Minnesota Now for July 21,2022

[MUSIC PLAYING] (SINGING) 1, 2, 3, 4.

CATHY WURZER: It's Minnesota Now. I'm Kathy Wurzer. Former Minneapolis police officer Thomas Lane was sentenced today for violating George Floyd's civil rights. We'll hear more. Controversial comedian Dave Chappelle has another show tonight in Minneapolis after First Ave canceled yesterday's show. What are employees saying? We'll find out.

End-of-life conversations are hard for anyone. Now consider how to talk about death and dying with people who have developmental disabilities. We'll talk with a U of M researcher. A fight on one of St. Paul's most historic streets over a bike lane expansion-- we'll get details. Our weekend festival segment focuses on Caribbean culture, that plus the song of the day and the Minnesota music minute.

All of that and more, right after the news.

LAKSHMI SINGH: Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh. President Biden has tested positive for the coronavirus-- White House saying he'll be isolating for at least five days. NPR's Tamara Keith reports the president has already begun treatment.

TAMARA KEITH: President Biden, who is 79 years old, has begun taking Paxlovid, a course of antiviral pills that greatly reduce the chances of severe COVID outcomes like hospitalization and death. It's a treatment available for free to all Americans who are at elevated risk from COVID. According to a letter from Biden's physician, Kevin O'Connor, the president is having mild symptoms-- a runny nose, fatigue, and dry cough.

The president traveled last week to Israel and Saudi Arabia and was largely mask-free in public. He had no public events earlier this week before traveling to Massachusetts for an event Wednesday. A spokesman says First Lady Jill Biden tested negative for COVID Thursday and will head to the family home in Wilmington, Delaware, for the weekend. Tamara Keith, NPR News.

LAKSHMI SINGH: One more hearing to go in the summertime series of compelling testimony video and documents the House select committee has been presenting in its investigation of then-president Donald Trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 election and the subsequent attack on the US Capitol last year. Sources say the public will hear tonight from former National Security Council member Matthew Pottinger and former Deputy White House Press Secretary Sarah Matthews. NPR's Susan Davis says the hearings are likely far from over.

SUSAN DAVIS: More hearings in the fall are absolutely possible. It's also likely that the committee issues an interim report before the election, possibly in September. A final report is expected before the end of the year.

There is some urgency here. Republicans are heavily favored to take over the House in November. And they have a very clear intention to end this committee if or when that happens. So Democrats have until the end of the year no matter what.

Also, keep in mind there's a trial underway for former Trump advisor Steve Bannon for refusing to comply with the committee subpoena. Depending on how that shakes out, it could open the door to Bannon testifying and providing documents to the panel that it's been seeking. And the verdict is expected in that case very soon.

LAKSHMI SINGH: Susan Davis reporting. Now to the war in Ukraine, where NPR's Joanna Kakissis reports Russia's attempting to take over Ukraine's second-biggest power plant, located in the eastern part of the country.

JOANNA KAKISSIS: A British intelligence report released today says Russian forces appear to be closing in on the Vuhlehirska Thermal Power Plant, about 31 miles northeast of Donetsk. The report says Russian troops are trying to capture Ukrainian infrastructure so they can advance toward the cities of Kramatorsk and Slovyansk in the Donetsk region. Russia wants to take over this region to consolidate its occupation of the industrial area known as Donbass.

But Ukrainian troops are fighting back. In a statement, the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces say they defended the plant and that the Russians were forced to flee for now. Joanna Kakissis, NPR News, Kyiv.

LAKSHMI SINGH: This is NPR News.

ANNOUNCER 1: Support for NPR comes from NPR stations. Other contributors include ProQuest, whose website, Black Freedom Struggle in the US, curates 2,000 documents related to the fight for civil and human rights open to all at proquest.com/go/blackfreedom.

CATHY WURZER: At noon in Minnesota, skies are sunny, and temperatures are pretty pleasant-- highs today, upper 70s to the upper 80s. Right now, in Fergus Falls, it's sunny and 77. It's 81 in Red Wing. And outside Ryden's Store near Grand Portage, it's sunny and 55. I'm Cathy Wurzer with Minnesota news headlines.

One of the former officers charged in George Floyd's death was sentenced on federal civil rights charges this morning. Thomas Lane will spend 30 months in prison. We'll have more in a minute.

Minnesota US Senator Tina Smith says she's tested positive for COVID. Smith made that announcement on social media last night. She didn't offer any details about her recent travels or contacts but said she was experiencing mild symptoms.

A two-month-old baby is the second person to die from injuries suffered in a suspected drunken driving crash involving a superior Wisconsin police officer. Tim Nelson has more.

TIM NELSON: The Hennepin County medical examiner says the two-month-old boy, Elijah Ojanen of Virginia, Minnesota, died at Children's Hospital in Minneapolis on Tuesday, days after the crash. A criminal complaint against Gregory Swanson says he hit a disabled car sitting in the right lane of a street in Superior without its lights on shortly after 1:00 AM last Friday.

The crash left a 23-year-old Eau Claire man dead at the scene. The baby was one of at least two other people in the car hospitalized with injuries. "The Superior Telegram" reports witnesses saw Swanson discarding alcoholic beverage containers a few blocks from the scene shortly after the crash.

Swanson, age 42, is a 15-year veteran of the Superior Police Department and is facing a charge of homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle. He's been placed on administrative leave, and a state prosecutor is handling the case for Douglas County. I'm Tim Nelson.

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CATHY WURZER: Back to that top story, former Minneapolis police officer Thomas Lane was sentenced this morning for violating George Floyd's civil rights. A federal judge gave Lane a 30-month sentence. Lane was found guilty at a federal trial in February of failing to provide Floyd with needed medical care.

Two other former police officers involved in Floyd's death have yet to be sentenced. NPR news reporter Jon Collins was at the courthouse today for the sentencing, and he's been following Lane's case. He joins us right now to talk more about what happened. Thanks for joining us, Jon.

JON COLLINS: Thanks for having me.

CATHY WURZER: How much of that 30-month sentence will Thomas Lane likely serve?

JON COLLINS: So rules for federal and state prison are different. In Minnesota, in state prison, almost all inmates serve 2/3 of their time in prison and then 1/3 of their time they're sentenced to in what's called supervised release.

But in federal prison, they can earn what's called good time. And assuming they get that, they typically serve 85%, so about 20% more time behind bars in federal prison than in Minnesota state prison. So in this case, it will be right around a little more than 20 months that he'll be serving.

CATHY WURZER: OK. Former Officer Lane pleaded guilty in state court back in May to charges of aiding and abetting second degree manslaughter. And as part of that deal, prosecutors agreed to a sentence of three years and that he'll serve the time in federal prison rather than state prison. So did that impact the federal sentencing as well?

JON COLLINS: Yeah. Excuse me. I actually wanted to correct-- I just said 20 months. I meant to say 25 and 1/2 months. That's where it is.

So these sentences-- the federal and the state ones-- will be served what's called concurrently. So that means at the same time. And the actual time he'll serve in his federal sentence is a couple of months longer than he would serve in state prison.

But where the state court really affects this federal court process is when Lane is expected to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons. He's not being sentenced in state court until the end of September, although we already know what his plea deal was. So the federal judge has set Lane's day of surrender when he will start serving his sentence for October 4. So he's not going to be in federal custody until then.

CATHY WURZER: I'm wondering, Jon, Lane's former colleagues, former officers Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng, haven't been sentenced yet in federal court. They're scheduled to go on trial on state charges of aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter in October. So can we expect, do you think, similar outcomes for them as well? Or will their cases be different?

JON COLLINS: Yeah, this gets a little complicated. But, speaking overall, Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng have tougher cases than Lane did. They've also faced more charges.

So in federal court, Lane was convicted of deliberate indifference to George Floyd's medical needs, as were both Thao and Kueng. But in addition, Thao Kueng were convicted of failing to intervene with Chauvin's actions. So they'll be sentenced on that count as well.

And then, in state court, Kueng and Thao chose not to take plea deals like Lane did. So the state charges are aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter, a completely different premise than the federal trial that we just got through for violating George Floyd's civil rights.

So Thao and Kueng are seen as potentially less sympathetic than Thomas Lane because Thomas Lane, after all, did ask Derek Chauvin multiple times whether they should flip Floyd over so he can breathe. And he did give him CPR in the ambulance. So we'll just see as that process plays out.

CATHY WURZER: Say, by the way, in the courtroom today, did Thomas Lane say anything?

JON COLLINS: Thomas Lane chose not to make any statements, and that includes both to the judge to influence the sentencing, potentially, and to Floyd's family, who was in the courtroom. And this was-- you may remember that Derek Chauvin was just sentenced not too long ago. And he did choose to at least make some very brief statements to the Floyd family. But Lane chose not to for whatever reason, probably a legal reason.

CATHY WURZER: What were your observations of the judge today?

JON COLLINS: Yeah, so the judge spoke directly to Lane. And he told Lane that he was impressed by his character. And then he mentioned all the unique letters that he's received from the public on Lane's behalf. And in most cases, the judge said, defense attorneys pretty much hand out form letters to the friends and family of defendants and have them send those in. But in this case, the judge said he received 145 unique letters.

And after this judge's very long career, he said he's never received so many letters for a defendant. So he seemed affected by that. And some letters that he specifically pointed out came from doctors, who said early in their careers, they made a choice of deferring to a senior colleague, and they made a mistake that they always regretted, which, of course, could potentially apply to Lane's situation as well.

CATHY WURZER: Of course, we're talking about Judge Paul Magnuson, who's been around for a very long time.

JON COLLINS: That's right.

CATHY WURZER: On the other side of the coin here, Jon, the victim impact statements are always poignant. And I thought George Floyd's girlfriend had a powerful statement.

JON COLLINS: Yeah, she did. She went through the impact of Floyd's killing on her personally and the sort of loss that she said both herself and the community have experienced from not just the perspective of him being a loved one of her, but him being a person who had a sense of humor and who loved to crack jokes and would intervene if he saw something that he felt was unjust happening.

But towards the end of her statement, she addressed Lane. And she said she doesn't believe he's a bad guy. But she urged him to pay his dues and then to come out of prison and be a hero and do the right things, commit himself to doing the right things.

CATHY WURZER: I'm curious about the members of Floyd's family. Were they there? What do they have to say about this?

JON COLLINS: Yeah, so there were two members of Floyd's family that spoke at the hearing. Philonise Floyd, George Floyd's brother, told the judge how Floyd's murder has haunted their family and just the impact that his loss has had. He said he thinks about it all the time. It's hard to get out of his head. And Floyd's family was asking for the maximum punishment.

CATHY WURZER: And, of course, they didn't get the maximum punishment. 30 months is toward the lower end, right?

JON COLLINS: Yeah, that's right. The defense was asking for 27 months. So this is just three months more than the defense was hoping for. And it's less than half of what prosecutors were asking for. So in some ways, this may be the judge acknowledging that Lane played less of a role in this crime than his former colleagues did.

CATHY WURZER: All right. Jon Collins, thank you so very much.

JON COLLINS: Thanks for having me.

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CATHY WURZER: Controversial comedian Dave Chappelle has another show tonight at the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis. About 50 protesters met fans waiting to get into Chappelle's performance last night at the Varsity. Chappelle was to perform at First Avenue, but that venue canceled the show just hours before he was to go on stage.

There's been a whirlwind of outrage over the last-minute booking of the comedian in the Twin Cities. MPR news reporter Grace Birnstengel is covering the controversy. She's with us right now. Hey, Grace.

GRACE BIRNSTENGEL: Hey, Kathy. Thanks for having me.

CATHY WURZER: This all happened really fast-- the booking, the cancellation, the show at the Varsity. What's the issue with Chappelle?

GRACE BIRNSTENGEL: So, to put it simply, the issue is that people have with Dave Chappelle is that he regularly mocks transgender people in his comedy routines, and he has for a long time. This isn't just a one-time thing. And they're not even really jokes. He's previously said that his views on gender are facts and that he won't apologize for anything he's said.

He often invalidates the existence of trans people. He jokes about their bodies and has compared being trans to wearing blackface. I also just read the Star Tribune review from last night's show at the Varsity. And, yes, it turns out he referred to the people protesting the show as transgender lunatics. And he also called monkeypox a gay disease, which it is, of course, not.

And I think the distinction here really is that he was booked at First Avenue. People are not under any sort of impression that Dave Chappelle will not be booked at any venues. But it's the fact that First Avenue has always really positioned itself as a place that has really strong LGBTQ allyship.

They're very active during Pride Month. They sell branded merch with rainbows on it. So it's just really hurtful to the community for a place like First Avenue to book somebody who's just so blatantly transphobic.

CATHY WURZER: So you've been talking, I know, to First Ave employees. What were they saying about the show?

GRACE BIRNSTENGEL: Yeah, so the show was announced Monday. And on Tuesday evening, I met up with about eight event staff at First Avenue who are all trans or queer or both. And they told me that the majority of event staff who are the folks at First Ave that take your tickets, that work the bar, do security, that the majority of them are within the LGBTQ community and that this is really a slap in the face.

And it also means that, if Dave Chappelle were to perform there, that many trans people would then have to work the show and hear attacks on their identity and serve people who support that kind of behavior who would go see Dave Chappelle. There's a stereotype within the community that companies put up Pride flags in June, and then they burn them in July. And one of the staffers that I talked to mentioned that, and I think that's a bit true in this instance.

Employees also said they couldn't believe that First Avenue announced this on such short notice and didn't talk to employees about it and also mostly ignored emails that came in from concerned staff.

CATHY WURZER: So the pressure to cancel just didn't come from the employees, right?

GRACE BIRNSTENGEL: No, definitely not. If you were on Twitter at all in the past couple of days, and you live around here, you probably saw a lot of people speaking out about it. And a lot of local bands, too, were saying that they were really disappointed in First Avenue.

And then a local nonprofit called Reclaim, which provides mental health support for queer and trans youth, they came out with a statement saying that they would no longer accept financial donations from First Avenue, which is significant because First Avenue chose Reclaim as the beneficiary of the profits from their 2022 Pride shirts. So they will not be accepting that money.

CATHY WURZER: So what's First Avenue's management saying about all this.

GRACE BIRNSTENGEL: Well, they released a statement yesterday on Facebook and Twitter that's a little vague. They didn't specifically call out transphobic comments but just kind of said, we hear you, and we apologize for overseeing this. We're listening to you, so we're moving this to the Varsity Theater.

But they haven't said anything besides that. And I checked in with some staffers this morning, and they still haven't heard anything else from the venue. So it's really just the statement that you can see online.

CATHY WURZER: Just curious here before you go-- any staffers, what do they think about what appears to be kind of an apology?

GRACE BIRNSTENGEL: Well, I think people are, of course, relieved that he's not performing at First Avenue anymore. But the folks that I talked to said it wasn't enough of an apology, and they would like to see more action to make this right and that the apology read like saving face. People are still really hurt and frustrated that this even happened in the first place. And, again, the staff people I talked to would like to see First Avenue have a big conversation with staff about how this happened and to really hear people out and for the venue to take some accountability for the future and how they might do things differently.

CATHY WURZER: All right. Grace, thank you so much.

GRACE BIRNSTENGEL: Thank you, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: Grace Birnstengel is a digital engagement reporter for MPR News. Chappelle, by the way, is performing tonight and tomorrow at the Varsity Theater.

[MUSIC - JS ONDARA, "AN ALIEN IN MINNEAPOLIS"]

(SINGING) Look now what I've become, someone from another space and time. Look now what I've become. Does anyone know? Look now what I've become, someone from another space--

CATHY WURZER: This is, of course, our Minnesota music minute. This is a new one from Ondara called "An Alien in Minneapolis." Born and raised in Kenya, he moved to Minneapolis in 2013 to pursue a musical career. And his new album is due out in September.

[MUSIC - JS ONDARA, "AN ALIEN IN MINNEAPOLIS"]

(SINGING) You took all the birds, and then you sent me away. You took all our friends and added them to your band. The '70s records--

CATHY WURZER: 12:19 here on Minnesota Now from MPR. I'm Cathy Wurzer. You might know that this is Disability Pride Month, which celebrates all people living with disabilities. The month also commemorates the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act in July of 1990.

University of Minnesota Professor Roger Stancliffe's research focuses on making lives better for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, especially when it comes to the end of life. The professor is with us right now. Welcome to Minnesota Now.

ROGER STANCLIFFE: Hi, Cathy. Good to be with you, and great to have the opportunity to talk about this important topic, made all the more important by the fact that we so rarely talk about it.

CATHY WURZER: Exactly. There isn't a lot of research done on people with disabilities. How do you become interested in this subject? I'm curious.

ROGER STANCLIFFE: Well, in terms of end of life, a great colleague and former PhD student of mine, Michelle Wiese back in Australia-- you can hear that I've got an Australian accent-- was supporting her father as he was dying. And she's also a disability researcher and just started thinking about how all the people with disability and their families experience this. And for the last 15 years or so, we've been working on understanding that experience.

CATHY WURZER: Your most recent research zeros in on end-of-life issues, things like suicide, DNR, do not resuscitate orders, advanced care directives, accessible funerals. And you call these topics under-researched. Why do you think that is?

ROGER STANCLIFFE: Well partly because of what I've just mentioned, the fact that death and dying are taboo topics in our society. So we don't talk about them. And then when you add that to disability, and intellectual and developmental disability, where people are less sure how to approach these issues, it becomes a little bit more difficult.

CATHY WURZER: I'm betting many doctors and caregivers have not talked to a person with intellectual or physical disabilities about their dying and death. What are the barriers to having these conversations? What framework can be used to enter into these conversations?

ROGER STANCLIFFE: Well, I think one of the barriers is that, particularly for people with intellectual disability, they may have some issues with understanding and with communication. And many clinicians don't have the experience or skills to help with that communication.

So sometimes it's important to have a support person present to help to ensure that the person understands what they're being told and to enable them to ask questions. That's one of the issues that people with intellectual and developmental disability confront in all parts of life, including the end of life.

CATHY WURZER: People with intellectual disabilities are more likely, I understand, to have unidentified health needs. It makes it harder to recognize when they're approaching the end of their life, which means they have less time to plan and get support and that kind of thing. What should be done about that?

ROGER STANCLIFFE: Well, you're correct. People frequently have diagnosed conditions but also some undiagnosed conditions, but probably even more importantly like that is the conspiracy of silence around death. Very often, people feel uncomfortable in talking about those issues and don't know how to approach a person with disability. And so they deal with it through avoidance and exclusion.

So now a very common experience for somebody who has a known terminal condition is that they may be told that they're sick, but they're not told that they're dying. And so they're excluded from the opportunity to say goodbye, to plan, to think about what they want to do with the rest of their life if they simply don't know that this health condition is going to end with their death.

CATHY WURZER: I had a friend who actually had several disabilities. And he said, just be honest. Just be honest with me. Tell me the truth. And I would agree-- I would think that you would agree with that.

ROGER STANCLIFFE: Absolutely, and equally importantly, tell it to me in a way that I can understand.

CATHY WURZER: Yes, exactly. Your research also is quite interesting. And I did not know this. Your research indicates that people with disabilities are often excluded from traditional funeral rituals. Can you tell me more about that?

ROGER STANCLIFFE: Yes. Sadly, that's the case. Just imagine for a second what that must be like as an experience as a family member where, for whatever reason, you don't get to participate in that really important ritual and say goodbye to somebody you love and you spent your life with.

Sadly, we came across a number of examples like this in our research back in Australia. And I'm sure it also happens in the United States, that families feel uncomfortable, don't know what to do, or worry that the person will become upset. And they deal with that not by including and supporting them, but by saying, well, maybe you shouldn't come to the funeral.

And we have examples of that in the book that we published recently where a woman in Australia, who is called Gina in this particular example, was excluded from her mother's funeral. And for many years after, she kept bringing up that concern because she was distressed by it.

And it was only after people listened and took her view seriously and gave her the opportunity to go and visit her mother's grave and spend time there and actually have a conversation with her mother, as it were, that she started to resolve those feelings, all of which could have been avoided if she had been included in the normal way.

CATHY WURZER: As I mentioned, this seems a lot of these problems are because people just don't know how to open the conversation, right? And as I said in the introduction, even everyone-- most people don't even know how to enter into these conversations and do them with some meaning. Are there resources available? Have you come across resources, good ones in your research, where folks who have a friend or a family member who has disabilities, where they can maybe tap into some good information?

ROGER STANCLIFFE: Well, fortunately, that's absolutely the case. Unfortunately, it seems that people don't know about these resources. But there are lots of wonderful resources, many designed specifically to assist people with intellectual and developmental disability.

One example is the British series Books Beyond Words, which, for example, one title is When Mum Died. And these are books that have illustrations in them of what happens around dying and death and funerals and the like without any words, so that you can share that with the person with intellectual disability and tailor the specifics to that person's own situation so it makes sense to them.

And there are lots of other wonderful resources, resources to enable people with intellectual disability to plan what they want in the final years before they die. So, yes, there are lots of resources. As I mentioned, the book that we've published recently, in each of the chapters, has a list of relevant resources. And we hope that they will be helpful to people to give them a starting point in having these conversations with a family member or person they support who has an intellectual disability.

CATHY WURZER: All right. We look forward to that. Professor, thank you for your time today.

ROGER STANCLIFFE: It's been a pleasure.

CATHY WURZER: Professor Roger Stancliffe is a senior research associate at the University of Minnesota's Institute on Community Integration.

ANNOUNCER 2: Support comes from Theater Latté Da's production of 12 Angry Men, a new musical-- The Star Tribune says "a must-see." This musical adaptation of the courtroom drama runs one final week through July 24. Tickets at latteda.org.

ANNOUNCER 3: Support comes from the Science Museum of Minnesota, offering a summer of outer space exploration right in St. Paul on the planet Earth, featuring new and existing exhibits, omnitheater experiences, events, and more. Tickets and information at smm.org.

CATHY WURZER: Here's a guy who's out of the world-- out of this world, John Wanamaker, with a look at the news. John?

JOHN WANAMAKER: Thanks, Cathy. President Joe Biden says he's doing great after testing positive for COVID-19. The White House said today that the 79-year-old Biden is experiencing very mild symptoms including a stuffy nose, fatigue, and cough.

He's taking Paxlovid, an antiviral drug designed to reduce the severity of the disease. Biden is fully vaccinated, has received two boosters. When a fully-vaccinated person experiences infection, the chance of severe illness or death is low. The White House says Biden is isolating at the White House but carrying out his duties via phone and Zoom.

Russian shelling pounded a densely populated area in Ukraine's second-largest city Thursday, killing at least three people and injuring at least 23 others with a barrage that struck a mosque, a medical facility, and a shopping area that, according to officials and witnesses, the bombardment came after Russia on Wednesday reiterated its plans to seize territories beyond Eastern Ukraine.

The House January 6 committee is headed back to primetime for its eighth hearing tonight. It might be the final time this summer that lawmakers lay out evidence about the US Capitol insurrection and President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat. Tonight's hearing is expected to focus on what Trump was doing in the White House as the violence unfolded.

Republican Congressman and committee member Adam Kinzinger says he expects the hearing will, quote, "open people's eyes in a big way." This will be the panel's second primetime hearing. The first was watched by more than 20 million people. Live coverage on MPR News begins this evening at 6:30.

A majority of Americans say Congress should pass a law guaranteeing access to legal abortion nationwide. That's according to a new poll from the Associated Press NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The Supreme Court's recent decision overturning Roe v Wade asserted that abortion is not a constitutional right and handed states the authority to severely restrict or ban abortion.

The poll shows many Americans back some restrictions on abortion, especially after the first trimester. This is MPR News.

CATHY WURZER: Thanks, Jon-- 12:30 here on Minnesota Now. Driving along St. Paul's historic Summit Avenue, you're going to see a growing number of lawn signs with SOS on them asking the city to save our street. Members of the St. Paul Bicycle Coalition are rallying for a new bike trail along Summit Avenue.

While some bicyclists are happy about more accessible bike paths, some residents worry that the potential trail will uproot many of the street's majestic trees and change the feel of the historic neighborhood. Fred Melo is a reporter at The St. Paul Pioneer Press who's been following this story. Hey, Fred. How are you?

FRED MELO: I'm good. It's a great day for a bike ride, actually-- beautiful out.

CATHY WURZER: It is. It's lovely. It's lovely. Thanks for joining us. Say, tell us about this bike path idea. How extensive is this?

FRED MELO: Well, I think it'll be extensive. But we don't really know exactly what the final plan will look like. There's no draft master plan out.

There's been a lot of talk a lot of community engagement from the city. The city says, hey, look, we need to fix Summit Avenue. There's a big stretch, half-mile from Lexington Parkway to Victoria Avenue, that could be reconstructed as soon as next year.

The entire avenue-- it's home to the governor's residence. It's home to 373 Victorian-era mansions, the longest stretch of Victorian-era mansions in the nation. But the road is bogus. The road is bumpy. It's crap. So it needs to be fixed.

While we do that, can we maybe do something for the bikes? Can we add some kind of elevated trail on the sidewalk level, an off-street trail that would be a little more accessible than the in-street trails that are there now? Folks are-- a lot of homeowners have signs up on their lawns. They're freaking out. They're saying, what does that mean? Are you going to get rid of my trees?

And the city is saying, no, no, no. We didn't say that. The plan isn't published yet. But let's study parking. There's a lot of areas where parking is really underutilized on the avenue.

So we don't know what that final plan will look like. But some members of the St. Paul Bicycle Coalition are saying talking about trees is a red herring. They're not going to remove all these trees that you're envisioning.

CATHY WURZER: They just--

FRED MELO: We don't know yet.

CATHY WURZER: OK. So the bicyclists are thinking that the residents are worried about, what, more traffic, less parking, and, of course, as you mentioned, the trees?

FRED MELO: Yeah. There's a lot of mature trees, I'd say, east of Lexington Parkway. And the city has acknowledged that they want to preserve those.

But there's long stretches of Summit where you don't really see that much parking utilization. It gets a little hairier around the University of St. Thomas, gets a little hairier around Dale Street. But elsewhere, there's areas where fewer than 30% of the parking spots are in heavy use or in overnight use.

So there's room in certain segments to actually kind of maybe remove some parking and do a trail on one side of the street or even on two sides of the street. And there's lots of different segments to Summit Avenue. There's places where there's this big median in the middle of the street that kind of complicates things. And there's areas where there is no median.

So it'll probably be different approaches in different segments. But that whole section, from the Cathedral to Lexington Parkway, there's a lot of concern among homeowners that if you do kind of one two-way trail, you're going to have a lot of conflicts between bikes and cars.

CATHY WURZER: And the residents say that the city could and should make Summit's existing street lanes safer for biking, that there are ways to do that. So they're not exactly anti-bike.

FRED MELO: No, not at all. In fact, I interviewed the owner of a bike shop on Grand Avenue, who has one of the oldest bike shops in the city. And he's going, I love biking. Don't do a two-way trail from the Cathedral to Lexington Parkway.

So he has very specific sense of what kind of infrastructure he wants. He wants the road repaved. He wants it to be less bumpy. But keep the bike lanes in the street.

The problem there is that the city really wants to create a better connection, more of a network to Mississippi River Boulevard, to the Sam Morgan Regional Trail, which kind of follows Shepard Road into downtown. So they want something a bit more accessible.

When you see these elevated bikeways on Wheelock Parkway or an elevated parkway on a big section of Como Avenue, it's right at sidewalk level. It's something I'd feel comfortable on with my kids. It's almost like an extension of the sidewalk than an extension of the street.

That kind of off-street trail is kind of the thinking in terms of making biking accessible to everybody. So there's a lot of interest in that. But there's also opposition. And even a lieutenant governor candidate is weighing in.

CATHY WURZER: Mm. I was going to say there's an interesting war of words between all parties involved. Is there any middle ground here?

FRED MELO: Yeah. I think once we have an actual concrete plan-- a draft master plan will be published later this summer-- there'll be an opportunity to say, OK, this is exactly how many trees might be impacted. Until then, we're just kind of talking about hypotheticals.

The St. Paul Bicycle Coalition will accuse the homeowners of scare tactics. The homeowners will point to a Ramsey County project that happened on Cleveland Avenue that was only supposed to take out 55 trees and is now going to take out nearly 106. So there's certainly a precedent in other parts of the city for projects to get a little bigger than planners expected.

So we'll have to wait and see. But certainly, that portion of Summit Avenue from Lexington Parkway to Victoria is going to be the priority for 2023.

CATHY WURZER: By the way, hasn't this been going on for a while now? If my memory serves me, this idea has been floating out there for quite some time.

FRED MELO: I can't tell you offhand how long that idea of an off-street trail on Summit has been there. Summit was built for bikes in the 1890s. It certainly is one of these historic, beautiful streets with a big grassy median in parts that lends itself to biking. And then cars were the later entry into that.

What's not new is the idea of an off-street trail. They're trying to create an off-street bike loop downtown. That's moving forward. You already have some of that infrastructure in place. I think the first segment was Jackson Street.

You just saw something like that open on Como Avenue, Wheelock Parkway from Dale to Como. One of the arguments is the more of a network you create-- someone says, oh, I don't see a lot of cyclists on this bike trail or that bike trail. Well, that's because it doesn't go anywhere.

Once you have a long stretch that actually connects to other trails, you create a network. And that's what will improve our bicycling infrastructure.

CATHY WURZER: OK. Interesting story, Fred. Thanks for covering it.

FRED MELO: Thank you for having me on.

CATHY WURZER: And, of course, we'll continue to follow your story. Thank you. Fred Melo is a reporter at the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

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ANNOUNCER 4: Programming is supported by PaintCare, now with more than 260 dropoff sites in Minnesota where households and businesses can recycle their leftover paint. More at paintcare.org.

CATHY WURZER: Well, this summer, on Minnesota Now, we're putting a spotlight on community gatherings across the state. And this week, we're featuring Twin Cities Carifest. From good food to music and a carnival parade, Twin Cities Carifest is a time when Minnesota's Caribbean community comes together to celebrate their rich cultural traditions. Minnesota Now producer Simone Cazares spoke with the executive director of the festival James Byron.

SIMONE CAZARES: So when I think about Minnesota's Caribbean community, it reminds me of the old saying, [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH], which means, "We are little, but we are strong," in Jamaican patois. Can you speak to the tight-knit Caribbean community here in Minnesota and how people show up for each other?

JAMES BYRON: Seeing that we're all basically immigrants that come here from somewhere else, and seeing that we're all from the Caribbean, we're a bunch of little islands but are still interwoven as a great fabric. And within the upper Midwest-- let's take where we live in Minneapolis and St. Paul. We associate with everybody.

Everyone practically knows everyone. And if you don't know, that person somebody will ask, you know that person down there? And therein lies that chain that we survive by. We are all Caribbean, no matter what color, creed, or island you come from, we are all one.

SIMONE CAZARES: Being Jamaican myself, I've definitely seen that in Minnesota's Caribbean community. And Carifest is one of the biggest events of the year.

JAMES BYRON: So with Carifest, it's the one place in Minnesota that if you haven't seen a Caribbean person all year, come to Carifest. 99% of the time, they will be there at Carifest. It's the one meeting place that we all come to in the summer.

Most of our summer activities and events are built around Carifest. So somebody taking a vacation would postpone it or take it before Carifest to be there at Carifest. It's such a family-oriented event that we look forward to each and every year.

SIMONE CAZARES: All right, James. Let's start with the headliners. I know we have some pretty big names coming to Minnesota this year.

JAMES BYRON: This year, we have a host of artists. We have all the local artists-- well, not all, but most of the local artists, like Iras, Innocent, Wain McFarlane, irieSOL, Socaholix, Samantha Moon. And it's headlined by the Request Band Rayzor, Leonce, and the request band Ravi B, Nisha B, and the [? Kamba ?] coming out of Trinidad.

SIMONE CAZARES: All right. So I know you've got a lot of really good Caribbean food vendors as well. Who's coming to Carifest this year?

JAMES BYRON: We have Extreme Cuisine that will be there. [INAUDIBLE] vibes will be there. [? Reggae ?] Vibes will be there. We have this guy, [? Cleve, ?] that has the best Caribbean barbecue. He'll also be there.

Any Caribbean dish you think about, you could find there at the festival on that day. They say, "Eat, drink, and be merry." And we'll offer that.

SIMONE CAZARES: And what have you heard from members of Minnesota's Caribbean community? What are they most excited about this year?

JAMES BYRON: Our largest target market is Guyanese and [? East ?] [? Indian ?] from Trinidad. So Ravi B is a big draw. And for the others, Farmer Nappy is a huge draw. And people love that because Farmer Nappy is one of the new [INAUDIBLE] stars that is coming out of Trinidad and Tobago right now.

So people are excited that he's coming. It's the first time up in the Midwest.

SIMONE CAZARES: All right, James. Before you go, what are you most excited about for this year's Carifest?

JAMES BYRON: I am excited for the parade more than anything else. Like I say, you could have a music show anywhere, any day. But we at Carifest offer something of the carnival aspect that you could only find at Carifest. And the parade this year, I'm hoping that people come out and put their costume on and parade. And let's show people how we have a good time.

SIMONE CAZARES: Well, I'm really excited for this year's Carifest. Thank you so much for joining me on Minnesota Now.

JAMES BYRON: Thank you so much, Simone.

SIMONE CAZARES: That was Minnesota Now producer Simone Cazares speaking with James Byron, the executive director of Twin Cities Carifest. It happens this weekend in Bloomington.

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The Twins are off, but that doesn't mean there is a dearth of sports news happening. The 3M Open Golf Tournament is underway at the TPC in Blaine. Minnesota United beat the English Premier League's Everton last night in an exhibition game. The Minnesota Aurora women's soccer team is prepping for a championship match this weekend.

With more on these tidbits and other sports stories, Wally and Eric are here, Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson. Wally is the founder of Minnesota Score Magazine and a host of 10,000 Takes sports show, heard on radio stations around the state and seen on Twin Cities TV. Eric Nelson is the co-host of 10,000 Takes and the Vikings reporter for CBS radio's Eye on the NFL. Hey, guys. How are you guys doing?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Good, Cathy. How are you?

CATHY WURZER: I'm fine. Thank you. Eric?

ERIC NELSON: Yeah.

CATHY WURZER: Are you here, too?

ERIC NELSON: Good afternoon, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: Good afternoon.

ERIC NELSON: Good to be on.

CATHY WURZER: I'm assuming you guys are in Blaine. Is that right?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, I'm here. I know Eric is on his way. And, obviously, as you mentioned a few moments ago, it's underway. The 3M Open is underway. Currently, the leader is Scott Piercy. He is at 6 under, along with Sung-jae Im, both of those at 6 under par.

The defending champion, Cameron Champ, he is teeing off right now, as a matter of fact, along with another former champion, Michael Thompson-- so two of the three previous champions in this tournament teeing off. And they will be playing in the same group.

A nice crowd on hand so far, and of course, obviously, the skies are blue, and there's no rain in sight. So that's a good piece of weather tidbit that I'm sure the folks out here are happy about, Cathy, because when we were out here last year-- Eric and I were out here last year doing some radio work-- we got shuttled into cover areas because there were storms coming. And they had all kinds of issues. So, hopefully, the rain holds off.

CATHY WURZER: So, Eric, isn't this a pretty big deal?

ERIC NELSON: Yeah, it's a huge deal, especially in Minnesota, which lobbied for years to become part of the PGA TOUR. This is the 43rd stop on the tour. The season begins late in 2021 and obviously goes deep into 2022.

So if you look at the purse, the payout for the 3M Open, the fourth edition, it's $7.5 million. And the winner will pocket $1.35 million. So it's like winning the golf lottery.

And it sounds like a lot, and it is. But that's really 18% of the total payout, and that's the PGA standard. So if you can win a couple of tournaments in a year, you're in good shape.

Now, as far as what this does for Blaine and the North Metro and the Twin Cities, it's expected to pump in $50 million of economic impact. There could be up to 150,000 golf fans flocking to the course. It really began earlier in the week with things like the Pro-Am. As Wally said, the actual competition begins today. They will crown a champion on Sunday.

So if the weather holds up-- and it should-- there's going to be a lot of people at TPC. And one other thing-- Blaine is a little bit of a sports mecca, in some ways, because you have the World Cup soccer, the largest youth tournament on the globe. And that just happened a couple of weeks ago. So Blaine will take your money and smile when they do.

CATHY WURZER: Say, Wally, before we go on to some other topics here, but given that the Twin Cities is now in a drought, how does the course look?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, it's dry, obviously. And it'll play fast. That's for sure.

But from what we saw-- I walked around the course yesterday-- it looked good. They do such a great job out here. One other thing I wanted to point out that we didn't mention-- there are several guys that are missing from this tournament this year--

CATHY WURZER: That's right.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: --that have played here in the past. They're playing in that Saudi 54 tournament, the LIV, so to speak, including big names like Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, who played here last year, Brooks Koepka. These are all guys that have played in this tournament in its four-year history. And none of them are here because they're getting paid big money by the Saudis to play in that 54 tournament.

CATHY WURZER: All right. Let's move on to the Twins. As I mentioned, they're off until, what, Saturday?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Correct. Yeah, it's an odd schedule for them. They have a number of days off coming up, including Friday. Most of Major League Baseball gets back underway off the all-star break on Friday. But the Twins are off until Saturday.

They travel to Detroit. Detroit is wallowing in misery again this year. Eric had them winning the division, I think, but they've been terrible again. So don't take your money to Las Vegas with anything he says. That's for sure.

But as far as the Twins go, they're trying to hold off both Cleveland and the White Sox-- Cleveland two games behind, Chicago three games behind the Twins. And the question now becomes, as we get towards the end of July and into the first part of August, when the trade deadline comes up, will the Twins make a move? Will they try?

Look, they've got Carlos Correa that they spent $35 million on this year. That's his salary, one year. So if you're going to spend that kind of money on a guy, you would think that you would go out and try to supplement a playoff run. And they're going to need to do it by the first week of August.

The flip side of that is that maybe they trade him and get some assets that they can use in the future. But I don't think that they're going to do that. I think that they're going to add a piece or two. I think that they're going to-- they need to add pitching is what they need, certainly a starter and most definitely a relief pitcher.

CATHY WURZER: Eric?

ERIC NELSON: Well, the good news this week if you're a Twins fan is that in that all-star game Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles-- and I know a lot of people apparently didn't watch. It got some record low ratings, only 7.51 million viewers on Fox. But that's still a few eyeballs.

So if you did tune in, you saw Luis Arraez, one of the Twins' all-star reps, get a single in the game. He played a lot of innings.

And how about Byron Buxton? You had to be happy for Byron because of all the injuries he's battled and had to overcome in his star-crossed 10-year career. So in his first-ever all-star game, he connected. He hit a home run 420-plus feet into the left field pavilion at Dodger Stadium. And it gave the American League a 3-2 lead. They wind up winning the game, their ninth straight victory in the all-star game.

So for Byron Buxton, a little bit of a personal coming out party on a national stage. And, hopefully, he's able to play the rest of this regular season, and if they make the playoffs, into the postseason as well. But I think Byron's star was shining bright amongst a galaxy of stars out there in SoCal.

CATHY WURZER: I was among those who did not watch. OK, so let's talk about-- sorry.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: There's a shock.

CATHY WURZER: --since it's July, kind of mid-July already, let's talk the NFL. Vikings training camp starts.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Ugh. I know. And I love the NFL during the regular season. But it's all the other stuff. It's the mid-February to September 1 stuff that I could-- personally I could ignore.

But training camp does open July 31 at the TCO Performance Center. This will be the 62nd training camp in team history for the Minnesota Vikings. Of course, this is all out in Eagan now-- no longer Mankato, as you know. But what's new this year, of course, is new head coach in Kevin O'Connell, new general manager, plenty of new names on the squad this year. We'll see how it shakes out.

But they're going to get underway before you know it. And we'll be talking football with you just about every week from now until the middle of February.

CATHY WURZER: Great. Eric?

ERIC NELSON: Well, one thing I do know, Cathy-- Kevin O'Connell, the new head coach for the Vikings, and their GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, they don't listen to Wally, because the other day, on our 10,000 Takes radio show, he lobbied high and hard for Minnesota to bring Kyle Rudolph back home, right? No, not going to happen.

Kyle Rudolph, who spent 10 seasons with the Vikings, one with the New York Giants, played in two Pro Bowls, 49 career touchdown catches, he's going to join TB 12 in Tampa Bay. That would be Tom Brady.

So Kyle Rudolph has a new home. And Gronk, Rob Gronkowski, he has retired. So the Buccaneers feel like he's going to be a good fit with their other tight end, Cameron Brate.

But congrats to Kyle Rudolph, because the one thing missing on his resume is a Super Bowl ring. And no offense to the Purple Nation, but I think you probably have a better chance with Tom Brady than you do with Kirk Cousins.

CATHY WURZER: Even I know that.

ERIC NELSON: Just a hunch.

CATHY WURZER: Just a hunch. Say, before you guys go, let's talk Minnesota United. Wally, that was kind of an interesting exhibition match last night.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yeah, they played against Everton. They play in the English Premier League. They beat them, 4 to nothing. They had a 2-0 lead at half and then an own goal. In other words, Everton knocked it in their own net for one of the second-half goals.

Minnesota wins, 4-0, over Adrian Heath's old squad-- now Adrian Heath the head coach of Minn-U. He played back in-- I want to say it was the late '70s into the early '80s-- for Everton. So they bring him in here to Minneapolis, although I got to tell you, I've talked to some folks within the organization. And the timing of this wasn't really great.

I think that the players would have preferred not having this on the schedule right now. And it's kind of odd they do that in the MISL. They'll play these odd games against teams from wherever, and this one, of course, from England. But they won it, and I guess that's the important thing at this point.

CATHY WURZER: And, Eric, looks like the Loons are on a five-game unbeaten streak.

ERIC NELSON: They are. They are as hot as the weather right now. They're up to the number four seed in the MLS West. They have 31 points. And they will travel to Houston.

You think it's hot here? Try playing soccer in Houston, Texas, in mid to late July. That is an outdoor sauna.

They don't play inside, folks. It's outside. So it's bring a lot of speed stick, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. They're going to be drenched.

But it's a team on paper they should beat. Houston is the 11th seed-- so another big one for Minnesota United.

CATHY WURZER: You guys are great. Enjoy the golf, by the way. Thanks, Wally and Eric.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: We will.

ERIC NELSON: Fore!

CATHY WURZER: Be careful. Wally Langfellow is the founder of Minnesota Score Magazine and the host of 10,000 Takes sports show, heard on radio stations around the state. Eric Nelson is the co-host of 10,000 Takes and the Vikings reporter for CBS Radio's Eye on the NFL. They're our sports guys.

And that's going to do it for Minnesota Now this week. Our senior producer is Melissa Townsend. Our producers are Gretchen Brown, Simone Cazares, and Ellen Finn. Our technical director-- bless you, Alex Simpson, for putting up with this circus.

Thank you so much for listening to Minnesota Now. I appreciate it. We all appreciate it. We hope you have a good day and a good weekend. Stick around. There's more to come on MPR News.

This is MPR News 91.1, KNOW Minneapolis-St. Paul. Support for Minnesota Now comes from TruStone Financial, a full service credit union working to improve the financial well-being of its neighbors since 1939, serving individuals and businesses at 23 locations and online at trustone.org. Equal housing opportunity insured by NCUA.