we do policing. How do you think we balance reform with public safety with this common sense you're talking about?

BRIAN INGRAM: Common sense to me is if you've done the same crime repeatedly, that shouldn't be an instant release within 24 hours. We should do some fact finding. We should really understand the nature of your crimes, why you've been doing these crimes. And if mental health and those things that need to take place, that needs to happen.

But if you've done a crime 40, 50, 60 times, something needs to happen. And you need to be taken off the streets before you commit violent crimes or before somebody gets killed. Even in my instance, I've walked into our restaurants when people have been inside the restaurant and, by the grace of God, I didn't get shot. And that's so scary to me, that we arrive at our restaurants with alarms going off and sirens going off within our restaurants before the police do because there's not enough officers on.

And just the casual, cavalier attitude of these criminals. I mean, they break into the restaurants. They hear the sirens. They hear the alarms. And they walk around-- when you're watching these videos, they're walking around with impunity. They truly believe nobody's coming and nothing's going to happen to them. And that's a really scary thing.

CATHY WURZER: But yet, would you agree that there needs to be some reform as to how we do policing in terms of how police conduct themselves?

BRIAN INGRAM: Oh, my gosh, yeah. I think we see it over and over every single day. So I'm a huge proponent of that. I mean we fed protesters during the George Floyd murder, and we called it out just like that. This was a murder, and that absolutely-- those folks should be punished to the fullest extent of the law, and we believe that wholeheartedly.

But we also believe that there are criminals that are taking advantage of that situation that's happening today. There are criminals that actively know that they can get around with impunity, and something has to happen with that. I mean, those two aren't exclusive of one another. You can be for police reform and you can be for a change that must and has to happen, but that doesn't mean that we stop holding criminals accountable. Again, if you have a long rap sheet and you've done these things over and over again, you have to be locked up.

CATHY WURZER: You own two popular places in Saint Paul-- the Hope Breakfast Bar and the Gnome. And as I mentioned, you've had problems. Have you considered just giving up the ghost and saying, yep, I'm out at Saint Paul?

BRIAN INGRAM: No. We love our city. We live in our city. My kids have grown up in the city. I've got a brand new baby at home that we live in the city. We live literally in downtown Saint Paul.

Yeah, I had to move off of West Seventh because I was walking with my new baby last summer, and we were walking by the Freedom House, and somebody walked out and pulled out a gun and just started firing it in the air. And we no longer felt safe and had to move a few miles away.

But it's our home. It's where we continue to invest. And our goal is to continue to love on our community and do everything we can within our community. And sometimes that means taking a stand. It meant taking a stand a year and a half ago when COVID hit and we shut our restaurants down before the mandates to feed our community. And I think we're doing the same thing now.

We're trying to love on our community and bring change to our community. Our streets have to become safer. We're just seeing it too often, every single day, about these assaults and just the rampant crime that's taking place.

CATHY WURZER: Are you still keeping your places open until 10:00 PM? Will you see a time when you can actually go past 10:00 PM?

BRIAN INGRAM: Gosh, we're hoping, yeah. We close at 10 right now at the Gnome. Our Hope Breakfast restaurants are always closed early. But any of our dinner stuff, our Apostle Supper Clubs, all of the new concepts that we're going to be opening in Saint Paul, we're planning on closing at 9:00 or 10:00 unless change comes.

And that's leaving, I mean, literally hundreds of jobs. It's leaving hundreds of thousands of dollars out there because we just won't be open after that. Our staff doesn't feel safe. Our guests don't feel safe. And if it means closing early so I know my guests make it home safely, then that's what we're going to do. So our goal is hopefully to get back to a time where guests can stay out and enjoy. But yeah.

CATHY WURZER: So, as I mentioned in my introduction, Republican Congressman Tom Emmer asked you to testify. How are you trying to stay above politics in all of this?

BRIAN INGRAM: Man, that's such a tough thing. And for me, it was such an honor, too. But this isn't just a Republican event. This is a Democratic event. Maxine Waters, she had to approve me being here as well. I think I've been very vocal. I voted for Mayor Carter. I vote Democrat probably more often than I've voted Republican.

For me, this isn't a Party line at all. And that's my biggest thing that I'm trying to talk about, is I'm just talking about how do we make our city safe again. And for me, this isn't a political thing. And I think that's really why I'm here, is we've got to get over this in-fighting. We've got to get over all of the stuff that's happening. And we need to start doing the work of the people.

And that's really what I'm hoping my voice can lend to, is let's do some common sense things that can immediately make change in our city. And then, of course, let's work on police reform. Of course we need to figure out gun violence. We paid for seven funerals last year for young kids that were hit by stray bullets. All of that stuff has to be addressed. But that doesn't mean you stop addressing the other.

CATHY WURZER: All right now, Brian. You've got to go into the committee room right now. Thank you, and best of luck.

BRIAN INGRAM: All right. I sure appreciate your time today.

CATHY WURZER: Brian Ingram is the founder and CEO of Purpose Driven Restaurants. That includes the Gnome Pub and Hope Breakfast Bar in Saint Paul. He's testifying this afternoon before Congress on crime.

[MUSIC - YOUR SMITH, "IN BETWEEN PLANS"]

YOUR SMITH: (SINGING) On the water when I came to, in the haze of the sunlight, neon days on the portside. My only dollar soaked through. I don't know--

CATHY WURZER: It's the Minnesota music minute, and this is Minneapolis's Your Smith. Caroline Smith is a Detroit Lakes native who records and performs as Your Smith. In this song, "In Between Plans," Smith sings about enjoying life in the in-between phases of life and being OK with not always knowing what will come next.

YOUR SMITH: (SINGING) I'm in between 'em. I'm in between plans.

CATHY WURZER: It's officially the dog days of summer. And by that, I mean your dog is inside because it's too hot in the sun. But seriously, there's a lot more going on right now than just the heat. Our friend John Latimer makes it his business to observe the changes in nature as the seasons progress. He's here today to tell us what he's been noticing outside in the Great North.

John is a phenologist heard weekly on KAXE radio in the Grand Rapids area. Hey, John. How are you?

JOHN LATIMER: Hey, Cathy. Nice to hear your voice.

CATHY WURZER: Likewise.

JOHN LATIMER: It is definitely the dog days of summer. It's a day to jump in the lake with your dog.

CATHY WURZER: By the way, what's the temperature up there right now?

JOHN LATIMER: Mid 80s. 83, 84. It's not overly hot, but the dew point has got to be 79, 80. It's really muggy.

CATHY WURZER: Yeah. Yeah, I can only-- and how are the bugs?

JOHN LATIMER: [CHUCKLES] They're doing really well.

CATHY WURZER: I bet they are. I bet they are.

JOHN LATIMER: Actually, when it's hot like this, the mosquitoes disappear until later in the day when it cools off a little. But the deer flies are-- they're definitely looking for a meal. And I'm offering them the opportunity to come and dine, but it comes with a risk.

CATHY WURZER: Yeah, they just take a chunk out of you.

JOHN LATIMER: Oh, boy, do they.

CATHY WURZER: I saw in last week's Season Watch newsletter from KAXE that you're talking about berries to look for.

JOHN LATIMER: Oh, yes.

CATHY WURZER: Yeah. What berries are out right now?

JOHN LATIMER: Oh, man. This is a perfect time. You know, I was out this last weekend. I found blueberries. I found juneberries. I found the first ripe raspberries. And then I found another berry that you need to be aware of and approach with caution, and that's the red elderberry.

Now, blueberries are doing just fine. Everybody knows the blueberries. The juneberries are a little bit different. Not everybody knows the juneberries, but they are delicious.

And this year, we're having a bumper crop. We are just having a huge crop. So there are more than enough for all of the robins and the white-throated sparrows, and all the other birds that enjoy them, and the bears, and everybody.

The interesting thing about juneberries is that the--

CATHY WURZER: Oh, no. Hang on, John. We got a little technical problem there.

JOHN LATIMER: Boom. Every flower is open. But the berries ripen asynchronously. So you'll have ripe berries next to berries that are half ripe next to berries that are still green. And so it's not like picking blueberries, where you can just rake them off. You kind of have to pick this one, and that one, and that one over there.

The problem in a year when there aren't so many of them is that the robins are looking at them every couple of hours. And when that berry gets ripe, they eat it. And that berry over there? Oh, that one's almost ripe. I'm going to eat that one next.

CATHY WURZER: They have more time to wait on this one, obviously.

JOHN LATIMER: Yes, they do. But the raspberry is sort of the opposite of the juneberry. The raspberry-- I found ripe raspberries this weekend, and I also found raspberries in bloom. So they are asynchronously flowering and asynchronously fruiting, and they're just delightful.

CATHY WURZER: They are so good. Are there any berries you need to really watch out for, that you might not want to partake in, or just do it just very lightly?

JOHN LATIMER: Yeah. The red berried elder, or the red elderberry, Sambucus racemosa, if you want to look it up. Cyanogenic glycoside is the active ingredient in there, and it is most concentrated in the seeds. The plant is-- the fruit is not edible raw.

It can be cooked, and you can get rid of the cyanide that's in there. And they're quite palatable in pies and jellies and wines. You never would want to make a jam out of them. And if you're making a pie, you need to separate the seeds from the rest of it because the seeds are where the cyanide is.

Now, the berries themselves are full of antioxidants. They're filled with anthocyanins, which are those red and blue colors that we see in nature. And so there are lots of antioxidants in there. They're great that way. They are really nutritious for animals.

But a study of the red elderberry on Isle Royale indicated that the moose preferred not to eat them. If they could find something else to eat, they would rather eat something else because of the bitter presence of the cyanide in there. So elderberries, big clusters of bright red, lipstick-red berries right now. And big clusters of them. Sort of cone shaped, probably four or five inches long, and maybe 50 or 60 medium-sized berries, like small blueberry sized.

And if you picked one and opened it, you'd see that the meat inside is white. The outside is red. The inside is white. I read a short piece by a woman who actually was curious about the effect of the plant, and she ate 1/4 cup of dried elderberries. And she said her stomach got a little upset, and then after three hours and about 10 minutes she started to vomit. And at about 3 and 1/2 hours, she started diarrhea. And this went on for about 36 hours.

CATHY WURZER: Oh. OK. Thank you.

JOHN LATIMER: You don't want to eat them raw.

CATHY WURZER: No. No, no, no, no, no, no. That's the lesson we're taking away today.

JOHN LATIMER: Yeah. Don't eat them raw.

CATHY WURZER: Now, for folks tuning in, you work with classrooms, youth groups around Minnesota, teaching young folks how to observe nature as seasons change. And I love hearing their reports. So we have a report today from Lucy and Jalen and a painted turtle at the Big Sandy Water Institute.

LUCY: Hi, I'm Lucy.

JALEN: I'm Jalen. And Bubble is the painted turtle. From Big Sandy Water Institute, as a part of McGregor community education, the big news from the week is that Long Lake's resident loons finally had a chick. It's the first successful nesting in a number of years. We hope the eagles leave it alone and it reaches its maturity.

During our hikes through the woods, one of our groups almost stepped on a [INAUDIBLE]. It was nested down hiding and didn't move until we were right on top of it. It was pretty big and ran fast. We also got very close to a hen turkey and five or six poults.

LUCY: Our group found the season's first ripe blueberries and raspberries. Lastly, the slugs are out and about. And the wood frogs we found in the trailside pond. It's a great time to explore the world, and we want to remind everyone to unplug and get outside, and to--

BOTH: --live connected.

CATHY WURZER: Good idea. Yep. Good advice. Live connected.

JOHN LATIMER: Yep. And those kids, they had a great experience. They got to see a lot of different animals. It's so exciting to hear their voices and to hear what they're seeing.

Any of us can do that. You just have to get outside, live connected with nature, and it's all out there to check out. There's some amazing things out there right now.

CATHY WURZER: Oh, amazing things. Now, I am a huge fan of fireflies. In fact, this morning, at about-- what time was it when I got out?

JOHN LATIMER: Don't even want to know.

CATHY WURZER: Really, really early. There was one. One. A lone firefly. I hope he or she-- I think it's a he. I hope he found his mate early this morning. Are they gone? Are they are they all done in your neck of the woods?

JOHN LATIMER: No, we're still-- I saw some this past weekend. There are fewer than there were in mid-June, but they're still out there. Typically what happens is the female alights somewhere and sets off a signal, and the males fly around.

So if you see one in flight flashing, it's probably a male. If it's flashing from the same location all the time, it's probably a female. And they are attracting one another and getting it done.

One of the really-- I mean, we talked about deer flies earlier. The egg from the firefly gets laid in the same area that the egg from the deer fly gets laid in. And the little maggot of the firefly searches out and eats the maggot of the deer fly.

CATHY WURZER: Good.

JOHN LATIMER: Yes.

[LAUGHTER]

CATHY WURZER: Yes. I can't stand deer flies.

JOHN LATIMER: Oh, man. They're the worst.

CATHY WURZER: Before you go, we got a minute left. What are you looking forward to as we ease into August?

JOHN LATIMER: You know, I'm going to be watching for monarchs. We're starting to see some more monarchs coming around. This will be the last generation before the generation that migrates. Mourning cloak butterflies and comma butterflies are coming out, and those will be the generation that will overwinter. And they will be the first ones that we will see again next spring, so I'll be watching to see them. Always got an eye out for dragonflies because they're so beautiful and so colorful.

CATHY WURZER: I love them.

JOHN LATIMER: The tall plants. This is the season we're going to start seeing woodland sunflowers. We're going to start seeing sowthistle and blue lettuce and some of these six, eight, 10-foot-tall flowering plants that have spent this much of summer just getting up high enough to get above all the competition so that they can flower. And they'll be spectacular.

CATHY WURZER: Love it. John Latimer, always appreciate the conversation. Thank you.

JOHN LATIMER: Cathy, it's always a pleasure. I look forward to more.

CATHY WURZER: I do too. John is a retired postal worker from Grand Rapids. Full-time phenologist who works with teachers and kids across the state to notice what's happening in nature. He has a regular show on KAXE, the community radio station in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.

DAINNE HAULCY: I'm Dianne Haulcy, host of Early Risers, a podcast from Little Moments Count and NPR. It's for anyone who wants to have better conversations with children about race and cultural differences. Listen to Early Risers wherever you get your podcasts.

CREW: Programming is supported by CenterPoint Energy's Home Service Plus, whose team of professionals repair, replace, and maintain home appliances for thousands of Minnesotans every day. Learn more about HSP's everyday expertise at CenterPointEnergy.com/HSP.

CATHY WURZER: Say, we received a nice note about our interview yesterday with Ashley Hall of the Falls Hunger Coalition in International Falls. Stuart from the NorthPoint Health and Wellness Center in Minneapolis wrote to thank us for shining a spotlight on food insecurity in Minnesota. He writes, "We have several food programs here serving a low-income community, and we also are seeing a surge in numbers of participants.

It's a worsening crisis, and I resonated with most of what Ashley was talking about. The crucial difference being that for her, her setting is rural. I'm hoping that listeners will respond by sending financial support to Ashley and/or reaching out to their local food shelf." By the way, he says that the Open Your Heart Foundation will match all financial donations made in the month of July to food shelves up to a certain dollar limit.

The Falls Hunger Coalition's on that list, as is the NorthPoint Health and Wellness Center. So, details at oyh.org/summer-challenge. Jeff Jones is standing by with a look at the news. Jeff.

JEFF JONES: Hey, we're leading again with the heat, Cathy. Britain shattered its record for highest temperature ever registered amid a heat wave that has seared swathes of Europe. The UK's weather forecaster predicted it would get hotter still in a country that's ill prepared for such extremes. Heathrow Airport registered a provisional reading of 104 degrees Fahrenheit early on Tuesday afternoon.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is in Iran on a trip intended to deepen ties with regional heavyweights. It is only his second trip abroad since Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine in February. Putin is scheduled to hold talks with Iran's president and the president of Turkey about some of the most pressing issues facing the region, including a UN-backed proposal to resume exports of Ukrainian grain to ease the global food crisis.

The US House of Representatives is set to vote to protect same sex and interracial marriages. Tuesday's vote stands as a direct confrontation with the Supreme Court, whose conservative majority has signaled that rights beyond abortion access may be in jeopardy. While the bill, dubbed the Respect for Marriage Act, is expected to pass the House, it's almost certain to stall in the Senate where most Republicans would surely block it.

We've learned more this morning about who will likely testify at the next January 6 committee hearing. Two former White House aides are expected to appear on Thursday to shed light on what President Donald Trump was doing as his supporters broke into the Capitol. A source tells NPR that former deputy national security advisor Matthew Pottinger will testify, along with former press aide Sarah Matthews. Both resigned immediately after the January 6 insurrection. Cathy, we'll have that hearing live starting Thursday at 7:00 here on MPR News. Thursday evening at 7:00, that is.

Tonight is baseball's all-star game at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Two players will represent the Minnesota Twins in the game-- first baseman Luis Arraez and outfielder Byron Buxton. Last night, Washington Nationals slugger Juan Soto won the Home Run Derby. This is MPR News.

CATHY WURZER: All right. Thank you, Jeff Jones. We appreciate it. Coming up on 12:30, it's Minnesota Now. I'm Cathy Wurzer.

Saint Paul is weighing two appeals to its new rent stabilization ordinance this week, including Minnesota's first ever challenge to a rent increase by a tenant under a rent control law. It's a key test of the 3% rent hike limit voters approved last year, and of the possible fate of a similar measure in Minneapolis.

They're both navigating the first rent control measures ever in Minnesota that advocates say can help ease the affordable housing crunch opponents say is making things worse. MPR reporter Tim Nelson's been following this issue. He joins us to talk about it. Hey, Tim.

TIM NELSON: Hi, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: OK, explain this. What's happening right now?

TIM NELSON: Well, there's a legislative hearing today for two properties. They're owned by Dominium. It's a Plymouth developer that has filed paperwork indicating that it's raising rents by 8% at a building in the midway neighborhood, and then another one over by Metro State University.

Now, you may remember, voters approved a 3% cap on rent increases last November. But that's been codified by the city to include some exceptions, including a so-called self-certification process. That allows property owners to impose rent increases up to 8% to recoup things like added taxes, damage repair, or improvements to apartments. There's also another exception that allows property owners to raise rents by up to 15% after a city review.

Now, Dominium is sort of a unique. It has another issue as well. It says it has a low-income housing tax credit agreement on its property that predates this rent stabilization ordinance and sets rents below market. And they contend that trumps the city rent control ordinance.

Now, tenants are challenging this increase, saying it violates the rent stabilization ordinance. They have an attorney from a housing nonprofit to help them. And that's one part of it.

Another part of it is, there's an appeal going, or a hearing, before the city council tomorrow. And city staff have recommended approval of a 15% rate hike for new owners of another building, although the council is going to have to make that decision on its own. So it's turning out that was what was supposed to be this simple 3% cap without exceptions, even when new tenants move in, it's not what it initially appeared to be.

There are already more than 70 of these exception requests filed with the city since the ordinance took effect this spring. And the city expects so many of these things, it's actually hiring another staffer in City Hall just to process all these exceptions. So that seems to indicate there's going to be a lot of legal arguments and maybe even some court battles over this plan.

CATHY WURZER: What exactly are they fighting about?

TIM NELSON: Well, the city has essentially put a loophole in this ordinance described as a way for property owners to get what the city calls a reasonable return on investment. And it lists about a half dozen criteria. There are things like recouping tax increases, fixing tenant damage, and even-- I'm quoting here-- "the pattern of recent rent increases or decreases." And these aren't defined in great detail. But it's a big deal. Property owners' incomes may hinge on these criteria.

In the meantime, inflation is really crushing renters' buying power. Economic experts are talking about a recession on the horizon. And we've been hearing about this cooling of the housing market. A lot of people are not in the market to buy anymore. They're putting more pressure than ever on the rental market and other people that are trying to find and keep an affordable place to live.

CATHY WURZER: Right. Now, the city, if I remember correctly, was supposedly changing the ordinance already, right? I mean, will they address this?

TIM NELSON: Well, a city working group submitted a series of recommendations for changes, not actual changes. They include things like a 15-year exemption for new construction, which could be retroactive. They also want landlords to provide what's called just cause to terminate a lease. Which is likely, again, going to be open to interpretation.

They also suggest allowing property owners to bank rent increases. So if they don't raise the rent by 3%, they can sort of save that and raise the rent by more than 3% in subsequent years. Again, these are suggestions at this point. But they're a big deal.

This, like you said, is the first legally binding rent control measure in Minnesota. It's only been going on since May. You may remember Minneapolis voters approved something but a little different. It's an authorization for the city to develop a rent control system. That hasn't happened yet. But you know that city officials and property owners and renters over there are watching, looking and see what happens in Saint Paul to see what lessons they can learn from this implementation.

CATHY WURZER: And what do you think people have learned so far?

TIM NELSON: Well, hard to say. There's been a number of developers in Saint Paul that have basically shut down their operations, saying they can't make a worthwhile profit on new rental housing with a 3% annual rent growth. There's still some housing being built. If you go down to Highland Park, they're building away down there. But critics say that's going to dry up, and this measure is going to backfire by limiting housing stock, particularly affordable housing stock.

There's also two property owners that have filed suit against this ordinance in federal court. Read their complaint, it says that builders are already slashing their plans in Saint Paul. They say building permits for apartments have already fallen by more than 3/4 this year compared to last year. And the complaint also says the ordinance is already driving down property values by as much as 12%, according to University of Southern California economists.

Now, these property owners are going to argue in federal court that that drop in value amounts to illegal taking by the city, and that the rental increase exception is, quote, "complex and futile" and doesn't constitute due process. So they say this rent ordinance is unconstitutional for that reason.

CATHY WURZER: OK. Say, when do these hearings start?

TIM NELSON: The first one is this afternoon. It's going to be at 3 o' clock. The city council will be considering the landlord request tomorrow afternoon at their meeting there.

CATHY WURZER: OK. Tim Nelson, that's a lot. I appreciate it. Thank you so much.

TIM NELSON: You bet.

CATHY WURZER: That's reporter Tim Nelson.

NARRATOR: The House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol has begun a series of public hearings. They say their goal is to investigate what led to the riot, whether the attackers were coordinated, and why law enforcement failed to stop the breach of the Capitol. Keep listening. We'll bring you live coverage with expert analysis of each of the January 6 Committee's public hearings, from NPR News.

CATHY WURZER: Coming up Thursday evening. You can hear it live on MPR News on air and online at mprnews.org. Starts at 7:00.

Well, let us talk a little bit more about what you heard earlier in the program. John Latimer was saying that it is, of course, berry season in Minnesota. Wild and farm-raised blueberries and strawberries are available this time of the year, usually. Usually. But this year, the early summer strawberry crop has been kind of dismal. Why is that?

Well, Tonya Sanner is the person behind Firefly Berries in Olmsted County, which is in Southeastern Minnesota. Tonya is with us right now to talk about what happened to their strawberries at Firefly Berries. Tonya, welcome. How are you doing?

TONYA SANNER: I'm doing great. Thanks for having me.

CATHY WURZER: Thanks. Say, tell me about the farm before we get into the nitty-gritty about the strawberries.

TONYA SANNER: Sure. We purchased the farm 12 years ago, and it used to be called Stirling Fruit Farm, but since then we changed the name. We grow mostly strawberries and Concord grapes. And then we have some small fruits that we sell kind the farmers market. Blackberries, elderberries, raspberries, that sort of thing.

CATHY WURZER: Have you already picked-- have the ready-picked and the u-pick berry seasons, those are the same seasons? Are they right alongside each other?

TONYA SANNER: Oh, yes. We have-- strawberries are usually in June for two to three weeks, and then Concord grapes are in the fall, kind of like apple time. Mid-September to mid-October.

CATHY WURZER: Got it. OK, so how is the strawberry crop this year?

TONYA SANNER: It was almost a complete loss for us. It was a rough year.

CATHY WURZER: Oh, no.

TONYA SANNER: Yeah. Yeah, normally, we only grow about two acres of strawberries. We're pretty small. But normally, we can get about 3,000 pounds per acre. We were getting about 300 to 350 pounds, so almost non-existent.

CATHY WURZER: Wow. So you didn't have any ready-picked strawberries, I bet.

TONYA SANNER: No. Yeah, so what we decided-- want to have a good enough quality for people when they're going to pay for already-picked berries. And they just weren't the quality or the quantity that we wanted. So we did not do any already picked. We only had just three days that we were open for u-pick.

CATHY WURZER: So what happened?

TONYA SANNER: Well, that's a lot of things, actually. Probably every weather challenge-- almost every weather challenge. Can't say every because something new will pop up-- that we could have had happened. So we went into the season very dry because it was dry conditions last fall.

And then we had a cool spring, a late spring, followed by hail. We had some frost. We had heavy rains and high winds. And it just sort of-- it was hard on the crop in so many ways.

But the final kicker, I think, was the heavy rains and winds that brought a fungus to at least one of our fields. And that just wiped everything out.

CATHY WURZER: Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. What was the fungus?

TONYA SANNER: It's called leather rot. And it doesn't happen very often to us. We're a farm-- we're not organic certified, but we don't spray any chemicals in our farm. And so we always see a little bit because you get wet spots. But this particular fungus, it spreads really quickly when you have heavy rains or standing water, high winds, because it has little spores. And then, as it splashes around, it moves from plant to plant and affects the fruit.

And the fruit itself, normally you can get something called leaf spot, which just affects the foliage a little bit, but not so much the fruit. But this leaf rot, it actually goes into the fruit, and it makes it sort of a leathery texture, and it kind of gives it an off, bitter taste. So you can't even really harvest them for jam or something other than fresh eating.

CATHY WURZER: What are you hearing-- so this happened to your farm. What about the other berry growers in Minnesota? What are you hearing?

TONYA SANNER: I would say most of the growers in our area, at least here in Southeast Minnesota, Northern Iowa that I know and have talked to, very similar crops. The drought conditions, they didn't set buds very well in the fall. Frost. We only had frost here once, but some places had it twice. So that kills any buds, so you just have quantity-wise less strawberries. So, yes, very similar with the ones that I have spoken to, the other growers.

CATHY WURZER: I'm betting these are fairly small farms that are impacted by this, right?

TONYA SANNER: Yeah, I would say so. Most of the farms that I-- the growers that I've talked to, I would say, anywhere from two to six acres of strawberries.

CATHY WURZER: So, gosh. Maybe some small growers, if this continues, might go out of business.

TONYA SANNER: Yeah, that's the hard thing, is that in order to be-- we're lucky enough. My husband has a day job, which he keeps. But in order to do farming like this sort of thing full time, it's just becoming not very feasible because you can't rely on the weather. It's become very unpredictable.

And then you don't really want your children necessarily-- we have four children. And I don't necessarily want them if it's not reliable for that to be their own business because then there's so many risks involved with it that you just can't control.

CATHY WURZER: So in terms of the financial impact for your family, it's been a little mitigated, softened, because your husband has the day job.

TONYA SANNER: Yes. Yeah, we've been very lucky. He grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. And when we bought the place, he always said, I'm never going to leave my day job because I don't want to have to rely on this to pay our bills.

CATHY WURZER: So what about consumers? Because you're having these problems, what about them? Where do they go?

TONYA SANNER: We see kind of two different types of consumers in the sense that there are some that are very aware of what's going on. Visit the farmer's market regularly. And then we have consumers who really don't even understand or have a knowledge of when it's strawberry season. They end up going to the grocery store, and they see the berries there, and they think, oh, well, the berries are at the grocery store. What's the problem here in Minnesota?

But to be a small grower, how do I say? You have to be a really big grower to be able to take the losses and the hits as they come in order to keep sending them to the grocery store kind of thing.

CATHY WURZER: Say, before you go, you mentioned your Concord grape, you have them in the fall. Are they looking OK? Can folks come out and pick those when they're ready?

TONYA SANNER: Yeah. We were a little worried because we got hit pretty hard with hail as they were just coming out of their-- leafing out. But they have bounced back and they're doing pretty good, outside of the Japanese beetles that always attack them. We have about 640 vines, so we have a lot of them. And we do plan to be open for u-pick and pre-pick in the fall with those.

CATHY WURZER: I bet people pick those for what, jellies and jams?

TONYA SANNER: Yeah. You can actually eat them fresh. They do have seeds, but they have really grapy, grapy taste. So we make grape juice and jelly out of them.

CATHY WURZER: All right. Well, I appreciate the update. I wish you all the best. Thank you, Tonya.

TONYA SANNER: Thank. You

CATHY WURZER: Tonya Sanner is from Firefly Berries, which is based in Olmsted County in Southeastern Minnesota.

[MUSIC - THE BEATLES, "STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER"]

THE BEATLES: (SINGING) Let me take you down 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields. Nothing is real. And nothing to get hung about. Strawberry Fields forever.

CATHY WURZER: Say, have you ever noticed there aren't a lot of Black cartoon characters or fantasy figures, like sorcerers, fairies, or mermaids? If you page through coloring books, there aren't a lot of Black or Brown characters. But that is changing thanks to our next guest.

In 2020, Vegalia Jean-Pierre, a native Minnesotan, launched a TikTok account to find an audience for her set of digital brushes that draw Black hair textures, including braids, curls, locs, and twists. That was a very good move. She now has nearly 600,000 social media followers and a $50,000 grant to grow her business.

Those brushes by the way, can be found on Clip Studio Paint, Photoshop, Procreate, and other platforms. Vegalia, welcome to Minnesota Now.

VEGALIA JEAN-PIERRE: Thank you so much.

CATHY WURZER: Thanks for being with us. I appreciate your time. Say, the videos of you using your digital hairbrushes went viral. They're really fun to watch. Can you explain what that looks like for listeners?

VEGALIA JEAN-PIERRE: So if you can imagine a brush that you'd use traditionally, from that it would just come out as a regular stroke. But for digital tools, you can make a stamp pattern that can repeat over and over again. And in the market, there wasn't a lot of different hair texture options. Built into certain apps, there's straight hair. But curly hair, braids, that kind of texture wasn't built in.

So I was drawing a piece one day, and it took me about four hours to draw these micro braids, which are just really tiny braids. And I thought, there could be a better solution to this. There could be an easier way for braids or curls to be drawn so more people would be able to draw it and draw people of color, draw Black characters.

So I came up with this system pattern to help make curl patterns, to help make braids. So when you draw with a digital pen or with an Apple Pencil on your tablet or iPad, out comes this braid or curl texture so you don't have to put in as much work, and you can create these amazing characters that you might have not developed before.

CATHY WURZER: And then you decided to make videos of this and put them on TikTok, which obviously that just expanded your horizons. What did you think of that?

VEGALIA JEAN-PIERRE: I was very shocked when my TikTok videos blew up because before that, I was just making fun content. During the pandemic, we didn't have a lot going on, so I was just making fun content for me. And I thought, oh, these brushes are cool. I like using them. Why not put them on social media? So I did.

Most of my videos usually took hours for me to create. My first video of my brushes I did it in five minutes because I didn't think that much of it, and it hit 6 million views. So I was like, wow, this is really something. People really want this product, and I should develop more. So I did, and I have a lot of collections now.

CATHY WURZER: And you were invited to the TikTok for Black Creatives Incubator Program. That also must have been a huge open door for you.

VEGALIA JEAN-PIERRE: Yes. It was a little bit in response to all the things happening in 2020, especially in the summer of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement. So TikTok wanted to do something to support Black creatives. And we went through a three-to-four-month program where they taught us how to connect with brands, how to market yourself-- basically be a, quote unquote, "influencer," or a creator that has a career on social media.

And it was very helpful. And it was really helpful to know how I could market myself on social media because after that program launched and it was finished, that's when I launched my brushes. So I was very prepared for the virality of it all.

CATHY WURZER: [CHUCKLES] I also have to say, I loved your Melanin Magic coloring book. I thought that was beautiful. And I'd like you to talk a little bit about the importance of representation of Black and Brown faces in something as simple as a coloring book.

VEGALIA JEAN-PIERRE: Yeah, in coloring books, I mean, you can go to a store and get a magical girl coloring book, and there's not going to be a lot of Black characters in that. And even on TV, when you're looking at characters, you're not seeing a lot of Black characters, especially dark-skinned Black characters with kinky hair textures or really short hair textures.

So I brought 14 different artists together from all over the world, and I contacted them. I said, would you be interested in making a coloring book featuring all these Black magical beings? And they said, yeah, that'd be awesome. So over the span of two or three months, we created this book.

It features 35 different magical characters of mermaids, fairies, magical girls. It's very diverse, and it's been really well received. And I'm really excited to see especially all the very young kids using it and being able to see themselves in a coloring book, or just as a magical being in general.

CATHY WURZER: Have you had feedback from young kids?

TONYA SANNER: They've loved the book. I've been sent multiple pictures from parents of different kids using the book, coloring it, from all different backgrounds. Because I didn't want it just to be for Black kids. I wanted it to be for all kids. I just want Black beings of color to be represented more so that you can see them in that space.

So it's been very exciting to see all of them. Really excited about the book, especially the parents, because they know they weren't seeing themselves growing up with characters like this. So it's been a really, really good response.

CATHY WURZER: And you didn't see yourself either when you were growing up.

TONYA SANNER: No. I mean, I would pretend a lot of characters are Black, but they weren't, because that's kind of what you had to do. I liked Powerpuff Girls and Totally Spies. And I'd pretend that Buttercup-- I mean Blossom-- or whatever one had black hair, I'm like, yeah, she's the Black one. Because that's just what he had to do as a Black kid growing up with not a lot of magical characters out there.

CATHY WURZER: Let me ask you about being an artist. I've always admired the art and the story of another artist, Georgia O'Keeffe, who said, "I've been absolutely terrified every moment of my life, and I've never let it keep me from doing a single thing that I wanted to do." What were some of the hurdles you needed to jump to get to this stage of your career?

VEGALIA JEAN-PIERRE: Well, when I was growing up, my parents were always very supportive of my art career. But when I was in school, not a lot of, I guess, advisors are very supportive. Actually, when I was graduating from high school, my advisor said, don't pursue art. Pursue something more realistic.

And I was like, full-on art at that time. So it was very devastating for me to hear that. But luckily I did a lot of business, and so that's what I went to school for. And then I realized very quickly that I did not like business. So I went back into my art side and did product design, industrial design.

But yeah, different hurdles. I've always been the only Black person in a lot of these spaces. But that hasn't really stopped me from pursuing anything that I wanted because I've had very encouraging parents. And they both said nothing should limit you to your dreams. So I always tried very hard and strive for anything I wanted, and believe that you can make anything possible if you have the right people around you.

CATHY WURZER: What about art feeds your soul?

VEGALIA JEAN-PIERRE: Art is very expressive to me. I've always been an artist, ever since I was a baby. It's like an extension of myself. I feel like I can put pen to paper, or digital art, or photography because I do photography, and be able to express my emotions. Be able to just express a feeling or convey a story. I love storytelling.

Whether that be something very dramatic or something very simple. Like, the coloring book, I feel like, is a story in itself. It's hard to put into words, really, because it's something that's just the core nature of myself.

CATHY WURZER: So now that you're on this path, where do you think you want to take this? I mean when you look into your crystal ball, where do you where do you see yourself going?

VEGALIA JEAN-PIERRE: I want to build my team even bigger. I have a small team right now, and it's been amazing to connect with people who have a similar goal. My goal now and in the last few years has been to create stories or products or tools that create more diverse representation and inclusion, and create especially more, I would say, visual representation of these characters. Whether it be Black characters, Native American, Asian.

Right now, we're focusing on the Black space, but I believe there's so much work to be done in the inclusive realm. So that's what I want to continue to do with all the projects I have going on and in the future.

CATHY WURZER: Wow. I wish you well. And I thank you for your time today.

VEGALIA JEAN-PIERRE: Yes. Thank you so much.

CATHY WURZER: Vegalia Jean-Pierre is a digital creator from Saint Louis Park, Minnesota. You can find more of Vegalia's work on her website, byvegalia.com. And follow her on all social media platforms. She's on all of them, and she does all of her own social media, too, which is a lot of work. She is amazing.

ANNOUNCER: Support comes from Halunen Law, representing employees who challenge illegal workplace actions. When employees face sexual harassment or discrimination, Halunen ensures their voices are heard. Results that make a difference. H-A-L-U-N-E-N law.com.

CATHY WURZER: Got enough for you? Well, it was hot yesterday. It's still pretty toasty here today, except for Duluth, where it's 66 degrees in downtown Duluth. We'll check the forecast in just a moment. Thanks for listening to Minnesota Now.