Despite alleged complicity in sending local Somalis to fight in their native land, the feds have not approached Minneapolis mosque leaders, MPR's Laura Yuen and Sasha Aslanian report. A secular Somali leader says the mosque played a role in the departures; the religious leaders strongly denied that and blamed the messenger. At least one mosque-goer said agents did interview her, however. MPR's Bob Collins notes the Strib didn't cover the news conference, though they did an advancer a day earlier.

Al Franken picked up 23 votes in court yesterday, but might this be a bigger win for Norm Coleman? The PiPress' Rachel Stassen-Berger notes the first judicial additions to the pile. Judges will allow votes affirmed before election officials, even with errors, and other circumstances will also be forgiven. Given that Coleman is behind, letting in more votes keeps his hopes alive. Late in the day, the judges issued a speed-up order grouping many disputed ballot types; campaigns must now argue which individual groups should count.

MPR's Tom Scheck calls b.s. on politicians' claims that legislation X will produce Y jobs. Reliable counting mechanisms simply aren't there; Scheck gets State Sen. Steve Murphy to admit a 2008 transportation bill produced only half the 33,000 jobs promised — though Murphy says a drop in gas-tax revenues was the unexpected mitigation. But even Murphy's newest stat can't really be confirmed. Though Congressman Jim Oberstar says he'll push for tough stimulus accounting, one expert says just be conservative about your claims. Yeah, right.

Related: Construction union bigwigs came charging out of a meeting with Vikes owner Zygi Wilf touting 4,000 to 5,000 jobs building a new Vikings football palace, the Strib's Judd Zulgad reports. They didn't talk so much about the half-billion-plus public cost.

There's gnashing of teeth about local home-building permits plunging to their lowest point in a decade, but is that really bad news? Everyone knows we have way too many buildings, so isn't this a necessary thing? I mean, if you're going to complain about government stimulus being wasted, isn't the private sector building stuff no one needs wasteful, too? Anyway, the Strib's Jim Buchta has the details.

The PiPress' Bill Salisbury notes the west metro has $233 million of "shovel ready" stimulus projects ready to go; the east metro, just $33 million. Despite the 7:1 imbalance, officials say more east metro projects were "in the pipeline or scheduled to be built before the federal economic stimulus bill started rolling through Congress."

If you want to check out the 911 call of the soon-to-be-murdered Mora couple, the Strib and KSTP describe the gory details, including transcript.

Yikes: Tons of road salt is impairing local rivers, a U study confirms. The Strib's Tom Meersman says salinity in 39 local lakes has increased steadily during the past two decades, a consequence of using 350,000 tons of salt a year. Graphic of creeks in real trouble here. MPR's Stephanie Hemphill says most amounts are one-200th of state standards, and widespread problems are 50 years down the, er, road. Officials claim they're using less salt per mile, but our waters retain more salt than Chicago and Toronto.

Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Eric Magnuson is campaigning around the state against budget cuts. In Mankato, he said a 5-10 percent cut could mean courts won't handle crimes like shoplifting, theft, traffic violations and underage drinking. As you can imagine, that last one went over real well in a college town, the Mankato Free Press' Dan Nienaber reports.

School daze: St. Paul could whack 265 jobs to close a $25-million budget deficit, the PiPress' Doug Belden notes. The music program, among others, would take a huge hit. No word on class size implications. The state's biggest district, Anoka-Hennepin, is cutting 135 teaching positions and raising class sizes by two kids per, the PiPress' Emma Carew writes. Minnesota Independent's Paul Demko explores the paradox of stimulus construction funds amid falling enrollment.

Meanwhile, Minneapolis is considering changing magnet school locations, the Strib's Patrice Relerford reports. They're in the early stages — see the story for community meeting info — but these things are always extremely emotional. The district says it has to rejigger because of building and transprtation costs amid a budget crisis.

The daughter of a pioneering medical inventor is giving $50 million to a new U Children's Hospital. According to the PiPress' Jeremy Olson, Caroline Amplatz got the idea "only three weeks ago, when she arrived late to a meeting of the university's pediatrics foundation board and heard discussion about naming opportunities." Nice whim. It covers half the philanthropy the U needs for the $275 million facility. I hope the school has enough money to run it.

Today's talker: 118 cats found in a St. Anthony home ... a mobile home. The Strib's Jim Adams reports that it took 15 people three hours to clear the stench-drenched place; neighbors' eyes burned standing outside the home. AP says smell was the tipoff, and it took two hours to grab the felines. The unnamed couple who owned the home had earlier been cited for having 72 cats while living in Coon Rapids. The animals, by the way, seemed healthy.

The Strib editorial page strenuously defends biodiesel from the slings and arrows of rabid national commentators. This follows an early-winter shutdown by the Bloomington schools. Biodiesel wasn't the culprit; flat-nosed buses and conventional diesel were problems.

Audubon birders note that 177 of 305 species now winter further north than they did in 1966, the Strib's Bill McAuliffe writes. On average, the shift isn't much — 35 miles — but the group calls it a "major ecological disruption." Robins in January in Minnesota is just weird.

KSTP's Tim Sherno looks at how mega-retailers' collapse is speeding local power centers' demise. Places with multiple doomed anchors (Circuit City, World Market, etc.) experience the opposite of synergy: a faster traffic plunge that feeds on itself. And of course, it's not over.

Is this creepy or cool? The PiPress' Tom Webb says warehouse chains can contact customers directly about specific scary peanut purchases. The membership-based outlets keep track of an individual's purchases, so they can target their warnings about what's in your pantry.Other affinity programs have this ability, Webb adds.

Nort spews: The Gopher's men's bucketeers beat lowly Indiana 62-54 to get back in the win column. Sore Loser here. The Jefferson-less Wolves give up 69 points to Toronto in the second half and lose 110-102; Britt Robson sees little good but floats a fanciful trade scenario. The Twins will unveil Target Field's plaza design today.