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🎂 Happy birthday to our members Susan Hill and Danielle Luzinski!

📚 New overnight: All three "transformation proposals" unveiled by Minneapolis Public Schools leaders last night call for the consolidation or closure of over a dozen schools as soon as next fall. Full presentation.

• The teachers' union slammed the changes, which district leaders say are needed to address enrollment and financial issues, as "worst-case scenarios" that wouldn't solve the problem.
• The board is set to vote on which path to take in November, though some board members raised concerns about that timeline, the Star Tribune reports.

Today's newsletter is 1,078 words, a 4-minute read.

Mark Stutrud says that despite a lender's lawsuit painting a picture of Summit nearing its demise, the 40-year-old St. Paul brewery will weather the craft beer reckoning.

• "I think we're close to the floor of this deep trough cycle — one that's the deepest I've experienced in 40 years," the company founder and controlling owner told Axios in an interview a few days after BMO Bank filed to foreclose on the brewery.

Why it matters: Summit is the OG of modern craft brewing in the Twin Cities, but BMO Bank's lawsuit has cast doubt on its future. The bank alleges that Summit owes $8.2 million, mostly tied to a loan the brewery got in late 2024.

• BMO, which didn't respond to a request for comment, also wants to appoint a receiver to take over operations and possibly liquidate Summit's assets.

What he's saying: Stutrud is confident he won't lose the brewery and says the lawsuit and media reports have mischaracterized how things got to where they are today.

• He says the 2024 loan was not a case of him borrowing when the industry was clearly in decline, but a move that was primarily a refinancing of debt tied to a $20 million expansion between 2012 and 2015.

BMO, in its lawsuit, cited a June letter Summit wrote to the bank saying it was near insolvency. The letter was not in the court documents and Stutrud says BMO is selectively picking communications to build its case.

• But he says Summit is current on all of its payments and that his lawyers made the bank a "reasonable" offer to settle the debt as recently as last week.
• BMO rejected that offer and filed a lawsuit, he says. Stutrud declined to say how much he offered, but says it was more than what BMO could get selling the company's assets, noting that there's a glut of breweries and equipment for sale right now.

What's ahead: Stutrud, the largest Summit shareholder, says other shareholders are interested in infusing additional equity to pay off the debt.

• Bringing in new outside investors is also an option, but he's not making calls right now, he says.

The lawsuit is the latest example of a craft beer slide that has roiled the industry as breweries deal with fewer drinkers and more competition.

By the numbers: Summit's annual production peaked around 128,000 barrels in the mid-2010s, but the brewery made just 55,000 last year.

• That decline isn't an anomaly — almost every craft brewery has felt similar pain, with several closing shop.

Yes, but: Stutrud resisted chasing industry trends. He didn't hop up his beers during the early IPA craze, arguing that heavy hops mask defects and he'd rather focus on producing high quality classic brews.

• He also never turned Summit's taproom into a major destination like so many of his competitors because he didn't want to steal business from the bars and restaurants that poured his beer for years before the state legalized taprooms.

Stutrud says he wouldn't do anything different — even the expansion at the heart of the debt problem.

• "That was based on some pretty solid data. And looking back, I would do it again."

Full story

Minnesota's public libraries reported just over nine checkouts per person in the 2024 fiscal year, federal data shows.

State of play: That figure, which includes both physical and e-books, is well above the national average of 6.5, according to an Institute of Museum and Library Services survey.

The big picture: U.S. library circulation per person is rebounding from its pandemic-era drop, helped by a boom in digital borrowing.

• Electronic material checkouts reached a decade-high, though physical checkouts remain twice as common.

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⚡️ Inver Grove Heights officials exempted a contentious local data center proposal from the city's moratorium on such projects, saying a legal challenge from developer QLevr LLC could otherwise cost the city tens of millions of dollars. (WCCO)

🏡 Duluth City Council has banned new short-term rentals in single-family homes in response to concerns about the city's housing supply. (Star Tribune)

• New rules for existing vacation rentals will also take effect next month.

🍽️ Khue's Kitchen in St. Paul made the New York Times' 2026 Restaurants List. (Full list)

• Their best bite: The "showstopper" jicama ribs: "Honestly, you can hardly tell there is no meat in there."

🍗 The Chanhassen Dinner Theatres' famed "Chicken Chan" will soon be available for purchase in Kowalski's frozen foods section. (Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal)

Axios Social Club brings together curious locals for good food, good conversation and a night out with people you might never meet otherwise. 

How it works: Take a quick quiz, reserve your seat and we'll match you with five fellow locals at one of our favorite restaurants.

Here's the twist: You won't find out your restaurant or dinner crew until the day of the event. After dinner, all the tables meet up at a surprise afterparty.

If you go: Join us Oct. 6 at 6:30pm in the North Loop.

• Tickets are $15.99 per person. 
• Food and drinks are purchased separately.

Come hungry. We'll handle the rest.

Kenny Chesney will set U.S. Bank Stadium on fire this May.

What's happening: The country superstar's "Original Vibe Room" stadium tour lands in Minneapolis on May 22.

• He'll be joined by Eric Church and Sheryl Crow.

Tickets go on sale to the general public Friday, Sept. 25.

🐖 Nick is watching the newish "Lord of the Flies" miniseries.

🐶 Torey is proud of Topo for "graduating" puppy class. He's well on his way to being a very good boy!

🫩 Audrey wishes her cats could take a class on how to stop yelling for food at 6am.

😎 Kyle is out.

Today's newsletter was edited by Tyler Buchanan.