A Minnesota Supreme Court judge in line to decide the election contest is a two-time Norm Coleman donor. The MyDD leftblog stirs the pot by noting Christopher Dietzen has twice donated 250 bucks to Norm's Senate efforts, in 2001 and 2004. Dietzen, Tim Pawlenty's campaign lawyer, was elevated to the court in 2007. MyDD didn't get a comment from Dietzen, who basically gets to decide whether to disqualify himself; media types should get his comment today.

Related: Fellow Supreme G. Barry Anderson, a former Minnesota Republican Party lawyer, handled himself ably on the Canvassing Board. Then again, a quick search of the Federal Elections Commission's database doesn't list him as a Coleman donor. In the unlikely event Dietzen goes, it would leave just four of the seven justices to rule, since Anderson and fellow Canvasser Eric Magnuson have already recused themselves.

While the Strib editorial page urges Norm on to the state Supreme Court, the Strib's Pat Doyle jumps two steps ahead and ponders a U.S. Supreme Court recount case. A lot of familiar sources and familiar ground: Coleman may have a point about unequal counting, but Roberts et. al. has no good remedy other than to order a (gulp) new election. Would the phlegmatic state Supremes order an election certificate signing in the interim? [Hat tip: BB and TS.]

As legislators return from holiday break to resume the blame game, DFLers say the Pawlenty administration won't provide timely fiscal analysis on legislation. The PiPress' Jason Hoppin says a key committee chair's bill introduced in January lacks a "fiscal note," which details just how much things cost; the turnaround time in Human Services is a hefty two weeks. The stimulus did complicate things, but DFLers think Pawlenty's troops are playing stall ball. The guv's office says there are lots of bills flying at them.

If you've ever seen 1950s photos of Met Stadium, you'd notice the surrounding fields; apparently, the last farm in Bloomington will be snapped up by developers, the Strib's Mary Jane Smetanka writes. The 58-acre Kelly Farm has all kinds of problems: It's too close to the runways for housing, or even open-water drainage that would lure birds too close to engines. For good measure, Indian burial mounds stud the site. But there are spectacular river views and clients are lining up.

The National Law Journal's Tresa Baldas notes local legal powerhouse Robins Kaplan has forked out more than $1 million for engineering analysis of the 35W bridge collapse. For a pro-bono case! Robins is one of 20 Minnesota firms that will file 100-plus pro bono negligence lawsuits in the next 60 days. They hope to recover damages for victims from bridge analyzer URS Corp. and resurfacer Progressive Contractors. Governments are already off the hook.

Related: Baldas has Robins lawyers taking some credit for engorging a separate $38 million state compensation fund from its initial $1 million overall cap.

The digital doctor will see you now: The Strib's Maura Lerner says Blue Cross will offer employees 10-minute web consults with real physicians for an unspecified flat fee. In Hawaii, the docs get $25 per and patients pay $10 to $45. Like video dating, the service matches up patients and docs; it won't cure everything, but lots of stuff can be more productively handled this way, the insurer hopes. However, I am not doing my own proctological exam....

Who'd have thunk it after this winter, but frigid Minnesota has one of the lowest suicide rates in the nation, Smart Politics' Eric Ostermeier reports. Ostermeier says Minnesota ranks 40th of 50 states, and is an exception to the general rule that low density = more self-elimination. Montana and Alaska are the suicidiest states; New Jersey and New York, of all places, rank at the bottom.

The PiPress' Chris Snowbeck has a good explainer on why assessed property values are falling less than sale prices: greedy municipalities. OK, kidding, sort of. Basically, assessors exclude most foreclosures. While they account for a large number of current sales, they don't affect traditional home values as much. Critics say easy money influenced values on the way up, so should be counted fully now. Median sale prices have declined 20 percent, but Ramsey, Anoka, Dakota and Washington county assessments have gone down 6 to 9 percent.

University of Minnesota undergrad applications are up 16 percent amid deepcession, the Minnesota Daily's Katherine Wolfe reports. About 33,000 applicants are vying for 5,350 spots — thank God it wasn't this tough when I went there. One factor: Students are applying to more colleges overall. U admins say the crush and resulting selectivity are great for the school's rep, if not families' nerves.

The PiPress' Jeremy Olson says a Twin Cities company's failed anxiety drug may help stutterers. A pre-trial study of pagoclone showed it reduced stuttered syllables 18 percent. An eight-month trial will help refine those results and chart side effects; Olson writes it has "slight potential for abuse and addiction." No word on cost, but Olson notes the potential for false hope: Oprah-hyped $4,000 anti-stuttering machines now sit useless in closets and garbage dumps.

Minnesotan plays Monopoly for $20,000 in real money, from the Strib's John Ewoldt.

Nort spews: The Twins bats again failed as the White Sox took their second in a row 6-1; Minnesota is now a game out of first in a so-far-mediocre Central Division.