A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used, but company founder and prominent election denier Mike Lindell said that it’s just a formality because the landlord wants to take the property back.

Lindell denied in an interview with the Associated Press that the eviction was another sign of his money woes. He said his financial picture is actually improving after a credit crunch last year disrupted cash flow at MyPillow after the company lost one of its major advertising platforms and was dropped by several national retailers.

“We’re fine,” he said.

Lindell faced a setback last month when a federal judge affirmed a $5 million arbitration award in favor of a software engineer who challenged data that Lindell said proves China interfered in the 2020 U.S. presidential election and tipped the outcome to Joe Biden. Lindell acknowledged in January that Fox News stopped running MyPillow commercials amid a billing dispute.

Lindell confirmed Wednesday that MyPillow owes around $217,000 to Delaware-based First Industrial LP for rent for the facility in Shakopee. He said MyPillow no longer needed the space and removed its remaining property from the warehouse last June before subleasing the space to another company through December.

Another company was going to start subleasing the space in January but backed out and “left us all stranded,” he said. MyPillow offered to find another tenant, he said, but the landlord just wanted to take back control of the warehouse instead. The $217,000 is for unpaid rent for January and February, he said. He also said MyPillow continues to lease space elsewhere.

The Star Tribune reported that a Scott County judge held a hearing Tuesday on the warehouse owner’s request to formally evict MyPillow, which did not contest the landlord’s request.

“MyPillow has more or less vacated but we’d like to do this by the book,” attorney Sara Filo, representing First Industrial, said during the hearing, the newspaper reported. “At this point there’s a representation that no further payment is going to be made under this lease, so we’d like to go ahead with finding a new tenant.”

Judge Caroline Lennon filed the eviction order Wednesday.

Lindell, who continues to propagate former President Donald Trump’s lies that the 2020 election was stolen from him, in part by rigged voting machine systems, still faces defamation lawsuits by two voting machine companies. Lawyers who were originally defending him in those cases quit over unpaid bills.

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DULUTH, Minn. — Days after the Wall Street Journal published Minnesota billionaire Kathy Cargill’s disparaging remarks about Duluth and its mayor, a couple of community members are taking action.

And it’s a food fight, of sorts.

They launched the Duluth Cheerio Challenge, a call to ramp up donations to local food shelves and human services agencies in the final days of Minnesota FoodShare Month.

Chum, the Damiano Center, Union Gospel Mission and the Salvation Army are accepting dollar and food donations online and at their sites. Also, an additional drop-off is available from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. until Friday at the Duluth Labor Temple, 2002 London Road.

Cereal is one of the most requested nonperishable items at Chum. It’s also expensive and difficult to regularly obtain in large quantities, so the Cheerio Challenge comes at the perfect time, said Scott Van Daele, director of distributive services.

In Saturday’s Wall Street Journal article, Cargill described Duluth as a “small-minded community,” and she said Mayor Roger Reinert had “peed in his Cheerios” by requesting to discuss plans for several properties her entity, North Shore LS LLC, purchased and demolished in the Park Point neighborhood.

Community members responded on social media with memes. Comment threads stretched far and wide. Reinert eventually posted on X, formerly Twitter, “For the record … I’m more of a pancakes guy. #IYKYK,” with a picture of a short stack and bacon, as he prepared to ride along in a snowplow during a late-winter storm.

Duluth resident Chad McKenna published a blog post, “We take our Cheerios with almond milk.” Friends contacted McKenna, he believes, because of the blog post and because he has 16 years of experience in labor movement organizing. And he hit the ground running.

On Monday, McKenna created a Duluth Cheerio Challenge graphic, video and Facebook page. By Tuesday, the page had more than 700 members, and the video had been viewed more than 7,000 times.

McKenna said he and other organizers are amazed at how quickly the effort gained traction.

“This effort is not meant to be snarky. We’re being sort of playful with what happened,” said McKenna, an event organizer. “This shows Duluth is a big, small town in a lot of ways.”

Duluth’s never-ending can-do spirit and enthusiasm to help a neighbor in need impresses Van Daele, who said he continues to be proud to be part of this community.

Deb McLaughlin, a Park Point resident, said the Duluth Cheerio Challenge is turning something “negative and rude” into a really sweet and positive effort. McLaughlin and her husband are longtime Chum donors, and rather than sending cereal, she said they intended to support with an online contribution.

Asked if she’d heard the Cheerios phrase before, McLaughlin called it “the oddest thing” and said she looked it up in an online dictionary of idioms.

“If I remember correctly, it’s a phrase used to refer to when somebody’s already having a bad day, and it gets worse,” she said.

Whatever is the opposite of peeing in Cheerios, it’s clear Duluth’s doing that.

Chum suggests donations

Financial donations can go further than food. For every dollar donated, Chum can get $3 worth of sustenance through Second Harvest, wholesalers and distributors, Van Daele said. A $5 donation is four meals, and $10 feeds a child for one weekend during the summer.

If donors aren’t able to purchase cereal, consider these nonperishable pantry staples:

Canned fruit
Canned vegetables
Canned soups
Canned tuna
Peanut butter
Dry pasta
Canned spaghetti sauce
Macaroni and cheese

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Through a free teen fitness academy, the city of St. Paul already trains more than 225 lifeguards year-round, leading the state in lifeguard certifications while keeping pools open throughout the city and beyond it.

The city’s aquatics initiatives are about to take another deep dive, so to speak, with St. Paul offering free youth swimming lessons this summer. Registration will be open to all St. Paul youth on a first-come, first-served basis beginning April 1.

The goal is to improve water safety — Black youth are about three times as likely to drown as their white peers, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — while aligning with St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter’s stated goals of removing fees for youth sports programming.

“In the land of 10,000 lakes, cost should never be a barrier to water safety skills,” said St. Paul Parks and Recreation Director Andy Rodriguez, in a written statement.

Summer lessons will be offered at the Como Regional Park Pool and the Highland Park Aquatic Center. Youth swimming lessons are open to St. Paul residents only and registration will be available online at stpaul.gov/swimminglessons, or by calling 651-642-0650, or in-person at Great River Water Park starting at 9 a.m. on April 1, which will heretofore be known as “April Pools Day.”

A water safety and swimming course also will be offered at Lake Phalen Beach this summer.

In addition to free lifeguard training for ages 14 to 18 and free summer lessons for kids, the city has launched five free or low-cost swimming programs aimed at making aquatics accessible to different populations. Among them, there’s a women’s swim night for women and girls who might not otherwise utilize the pools due to religious beliefs or cultural practices.

There’s also a sensory friendly swim time designated for individuals with sensory sensitivities, and a free open swim from 12 noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays at the Oxford Community Center/Jimmy Lee Rec center on Lexington Parkway. The open swim includes free water safety education training from 3 to 3:25 p.m.

The city offers free and reduced rate aquatics memberships for St. Paul residents ages 62 and up with a financial need.

New this year, St. Paul Parks and Recreation launched the “St. Paul Sunnies” developmental swim team, with the goal of prepping kids ages 10 to 14 who might not otherwise have access to a competitive swim team. The team, which held try-outs in January, is led by high school mentors.

More information on each program is online at stpaul.gov/GreatRiverWaterPark.

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