They call them the Snow sisters, Team Kwe, the only all-women Indigenous snow sculpture team in the U.S makes the most incredible snow sculptures. As the wind blows across the darkened Minnesota State Fairgrounds, snow sculptor Heather Friedli is feeling the almost-zero temperatures in her knees. They feel “rubbery,” and it’s happened before. In fact, Friedli, an anishiinabe Indian who has been snow sculpting for 15 years, says she’s developed something like permanent callouses on her knees from all her bouts of frost bite. It’s nearing the end of day two of three of the Minnesota State Snow Sculpting Competition, late in January. Friedli, the captain of Team Kwe, is joined by her sister Juliana Welter and her “snow sister” Kelly Thune. Their 2023 sculpture design knitting needles, yarn and knitting is inspired by Team Kwe member Maggie Thompson, who had to bow out at the last minute due to a family emergency. Thompson is a textile artist and knitter. They carved the structure out of an 8 by 8-foot block of snow.
An Investigation committee releases more details of the South Dakota State Senator Julie Frye-Mueller drama.
The Senate voted Monday to suspend Frye-Mueller. Minutes after the Senate hearing started, Steven Haugaard, a Sioux Falls attorney and former legislator, filed a lawsuit on behalf of Frye-Mueller against Sen. Lee Schoenbeck the President Pro Tem of the Senate, to protect her First Amendment rights. Senator Tom Pischke, Republican of Dell Rapids, motioned to reinstate Frye-Mueller and delay the discipline committee, but it failed. By Monday evening, the nine lawmakers named to the disciplinary committee met for the first time to establish their procedure over the course of the investigation. “It is my intent to run this committee fairly and efficiently,” said Senator David Wheeler, Republican from Huron, who chairs the committee. “It must balance due process considerations, protection of the employee, public transparency, democratic representation and institutional integrity. It is my hope that when we have completed our work, we will have struck the appropriate balance.”
Those are your headlines at this hour. I’m Colette Keith in the KIPI News center.
