The Strib's Randy Furst breaks the shocking news that Gang Strike Force officers went on a late-night document-shredding fest after a critical audit discovered 18 grand and 13 cars unaccounted for. Using the state Data Practices Act, Furst obtained an email from the unit's commander documenting the evidence destruction that led to the unit's shutdown. Someone also turned off a computer that recorded who entered the building. The whole thing reads like an episode of "The Wire."

What was shredded? No one knows; I guess that's the point of those things. The PiPress' Mara Gottfried says four investigators were there, retrieving personal items. KSTP has officers claiming they took "simply case files." A criminal action might result. Minneapolis Council Member Don Samuels and a St. Paul Police union head want the unit shut down permanently; the former for financial reasons and the latter because of the bad publicity. How about for rogue behavior?

Daniel Hauser's dad is now pleading for his wife and sick son to come back, and Brown County authorities are promising not to prosecute the mom, everyone reports. The fugitives were last seen in Southern California Tuesday morning and could be in Mexico. The Strib's Bob von Sternberg and Warren Wolfe say FBI agents visited a 57-foot houseboat belonging to the Hausers' lawyer. Americans can drive into Mexico without being checked, they note.

So which journalist got the Hauser story rolling? The Sleepy Eye Dispatch's Doreen Tyler, after noticing a Schwann's delivery driver who'd shaved his head in solidarity with a kid on his route. The Mankato Free-Press' Dan Nienaber explains that the Hauser family kept putting Tyler off, then she discovered there was a court case afoot, and here we are today, riveted.

Continuing his Sore Winner strut, Gov. Pawlenty wants cities and counties to tell him how much local government aid they can forgo, Forum's Scott Wente writes. "What cut level can they take and not complain?" the governor asks. Maybe as big an upper-income tax hike as you could accept and not complain. The Strib's Kevin Duchschere says the borrowing-happy guv wants cities to use up reserves, which increases borrowing costs. He also wants pay freezes, but even one Republican says bone, not fat, will go. The guv will once again spare the smallest cities and counties.

Al Franken can dun Norm Coleman for $94,000 if the Democrat's recount win is upheld, the Strib's Pat Doyle reports. Franken had sought nearly twice as much, but a Ramsey County court official trimmed the potential payout. State law says loser pays, some costs anyway. Franken's side argues the trial-court win means they should get the cash now, no matter how appeals turn out.

AP notes Minnesota's unemployment rate dropped by a smidge, from 8.2 percent to 8.1 percent. But no one thinks this will last. Almost 10,000 jobs were lost, and the metro area has been hit harder than regional hubs. The PiPress' Julie Forster writes that Rochester's rate has stayed the same for the past year. The Strib's Dee DePass says the April job losses were half of March's rate but represent a quarter of a normal year's job growth. Minnesota has lost 3.3 percent of its jobs in the past year but is doing better than the nation.

Jamaal Freeman was convicted of killing Minneapolis bicyclist Mark Loesch with a baseball bat; Loesch's widow says, "The jury spoke for us," the Strib's Abby Simons writes. Freeman was acquitted of first-degree murder and attempted aggravated robbery but found guilty of second-degree murder and first-degree aggravated robbery.WCCO has video, with news prosecutors nervous because jurors didn't come back right away.

Strib outdoors columnist Dennis Anderson tells House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher to kneel down before hunters and anglers and pray if she wants to become governor. Anderson's still steamed Kelliher let other senior representatives get in the way of a citizens-heavy advisory group that wanted habitat sales tax money spent their way.

Yikes: Minneapolis elections officials say they won't be able to determine winners in this year's city elections until Thanksgiving, the Strib's Steve Brandt reports. MPR's Curtis Gilbert puts the delay at a month or even two. The reason? The city's new ranked-choice voting method, and the lack of federally certified machines that would automate counting. Majority winners can be announced that night, but multi-member at-large board seats are much more complicated. The Minnesota Supreme Court will rule on the primary-free method's constitutionality by June 11.

Remember the teen punks who destroyed Hindu statues at a Maple Grove temple three years ago? WCCO's Bridgette Bornstein has a sweet follow-up on how the men have "truly grown up" in the temple's forgiving embrace. The desecrated statues will be ritually buried Monday. The reconciliation has been reported before, but it's nice to see the good vibes continuing to grow.

The PiPress' Chris Niskanen has a nice tale of the DNR stocking a St. Paul lake with fish the Hmong covet. The white bass resembles a Laotian fish; its flesh is firm and relatively boneless. Officials took the native species from an off-limits North Oak lake to Sucker Lake in Vadnais Heights, the Strib's Mary Elana Baca writes. It's the beginning of a more extensive white bass management program, initiated by the Hmong and allies.

If you're looking for even more good news, how about a Duluth cutting-board manufacturer whose staff personally replant trees to offset the carbon it takes to ship their products? Even though Epicurean Cutting Surfaces uses recycled material, they've plugged 2,000 saplings in the past couple of years, the Duluth News-Tribune's Sam Cook writes.

Although Minneapolis' Midtown Greenway seems to only make news when the odd crime happens there, Duluth Budgeteer commentator Pete Langr dreamily wishes his port city had something like it.

Alert Stephen Colbert! Bears in the metro! There have been 18 calls in Anoka and Washington counties, the Strib's Jim Adams writes, perhaps because a cool spring has the ursines ranging further for plant shoots.

The Hastings Star Gazette's Bonnie St. James notes a local high school math teacher won $220,000 on "Deal or No Deal." Tom Fritze had to pay a high emotional price: He won the dough in August but couldn't tell anyone for months because of a confidentiality deal. Here's the thing: The show was supposed to air in December, but didn't, meaning Fritze had to say bottled up for another five months. It's a good read; the guy is absolutely charming.

Nort spews: Joe Mauer exploded for six ribbies as the Twins pounded Chicago 20-1, the worst defeat in Pale Hose history. Still, the exclamation point only punctuated a 1-6 road trip. Sore Losers here and here. The Wild and Wolves each announce GMs: the hockey team getting a guy everyone's excited about (Chuck Fletcher) and the Wolves grabbing their fourth or fifth choice passed over weeks ago (David Kahn).