David Brauer

Thirty years ago, Minneapolis businesses could get away with this.

Legendary but now-closed chicken wings joint Shorty & Wags used to be located at 3753 Nicollet Ave. S. in Southwest Minneapolis. With Shorty retired and living in northern Minnesota, the commercial building is now in the market for a new tenant and being renovated.

The renovations recently revealed an interesting piece of Minneapolis history -- the racist signage for Art Song's, another legendary wings joint that used to serve greasy fare from that very same storefront. The sign, covered up when Wags took over the property sometime around the end of the Carter Administration, hadn't been visible for roughly three decades.

Journalist of all trades and longtime Southwest resident David Brauer spotted the sign while waiting to get a flat tire fixed yesterday, then snapped a photo and shared it on his Twitter account. We reached Brauer to ask him about his recollections of Song's and its racist sign.

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If this story is indicative, it's pretty easy to get a job at the Prairie Island nuclear plant.

In a move worthy of Homer Simpson, a security supervisor at Xcel Energy's Prairie Island nuclear power plant was fired after he was caught faking a drug test urine sample.

Homer certainly would've tested positive for Duff, but the Prairie Island worker was probably trying to hide the fact he had been indulging in something illegal.

The drug test revelation comes just three months after feds announced they've found a "security-related problem" at the nuclear plant that requires additional inspections.

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Joe Mauer hitting weak grounders has become a disgustingly familiar sight this season.

Anybody know what Barry Bonds and Chuck Knoblauch are up to these days? Terry Ryan should probably call them -- it's hard to imagine they'd hit any worse than the completely inept players Minnesota Twins manager Ron Gardenhire is forced to trot out game after game.

With a .278 winning percentage, the Twins aren't far removed from entering the 'worst team ever' conversation. The modern day standard for ineptitude was set by the 1962 New York Mets, who went 40-120 for a nice round .250 winning percentage.

Let's hope to God that yesterday afternoon at Target Field was rock bottom for the 2012 Twins, because it's hard to imagine what getting worse would entail. During a 5-0 loss to the division-leading Cleveland Indians, the Hometown Nine were shutout by 38-year-old pitcher Derek Lowe. Was it a result of his dominating stuff? Hardly. Lowe became the first pitcher since 2002 to pull off a shutout without striking out a single opposing batter.

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It appears more Minnesotans are cool with this than before.

Mark Dayton dreams of Vikings stadiums and Minnesota becoming the first state to vote down a constitutional amendment against gay rights. This year, both dreams may be fulfilled.

A new SurveyUSA poll suggests there is more support for gay marriage in Minnesota than there was four or six months ago.

However, rather than directly asking Minnesotans for their opinions about gay marriage or the constitutional amendment, pollsters opted for an Obama-related question that makes it more difficult to analyze the survey results, namely: "President Obama says that same-sex couples should be able to get married. Do you agree with the president? Or disagree?"

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A man died this morning after jumping from the Franklin Bridge.

In March, we reported on a disturbing string of five suicides-by-traffic that took place around the Twin Cities this winter.

Now, with summer on the horizon, the suicidal are apparently shifting their tactics.

Around 6:15 a.m. today, a man jumped to his death from Minneapolis's Franklin Bridge into the Mississippi River. The incident marked the third time in the past week men had taken their lives by jumping from bridges in or near downtown into the Mighty Mississippi.

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Tom Petters

The Supreme Court won't review Tom Petters' conviction, according to a document released by the court.

Petters asked the court to review his 2009 conviction for running a $3.65 billion dollar Ponzi scheme. He appealed the conviction on the grounds that lower courts inappropriately barred Petters' attorneys from mentioning a prosecution witness' criminal record.

Petters claims he was set up by Larry Reynolds, a co-worker Petters claims was the true architect of the Ponzi fraud.

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Cover of a 1994 City Pages issue, which included a feature story on the Legal Rights Center.

This past week's feature, "The Edge of Doubt," brought readers inside the walls of the Legal Rights Center, where attorneys for CeCe McDonald prepared her defense against charges of second-degree murder.

A nonprofit that predates Hennepin County's modern public defense system, the Legal Rights Center is a story in itself.

Longtime City Pages readers may recall former writer Jennifer Vogel's profile on the law office from June 1994, "The Best Lawyers Money Can't Buy."

For those who don't, we dug it up. Back then, a young Keith Ellison ran the place. An excerpt from Vogel's story:

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WISN

Wisth, "false advertising" sign in tow, talks to reporters as he pickets outside Chuck's.

Only in America... and especially in Wisconsin.

Bill Wisth -- a 6'6",  350 pound resident of Mequon, Wisconsin -- used to be a regular at Chuck's Place, a family-run restaurant in Thiensville, Land of Cheese. But Wisth's days as a regular came to an abrupt end last weekend after the restaurant cut him off during an all-you-can-eat fish fry.

What an outrage! Wisth is so upset that he's started the picketing the restaurant and promises to stand outside with his Sharpie-scrawled "false advertising" sign every weekend until the end of time.

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Petrusson's sling stunt traumatized two DNR officials and any wildlife unfortunate enough to be in the area.

The two DNR officers who stumbled across Alan Petrusson last Thursday in Ramsey's Dayton Port Roadside Park might need some PTSD counseling.

Officers were on the Mississippi River looking for fishing violations when they spotted the 50-year-old Petrusson near the shore sitting in a sling. Blindfolded with legs spread, his wrists and ankles were tied to trees. His jean shorts were unzipped to expose his genitals.

The DNR officers understandably wanted nothing to do with Petrusson, so they called police. When police arrived, they found Petrusson out of the sling, walking on the shore. He told officers he was just relaxing in the sling and didn't realize his nuts were exposed.

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Wired

BMX bikers might like some more hills, but commuters surely appreciate Mpls' flatness.

Sure, Minneapolis has great bike trails, a dedicated cadre of cycling commuters and all that jazz... but it may be our city's Midwestern flatness that puts us over the top as the nation's top biking destination.

You see, Walk Score rated Minneapolis as the most bikeable city in America using an algorithm that includes "Hills" as one of its five factors. And, of course, Minneapolis is about as flat as Miley Cyrus' stomach.

With an overall bikeability score of 79, Minneapolis emerged as by far and away the most bikeable city. The nine-point gap between Minneapolis and second-place Portland is larger than the eight-point gap between Portland and 10th-place Chicago.

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