The PiPress' Jason Hoppin says because of Gov. Pawlenty's implacable opposition, medical marijuana advocates may pursue a constitutional amendment. An ex-Republican legislator is pushing the possibility if the Legislature can't override the guv's likely veto this year. Both houses would have to approve putting the measure on the ballot. The non-amendment bill sets up drug dispensaries and specifically names allowed conditions, which supporters call "one of the tightest laws on the books."

Secretary of State Mark Ritchie won't run for governor in 2010, the Red Wing Republican Eagle's Mike Longaecker reports. Ritchie, a DFLer says he even has to persuade his wife to run for re-election, though he sounds pretty up for it. He also told a Goodhue school class he expects a three-judge U.S. Senate election contest panel to issue its ruling this week, and expects Norm Coleman to appeal to the state Supreme Court.

The Wall Street Journal looks at Wal-Mart's threat to Best Buy. Wal-Mart has ramped up big-screen TV sales, and the paper's Miguel Bustillo says Big Blue workers are complaining about puny showroom supplies. "Best Buy's sales have shrunk during the recession, and it has cut inventory to compensate, perhaps too sharply," Bustillo writes. Best Buy touting its service (along with still-low prices) as a comparative advantage, but bargain-hunters may not care enough to sustain the global retailer's growth.

We'll probably never get to the day when traffic fines won't be collected, but the Strib's Laurie Blake says state court cuts could interrupt City Hall-sustaining funds. Hennepin County says it might stop hearing traffic cases that provide its cities with $16 million in funds. Cities say they'd have to pay to hear the cases themselves -- another example of costs rolling downward. There's a move afoot to establish cheaper "administrative mechanisms" for such violations, but does that nuke due process?

While such a move is rare, the Strib's David Phelps says Tom Petters' request to move his trial to Milwaukee or Des Moines isn't hopeless. Judge Richard Kyle will hear this and other motions this week, and could wait until a jury is impaneled before judging their subjectivity.

Today's talker: Does a home seller have an obligation to disclose a murder? A Blaine couple is suing Edina Realty for not telling them a man shot his wife twice in the head in the home's bedroom, the Strib's Allie Shah writes. State law mandates that agents disclose anything that "could affect an ordinary person's use or enjoyment of the property." Murders aren't exempt, but suicides, natural or accidental deaths and paranormal activity are.

State school integration aid is "clearly, hugely broken," but the Legislature is unlikely to fix the formula, the PiPress' Megan Boldt reports. Evidence shows the aid doesn't go to reducing racial disparities, and there are embarrassments like lily-white Stillwater getting four times the dough of majority-minority Brooklyn Center. The best that seems likely, however, is an integration funding freeze or aid cap.

AP says Sarah Jane Olson's friends aren't talking to the media about her return, although at least three do in the piece. The others want the parolee to be able to resume her life. And one Olson opponent claims, "I think I've been the only one in Minnesota who's had anything bad to say about Sara Jane Olson." Uhh, no; it's silliness like this that has the other side not wanting to play the back-and-forth game.

Minnesota is not among the Top 20 states listed (PDF) as AIG counterparties. That's good in that we didn't climb into bed with the money-burning, bonus-waving financial ripoff artists. Or is it bad because the fed is guaranteeing payback for AIG's customers?

Sunshine Week begins with a good St. Cloud Times editorial about all the ways government wants to hide public information, including cities keeping budget planning secret, as well as crime information being withheld.

Related: AP reports that 65 percent of state records are online, at least the types local journalists surveyed. Is that good? The national percentage is 60 percent. Among records not Googleable: school building inspections, death certificates and state spending. Cost is a factor, agencies say, but a professor says it will save labor costs in the long run.

Is it better to subsidize food composting or just feed the leftovers to the pigs? The Strib's Maria Elana Baca says rural hog farmers complain that a Hennepin County program is cutting their porkers out of tossed-out restaurant food. They say government should save the cash it's throwing at a market already recycling, and instead subsidize residential food-waste collections. The counties say their program collects more stuff, and they need economies of scale.

State Sen. Ellen Anderson, who has her chops busted regularly by Strib outdoors columnist Dennis Anderson over wanting to spend more habitat sales-tax proceeds in the metro area, defends herself in the paper's op-ed page. The metro area will get less than 10 percent of the bucks even though 15 percent of the region is undeveloped natural land. Yes, the biggest allocation should go outstate, but more is needed close to where people actually live, Anderson argues.

Nort spews: The Gopher men basketballers made the NCAA Tournament; as East Regional 10th seed, Minnesota must bump off 7th seed Texas to get a chance to face 2nd seed Duke in Greensboro. Yikes! Minneapolis also hosts a first-round gathering; get ready to see green as Michigan State and North Dakota State are placed here. The disappointing Wild blew another playoff-race chance, falling 5-3 to the St. Louis Blues. Minnesota is in 11th place, one point out of the playoffs.