Gov. Pawlenty says the U.S. Supremes must rule before he'll sign a Coleman-Franken election certificate, MPR's Tom Scheck reports. Given the D.C. gerontocracy's speed, that could add months to the outcome if (when) the loser appeals. There was some hope the signing, which the Senate tacitly requires, could come after Minnesota Supremes decide. No one's sure if the feds are included in a state law requiring appeals be exhausted before a certificate issuance. But a state court could order a signature.

Meanwhile, Coleman's arguments continue to fall apart before the three-judge panel. The PiPress' Rachel Stassen-Berger notes Franken forces "may well have chopped out a huge chunk of the ballots Coleman brought to the court." Dem lawyers methodically showed 80 of 100 recently introduced ballots were not properly witnessed. Coleman's forces say that doesn't upend their unequal-treatment argument, since similar votes were tallied earlier. The Strib notes the court forbade Coleman to undo an agreement that counted 933 absentee ballots.

Pawlenty says state courts must be starved in order to change them, Forum Communications' Don Davis and Kelly Boldan report. Pawlenty's budget has been blistered by his appointed Supreme Court chief justice; the guv wants everything electronic, which I guess can be done via budget whack. To the court's contention some crimes won't be heard, Pawlenty says fine, start with DWIs, which have a standard outcome 90 percent of the time. Damn that 10 percent though!

Speaking of efficiency, the Strib's Mike Kaszuba notes a rare case of legislative Republicans criticizing the governor. It involves a plan to boost welfare investigators' efficiency by bringing them under state control. The incumbent county-level detectives are screeching, the savings are puny, and House Republicans say you can't do more (investigations) with less (investigators). The administration notes that free of county borders, state investigators could target fraud hotspots. Last year, $13 million in ripoffs were identified.

WCCO's Jason DeRusha examines the propriety of a judge's retribution against Carl Eller. Dan Mabley ordered Eller hauled off to jail, rather than the recommended home monitoring, explaining he didn't like the ex-Viking badmouthing the court in the media. While judges have sentencing discretion, two experts say criticizing the courts is not a crime. (Just tactically stupid.) Will anyone file a complaint?

St. Paul superintendent Meria Carstarphen keeps the journos busy ducking and obfuscating whether she's an Austin, Texas, finalist; the PiPress' Doug Belden notes she's under no restrictions against talking...unless she wants to keep her job hopes alive. Joe Soucheray, who's made sport of the Cult of the Super, rips her for having too much time off.

The Strib's Jon Tevlin calls ripoff artist Jerry Lynn Watkins "perhaps the most likeable criminal I've met," but after talking to victims of a $20 million fraud, implies Watkins' 24-month sentence is too short. This case involved Neulan Midkiff, who bilked churchgoing folk. Tevlin also notes the judge's rip on the Bush Justice Department, which didn't properly back a Ponzi-battling prosecutor.

Elsewhere in Scamland, a federal judge denied an alleged Petters co-conspirator's expense request to pay a $120-a-month DirectTV bill, KSTP reports. Larry Reynolds' $290-a-month health club membership also went by the wayside. The judge did allow a higher monthly health insurance payment. Reynolds' money is being preserved to reimburse victims, should he be found guilty.

West-metro fashionistas are bumming after Nordstrom canceled plans for a Ridgedale store. The Strib's Jackie Crosby says the retailer blamed the mall's near-bankrupt owner for not making good on promises to add a second local outlet. Still, these aren't great times for expansion, either. The Seattle-based clotheshorse won't say if it will try somewhere else, but Southdale is panting heavily.

Target's subprime customers again had trouble paying their credit card bills, exacerbating the company's profit slide amid sales declines, the PiPress' Gita Sitaramiah reports. Fourth-quarter profit fell 41 percent because the company had to fund reserves to cover the non-payments. Target's 14.4 percent bad-debt expense ratio is more than twice the 6.2 percent of general purpose cards. Bob Ulrich: Another bubble boy?

Score one for the taxophobes and cable companies: North St. Paul voters soundly whacked a planned municipal fiber optic network, the Strib's Jean Hopfensperger reports. The 67-33 percent margin says there weren't enough high-speed junkies out there; taxpayers would back the $18 million cost if customers didn't show up. A KSTP story might've had a hand in the defeat. Meanwhile, Thomson Reuters is partnering in a $450,000 state-of-the-art cable TV studio for Eagan and Burnsville, the Strib's Joy Powell writes.

Busy day for Medtronic. They'll begin disclosing consulting payments to doctors, but not until 2011, the Strib's Janet Moore reports. MPR's William Wilcoxin notes a new study that shows worsening problems with the company's defibrillator leads. And the company forecast unspecified cuts for this spring, the PiPress' Christopher Snowbeck says.

Everyone goes nuts for Minneapolis' mention in President Obama's not-quite-State-of-the-Union address. But Minnesota Independent's Chris Steller does some Googling to find previous presidential references to our fair town. Anyone want to bet that after the next revenue forecast, Gov. Pawlenty finds a way to more deeply cut local-government aid so Mayor R.T. Rybak can't fund all those cops?

Mankato guys rip the stimulus — until they discover something in it for them. The Mankato Free Press' Mark Fischenich profiles two selfish contractors. I think I'd take my business to folks with a less narcissistic sense of community good.

Booze news — it's what's for breakfast. Fox9 says sales at local municipal liquor stores rose for the 12th consecutive year in 2007, according to just-released data. Sales volume of $291 million was up 3.7 percent but profit soared 11.8 percent. Leeches!

Nort spews: The Wild lost in a shootout 2-1 to the Kings, but are now in seventh place in the West. The Wolves, as usual, lost at Toronto; they have the sixth-worst record in the league. As the Vikes prepare for the Sage Rosenfels Era, a reminder that the Williams Wall could still miss the first four games next year; the duo was given a June court date in their case against an NFL ban.