The SPAM, eggs, sausage and SPAM’s not got much SPAM in it

Farmfest is dominating the political conversation in Minnesota this week and with good reason: with primaries wrapping up next week, this is one of the last opportunities for candidates to make their case for representing their parties in November’s elections. 

Senate candidates Peggy Flanagan, Angie Craig, Michele Tafoya and Royce White sparred mostly over agricultural policy differences, which makes sense at an agricultural event, but for some reason White started yelling about mass deportations and the biological sex of crops at one point.

Candidates for governor also took to the stage, with Amy Klobuchar appearing with Mike Lindell, Lisa Demuth and Kendall Qualls for the first time.

The clearing of the Pig’s Eye encampment announced by Mayor Kaohly Her in July began today, with city workers on hand as well as police. By the end of the day, there were perhaps a dozen people left of the roughly 100 who had been living there, but word on the scene was that the city would not move into the camp so long as people continued to work to leave. Where they will actually go, though, is less clear.

The reopening of a 1,600-bed prison as an ICE detainment facility in Appleton, Minn., is welcome news for some in the town of 1,400, which has experienced a declining economy since CoreCivic closed the Prairie Correctional Facility in 2010. When it was open, the prison employed between 120 and 400 people.

On Monday night, an 18-year-old fell 20 stories while exploring a decommissioned grain elevator in Minneapolis, suffering life-threatening injuries. Abandoned industrial sites attract urban explorers, and this is not the first time there have been serious injuries or even deaths from these kinds of activities in the Twin Cities. Maybe try exploring a book.

Although wildfires continue across a wide swath of northern Minnesota and likely will for months to come, Governor Tim Walz did not extend the peacetime declaration of emergency that will expire next Tuesday.

“While firefighting operations continue, our focus has also shifted towards recovery, which begins long before the last fire is ever put out,” said Commissioner of Public Safety Bob Jacobson.

Somali singer Ahmed Ali Egal, who immigrated to the Twin Cities 30 years ago, has died at the age of 76. I’m no expert on Somali pop music, but this track goes.

And finally: Kwik Trip has new SPAM breakfast sandwiches and Jay Boller ate them so you don’t have to. “The spongey preformed egg patty should be familiar to anyone with experience at low-end hotels or high-end prisons,” he writes.

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