News & Views of Phillips Since 1976
Friday December 19th 2025
CHAPTER 17: BY SURE FORCE
by Patrick Cabello Hansel
Either by sure force of luck or Divine Providence, little Angel’s phone call to 911 coincided with a massive blackout for the entire neighborhood of Phillips. The hospitals and fire station automatically switched to backup, but houses, stores and the garage numbered 2647 were plunged into instant darkness. The garage, where Brian Fleming was holding our little family hostage, was plunged into total chaos.
The lights in the basement went out immediately, emergency lights and piercing alarms came on. Upstairs, they could hear people cursing and moving around, bumping into furniture. Only the space behind the steel door that Brian was leading Luz through was illuminated: the central nervous system of the whole operation, where money and lives were manipulated through the dark web.
Brian had installed huge, sophisticated batteries in a sub basement dug deep into the ground. They would keep the servers and computers running for a long time. He didn’t care about the sex workers on the second floor of the huge garage; he only cared about the students learning on the first floor if they helped him get more funding. But he cared about his money. He cared about the golden machine of greed and fear he had built.… Read the rest “CHAPTER 17: BY SURE FORCE”
What World Do You Live In?
Peace House Community
by MARTI MALTBY
I’m often struck by how wildly different people’s experiences (and, as a result, their worldviews) can be, even when they seem to have a lot in common. For instance, most of my friends avoid coffee after 4:00 p.m. because it ramps up their adrenaline and keeps them awake, but I often joke that, at Peace House Community, caffeine and sugar are actually sedatives. As long as we have a good supply of those items, our community members are content, but heaven help us if we run out and face an angry, jittery mob suffering withdrawal symptoms. That’s when you really see people run on adrenaline.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become more aware of how difficult it can be to get out of your own world. If you are forced into a new situation or make a deliberate effort to expand your horizons, it can happen, but in general humans seem to be programmed to run off habit. We experience something, and generalize that experience to others. So often, when someone doesn’t meet our expectations based on our worldview, when they don’t follow our script for them, we assume they are either trying to deceive us or they are not smart enough to understand the world.… Read the rest “What World Do You Live In?”
February Random News
by LINDSEY FENNER
Phillips-area Cultural Malls Receive State COVID Relief Grants:
At the end of 2021, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) awarded funds of up to $300,000 each to twelve “cultural mall operators” throughout Minnesota, including the four listed below in the Phillips area. The $3 million program is part of the $70 million Main Street COVID Relief Grant packages passed by the State Legislature in 2021. To qualify, facilities had to have 50% or more tenants identifying as Black, African American, Asian or Pacific Islander, Hispanic, Latinx, American Indian, Alaska Native, or other racial or ethnic minority.
Support our vibrant Phillips businesses here:
24 Mall, 912 E 24th Street
Midtown Global Market, 920 E Lake Street
JigJiga Business Center, 1516 E Lake Street
Mercado Central, 1515 E Lake Street
New Workers Unionize at Allina’s Abbott Northwestern Hospital:
220 lab workers at Abbott have recently voted to join SEIU Healthcare MN (Service Employees International Union). According to SEIU, worker organizing focused on relief from understaffing and heavy workloads and increasing wages for healthcare workers. Newly organized workers include Cytotechnologists, Histotechnicians, Laboratory Assistants, Medical Laboratory Scientists, and Medical Laboratory Technicians. They join other SEIU and Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) unionized workers at Allina.… Read the rest “February Random News”
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