In today’s segment: the new foods you’ll find at this year’s State Fair, a follow-up about Forest Lake’s debate over hate symbols in schools, and state lawmakers try to make the skies a little safer in Northern Minnesota.
—–Executive Producer: Victor Palomino Producer: Xan Holston Anchor: Chantel SinGs Reader scripting: Joel GlaserFact checking: Joel Glaser, Victor Palomino Editorial support: Emily Krumberger Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood
Transcript
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HOST: You're listening to North Star Stories: Voices from Where We Live, a daily newscast about what it means to live in Minnesota.
ANCHOR: In today's segment, the new foods you'll find at this year's State Fair! Then, a follow-up about a local debate over hate symbols in schools. And, state lawmakers try to make the skies a little safer in Northern Minnesota.
I'm Chantel SinGs.
The Great Minnesota Get Together is just weeks away. This year, you'll find 33 official new food items and eight new food vendors at the Fair. In total, the Fair will feature 16-hundred menu items. Of course, many of those will be on a stick! Some of the unique items this year include: Cannoli Gelato Nachos, Caprese Curds, Hot Honey Jalapeno Popper Donuts, and Dill Pickle Iced Tea. The Fair opens on August 21st and runs through Labor Day. AMPERS, which produces North Star Stories, will have a booth inside the Education Building on Cosgrove Street.
Next, in Forest Lake, a small car rally drew attention to a local debate over hate symbols in schools and the school board president's vintage car. Xan Holston reports.
Xan Holston: Outside of a Forest Lake School Board meeting about 30 miles north of the Twin Cities, the sounds of a small car rally filled the air. Not to show off their engines, but their opposition. Joe Nelson is a car guy who wouldn't describe himself as especially political. His two children graduated from Forest Lake schools a few years ago, but he organized what he called an "anti-hate car rally" as a response to an ongoing school board debate over its dress code.
Joe Nelson: I started seeing news articles this May about, you know, them trying to ban, unban the hate symbols in the schools, and taking away, you know, student groups.
Xan Holston: For decades, the schools have specifically banned the Confederate flag and Nazi and Ku Klux Klan symbols. But what really rubbed Nelson the wrong way is that school board president Curt Rebelein, Jr has a replica of the General Lee, the car from the television show The Dukes of Hazzard, and that car has a Confederate flag on its hood.
Joe Nelson: We got a guy out here driving around a car with a four-foot rebel flag on it, saying we should unban this stuff in our schools.
Xan Holston: Nelson said he first saw Rebelein in his car at a car show in 2022 when Rebelein was campaigning for a seat on the board,
Joe Nelson: I said to him, "Don't you think this is a little bit too much to run for the school board with?" And then he just shrugged his shoulders and just turned away from me.
Xan Holston: Rebelein defends his car and his stance over the policy. At a recent board meeting, he said he's never received a complaint about the car.
Curt Rebelein, Jr.: Not a single time has anybody come to me and said they were personally offended by my vehicle and I bring it to hundreds of car shows.
Xan Holston: Nelson said he doesn't believe that's possible.
Joe Nelson: There's nobody that could have a car like that and bring it to car shows and say nobody said something to him, especially up here in Minnesota.
Xan Holston: North Star Stories reached out to Rebelein for comment, but did not hear back.
Joe Nelson: Hi guys. My name is Joe Nelson, hi, and I'm the one with the Facebook post and the post on Reddit.
Xan Holston: It wasn't a big protest, about 10 cars circling a few blocks near the school's district office, but it was enough to start a conversation.
Anonymous: Absolutely every kid deserves a chance for a safe and free place.
Xan Holston: Before hopping on the back of an old flatbed truck and joining the rally. Alum Aja Posey said hate symbols weren't just a policy issue, they were part of her lived experience in the schools.
Alum Aja Posey: People would wear Confederate flags all the time. Nothing was ever done about it.
Xan Holston: Posey said she and her friends came out because staying silent felt like accepting it.
Alum Aja Posey: I think it's really important to get together and do stuff like this, because if we don't have community like this, then that's when it starts to fall apart.
Xan Holston: The proposed dress code has drawn months of protest. At the last board meeting in late June, Rebelein gave his colleagues an ultimatum, either strike the language, banning those specific symbols, or come up with an exhaustive list of everything that should be banned. Nelson said he's not letting the issue go. He said he plans to show up as often as he has to, and he believes that this small rally was just a first step.
Joe Nelson: If you have 10 people, then you could have 20 people the next time, and you could have 40 the next time after that.
Xan Holston: For North Star Stories, I'm Xan Holston.
ANCHOR: You are listening to North Star Stories.
Duluth is one step closer to getting a new air traffic control tower. The Legislature recently allocated 10-million dollars to the Duluth Airport Authority. The funds will be used to replace the aging control tower, which no longer meets current operational and safety standards. The Airport Authority has now secured part of the 33 million dollars needed to fund the project. Duluth Airport officials also announced that United Airlines now offers four daily nonstop flights to Chicago and Delta Airlines will fly four daily flights to the Twin Cities.
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HOST: North Star Stories is produced by AMPERS, diverse radio for Minnesota's communities, with support from the McKnight Foundation and the State of Minnesota. Online at ampers dot org.