Will Harris choose Walz as VP? We'll know soon

Plus: Four foods Minnesota gave the world 🍿 [Plus: Four foods Minnesota gave the world 🍿] View this email as a [web page]( [Star Tribune]( [Essential Minnesota logo] ESSENTIAL MINNESOTA [Essential Minnesota logo] ESSENTIAL MINNESOTA Good morning, Minnesota! Happy birthday to Anthony Edwards. May he get the table tennis match he so craves 🏓 On to the news 📢 [Eder Campuzano] By Eder Campuzano TODAY’S TOP STORIES - [Suni Lee falls in balance beam final, ends Paris Olympics with three medals]( - [Lakeville swimmer Regan Smith wins gold medal in women’s medley relay to cap her Olympics]( - [Tornado damages homes, businesses in central Minnesota town]( - [Lawsuits allege high levels of lead in General Mills’ Cocoa Puffs cereal]( - [Drivers pulling over on the freeway to watch fireworks? Not legal or safe, State Patrol says](   We'll soon know whether Tim Walz gets picked as Kamala Harris' vice president Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune We'll soon know who Vice President Kamala Harris will choose as her running mate. (Heck, maybe she'll announce it while you're reading this newsletter.) And the word on the street — and on social media, as well as from pretty much every news organization — is that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is still in the running. Several outlets reported that Walz, along with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona interviewed for the job yesterday. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear are also widely reported to be in the mix. I've long been fascinated by Walz's habit of drinking three bottles of Diet Mountain Dew per day. (That's down from six, per a spokesperson.) Star Tribune staff writer Rochelle Olson has rounded up a series of Walz factoids that make for perfect watercooler fodder. Among them: • In 1989, Walz taught English in China and can still speak Mandarin. • Because he gets carsick, Walz rides in the front seat of the state SUV when he's driven by state troopers. • He owns a vintage blue International Scout, an off-road vehicle that was discontinued in 1980. Walz likes to tinker around with it. • We still don't know where Afton, the family cat, ended up after it went missing a year ago. Harris will campaign with her running mate in Philadelphia tomorrow. That city's mayor, Cherelle Parker, recently posted on X that she supports a Harris-Shapiro ticket. We should know for sure who will take the No. 2 spot on the Democratic slate soon. Politico reports that the Harris campaign plans to release a video announcement tomorrow. Until then, check StarTribune.com for the latest on the veepstakes and catch up on all the Walz facts you can handle with [Olson's excellent roundup here](. And if you're wondering what the governor puts in his hot dish, [Sharyn Jackson has the details here](.     GOING OUT - [Le Creuset is bringing its dinner series to Minneapolis]( - [This ‘Karma’ blends Bollywood dancing and circus routines to celebrate neurodivergents]( - [Vikings cancel Monday night open practice, add another day for fans to watch the team]( Minnesota medal watch 👀 Lakeville's Regan Smith is coming home with five — count 'em, five — medals after a riveting week at the Paris Olympics. Sunisa "Suni" Lee also claimed three medals of her own. Together, the two athletes have contributed eight of the nine medals Minnesotans have won for the U.S. Here's the full count so far: 🥇 3: Suni Lee won gold in the women's gymnastics team competition. Regan Smith claimed two golds — one as a member of the mixed medley relay and another as a member of the women's medley relay. 🥈 4: Sarah Bacon won silver in the 3-meter springboard. Smith won silver in the 100-meter backstroke, 200-meter butterfly and the 200-meter backstroke. 🥉 2: Lee won bronze in the gymnastics all-around and the uneven bars. Who we're watching today: Lara Dallman-Weiss will participate in sailing events throughout the day. [Share this newsletter with friends]( Do you enjoy Essential Minnesota? Encourage your friends and family to [sign up](. You also can share it using the links below. We came up with pizza rolls? You betcha! One of the funniest "Saturday Night Live" sketches might just be the final entry in Vanessa Bayer's trilogy of fake ads that put the actor in increasingly bizarre situations as she promotes Totino's pizza rolls. You can thank Minnesota for that. That's right: We invented the pizza roll. Intern Grace Noble has [a bit of the snack's history, plus three more quintessential foods born in the North Star State, here](. Glen StubbeStar Tribune MORE FROM THE STAR TRIBUNE - [Worker-owned Hub Bike Cooperative closing both of its Minneapolis locations]( - [Feds estimate Minnesota overpaid about $430 million in unemployment benefits during pandemic]( - [Racist graffiti found on Rochester legislator’s home, Kamala Harris signs]( - [These 3 cabins are under $350K and 90 minutes from the Twin Cities]( ON THIS DAY IN 1973 Larry Schreiber/Star Tribune Remember when we used to play in tires? Star Tribune photographer Larry Schreiber caught this frame of children jumping atop a new playground feature at Sonnesyn Elementary in New Hope on Aug. 5, 1973. The tire weighed 2,300 pounds and measured 10 feet wide, the newspaper reported. I recall a collection of three enormous tires adorning my elementary school playground, each of them half-buried so we could climb through them. Heck, the biggest, which I believe was also about 10 feet wide, was the perfect hiding place if you could muster the strength to suspend yourself at the top of the arch long enough. What a time.     IN OTHER NEWS - [NAMI Minnesota’s statewide ‘listening sessions’ focus on legislative gains, member concerns]( - MinnPost - [As 10-year utility deals expire, Minneapolis residents seek more climate action from CenterPoint, Xcel]( - Sahan Journal - [West St. Paul’s Dodge Mansion demolished; family calls it ‘reverse development’]( - Pioneer Press THE MINNESOTA GOODBYE Christopher Ingraham via X We should preface this edition of the Minnesota Goodbye by saying, yes, we know Tim Walz grew up in Nebraska. But you can't deny this spot-on Bluesky post unearthed by Minnesota Reformer reporter Christopher Ingraham. I vividly remember a conversation I struck up during a birthday party my first summer here when I asked the man of the hour's father why Minnesotan social circles feel so impenetrable. His response was that he's had the same circle of friends since fifth grade and doesn't need any more. I've heard it takes at least five years of residency for transplants to be officially considered Minnesotan. But what if I start calling it "Duck, Duck, Gray Duck"? Does that speed things up? Thanks for reading Eder Campuzano, reporter David Taintor, editor [Email]( [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Manage email preferences]( • [Subscribe to Star Tribune]( • [Privacy Policy]([Unsubscribe from this newsletter]( [Unsubscribe from this newsletter]( [Manage]( your preferences | [Opt Out]( using TrueRemove™ Got this as a forward? [Sign up]( to receive our future emails. View this email [online](. 650 3rd Ave. S. Suite 1300 | Minneapolis, MN 55488 US This email was sent to {EMAIL}. To continue receiving our emails, add us to your address book.