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| | | Ex-Cardamom Workers Allege Retaliation | In mid-April, the restaurant inside the Walker Art Center quietly moved to replace hosts and servers with QR codes and counter service. Employees were shocked to learn they might lose their jobs in a matter of days. On Tuesday, the Star Tribune reported 17 former Cardamom staff have filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board. The workers allege DDP Restaurant Group, owned by chef Daniel Del Prado, retaliated against their organizing efforts during Operation Metro Surge. [Star Tribune / beyond beurre blanc] | | - Tough times: DDP Restaurant Group insists the shift to QR codes was in response to the “economic impact” of the winter. Reports have shown heightened immigration enforcement has pushed the hospitality industry to the brink. DDP Restaurant Group offered staff new jobs as food runners or bussers, but management told MPR News that most declined and received severance instead. Still, the Walker Art Center was not a fan of the move and Cardamom closed in May as a result. [Star Tribune / MPR News / Walker Art Center]
- Other controversial moves: The restaurant group portfolio includes a number of high-end restaurants in Minneapolis, like Martina and Porzana. Last year, del Prado drew criticism when DDP Restaurant Group closed all four Café Cerés locations. Recently-unionized staff were in contract negotiations at the time. [MPR News / DDP Restaurant Group]
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| What the Cities Are Talking About |
| Diploma, earned: Congrats to Roosevelt High School’s class of 2026, who persisted even after ICE agents set off chemical irritants in front of their school and detained a staff member. Some students' family members have been detained by immigration enforcement, leaving the graduates to celebrate this milestone without them. Check out this great Sahan Journal piece on where students are headed next. [Sahan Journal] | | Counting losses: Minneapolis is estimating Operation Metro Surge cost the city $700 million, above the initial $203 million assessment. Businesses lost $445 million in revenue, and workers lost $152 million in earnings. The city also reports people from Ecuador and Mexico accounted for most arrests. [KSTP] | |  | This tree in St. Paul lost some limbs. (Sean McPherson / City Cast Twin Cities) |
| Clean-up: How’s everybody doing after Tuesday night’s storm? Host Sean McPherson went without power in his home until about 10:30 p.m last night. A neighborhood tree sustained some heavy damage. | | R.I.P fish: Como Lake has about 10,000 fewer fish, after crappies and bluegill sunfish died en masse last week. Experts point to low oxygen levels, which happens when water quickly warms up. It’s apparently natural and common during this time of year, the Star Tribune reports. Sure, but imagine being the person who has to do clean-up. [Star Tribune] | | Fraud fallout: Vice President JD Vance is using his newfound powers as the head of President Trump’s anti-fraud taskforce to demand the Department of Justice investigate Gov. Tim Walz and state Attorney General Keith Ellison. Vance blames the two leaders for not stopping widespread social services fraud in the state. Walz’s spokesperson called the move “nothing more than a joke,” while Ellison criticized it as a "political stunt.” [Pioneer Press] |
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| | Thursday, June 11 | | | Friday, June 12 | | | |
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