photo by Raffy Abasolo [7]
(Cover photo by Brian Hayes [8])
Strange and terrible things happen all over the world every day, of course, as well as wonderful things, things merely prosaically sad, irresistibly trivial, or urgently relevant to our lives. People suffer and die in far-away places and in neighborhoods where we live. Legislation is debated and passed; businesses change hands, people lose their jobs; the fates of criminals and innocents alike are determined in court; professional athletes triumph or flounder or change teams; celebrities suffer breakdowns or engage in appalling behavior. And amid all the clamor and the calamity there are always, unfolding all around us, poignant, miniature dramas and acts of quiet integrity and heroism.
All of this boils down to news of one sort or another, and, unless we find ourselves directly affected by an event, that news comes to us secondhand, as stories. We depend on the media to assemble those stories, and to pass them along so that we can remain informed about the world beyond our immediate lives. But what happens when the stories don’t get told?
Few people who live in the Twin Cities were unaffected by the stories and images that emerged in the wake of the rush-hour collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge into the Mississippi River. It was one of those huge news events that instantly became a galvanizing communal drama. The destruction of a bridge, after all, resonates on any number of levels; it’s a catastrophe that can be easily transformed into an all-purpose metaphor—emotional, logistical, structural, infrastructural—for the perils of life in a modern metropolis.
The news media in the Twin Cities rightfully devoted all its resources to telling that story, and did a terrific job of quickly pulling together the myriad pieces and angles of a confusing and rapidly developing tragedy. There’s not much to criticize in how the bridge collapse was covered locally, but it did raise a question: what happens to the rest of the news when a major story breaks, particularly in your own backyard? We’ll push our metaphor a bit further: If the news media is increasingly our bridge to the world beyond our doors, what happens when that bridge gets swept away by a huge and legitimate breaking story?
We’ll admit that we got as wrapped up in the bridge story as everybody else, and only after we’d had a chance to finally pull ourselves away from our televisions or delve deeper into the back pages of the newspapers did we get around to wondering what else had been going on—around the world, elsewhere in the country, and here in Minnesota—that day and in the days following the disaster. What became of the stories that would have been front-page news—or at the very least received prominent play—on any other ordinary day in the Twin Cities?
In an effort to give you back that day, and the few that followed, we spent some time digging for the news that got buried or jettisoned in the aftermath of the bridge collapse. What we found was that, horrifying and eye-opening as some of those stories are, it was, sadly, a pretty typical news week.
Just not, sadly, here. —BZ
PAGE 2: AROUND TOWN [11]
PAGE 3: CRIME [12]
PAGE 4: BUSINESS [13]
PAGE 5: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL [14]
PAGE 6: SCRAMBLE [15] for bridge coverage
PAGE 7: FALLOUT [16] from the bridge collapse
PAGE 8: CHATTER [17] -- or conspiracy theories
AROUND TOWN
Pawlenty Requests Drought Relief
August 3—Gov. Tim Pawlenty formally requested federal loans for farmers in dozens of Minnesota counties suffering from extreme drought. In a letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns, Pawlenty asked for twenty-five counties to be declared agricultural disasters, meaning farmers would be eligible for low-interest loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The letter came three days after Pawlenty toured farms in the Little Falls area, one of several rural areas where crops have withered or been destroyed by this summer’s lingering drought. Last week, the National Drought Mitigation Center labeled a wide swath of Minnesota—stretching from the southwest to the northeast, and including sections of Wisconsin and Michigan—as suffering from “severe” drought.
Eighty-two percent of Minnesota’s cropland has suffered from a lack of moisture this season, according to a recent USDA report. Corn is in the worst shape: nearly forty percent of that crop, the report contends, is in “poor” or “very poor” condition. This is the second straight arid year for many state farmers, though most who see decreased revenue due to failed crops will be reimbursed through insurance programs. —BV
BEING THERE
Jason de Rusha, WCCO-TV
I was in the newsroom working on a story about how the drought was causing farmers to drop out of the Mill City Market. Our GM [Susan Adams Loyd] was giving a tour when the first call came in, and someone said … well, the kind of words you wouldn’t expect to hear while the GM is leading a tour.
Brad Earley, a photographer, looked at me and just said, “Let’s go.” By 6:21 I was on the air. I guess KMSP was the first to break the story, but because of our proximity, we were first from the scene.
I stayed until 1:30 a.m., when we did our last feed, and got home at three. I think our assistant news director, Mike Caputa, put in forty straight hours.
I wish I could say I had a half-dozen hot stories that I had to put on hold, but it was August. I had a piece about a glass artist at the Uptown Art Fair on my to-do list, so I don’t think there was a lot of stuff falling through the cracks.
I’m pretty sure the murder of a woman out in Montrose would have been a lead story for several days. I had been out there five days earlier to cover the horse-barn fire, and then a woman was found murdered practically next door? In a small town like that? Tell me that isn’t weird.
Planning Continues for Republican Convention
August 5—Prominent Republicans from across the country left the Twin Cities this weekend, following four days of meetings geared toward finalizing plans for next year’s national convention in St. Paul.
The majority of the meetings were closed to the public and news media, and consisted largely of cementing ancillary details for the convention, including firming up arrangements for hotels and other accommodations. The meetings also included strategic planning in the event that delegate seating is challenged, still a strong possibility if none of the current Republican presidential candidates locks up a majority of votes before the convention.
First Lady Laura Bush and former Massachusetts governor and presidential hopeful Mitt Romney were among the attendees at the gathering, titled “Republican for a Reason.” Wednesday evening’s kick-off event at City Center in downtown Minneapolis was clouded by news of the Interstate 35W bridge collapse. Convention representatives said none of the attendees were harmed in the disaster.
The 2008 Republican National Convention will be held at St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center September 1-4. —BV
BEING THERE
Randy Furst, Star Tribune
The Republican National Committee started its four-day visit that Wednesday, and I was scheduled to spend Thursday and Friday on that story. We had a series planned through Saturday. One story was pretty much in the can. But the Republicans were going to tour the Xcel Center on Thursday, and I planned to go along.
Wednesday night I was at home; my wife was watching Hardball on MSNBC when I heard them say the 35W bridge in Minneapolis had collapsed. I called the paper and they said, “Come on in.”
I stayed on the story til around midnight, when I was relieved. I went down to the site. I managed to talk to a couple kids from the school bus. Thursday morning I was back working the street for bridge stories.
By Friday, with all the bridge coverage packed in the front section, editors put out word that they needed stories for the metro section, so I reconnected with the RNC at the Marriott. I tried to work in the infrastructure issue when I buttonholed them, but that angle went nowhere.
One important story that took a backseat, and rightly so, was the growing number of individuals inside the Republican party, as well as seasoned observers, who believe no candidate will emerge from the primaries with enough delegates for the nomination. That story finally got played on the front page of the metro section Friday morning. Another was a story about the ACLU getting partners at blue-chip law firms to agree to represent demonstrators arrested at the convention. That was being held for a possible front-page slot but had to be moved inside [on August 5].
I think our coverage was impressive. The situation here has not been good. The mood has not been good. But people—reporters, copy editors, editors, photographers, everyone—set aside all their feelings and worked flat-out to the point where you could see the fatigue and exhaustion.
Feral cats still have home to roam
August 9—St. Paul’s feral cats will still be allowed to roam, after the St. Paul City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved a program to catch and neuter or spay the cats and then release them back into the city.
And now the city needs residents’ help.
The city will contract with Hastings-based Animal Ark, a no-kill center that will work for free with residents to trap the cats in neighborhoods, starting with Frogtown. Residents will be asked to catch feral cats in traps using tuna and other bait, and then bring them to Ark’s mobile animal hospital in St. Paul, where the cats will be spayed or neutered and then vaccinated. Then residents will pick the cats up and release them where they were caught.
Some residents praised the program as a humane solution to the city’s ongoing struggle with the feral cat population; the city has killed thousands of the cats in recent years. Others, however, including bird lovers who have watched the cats prey on robins and other birds, have asked that the cats be taken somewhere else after capture. —BV
BEING THERE
Pat Kessler, WCCO-TV
I had just gotten home after spending most of the day working on a Reality Check story about the new Twins stadium, “4 Things You Need to Know About the New Twins Ballpark”—with a 4 like “Channel 4.” Cute, huh? The groundbreaking, if you remember, was supposed to be the next day.
Someone listening to KFAN heard [Dan] Barreiro or someone say, “We should get a hold of Kessy.” When I realized what had happened I called the station and said I was coming back in. I think I finally finished about 12:30 a.m.
The groundbreaking was postponed.
PAGE 1: INTRODUCTION [20]
PAGE 3: CRIME [21]
PAGE 4: BUSINESS [22]
PAGE 5: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL [23]
PAGE 6: SCRAMBLE [24]
PAGE 7: FALLOUT [25]
PAGE 8: CHATTER [26]
CRIME
Bloomington Infant Died Accidentally
August 8—The death last Friday of a five-month-old Bloomington girl, initially treated as suspicious, was determined to be an accident, police said Wednesday. The girl died of asphyxiation after falling off a bed. An uncle was watching her at the time and called 911, and Bloomington police arrived to find him performing CPR on the infant in the living room. The girl was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. Officers subsequently searched the house and took items from the home, but police said later that neglect was not a factor in the infant’s death, and no charges were filed. —BV
Jersey Murder Sentencing
August 3—An eighteen-year-old was convicted of killing a fifteen-year-old Minneapolis youth over a rare basketball jersey. Darryl Deshon Johnson faces eight to fifteen years in prison for unintentionally shooting Courtney Brown last fall in north Minneapolis. He was originally charged with first-degree murder, which would have carried a sentence of life in prison. The trial revealed that the .22-caliber handgun Johnson fired at Brown was not the gun that killed him; defense lawyers subsequently suggested that an acquaintance of Johnson’s may have fired the fatal shot.
Brown was walking with friends to a party last September when his group encountered Johnson and others. Brown was wearing an expensive vintage Morgan State University jersey that his father had purchased for him, along with matching sneakers. After Johnson’s group forced Brown and a friend to turn over their jerseys and sneakers, Brown and the friend ran, and shots were fired. Johnson, who once described himself as a former member of the Tre Tre Crips gang, will be sentenced later this month in Hennepin County District Court. —BV
HOMICIDES
The August 2 shooting of Jerren Schaden was Minneapolis’s first homicide in more than a month, and the first of a string of five killings in five days. The numbers below are year-to-date figures for the city. Minneapolis had sixty homicides in 2006.
Homicide #27
Date: August 2
Name: Jerren Schaden
Age: 23
Time: About 10 p.m.
Location: 36thStreet and Bloomington Avenue South
Details: Allegedly shot in retaliation for stealing marijuana. After the shooting, Schaden’s brother drove him to a nearby hospital; he was found dead in his car in the parking lot.
Arrested/charged: Minneapolis residents Santana J. Hart, 18, and Allen F. Hutcherson, 20, each charged with two counts of second-degree murder
Homicide #28
Date: August 3
Name: Jeremy D. Callaway
Age: 21
Time: About 8:20 a.m.
Location: 14thand Irving avenues north
Details: Shot in the head while standing outside a house
Arrested/charged: None
Homicide #29
Date: August 5
Name: Unreleased
Age: Unreleased
Time: About 2 a.m.
Location: Sixth Street and Hennepin Avenue
Details: Two groups scuffled near Block E, downtown. One fell unconscious and died at the scene. Police said the fight was over women.
Arrested/charged: Arturo Hernandez, 20, arrested on suspicion of murder
Homicide #30
Date: August 6
Name: Alison M. Daniels
Age: 24
Time: Unclear; discovered about 6:30 p.m.
Location: 615 Washington Ave. S.E.
Details: Shot once in head in room at the Radisson University Hotel
Arrested/charged: None
Homicide #31
Date: August 6
Name: Montrell Burbridge
Age: 15
Time: About 8:40 p.m.
Location: Oliver and 36th avenues north
Details: Shot several times. Several small bags of marijuana found near body.
Arrested/charged: None
Homicide #32
Date: August 10
Name: Unreleased
Age: Unreleased
Time: About 3 a.m.
Location: 18th Street and Park Avenue
Details: Man stabbed an acquaintance to death after acquaintance said he had slept with the man’s wife and fathered the man’s first child.
Arrested/charged: Noe DeLuna-DeLuna, 28, charged with second-degree murder
BEING THERE
Alex Friedrich, St. Paul Pioneer Press
I was at the office, about to go home, when we got the word. One of the editors stood up and said, “You’re staying, and you’re staying, and you’re staying.” A few of us jumped in my car and got over to the north side of the river. We scrambled down the bank as far as we could go and started asking who had seen what.
Cell phones weren’t working, so it was pretty chaotic. We didn’t know if the story was on our side of the river or the other side. I talked with some of the school-bus people, while Fred Melo, Tim Nelson, and Dave Orrick were elsewhere. Not being able to coordinate was tough, though.
Eventually, I walked over to the Hennepin County Government Center—which is what, a mile and a half away?—for a couple of news conferences. I finished up about midnight, but had to take a taxi to my car, and that took forever.
I had been working on a story about a criminal lawsuit in Washington County and was planning to write it up the next day. At the time we got the news I was going home to have dinner with my girlfriend, so I was dressed up. I remember thinking, “Oh well, so much for these shoes.”
It wasn’t until eight days later that I got back to the lawsuit story.
One thing I remember was this guy in his fifties or so, without a shirt on, wandering back and forth, wading into the water. We heard him asking people if they had seen a red-headed girl, his daughter, I guess. He was pretty frantic. The police had to restrain him. We thought there was a story there, but then Dave Orrick heard him mumbling something about, ‘the taxman.’
BEING THERE
Rochelle Olson, Star Tribune
I don’t think my story is as good as some others. At the moment the bridge went down I was at the dog park with my dog. I had been covering a murder trial in Hennepin County court—the twenty-three-year-old woman charged with getting her new boyfriend to kill her old boyfriend.
The truth is, the paper didn’t call me in when the bridge collapsed. The next day I went back to covering the trial. It wasn’t until Sunday that they took me off the murder trial and had me work on bridge stories — not government-related angles, but general bridge-related pieces. I did a story on the funeral of the pregnant Somali woman and her two-year-old daughter. Randy Furst took over the trial coverage. He did the story on the woman being convicted of manslaughter rather than murder.
But for eleven straight days, since that Sunday, I was doing exclusively bridge stories.
BEING THERE
Bob McNaney, KSTP-TV
I had been in Chicago covering the rape case involving the Gopher football players. I finished Wednesday morning and flew back to the Twin Cities. I think I got a couple hours sleep before it was time to fix dinner for my two sons. We were grilling dinner when I heard about the bridge.
I remember thinking, “Here we go.” I think I ended up working thirty-seven of the next forty hours.
The Gophers rape story ran on the Tuesday before, but it was supposed to have been the first of several pieces. That didn’t happen. It was all bridge, all the time, and I knew it would be.
I thought we did a hell of a job.
PAGE 1: INTRODUCTION [29]
PAGE 2: AROUND TOWN [30]
PAGE 4: BUSINESS [31]
PAGE 5: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL [32]
PAGE 6: SCRAMBLE [33]
PAGE 7: FALLOUT [34]
PAGE 8: CHATTER [35]
BUSINESS
Macy’s to Cut Jobs
August 1—Macy’s announced plans to cut fifty-one jobs in the Twin Cities area over the next six months, as it continues to struggle with sluggish sales and buyout rumors. Macy’s North will cut 165 jobs across its sixty-four Midwest stores. It also plans to adjust pay levels to bring them in line with stores in other regions, which could mean reduced wages for some workers.
Earlier this year, the company eliminated about 300 jobs, mostly administrative positions, in the Twin Cities. The latest rounds of cuts will affect employees company-wide, including those who work in the stores.
The department store chain formerly known as Marshall Field’s was bought out in 2005 by Federated Department Stores. The company also purchased several other store chains and brought them under the Macy’s umbrella last fall. The transition has been difficult, and it’s rumored that at least two companies, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., are now considering purchasing the Cincinnati-based retailer. —BV
Coal Plant Halted
August 2—Excelsior Energy will take its plans for a $2 billion coal gasification plant on the Iron Range back to the drawing board after the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission ruled against a proposed power contract with Xcel Energy, stating that “the operating plan is not in the public’s best interest.”
The MPUC asked Excelsior to return to talks with Xcel Energy, citing several problems with the contract, including Xcel’s exclusive rights to purchase the six hundred megawatts the plant is expected to produce.
Commissioners suggested that Excelsior sell power to other companies outside of Xcel, saying that it shouldn’t ask Xcel customers alone to take on the risk of rate increases, should the plant not perform as expected. Representatives with Excelsior said they would attempt to renew talks with Xcel, but suggested the ruling could potentially end the company’s four-year effort to build the plant.
The plan has already come under fire from some state officials and environmentalists, who have argued that Excelsior’s plant would contribute to global warming and doesn’t represent a good fit for a part of the state already dominated by the mining and timber industry. —BV
Northwest Airlines Profits Feed Law Firm
August 1—The lead law firm that handled Northwest Airline’s bankruptcy case has requested $3.5 million in additional fees from the airline. The firm called the figure a “fee enhancement,” claiming that the Eagan-based airline will be able to repay nearly three-quarters of its unsecured creditors, a much higher figure than other recently bankrupted airlines.
The request, announced Wednesday afternoon, is in addition to the $35.4 million the New York-based Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP have already billed the airline. It came one day after Northwest announced a second-quarter pretax profit of $273 million, a fifty-three percent increase from second-quarter earnings last year. The profit is the airline’s first since declaring bankruptcy in September 2005.
Northwest said recently that it lost nearly $25 million in June because of flight cancellations due to a variety of factors, including pilot shortages. —BV
BEING THERE
Scott Goldberg, KARE 11-TV
I was at the station logging tapes for my interview with Doug Steenland [CEO of Northwest Airlines]. We had teased it on the five, and it was scheduled for the ten that night. When the calls started coming in about the bridge I raced downtown. First I got out on the cantilevered bridge at the Guthrie, then we moved down as close as we could get to the school bus. Like everybody else we were wall-to-wall til past midnight.
I didn’t get back to the Steenland interview for eight days, and this is a guy who rarely talks to the press. I was pretty pleased to have gotten him to sit down. I had a to-do list of other stories, “Extras” for sometime down the road. All that got put on hold.
WE TAKE IT BACK!
Summer’s rash of recalls
GINGER
On August 3, Lunds and Byerly’s recalled all of their Chinese gingerafter the California Department of Pesticide Regulation’s residue monitoring program detected the presence of posticide aldicarb sulfoxide in some batches.
CHOCOLATE
On July 31, Whole Foods Market recalled its 365 Organic Every Day Value Swiss Dark Chocolate Bars because they may contain undeclared almonds, putting people with nut allergies at risk.
GREEN BEANS
On August 1, Lakeside Foods, Inc. of Manitowoc, Wisconsin initiated a voluntary recall of 15,000 cases of French Style Green Beans, sold under a number of labels, due to possible contamination with Clostridium botulinum, a potentially fatal form of food poisoning.
TOYS
On August 2, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled eighty-three different plastic Fisher-Price toys—including Big Bird, Elmo, Dora, and Diego dolls—that “could contain” toxic levels of lead paint. The recall involved close to a million units sold in the U.S. between May and August. A week after the recall, Cheung Shu-hung, the head of Chinese manufacturer that produced the toys, committed suicide. —CC
PAGE 1: INTRODUCTION [38]
PAGE 2: AROUND TOWN [39]
PAGE 3: CRIME [40]
PAGE 5: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL [41]
PAGE 6: SCRAMBLE [42]
PAGE 7: FALLOUT [43]
PAGE 8: CHATTER [44]
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL
Congress Approves Enhanced Domestic Spying Power
August 5—The Democratic-controlled Congress gave the federal government expansive spying powers on Saturday when it voted to overhaul the country’s wiretapping law.
The revised law will allow the government to monitor billions of phone calls and e-mails within the United States—as well as foreign communications that pass through domestic lines—for possible connections to terrorist activity and security threats. As long as the government decides that those being monitored are targets of a federal probe, a court order won’t be needed.
Republicans hailed the legislation, saying it will protect Americans from terrorist attacks and calling it a much-needed update to an archaic 1978 law covering surveillance, which doesn’t address email and other forms of twenty-first-century communication transmitted largely through fiber optic cables.
Many Democratic lawmakers criticized the bill as unconstitutional, specifically its potential threat to Fourth Amendment rights, and warned that the fight isn’t over. The bill will expire in 180 days, and Democrats have prepared revised legislation for Congress to consider once members return from the August recess.
The Senate passed the measure 60-28 on Friday night, and the House followed Saturday afternoon with a 227-183 vote for approval. Some Democratic members seeking re-election in moderate to conservative districts, including Minnesota Reps. Tim Walz and Collin Peterson, broke party ranks to approve the legislation. —BV
as of August 17
11 dead, 2 missing in I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis (8-1)
20 killed, 40 wounded in suicide car bombing, Al Hurriyah, Baghdad (8-1)
50 killed, 60 wounded in suicide fuel tank bomb in Mansour, Baghdad (8-1)
50 feared drowned, 100 missing in Sierra Leone boat capsizing (8-3)
At least 100 dead, 128 wounded in Congo train crash (8-1)
At least 2,000 killed; millions displaced in monsoon flooding in India, Bangladesh, and Nepal.
Other National and International Headlines
from August 1 and 2
Editor of Oakland Post Gunned Down
Panel Queries Rumsfeld on Tillman Death
House Passes a Vast Ethics Overhaul (411–8)
House Passes Children’s Health Plan (225–204)
Rove Snubs Congressional Inquiry, Sends Flunky to Do Dirty Work
Murdoch Wins Bid for Dow Jones
Important Celebrity Gossip You May Have Missed
PAGE 1: INTRODUCTION [47]
PAGE 2: AROUND TOWN [48]
PAGE 3: CRIME [49]
PAGE 4: BUSINESS [50]
PAGE 6: SCRAMBLE [51]
PAGE 7: FALLOUT [52]
PAGE 8: CHATTER [53]
SCRAMBLE
Local media marshaled their resources to cover the bridge collapse
St. Paul Pioneer Press: Playing It Big
Excerpted from a memo by Pioneer Press Editor Thom Fladung, Thursday, August 2
The Star Tribune: Flood It!
Compiled and edited from Star Tribune Reader’s Representative Kate Parry’s column “First a scramble, then a very long, sad night [58],” published August 11
Minnesota Public Radio: Bringing out the Best
Compiled by Jennifer Haugh, Minnesota Public Radio [60]
ALL EYES GLUED
Local TV Ratings, August 1–2
The bridge collapse at 6:05 p.m. came as local TV was just beginning its dinner-hour news. By 7 p.m., channels 4, 5, 9, and 11 were doing non-stop coverage.
Most viewers tuned to WCCO-TV (Channel 4). (16.7 rating/26 share)
KARE11-TV was second, (13.1/19); followed by KSTP TV (Channel 5), (12.7/19); and KMSP-TV (Channel 9), (6.5/10).
At midnight WCCO, KARE, and KMSP returned to regular programming. Only the locally owned KSTP continued through the night with uninterrupted bridge coverage—and kept going until 7 p.m. Thursday, when it finally switched back to ABC entertainment programming, including Ugly Betty.
On Thursday evening at 10 p.m., WCCO again led the ratings, (13.5/25); followed by KARE, (9.3/19); KSTP (7.4/14); and KMSP (6.1/11). —BL
Website Page Views on Thursday, August 2
Twincities.com [64]
815,469
(average is 350,000 - 365,000)
Startribune.com [65]
4.6 million
(average is two million)
80 Percentage of local bloggers who wrote about the I-35 bridge the night it fell. Some hadn’t posted in six months, according to MNSpeak [66] editor Max Sparber, who linked to every local post he could find on the topic.
18,000 Number of images posted on Flickr [67] the night of the bridge collapse.
350 Number of videos on YouTube [68] related to the bridge collapse, as of August 16. Some of the videos posted August 1 have registered more than 100,000 views.
PAGE 1: INTRODUCTION [69]
PAGE 2: AROUND TOWN [70]
PAGE 3: CRIME [71]
PAGE 4: BUSINESS [72]
PAGE 5: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL [73]
PAGE 7: FALLOUT [74]
PAGE 8: CHATTER [75]
FALLOUT
E-Bay Auctions
Less than twelve hours after the August 2 editions of the Star Tribune and Pioneer Press hit stands with banner headlines announcing the I-35W bridge collapse, fifteen copies found their way to eBay. The first fourteen were packaged in seven mint-condition (presumably, unread) sets—one each of the PiPress and Strib—and available for the "Buy it Now" price of $19.99 and free shipping. The auction listing included a photo of the two newspapers, as well as a soft portrait of blue poppies, with italicized text above that read, "Heartfelt wishes to all who have been negatively affected by this tragedy." The seller, medusasfineeye, has an impeccable feedback rating and only identifies as living in the United States (he or she did not respond to interview requests). The listing quickly drew comments from viewers, which were dutifully responded to:
Q: "Your (sic) a real piece of work. Trying to make money off a tragedy. You should be ashamed of yourself. What comes around goes around."
Q: "For Shame!!! you obviously need help. i hope you get what is coming to you
A: "Dear deputyhiro, Your opinion has been posted. Customer Service Department
Q: "You are sick. Period."
A: "Dear trickangle, Your opinion has been posted. Customer Service Department
Q: "I am from Burnsville MN and I think even selling these newspapers is wrong!!!! ... You must have no pride as a minnesotian (sic) to have purchased so many papers and trying to get 20 bucks off of each one!!! How much are you trying to make on this tradegy!!! (sic)"
A: "Dear panda471, Your opinion is understandable and respected. Customer Service Department"
Q: "You are heartless. I am from MN and to see someone actually try and make money off this tradegy (sic).... I am speechless. Open a Bible and pray to God that he forgives someone who would think only of himself during this time."
A: "Dear hermantown14, Your opinion is understandable and respected. Customer Service Department"
Q: "will you go a buck?"
A: "Hello Tomthetech, Sorry, we do not sell to Minnesotans. This service is for those who live out of state and desire what is being offered. You could fetch yourself a copy by going to the main offices in the Twin Cities. customer service department"
When the auction closed August 12, it had two successful bidders.
The second auction, for a single, pre-read Strib, made a less conspicuous debut at one dollar. The seller was Karen Smithberg, on behalf of her young daughter. They both live in northwest North Dakota and got the newspaper from a friend of Smithberg's who lives in Savage, Minnesota, and brought it along when visiting the day after the collapse. Smithberg has a brother who works in downtown Minneapolis and family in southern Minnesota, and the friend figured she wanted to see, in print, how the local news handled the event.
After she and her daughter digested the news, they photographed the unfolded paper and listed it on eBay. "Rather than throw the paper away, (my daughter) figured there may be someone else out there with ties to (Minneapolis) who would want to have a copy of it to read themselves," Smithberg said in a recent email interview. "We started it at one dollar because we hoped that some other person who is missing 'home' would have the opportunity to have the paper."
"After all, we didn't pay for it," she continued. "If it goes for much money, well, that would be a bonus for my daughter."
The Smithbergs' auction, which drew no comments, was scheduled to close August 14. By the morning of August 13 the price was up to $2.25, plus $4 shipping. —BV
Gawkers, Geraldo, and Segways
While most of us gaped at television sets in the hours following the Interstate 35W bridge collapse, some Minnesotans took to the streets, determined to get a first-hand glimpse of the calamity while the dust was still in the air. For the neighborhoods near the bridge, the increased traffic—emergency vehicles, rescue workers, and in their immediate wake legions of reporters, recovery vehicles, and most of all gawkers—created a new series of challenges for residents and businesses trying to proceed with their day-to-day affairs. For residents, the real trick became finding a parking space and maneuvering though crowds roaming the streets freely, not to mention dealing with the tragedy looming right outside their bay windows. For some businesses, of course, there was money to be made … or not.
“We were offered money, but we declined that opportunity,” Lucy Minn said with a sigh. Minn works for Lupe Development Partners, the company that manages the Stone Arch Apartments, which sit in the shadow of the bridge, and some student housing at the corner of University Avenue and the 35W entrance ramp. Rumors flew that parking spots at the latter building cost $10,000 a space for television crews—the location offers the best views, hovering right over the north side of the bridge. Instead, the media was allowed to use the space—absolutely free—but had to leave in the morning so that Minn’s tenants could get in and out.
For residents of the Stone Arch Apartments, the situation initially made for logistical headaches. “Driving down Main Street to our parking was like driving down Judson Street during the Fair,” Minn said. Once the Stone Arch Bridge reopened, thousands of people began to show up, from six in the morning until well past midnight, to stare at the destruction downstream. People buzzed to get into the complex, ostensibly to see an apartment, but would use the restroom, grab some free water, then race back out to gawk. It was worse on the street. “People were everywhere,” Minn said. “They’d yell at you, and I’ve had people toss things at my car and shout out the ‘F-enheimer’ because I’m trying to park my car.”
Dale Eidun, of Frank Plumbing Sales, said that his company has had problems getting customers access to his shop. His big blue building is on the corner of Second Street and Eighth Avenue S.E. “After the bridge, our customers couldn’t get to us. They’d call and say ‘How do I get to you?’ For a while we had to tell ’em ‘You can’t!’” Before the collapse, Frank Plumbing was already doing a brisk business offering monthly student parking after the shop’s 5 p.m. closing. When the bridge fell, they opened the shop to the media hordes that descended on the area. “Geraldo [Rivera] even came here,” Eidun said. “He was getting all set up, but as soon as that mine in Utah caved in, he scooted out of here.”
A week after the disaster, business had for the most part returned to normal in the area surrounding the bridge. Parking was abundant during the day, and the gawkers had thinned out considerably, though a couple hundred people on the Stone Arch Bridge at 2:30 on a Tuesday afternoon certainly wasn’t the pre-collapse norm. The Magical History Tour, a Segway ride around the Minneapolis riverfront, hadn’t attracted many morbid curiosity seekers, either. “We are not emphasizing the bridge at all,” said Bill Neuenschwander, who owns the tour company. “Our business hasn’t changed at all since then—we had four cancellations the night it fell.” Local coffeeshops, convenience stores, the Guthrie Theatre—none noted any discernible impact on their business. Restaurant Alma, just a few blocks removed from the action, also reported business as usual. “Emotionally, it’s been difficult,” said James Harder, a manager at Alma. “We closed early Wednesday night, as soon as we heard the bridge had fallen. It seemed the right thing to do. But in terms of business since then, there really hasn’t been any difference.” —PS
Congestion-free
In the aftermath of the Interstate 35W bridge collapse, commuters trying to reach downtown Minneapolis faced a number of detours and decisions. For a trip from the Victoria Street exit off Interstate 694 in Shoreview to the corner of Third Avenue and Third Street downtown, the Minnesota Department of Transportation offered three alternative routes. We took it upon ourselves to test all three.
1. At 7:40 a.m. on Wednesday, August 8, we hopped on 694 and were able to drive 65 mph in the “slow” lane. We raced down 35W to the University/Fourth Street exit, just before the site of the collapse. On the drive down Fourth to Central/Third Avenue, however, traffic came to a complete stop. A traffic officer guided us around Fourth and onto Central, but this took time. All in all, it took thirteen minutes to get from Shoreview to the Fourth Street exit, but twenty-one minutes to finish the trip into downtown. Total time: 34 minutes.
2. Same day, same starting and ending points: at 8:40 a.m. we took Mn/Dot’s recommended route, the Highway 280 to Interstate 94 West detour. There was a brief slowdown at University and 280, a slight bottleneck at 94, and we reached Third and Third at 9:04. Total time: 24 minutes.
3. The big surprise was the third option: 694 to 94 East, and then into downtown. We’d never in our lives driven so fast or encountered so little traffic on 694. Total time: 20 minutes (barely enough time to absorb the news on the radio).
Mn/Dot’s Kevin Barnard credits this lack of congestion to cooperation … and summer vacation. “When the University of Minnesota resumes classes it’ll take some time to get traffic patterns set,” he said. Nonetheless, Barnard admits he was impressed with the way commuters have taken it upon themselves to find alternate routes and avoid clogging any one route into downtown. “People have been patient,” he said. “They know it won’t be easy.” —PS
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PAGE 8: CHATTER [84]
CHATTER
Conspiracy Theories
Americans have always loved a good conspiracy theory. These days that’s largely the product of post-September 11 suspicion combined with a Tom Clancy-saturated pop culture and general distrust of the people—Republican and Democrat alike—running our country. A lot of folks also seem to have a sort of primal sense that beneath every tragedy lurks some deeper mystery, obscured, of course, by a top-level cover-up that any ordinary person can uncover—provided he or she has the chutzpah to dig through enough liberal-biased reporting to unearth the truth.
Minnesotans are certainly not immune to such theorizing. In the days after the Interstate 35W bridge disaster, given the lack of any immediately plausible explanations from public figures and engineers, and the apparent lack of tangible evidence regarding a cause, a spate of alternate theories arose, on both the collapse and the aftermath. Some are more logical than others, but we’ll do our best to debunk each below.
CONTROLLED DEMOLITION
Conspiracy: The series of sharp cracks some witnesses reported hearing just before the collapse, along with the angle at which the bridgefell, prove that the bridge was rigged with timed explosives or possibly thermite, a material theorists have focused on as the cause for the World Trade Center towers’ implosion.
Reality: There were sounds resembling explosions just before the bridge collapsed, and the video of it falling looked very much like a controlled demolition. But those sounds, as well as the way the bridge fell, are all consistent with a structural collapse, according to several experts who have analyzed the disaster— particularly for this particular bridge, which had an outdated design and little built-in redundancy.
MOLNAU (AND OTHERS) KNEW
Conspiracy: The construction on the bridge was not maintenance on the road deck (resurfacing and repair work), but undercover emergency repair to the structure of a failing bridge. Theorists point to four things.
One: MnDOT’s August 1 news release, which warned motorists to avoid I-35W that evening and the next because construction work would narrow it to two lanes.
Two: The bridge was in poor shape, according to several reports issued in recent years.
Three: The National Transportation Safety Board said within days that the collapse was related to problems on the bridge’s south end.
Four: Police kept spectators away from the bridge for several days.
This evidence, theorists contend, proves that MnDOT head and Lieutenant Governor Carol Molnau knew that the bridge was in peril.
Reality: In light of recent evidence, this theory may not be quite as "out there" as we had imagined.
SOMALI DEATH COVER-UP
Conspiracy: Several dozen Somalis were killed in the bridge collapse and the Minneapolis police covered up their deaths.
Reality: Some Somalis were quoted as saying a number of people in the Somali community were missing (a rumor also circulated that a van or bus had been swept into the river), but refused to release any names. No one has been able to prove the stories, and it’s difficult to see who would benefit from any such cover-up.
THE MAN IN THE RED KAYAK
Conspiracy: Minneapolis police asked the media for help finding a kayaker who was near the bridge when it collapsed. The mystery man, some would believe, surely must have had inside information on the disaster, and might have played some role in the bridge’s collapse.
Reality: Not much is known about the man, though he isn’t much of a mystery: the Star Tribune reported he contacted police as soon as he learned they were looking for him.
JUST COUNT THE NUMBERS
Conspiracy: Assuming the “I” in I-35W equals a 1 (a stretch already), then 1+3+5 = 9. The bridge fell August 1, and August is the eighth month, so 1+8 = 9. Oh, and add the year, too: 2+0+0+7 = 9. From that unusual proliferation of 9s, according to some numerological enthusiasts, one might infer that disaster was imminent.
Reality: Psychologists and other clear-headed folk would be quick to remind these particular theorists that correlation doesn’t always equal causation. After all, I-35W includes several other bridges that cross other waterways (e.g. the Minnesota River). And couldn’t all these 9s apply to practically any tragedy—say, the Minnesota Twins losing that night to the Kansas City Royals, one of the worst teams in baseball? Still, we remain troubled by this additional observation: “I” is the ninth letter of the alphabet.
BARGE COLLISION
Conspiracy: An unidentified barge crashed into one of the bridge supports, critically weakening the structure.
Reality: Rescue workers and recovery crews found no evidence of a barge, and none were reported in the vicinity. Most barges go no farther north on the Mississippi River than St. Paul, the Twin Cities’ hub for river shipping (though the river’s head of navigation—that is, the farthest point north barges can travel—is several miles north of Minneapolis). Only a few travel the affected stretch of the Mississippi each day.
GOD HATES GAYS
Conspiracy: Fred Phelps and his Kansas Westboro Baptist Church announced plans to picket the funerals of those who died in the bridge collapse, claiming that God caused the collapse because of two sins committed by Minnesotans: fighting for gay rights and “persecuting WBC’s missionaries” the last time they were in town. The church has drummed up publicity by picketing funerals nationwide for soldiers killed in the Iraq War and other conflicts, claiming (through some leap of illogic that we can’t quite parse) that these deaths offer proof that God hates gays.
Reality: We won’t touch this one other than to raise a question: If God really hates gays and lesbians, then why did He give the Twin Cities such beautiful weather for this year’s Pride Festival?
ASSASSINATION
Conspiracy: Alison Daniels, a twenty-four-year-old from Michigan, was killed August 6 in the Radisson University Hotel, where rescue workers, government officials, and others helping inthe disaster aftermath were staying. Daniels was shot once in the head, indicative of the “control shot” technique used by mobsters and Russian assassins; from this, an experienced conspiracy theorist might infer that she knew something secret about the collapse and had plans to squeal.
Reality: Daniels was killed after stealing money from a man who paid her to marry him, according to charges filed a week after her death. The man is in jail.
THE MOTHMAN COMETH
Conspiracy: The U.S. 35 Silver Bridge, which connected West Virginia and Ohio across the Ohio River, collapsed in December 1967 while loaded with traffic, resulting in forty-six deaths. While the collapse was attributed to stress corrosion cracking and a lack of redundancy, others believed it was prophesized and possibly caused by the Mothman, a strange, winged creature locals had reported seeing just days before the collapse.
Reality: Even if you can get around the problematic logic required to believe in a man-sized moth that chases terrified adults down abandoned roads, there’s a more fundamental problem in this case: there were no reported sightings of the Mothman in the Twin Cities on August 1.
AUGSBURG, THE ACCIDENTAL TERRORIST
Conspiracy: One theorist alleged that Russia’s Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics used a solar radio telescope to detect an ultra-low frequency radiating from the bridge site at the exact moment it collapsed. (The institute has adamantly denied this.) That, combined with reports that the United States’ top acoustic weapons research is conducted at a secret underground facility at Augsburg College, just miles from the bridge, provide possible evidence that an experiment must have gone horribly wrong.
Reality: This doesn’t make much sense, though we wonder if something more is going on at Augsburg than the college lets on. How else could you explain a Division III school landing Devean George in the late 1990s? George went on to win three consecutive championship rings with the Los Angeles Lakers. —BV
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PAGE 2: AROUND TOWN [88]
PAGE 3: CRIME [89]
PAGE 4: BUSINESS [90]
PAGE 5: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL [91]
PAGE 6: SCRAMBLE [92]
PAGE 7: FALLOUT [93]