On his birthday in June, Shawn McGovern took ill, unknown exactly what happened, but he was found by Jeanne McGovern in bad shape, serious enough to be hospitalized, intubated, and then put on hospice. He died earlier this week. There’ll be a gathering off in the future, a little birdie said September maybe?

I’ve often told clients and friends that it’s weird when an ex dies, and that it is. Thankfully that’s ancient history and we had no unfinished business. He was firmly, clearly, stating his trust as Jeanne and I completed some paperwork last month at the hospital. Lately, he’d tuned up a couple of amplifiers for me that had been collecting dust, and rehabbed the speakers he’d built for my brother in the 70s that David gave to me in one of his moves from Minnesota. I’m remembering so many trips to Acme Electronics, and ? was it Market something, on Snelling?, and all the pages of calculations that went into designing the crossovers, and the hand winding of those crossovers — things have sure changed in electronics! I learned much by osmosis, which was a foot in the door for me in radio, sound, and transmission lines.

When he couldn’t do woodworking anymore, he gave Alan that big rolling box of pipe clamps. His table saw from 1975 was his pride & joy, used for the first of is really fine speakers he built in the basement back then, including my brother’s, which are now in my dining room. Most of his woodworking equipment wasn’t in his apartment, maybe he gave it away to folks who could use it.

We’d met when I was 15 or so, still in high school, when Sue Koob let me know about this odd marching band, and she and her sister had joined. My brother and I followed. I found a clarinet at Hy’s Loan (Buffet R-13, $50, unreal, neglected, had to take it apart and get it in shape, but just wow), got reacquainted, and joined the St. Lawrence Band, run by Shawn’s father and grandmother, with all of their large family involved in one way or another. From there, I took up alto sax, and also got to play in Clete’s 40-50s dance band based in a VFW on Lake Street, and then in ’80s went on to have some fun in horn sections. That family was a large influence, and I’m glad I got to keep them!

Summer of ’73 after the Forest Lake parade:

And a block party in my old neighborhood:

Summer of ’78, at 25 years old, that was when things went south for him, hospitalizations then, and a couple after that. Those extreme, unpredictable, and downright scary ups and downs were way too much for me to deal with, like the car left in the middle of Central & Lowry intersection, and the conspiracy theories around certain folks in management at HCMC, on and on. It took some time for him to get regulated, years, for docs to find meds that worked without horrible side effects, and for him to stay on meds to keep schizophrenic exacerbations at bay. He was able to do it, and was leveled out for decades, with a stable home in apartment building with staff that kept a helpful eye on him, supportive family members, and keeping up with his audio projects. Now and then, he’d send random photos of his electronics projects and collections which took up his entire apartment and a storage unit too!

From sister Jeanne McGovern-Acuna about Shawn McGovern, this post with details and remembrances of his life. Jeanne has been the sister of sisters, for decades keeping up with him, and for his last month she’d been taking care of him, monitoring his health care, and was the family point person on the scene, both exhausting and rewarding. She kept me in the loop, for which I am grateful.

Like his father Clete McGovern, he held strong political opinions, and like his father, delighted in political discussions. Thankfully the apple fell on the opposite side of the political spectrum, a consistent worker for DFL. Here he is at a Climate Change gathering at the capitol, just a few months ago:

Rest in Power, Shawn McGovern.

CSX Freight Train derails in Fredericksburg causing damage to garages

Updated: CSX freight train derails in downtown Fredericksburg

BNSF train carrying consumer goods derails near Big Lake

WATCH: Aerials from Big Lake train derailment

BNSF train derails in Ottawa, spilling large amounts of corn

BNSF deals with two derailments (updated)

Impact on Amtrak? You can check TRACK YOUR TRAIN.

Harris is not a shoe-in to replace Biden — a big part of the push to oust Biden was also to throw Harris under the bus — Dean Phillips and “Pass the Torch” anyone?

Harris is only a shoe-in if Biden resigns NOW, Harris moves up, and runs as incumbent. What will the “party” do, and how will this convention go? We’ve got a month to sit on the edge of our chairs… but the August 7th fun fest for Ohio, 2 weeks. Gotta sit tight…

What’s Biden willing to do to assure Harris is candidate?

Hot off the press from KAXE:

Minnesota Power ups wastewater spill estimate to 5.5M gallons

Early test results show elevated sulfate levels in water, threatening Blackwater Lake’s abundant wild rice. Minnesota Pollution Control Agency continues to oversee mitigation.

COHASSET — The size of a coal ash wastewater leak at Boswell Energy Center in Cohasset is now estimated to be five times larger than initial reports.

Minnesota Power updated its estimate Friday, July 19, to 5.5 million gallons leaked at its coal power plant situated near lakes and rivers. The company first reported an estimated 1 million gallons spilled Tuesday morning into soils, Blackwater Creek and Blackwater Lake.

A pipe that transfers wastewater from a pond to the power plant is believed to be the likely source of the leak. Minnesota Power reported a loss of pump pressure caused the leak, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency said in a statement Wednesday.

Initial test results show sulfate levels below the drinking water standard but above Minnesota’s wild rice-based standard, the MPCA reported Friday. Preliminary monitoring and sampling also indicate increased levels of boron where the wastewater entered Blackwater Creek.

MPCA said it hired an environmental contractor to conduct independent monitoring and sampling.

Mitigation activities are expected to increase over the weekend, the statement read, and Minnesota Power plans to excavate affected soil to remove contaminants. The area is being assessed for cultural and tribal resources before excavation with the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe.

Bay West, Minnesota Power’s environmental contractor, set up deep-skirted booms and staked a silt curtain to Blackwater’s lakebed Thursday.

Leech Lake Emergency Management Director Duane Oothoudt has been harvesting wild rice on Blackwater Lake for nearly a decade. In an interview Thursday, he expressed concern about how the spill will impact an important cultural resource.

“People rice here, and they eat the rice,” Oothoudt said. “ … This impacts a lot of the local harvesters and foragers and our land rights. It’s pretty close to the reservation border, so it does impact us.”

MPCA said it is focused on “evaluating concentrations and extent of potential pollutants” and the impact on soils, Blackwater Creek and Lake, aquatic life and wild rice beds.

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Hot off the press, an update from Minnesota Power, which does NOT include “5.5 million gallons” in its release:

Mirror image or is it really on the wrong ear?!?!

In this weekend’s bEagle:

Letter: Manifestation of MAGA’s dangerous rhetoric

• Published on Jul 19, 2024

It’s not just lies and criminality. For years, we’ve observed the overt MAGA incitement and triggering of violence. There’s projection of that virulent rhetoric on others, and manifestations of that violence by MAGA adherents. Despite false claims that Biden was behind the recent Donald Trump assassination attempt, have MAGA “masterminds” noticed the irony of the Supreme Court immunity decision and the hypothetical of a president deploying Seal Team 6 to assassinate an opponent that was raised in argument before the court?

Ivan Raiklin and Alex Jones on InfoWars argued that assassination of Trump would mean they’d “respond in kind, and we know who you are because we’ve created the list…” Jones saying, “if they kill him, that’s a best case scenario… From a sick level medium, ‘Oh, please kill him.’ I mean, it’s so good after that.” [here’s the link: https://twitter.com/patriottakes/status/1812460546236518607]

The headlines today say the FBI is searching for motive. A 20 year old registered Republican living with his parents with access to an AR15. Where might he get ideas? We know the power of Jones’ misinformation, defamation, and the lawsuit holding him accountable and bankrupting him.

The repeated themes in Trump and MAGA rhetoric are projection and incitement, searching to ignite and disillusion voters, setting up the 2024 election as fraudulent – an election they can’t legitimately win.

While screaming for “less government” and “don’t take away our freedoms,” MAGA’s Project 2025 and Agenda 47 instead lay out specific plans to increase government control and limit our rights, particularly to disenfranchise voters. Taking away voting rights has been a losing battle in court, but attempts continue.

It’s up to us to preserve our democratic republic. “We the People” must reclaim that opening phrase of the Constitution from extremists and show up to vote. November 5 is soon upon us.

Carol A. Overland, Red Wing