A state senator who proposed lifting Minnesota's ban on new nuke plants was shocked when it passed, the PiPress' Dennis Lien writes. The Senate voted 42-24 not to extend the 15-year-old ban, though it's probably symbolic; a House committee already killed something similar, Forum's Don Davis notes. The Uptake has video. No one plans any nuke plants here, but some favor concentrated ultra-toxic waste of steadily toxic global warming gasses. Has the Senate lost faith in conservation and renewables?

As the Fong Lee case keeps sizzling, right on schedule, activists who complained about alleged police gun-planting yesterday ask for Minneapolis chief Tim Dolan's resignation today. Talk about shooting first and asking questions later; the civil suit hasn't even been adjudicated. The PiPress' David Hanners says Mayor R.T. Rybak is sticking by Dolan, even though Lee's prints were not found on a gun (or guns) that police say he pointed at an officer.

More Lee: The Strib's David Chanen has a city memo strenuously defending Dolan, noting a court may not even entertain the Lee family's complaint. The memo calls the allegations "false." There's a video debrief with Chanen here, and an activist news conference here. Dolan remains incommunicado on vacation; hell, I'm writing this on vacation.

Fewer new cars, less state road-building; that's the upshot from the Strib's Jim Foti, who says $150 million in projects may be canceled due to plunging auto sales taxes. It's too soon to say which projects get knifed, but big-ticket item scheduled in the next two years are St. Paul's Lafayette Bridge and Hastings' Hwy. 61 bridge. But there will still be a ton of stuff done due to the higher gas tax and federal stimulus.

Will the state's deficit finally prompt tougher seat belt laws? Fox9's Jody Ambroz says the state could gain up to $4 million if it makes seat-belt disuse a primary offense. Opponents, who have always carried the day, still don't want police to be able to cite you just for ignoring your safety harness. Unbelted motorists accounted for seven of the last 10 traffic deaths.

A bill to give a five-judge panel three whacks at 2010 state redistricting passed a Senate committee, the PiPress' Bill Salisbury reports. The Legislature could reject the plans and ultimately pass its own, but this raises the chances of a less partisan, incumbent-friendly solution. No word on how the House and governor feel about it.

The PiPress' Jason Hoppin has an in-depth take on a rural heath co-op whose joint purchases may be a national model -- but whose alleged price-fixing might not. The Minnesota Rural Health Cooperative has helped keep care alive in hard-to-cover areas, but the Federal Trade Commission and health plans freaked over a bill to make an antitrust exemption permanent. Congressmen Tim Walz and Collin Peterson back MRHC; state Attorney General Lori Swanson's office does not.

A Republican legislator is calling for a state probe into Swanson's security doors, the Strib's Mark Brunswick writes. The $15,000 solid oak doors are part of a $400,000 office renovation flagged by WCCO-TV.  Swanson's office says ex-St. Paul deputy mayor Denny Flaherty did a free audit and recommended the planks; he's now head of the state police association. According to Fox9's Jeff Goldberg, Swanson says the bulk of the $400,000 cost was for software.

Smart Politics' Eric Ostermeier has an entertaining recap of state House Minority Leader Marty Seifert's candid U appearance, where he noted the unpopularity of some Pawlenty administration proposals, ripped No Child Left Behind (Seifert is an ex-teacher), and quipped that being the boss of a small caucus sometimes makes him feel like he's at the Capitol "little kid's table."

Faribault police charged a woman who allegedly threatened to bomb 16 southern Minnesota post offices, the Faribault News' Corey Butler Jr. reports. Cindy Reineke had just gotten out of prison for terroristic threats against two state pols and Austin's mayor. The paper received a similar bomb threat after reporting the first incidents, but didn't shy away from its duties. AP notes Reineke confessed.

Minneapolis Fed chair Gary Stern will retire this summer, the PiPress' Tom Webb writes. Webb says Stern was cautious pragmatist and non-ideological technocrat who warned about big banks failing in 2004. Does that make him a seer and an ineffective intra-agency politicker? Of course, taking away the economic punch bowl was a losing political proposition until it was too late. The Strib's Chris Serres says Stern encouraged dissent within his own operation.

A local effort wants shoppers to save local businesses by spending $50 at three stores every month. A worthy idea if you can carve out $600 per year (I recommend multiple Braublog sponsorships and a full-price newspaper subscription); the PiPress' Allison Kaplan says Twin Cities-based consultant Cindy Baxter has 300 businesses nationwide on board. A St. Thomas marketing prof says what the hey, try anything in this market.

Fair is fair: After lots of publicity about employee health care coverage lapsing, Denny Hecker's workers have it back, KARE11's Dana Thiede reports. A missing paycheck is also being issued. KSTP has more.

PiPress tech geek Julio Ojeda-Zapata has an interesting piece on the Fallon advertising agency's all-in move to social networking. Eye-catcher: they're apparently giving away some of their proprietary software. Check it out to see if it's user-friendly, Twitter and Facebook addicts. The Strib's Jean Hopfensperger notes several Twin Cities suburbs are sending out info and alerts via Twitter.

Boys with bigger toys: The PiPress' Richard Chin has an entertaining write-up of a Spooner, Wis., farmer who collects tanks and other military vehicles. He has 80 of them.