The new Minnesota Yacht Club Festival enjoys breezy opening on Harriet Island

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Fans listen to country singer Morgan Wade during the St. Paul Yacht Club Festival at Harriet Island in St. Paul on Friday, July 19, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

Country singer Morgan Wade performs during the St. Paul Yacht Club Festival at Harriet Island in St. Paul on Friday, July 19, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

Fans of Gwen Stefani wearing “Holla Back” T-Shirts dance and sing as they listen to country singer Morgan Wade during the St. Paul Yacht Club Festival at Harriet Island in St. Paul on Friday, July 19, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

Country singer Morgan Wade performs during the St. Paul Yacht Club Festival at Harriet Island in St. Paul on Friday, July 19, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

Melissa Nelson from St. Cloud dances with a hula-hoop as she listens to Minnesota based band Harbor and Home during the St. Paul Yacht Club Festival at Harriet Island in St. Paul on Friday, July 19, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

Fans listen to country singer Morgan Wade during the St. Paul Yacht Club Festival at Harriet Island in St. Paul on Friday, July 19, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

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Beyond one big name band jumping ship at the last minute, it was otherwise smooth sailing Friday for day one of the new Minnesota Yacht Club Festival at St. Paul’s Harriet Island Regional Park.

Yacht Club, which continues Saturday, is the first major rock and pop festival on Harriet Island since Live Nation’s River’s Edge Music Festival in 2012. Despite promising St. Paul a five-year commitment, the concert promoting giant lost enough money to convince them to pull out after a single year.

Live Nation owns 51% of Yacht Club organizers C3 Presents, an Austin, Texas, company that’s also behind Austin City Limits Music Festival, Voodoo Music + Arts Experience and the modern-day Lollapalooza. But Live Nation apparently allows C3 to follow its own path.

Some concertgoers complained about food and drink prices, and long lines, but in terms of getting in and around the site, the infrastructure and general vibe, C3’s experience in mounting festivals became quite clear by late Friday afternoon, when Joan Jett and the Blackhearts played an hourlong set to a large, grinning and dancing crowd. (Organizers did not release an attendance number, but have said they expect more than 30,000 people each of the two days.)

On Thursday, Yacht Club’s social media announced reunited Southern rockers the Black Crowes had pulled out of their planned set at 8 p.m. Friday due to “illness in the band.” (The Crowes, however, did not address their absence online.) Rather than drafting an 11th hour replacement, the festival reworked the schedule and gave several acts more time on stage. Local band Durry got pushed nearly two hours later into the schedule for a set that started at 5:40, while Seattle indie folk act the Head and the Heart graduated to the Black Crowes’ planned 8 p.m. slot.

Local favorites Gully Boys opened the festival at 1 p.m. on the smaller stage followed by fellow homegrown act Harbor and Home on the main stage. From that point on, performances alternated between the two stages, with just minutes between bands.

Sets from buzzy country artist Morgan Wade and indie rockers Michigander paved the way for Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, who earned cheers for their famous covers “Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah),” “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll,” “Crimson and Clover” and “Everyday People” as well as band originals “I Hate Myself for Loving You” and “Bad Reputation.” They also covered the Replacements’ “Androgynous,” with Jett giving a shout out to the late Minneapolis band and their leader Paul Westerberg.

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter took the stage prior to Gwen Stefani’s performance and asked the crowd to applaud the police and other city workers who helped make the festival happen. He also suggested it would return for a second year in 2025.

Stefani — who was promoted as a headliner along with Friday’s final act Alanis Morissette and Saturday’s main attraction the Red Hot Chili Peppers — performed with dancers and video at what sounded like a louder volume than the previous bands. She told the audience her brother-in-law is from Minnesota, so that sort of makes her a local. She then pulled out her husband, former “The Voice” coach Blake Shelton, to sing their current single “Purple Irises.”

It’s been some 18 years since her last substantial solo hit, but Stefani has remained in the spotlight thanks to her high-profile husband and the semi-regular duet singles they’ve released over the last eight years. Stefani and her band No Doubt reunited in April to headline Coachella to much acclaim, but have yet to announce any future plans together. Whatever happens, Friday’s crowd — which was heavy on geriatric millennials and Gen Xers with a smattering of boomers — gave Stefani a warm reception that matched the ideal summertime weather that graced the festival on Friday.

The Minnesota Yacht Club Festival wraps things up Saturday with a bill that includes Soul Asylum, Hippo Campus, Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue, the Hold Steady, Gary Clark Jr., the Offspring and Red Hot Chili Peppers.

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3M Open field is set, featuring five of the world’s top 30 players

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Sahith Theegala, the No. 11-ranked player in the world, highlights the 3M Open field finalized Friday by the PGA Tour ahead of next week’s tournament at the TPC Twin Cities in Blaine.

The 3M Open’s positioning directly in front of the Olympics golf tournament does generally seem to favor the Blaine event this season. Only four Americans can play in Paris, so many other top players can return from this week’s British Open in Scotland, play in Minnesota and then take the following week off.

That likely also helped the 3M Open draw the likes of 2026 Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley (No. 19 in the world), Akshay Bhatia (No. 26) and Sam Burns (No. 28).

Bhatia is a rising star who committed Friday after missing the cut at The Open.

Rickie Fowler was somewhat mysteriously missing from the field list. Fowler — one of the Tour’s more popular names who has struggled this year after experiencing a resurgence a season ago — is currently ranked No. 99 in the FedEx Cup standings. Only the top 70 advance to the playoffs, and the 3M Open is the second-to-last regular season event.

But Fowler made the cut on the number at the British Open, and that could’ve sealed his decision not to come to TPC Twin Cities, where he played in 2021 and 2022. Other possibilities for commitments that potentially didn’t pan out because of weekend play in Scotland include Max Homa, Jordan Spieth and Cameron Young, who don’t necessarily need to play next week for points — though Spieth is currently No. 60 in the FedEx Cup standings and there is incentive to be in the top 50 by the end of the year — but may have considered another week of play had they exited The Open early.

One result to watch over the weekend is Justin Rose. The 2013 U.S. Open champion and Ryder Cup stalwart is one of the bigger names in this year’s 3M Open field, but the Englishman enters the weekend at Royal Troon just two back of leader Shane Lowry. If Rose contends deep into Sunday and perhaps even wins, he’d be a good bet to withdraw next week. Billy Horschel, who’s in a tie for fourth through two rounds in Scotland, may reconsider playing next week with a strong performance over the weekend.

Last year’s champion Lee Hodges is in the field, as is Tony Finau, the No. 18-ranked player in the world who won the 2022 3M Open, consistently plays well in Blaine and is the biggest name to return to Minnesota year after year.

The field features a number of young stars, including the current top-ranked amateur in the world in Luke Clanton, who’s in on a sponsor’s exemption after already recording a pair of top 10s on the PGA Tour this season. Neal Shipley also received an exemption. He’s been excellent on the PGA Tour after turning pro just last month.

Another exemption went to recent Gophers grad and Stillwater native Ben Warian. Other local connections include Blaine’s Jeff Sorenson, who’s in as a PGA section champion, Spring Lake Park grad Troy Merritt, Gophers alum Erik van Rooyen and past Minnesota State Amateur champ Tom Hoge.

Tournament play officially begins Thursday.

 

‘This case should have never, ever happened,’ judge says at sentencing for double murder at St. Paul sober-living home

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Joseph Sandoval II is not the same man he was on Oct. 20, 2022, when he stabbed to death two men just hours after arriving at a St. Paul sober-living home, his attorney said in court Friday.

Sandoval was under a civil commitment for being mentally ill and chemically dependent, but was provisionally discharged into the community. His mental health impairment had reached “to the extreme, where it deprived him of control over his actions” and he acted on voices from a TV telling him to kill or be killed, Baylea Kannmacher, assistant public defender, said at his sentencing hearing.

It took many months for the “heavy-hitting” antipsychotic medications to allow for Sandoval to attain competency while jailed so he could comprehend the court proceedings, she said.

Sandoval was ruled competent to stand trial in June 2023 and in May he entered a Norgaard plea to two counts of second-degree intentional murder in the deaths of Jason Timothy Murphy, a 40-year-old handyman, and 56-year-old Jon Ross Wentz, a resident of the sober home in the city’s Payne-Phalen neighborhood.

Ramsey County District Judge Joy Bartscher gave the 34-year-old consecutive sentences on Friday that total just over 38 years in prison. He will receive credit for 638 days he’s already served in custody.

After handing down 23 years and a month on count one, Bartscher granted Kannmacher’s request for downward departure from sentencing guidelines and gave 15 years on the second count. She cited Sandoval’s “extreme” mental illness at the time of the murders that deprived him control over his actions.

“This case should have never, ever happened,” she added.

Sandoval’s case exposes the gap that exists in “our systemic response to those found to be incompetent to stand trial but do not receive adequate mental health treatment or supervision,” Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said in a Friday statement.

Sandoval had five felony charges pending in Hennepin County in connection with three violent Minneapolis cases, all filed in March 2021, according to court documents. He was conditionally released from jail on the charges and found to be mentally incompetent to stand trial in June 2021.

About a month later, a Hennepin County Judge civilly committed Sandoval to the Commissioner of Human Services, sending him to the Anoka Metro Regional Treatment Center under supervision by the State of Minnesota. Five months later, in December 2021, “for reasons that do not make sense and should not justify,” his attorney said Friday, he was provisionally discharged to an Evergreen Treatment Recovery Center sober home in St. Paul.

Joseph Francis Sandoval II (Courtesy of Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

Within a month or two, Sandoval was out of medications, his attorney said. His medications were refilled and changed and he was testing positive repeatedly for different substances. His civil commitment was extended, but he remained in the community, struggling with his mental illnesses and self-medicating.

“The people tasked with keeping Mr. Sandoval safe and secure weren’t doing their jobs,” she said.

Nearly a year later, on the afternoon of Oct. 20, 2022, Evergreen transferred Sandoval to its East Side sober home in the 1100 block of Lawson Avenue. Evergreen’s housing specialist drove him there, helped bring his belongings to the living room and handed him a TV remote, according to prosecutors.

‘They’re going to kill me’

Officers responded to the house around 4:30 p.m. on a report of a man screaming that a person killed someone inside the home.

Officers saw a man, later identified as Sandoval, leaving the house and walking toward an alley. He had blood on his clothes, cuts to his face and hands and appeared to be under the influence of an unknown substance. He told officers he had ingested fentanyl.

Sandoval said he had just moved into the house and did not know anybody living there. He said “two big guys” caused his injuries, but could not describe them. He then said somebody tried to kill him and that the person “got those other guys, too,” according to the charges.

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Sandoval said when he got to the sober house, he sat down on the couch. He said, “I was hearing noises. The TV kept saying ‘take your opportunity,’ so I took my opportunity,” the charges say. When an investigator asked Sandoval what he meant, he said, “The TV said they’re going to kill me. When I was watching ‘Dragon Ball Z’ (a Japanese anime television series).”

Officers saw drops of blood in the kitchen and on stairs leading to the basement, where Murphy was found dead. Wentz was dead in an upstairs bedroom, a bloody knife and bloody hammer next to him. Both men had multiple cuts and stab wounds, many to the neck and head. Autopsies would later find they died of blood loss.

After hospital staff released Sandoval, police transported him to the Ramsey County jail. There, Sandoval told an officer, “When you can’t protect someone you care about most in the world, it eats at you, it eats at you, it eats at you until it boils over,” the charges say. He added, “I just wanted a quiet room.”

A ‘broken’ system

Murphy’s mother, Marsha Murphy, told the court Friday that she and her husband, Bob, were on a cruise celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary when their son was killed. They learned of the murder when they arrived home three days afterward, when an officer met them at their front door.

Jason Timothy Murphy, right, with his parents Bob and Marsha Murphy, and daughter Madisyn Murphy. (Courtesy of Madisyn Murphy)

“I can’t begin to imagine or understand what my son had to endure, what his thoughts could have been, if he even was aware of what was happening,” she said. “We will never know in our lifetime. But my hope and prayer as a mother is that it went quickly.”

Murphy, who was adopted by the couple nine days after birth, was good at sports as a kid and loved woodworking. As he grew up, he had “some struggles in life,” then met a girl, fell in love and “gave us our best gift ever, our beautiful granddaughter, Madisyn,” his only child, his mother said. “He loved Madisyn so much.”

The day he was killed, Murphy was helping out the man who ran the sober house. “Jason often helped him. Jason was a handyman working in the basement, doing what he loved to do … helping others out,” his mother said.

Madisyn Murphy, his 17-year-old daughter, said the thought of never seeing her father again or hearing his voice or feeling his embrace “is a pain that words cannot adequately describe. The pain is constant and overwhelming.”

Daniel Blask, Wentz’ brother-in-law, said he was a grandfather of three boys. Despite facing his own demons, he was a man of “incredible kindness and unwavering love for his family.”

Jon Ross Wentz shown in 2022 photo (Courtesy of Angela McGowan)

“Jon deserved a chance to live,” he said, “to overcome his battles and to continue being the light in our family. Instead, he was robbed of his future.”

Wentz had the right to be kept safe in a state licensed group home, said his mother, Sandy Wentz.

“I believe Jon’s murder was partially a result of many system failures,” she said in her statement read by Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Daniel Rait. “The mental health system needs more funding and accountability. Hopefully Jon’s death can be the beginning of change.”

Judge Bartscher asked Sandoval if he wanted to address the court. “No, ma’am,” he said, as his mother and two other family members looked on from the courtroom gallery.

Sandoval had entered a Norgaard plea to the charges, which means a defendant says they are unable to remember what happened due to drug use or mental health impairment at the time, but acknowledges there is enough evidence for a jury to convict beyond a reasonable doubt.

Sandoval is responsible for what happened and will be held accountable for what he did, Bartscher said before imposing the sentence.

“But we also have to figure out a way as a society to hold ourselves accountable for the decisions that we make. And for whatever reason, the way that our system works is … it’s broken,” Bartscher said. “Mr. Sandoval should not have been out in the community.”

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Rainbow Health’s sudden closure a shock to employees, LGBTQ clients

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Rainbow Health, which has been providing healthcare services to the Twin Cities LGBTQ community for just over 40 years, announced its closure to employees on Thursday, according to union members.

Employees were informed of the closure at a staff meeting that was announced in the morning and took place at 12:15 p.m.

“We had no idea this was coming,” said Michele Peterson, a benefits counselor for Rainbow Health who is also a union leader with Rainbow Health Workers Union, represented by SEIU Healthcare Minnesota & Iowa.

Peterson said that members of the board of directors at the meeting cited funding issues as a reason for the closure, and indicated that all locations would be closing down, including a behavior clinic that in St. Paul that opened in 2018.

Rainbow Health leadership did not respond to phone calls and emails Friday asking for a statement. Currently, the number for Rainbow’s primary office redirects to a recorded message that announces their closure, which also cites funding issues. Rainbow Health’s website (rainbowhealth.org) has also been updated to announce the closure.

Peterson said the union is currently discussing possible legal avenues, particularly because the union’s contract requires 30 days advance notice of layoff.

The Rainbow Health Workers Coordinating Committee released a statement expressing shock at the sudden closure and asking for information including about the status of funding the organization was receiving.

“How do you justify the lack of notice while knowing the harm this will cause to our highly marginalized clients that depend on our professional support?” the statement said. “As we demand answers to these questions from the organization’s Board of Directors, we are united and will keep fighting for our rights as workers and to find ways to ensure continuity of client care for the community members we serve.”

No-confidence vote

Peterson, who had just celebrated her fifth year working for Rainbow Health in June, said many of her clients were left in the dark by the sudden closure. Some of those people had been clients of Rainbow Health and its predecessor the Minnesota AIDS Project for over 30 years.

First started by volunteers in 1980, the Minnesota AIDS Project focused on providing a support network and information for gay and bisexual men in the midst of the AIDS epidemic. It eventually grew to include a formalized referral network in the early 2000s and merged with Rainbow Health Initiative in 2018, briefly becoming named JustUs Health before being renamed again to Rainbow Health in 2021.

Peterson said communication had been a frequent problem in recent years. Just days before the announcement of the nonprofits’ closure, CEO Jeremy Hanson Willis resigned following a unanimous vote of no confidence, according to the union statement. The lack of communication was cited as a major reason for the no confidence vote, Peterson said.

“We were never invited to discussions,” Peterson said. “This was the first time we had even seen the board.”

Peterson said that workers, some 60 of whom are represented by the union, had been vaguely aware the organization had been having funding issues, something they had been demanding more clarity about.

She said Thursday was their last paid day and many workers were volunteering their time with no guarantee of pay to help close up Rainbow and transition clients.

“This is going to leave a big hole,” Peterson said, adding that many of her clients would be without health services until other organizations could absorb them.

She encouraged clients to look into other organizations that might be able to supply information they need, such as the Aliveness Project.

“There’s just nothing more I can do to help.”

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