The Good Life in Minnesota is officially over. Sam Cook in the Duluth News Tribune reports: “The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources announced Wednesday that Mille Lacs Lake anglers will be able to keep one walleye from 19 to 21 inches long or one over 28 inches long when fishing opens on May 9. In addition, an extended night-fishing closure will again be in effect beginning the Monday after the opener, DNR officials said.”
The music lineup has been announced for … the St. Paul State of the City address. It actually looks pretty good: Solomon Parham, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Heiruspecs, Jeremy Messersmith, Dem Atlas and Chastity Brown. Might be tough acts for Mayor Chris Coleman to follow.
OK, this kid really is above average. Mounds Park Academy senior has been accepted to all eight Ivy League schools, reports KMSP’s Rachel Chazin. “The 8 Ivy League schools are Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University and Yale University. In addition, Khalif was accepted to Stanford, Georgetown, and the University of Minnesota. … ‘I am humbled to even have the opportunity to choose amongst these schools because they are all incredible places to learn and grow,’ Khalif said.”
The totally legit-sounding “Munchies People’s Choice Food Awards” has honored four Minneapolis businesses, reports Jim Hammerand in the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal — the only four Minneapolis businesses nominated. The local winners are:
Best pizza: Pizzeria Lola
Best donut: Glam Doll Donuts
Best craft brewery: Surly Brewing Co.
Best cocktail bar: Marvel Bar
Probably just a coincidence that General Mills (formerly of Minneapolis) sponsored the awards, which were overseen by celebrity food guy Andrew Zimmern (of Minneapolis).
The Minnesota Supreme Court threw out the Star Tribune’s request for data from an agency created by the Minnesota Legislature, the Minnesota Joint Underwriting Association, which “help[s] high-risk doctors, hospitals and nursing homes get malpractice insurance,” rerports MPR’s Bob Collins. The court’s reasoning:
“While the MJUA was created by state statute, it is not part of the State; it is an organization consisting of private insurers,” Supreme Court justice David Lillehaug noted in his opinion today.
“The Star Tribune is correct that the State exercises considerable control over MJUA. For example, the Commissioner of Commerce appoints eight of the 15 members of MJUA’s board of directors. But only four are public members, and there is nothing in the statute to the effect that the directors, however appointed, owe any fiduciary duty to the State, rather than to the association itself,” Lillehaug wrote.
Rep. Pat Garofalo is holding a public/press conference via Meerkat:
In 5 hours: Today. 3pm. Live public/press conference via Meerkat. Taking your questions. Tune in! #meerkat http://t.co/99cbCJpSl6
— Rep. Pat Garofalo (@PatGarofalo) April 8, 2015
Maybe someone will ask him about solar credits.
In other news…
Alan Page is leaving the Minnesota Supreme Court and will devote more time to his Page Education Foundation [Pioneer Press]
The St. Paul school board came up with a plan to address its $20M budget shortfall [Pioneer Press]
Sen. Al Franken stopped by Mankato on his health care listening tour [Mankato Free Press]
The Wild made the playoffs! [AP via MPR]
“Every Walmart employee in Minnesota is now earning at least $9 an hour.” [WCCO]
St. Cloud police chief Blair Anderson wants more black recruits [St. Cloud Times]
No more coal power generation at Xcel’s Burnsville plant [AP via Pioneer Press]
Tomorrow at the Electric Fetus: Jack White’s record truck [The Current]
“Mall of America Exhibit Temporarily Closes Due to Stressed-Out Stingrays” Maybe it was because of all the armored police standing around? [City Pages]
“FCC fines CenturyLink $16M over multistate 911 outage” [MPR]
“Spree of graffiti reported in Moorhead, some of it vulgar” [Inforum]
Farm babies! [KARE]